Tennis star slips 42 spots in the rankings and falls out of the top 100 for the first time in 14 years
A former world number three tennis star has had a tough time at the Monte-Carlo Masters, falling an incredible 42 places in the latest ATP rankings. Stefanos Tsitsipas had a tough loss this week at the Monte-Carlo Masters, the third big ATP 1000 event of 2026, dropping 17 spots after losing in straight sets to Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are the favorites to win the tournament this year. Alcaraz is aiming to keep the title he won last year, while Sinner hopes to build on his recent victories at Indian Wells and Miami.
The first round saw some surprising results, including Grigor Dimitrov losing to Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the round of 64. Dimitrov, who reached his career-high ranking of number three in 2017 after making the Australian Open semi-final that year, has also been a semi-finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open.
After this loss, Dimitrov’s ranking has dropped to 135th, a fall of 42 spots. This ends his 14-year run inside the ATP Top 100, which might affect his chances at Roland Garros. Since the cutoff to avoid qualifying rounds is the 110th spot, he may have to play through qualifying to get into the main draw.
The 34-year-old might wish he had Rafael Nadal’s help back in 2022. Nadal, known as the ‘King of Clay’ with 14 French Open titles and nine Monte-Carlo Masters wins, has been nearly unbeatable on clay. Dimitrov has always found clay courts a challenge, and his latest defeat to Etcheverry highlighted this struggle again.
He even once asked Nadal for some clay-court coaching during a live stream, jokingly offering, “Okay, if you’re done with your career, say in ten years, I’ll call you and say, ‘Rafa, can you come with me for three clay tournaments?’” Nadal replied, “I’m very expensive, man.”
After this recent clay loss, Dimitrov might just ask Nadal for help once more before the French Open!