Zizou Bergs and Jannik Sinner entered the 2026 Monte Carlo Doubles tournament together.
The pair won their opening match, defeating Casper Ruud and Tomas Machac, 6-4, 7-5, on Court Rainier III.
But ahead of their second-round match against Manuel Guinard and Guido Andreozzi, Sinner withdrew from the doubles competition to focus on singles, where he can re-take the world number-one ranking.
Carlos Alcaraz concedes Jannik Sinner will become world number one!
Will it happen this week in Monte Carlo?
After Bergs defeated Andrey Rublev in his second-round singles match, he delivered his verdict on Sinner’s withdrawal.
Zizou Bergs says Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal was ‘unfortunate’ but has hope for the future
During an interview with the ‘Tennis Channel‘, Bergs said the following.
“Unfortunately, there had to come an end to it today,” he said.
“But hopefully in the future, we can still play a little bit together.”
Bergs was also happy to share how his Monte Carlo Masters doubles partnership with Sinner came to be.
“Yeah, we were training in Indian Wells, and we had some fun,” said Bergs.
“We had some talks. We talked a little bit about doubles, and then practice was done, and he asked me ‘Do you want to play doubles in Monte Carlo?’
“I was like ‘I’ll think about it’ [laughs].
“Obviously, a lot of people are wondering why he wants to play doubles with me. Honestly, I don’t know!
“But I was open-minded, we had a lot of fun, and we played some good tennis. We had a lot of fun.”
The sample size is limited, of course, but Sinner and Bergs have a 100% win-rate when playing doubles together.
If Sinner wants to play any more doubles tournaments in 2026, he knows who to call!
Jannik Sinner and Zizou Bergs impress in Monte Carlo singles action
Unseeded, Bergs entered the singles draw a round earlier than his doubles partner.
There, he took on the Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, who last won an ATP Tour clay-court match 373 days ago (vs Yannick Hanfmann – Houston).
Walking on court as a big favourite, Bergs made his way through to the second round without much trouble, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
However, he certainly wasn’t the favourite in round two.
Playing the 2023 champion Rublev, Bergs needed to deliver a stellar performance.
The last five Monte Carlo Masters champions
| Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score |
| 2025 | Carlos Alcaraz | Lorenzo Musetti | 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 |
| 2024 | Stefanos Tsitsipas | Casper Ruud | 6-1, 6-4 |
| 2023 | Andrey Rublev | Holger Rune | 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 |
| 2022 | Stefanos Tsitsipas | Alejandro Davidovich Fokina | 6-3, 7-6 |
| 2021 | Stefanos Tsitsipas | Andrey Rublev | 6-3, 6-3 |
And he did just that, dominating the Russian on Court des Princes, 6-4, 6-1.
Who was the biggest shock exit in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters?
Lorenzo Musetti, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Flavio Cobolli all lost!
He will now prepare to take on Alexander Zverev for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Sinner, on the other hand, has only played one singles match at this year’s Monte Carlo Masters.
In round two, Sinner defeated Ugo Humbert, 6-3, 6-0.
The Italian was happy with his performance, but played down his expectations during his post-match interview.
“I come here with good feelings, but at the same time, not many expectations,” said Sinner.
Sinner will now play Czechia’s Tomas Machac for a place in the quarter-finals.
There’s more than just the title on the line for Sinner in Monte Carlo, as he has a chance to overtake Carlos Alcaraz in the world rankings.
Live ATP Rankings
- 1. Carlos Alcaraz – 12,690 points
- 2. Jannik Sinner – 12,500 points
- 3. Alexander Zverev – 5,255 points
- 4. Novak Djokovic – 4,710 points
- 5. Felix Auger-Aliassime – 4,050 points
If Sinner were to reach the last eight and Alcaraz were to lose to Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry, he’d move to within 90 points of the top spot.
A gap he would close with a win in the quarter-finals.
Only time will tell who will leave Monte Carlo with the world number-one ranking, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action.
The third-round matches will all be played on Thursday, April 9.
