Monte Carlo Doubles Plays

The Mediterranean Red Clay Series as I see it begins in France with the Monte Carlos Masters 1000, followed by a Barcelona 500, Madrid Masters 1000, and the Italian Open 1000 Masters in Rome. There are 250 point events scattered throughout Europe that are also played on the famously slow high bouncing crushed red brick. The Cap Stone of the Mediterranean series is finish at the French Open, in Paris in late May, early June.


Today I’m sharing observations I noticed while attending my first red clay court ATP event located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France part of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azu. The two colors that come to mind are red and blue. The sky and ocean are blue crystal and the red clay is a good backdrop for the yellow Dunlop Fort tennis ball.


My plane got in around 2 pm and I took an Uber to Beausoleil, which is located in the south of Provence. The steep hillside provided a view of Monte Carlo, a municipality of tiny Monaco. From the view of my penthouse Airbnb, I could see everything in front of me, the casino, the Princes Palace, one cruise ship, and the crystal blue ocean, with a sail boat heading toward, Lord knows where, perhaps Italy. I felt protected by my cliffs that surrounded my 500 square foot paradise location that lorded over a road side bocci club. The night I got in I took this photograph of what appeared to be the Emerald City of Oz. Also you can see the cliffs that fortified my position.

The draw at Monte Carlo

The penthouse view of Monte Carlo. That cruise ship stayed for three days.

The golden hour.

There were five basic doubles positions I noticed. That’s right, only five. Do they apply to you? Absolutely they do. In this post I’m covering the two main positions I noticed.


First off: Congrats to the Champions Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen both from Belgium (both ranked 17 & 18 on the ATP in doubles) and Finalist’s Alex Zverev (number 5 in the world in doubles) from Germany and 40 year old Marcelo Melo, from Brazil, a former number one in the world in doubles, who is a career doubles specialist and journeyman with over 8,000,000 in career earnings. Sitting through that three set match was riveting, in the blazing dry sun of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.🇫🇷


The Belgium Team using the one up one back positioning. The net position
of the server’s partner is active and close to the net. Notice the quick movement to his left on the wide serve then the middle position when his partner hits more up the middle

This time the server’s partner at the net makes a good cover simply by moving in the box correctly. Being close to the net allows him to angle the ball off into open court. This is the secret to holding serve as a doubles team. You don’t want to get broken. If you do and the other team holds, you’re lost 4-6. The server’s net partner combined with good communication with the server is the secret recipe to holding serve and ultimately winning matches.

Fritz and Rune both playing back can win points. I noticed that Rune worked hard to team up with his partner when Fritz got pinned back.

Next week I’ll be heading to Rome to video the Italian Open. Players will be coming in from Madrid and other areas to play in this 1000 point Masters event. Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of the clips with you and you can see how world class doubles is being played. Also, I’ll cover some of the singles matches from Monte Carlo and Roma!
Caffe’ tastes better in Provence!