Live Monte Carlo Day 1: “Steel Man” Wawrinka challenges young star Bublik

(Sports news, tennis news) Stan Wawrinka confronts rising young tennis player Alexander Bublik, “bad boy” Borna Coric is hard to surprise before Jannik Sinner.

Stan Wawrinka – Alexander Bublik: Around 5:30 p.m., April 11, round 1

Compared to the time when he won the 2013 Monte Carlo championship, Stan Wawrinka’s position has changed dramatically. The injury left the Swiss player out for a long time and dropped to 236th in the world. Even, he only appeared at Monte Carlo 2022 thanks to a special slot.

Is Monte Carlo the place to witness Wawrinka “reviving”?

This season alone, Wawrinka has only attended one tournament, the ATP Challenger Marbella (eliminated in the first round). That is certainly not a good preparation for “Steel Man” before Monte Carlo.

Contrary to Wawrinka, the 2022 season saw Alexander Bublik’s breakthrough. Commendable achievements such as the ATP 250 Montpellier championship once helped the Kazakh tennis player rise to the 30th ATP rank, the highest rank of his career (currently ranked 37). Will Wawrinka, with his seasoned experience, be able to stop his juniors from advancing?

Diego Schwartzman – Karen Khachanov: Around 5:30 p.m., April 11, round 1

In terms of ATP rankings, this is the most balanced match in round 1 (Schwartzman is 16th, Khachanov is 24th). More interestingly, the head-to-head record between Diego Schwartzman and Karen Khachanov is also very balanced (2-2). Therefore, the two tennis players are ready to give fans exciting moments.

Borna Coric – Jannik Sinner: Around 7 p.m., April 11, round 1

After the great success of the 2021 season (winning 4 titles), Jannik Sinner got off to a relatively slow start in the 2022 season. The best achievement of the 12th ATP player is only reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Dubai and Miami Open.

Attending tournaments on clay is not a forte, Sinner needs to do his best if he doesn’t want to become an early audience. His opponent in the first round was Borna Coric. Gone are the peaks, perhaps the village’s “bad boy” tennis does not set too much ambition for Monte Carlo, especially when he has to face top players in the world like Sinner.