Stef's Holy Trinity: Three-time champ Tsitsipas eyes more glory in Monte-Carlo

There is no stop on Tour that has been more fruitful for Stefanos Tsitsipas than the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The three-time champion will hear opportunity knocking when he returns to the Principality in 2025: A fourth crown would move him clear of ATP No. 1 Club members Ilie Nastase, Bjorn Borg and Thomas Muster as the second-most successful player in Monte-Carlo history, behind only record 11-time winner Rafael Nadal. Ahead of his bid for a quadruple, ATPTour.com reflects on Tsitsipas’ history at the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 of the year. 

2021: Maiden Masters Magic
By 2021, Tsitsipas had already established himself as a top-tier contender — notably winning the prestigious Nitto ATP Finals on his debut in 2019 — but the then-No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings had yet to claim a Masters 1000 title. That changed in Monte-Carlo, where he played with an authority that underpinned his recent rise.

The Greek’s victory was a watershed moment. It was not just his first Masters crown but also a landmark for tennis in his country, making him the first player from his nation to triumph at this level. Tsitsipas' dominant run, in which he did not drop a set, ended with a championship-match win that avenged his recent Rotterdam loss to Andrey Rublev and improved him to 4-3 in their intriguing Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Two months after his maiden Monte-Carlo triumph, Tsitsipas went on to reassert his clay-court prowess at Roland Garros, where he became the first Greek player to reach a Grand Slam final. Despite squandering a two-sets-to-love lead against Novak Djokovic on that occasion, his run confirmed his career-high ascent to No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

_{^{Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrates his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title. Photo: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

2022: Confirming His Dominance
If winning a Masters 1000 title was a breakthrough, defending it proved Tsitsipas’ staying power. With a target on his back in 2022, Tsitsipas' second consecutive title run in Monte-Carlo was highlighted by his testing two-hour, 43-minute win against Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the quarter-finals. He then claimed his third straight clay-court victory against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev to reach the title tilt.

Already a seven-time tour-level champion, Tsitsipas’ experience considerably outweighed that of his opponent in the championship match, ATP Tour final debutant Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The Spaniard had notched the biggest win of his career by stunning top seed Djokovic in the second round, but he was unable to produce another memorable upset. By successfully defending his title at the clay-court Masters 1000, Tsitsipas reinforced his reputation as one of the Tour’s premier players on the surface.

_{^{Stefanos Tsitsipas celebrates his second consecutive Monte-Carlo title. Photo: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

2024: Stef’s ‘Holy Trinity’
After suffering a quarter-final defeat to Taylor Fritz in 2023, two-time champion Tsitsipas returned to Monte-Carlo in 2024 with a clear goal in sight: to reclaim the trophy. The defining moment of his campaign perhaps came in the form of his three-set semi-final victory over World No. 2 Jannik Sinner. Trailing 2-4 in the final set, Tsitsipas conjured some inspired shot-making to reel off four consecutive games and inflict only the Italian’s second defeat of the season.

By dismantling fellow former Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 in the final, Tsitsipas claimed his first title in eight months, and a third Monte-Carlo crown in four years. His success levelled him with Nastase, Borg and Muster as a three-time champion at the event.

“Winning this tournament three times is something I would have never imagined,” said Tsitsipas, who improved to 22-3 at the event. “Even the first time, I obviously thought it was a great feeling and this place is special towards me. But getting the Holy Trinity, as I call it, is something that I will fully cherish.”

2025: Chasing A Historic Quadruple
After narrowly missing out on qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals in 2024, and suffering a first-round exit at the Australian Open this January, Tsitsipas seems to have turned his fortunes around in recent weeks. The 26-year-old soared to his maiden ATP 500 title in Dubai and followed it up with a run to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells. Monte-Carlo now offers him the perfect stage to build on his legacy at the event.