Fulfilling his dream

Stan has one more dream before he leaves: to play Alcaraz. He’s one win away from making it come true...

The former Roland Garros champion steps onto the court. For the last Monte-Carlo of his career, he’ll have one main ambition: to beat Baez so he can test himself against the very best on clay in recent years: Carlos Alcaraz. Given Stan’s level this season, and Baez’s level on clay this season, a win wouldn’t be all that surprising. Especially since this match has a bit of a revenge vibe. Revenge for their match at the United Cup this year, in which Stan had a lot of regrets because there were opportunities, he was playing well, and he was playing for his country. But that was on hard. On clay, even though he’s fully rested, it’s tougher for Stan. Even if he’s already won Monte-Carlo, that was in 2014, and he hasn’t really won much here for the last 5 years. I even remember the massive beatdown he took here from De Minaur. He really seemed powerless on this slightly heavy Monegasque clay. I know some of you will bring up his loss to Martineau in a Challenger recently, but I think he just went there to find some rhythm during this off month of March for him (no wildcard in IW and Miami, I believe).

On Baez’s side, well, on average it’s not great. The guy was rock solid on hard at the start of the year, and since then it’s been a bit of a lottery. Here, he really doesn’t win much, but he’s had tough draws too. Against Stan, he’ll have a bit more freedom to dictate with his forehand, because Stan isn’t a wall. With him, I really try to figure out what bothers him at time T. And right now, I feel like it’s mostly players who serve well and are solid from the baseline. Stan has one of those two qualities ;).

So for me, it’s an interesting match-up for the Argentinian. But his level fluctuates so much within a match that my bet is obvious.