Opinion: Tennis’s busy schedule and surface to blame for 14 players absent from Monte Carlo

The 2026 Monte Carlo Masters is taking place this week in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France (very close to Monaco). The biggest storyline are all of the absentees. Of the top 42 players in the world, 14 players are not competing. That is one third of the top 42 players.

So why are there so many players not competing? Well, it is a variety of reasons. They include injuries, and personal decisions. One factor when a personal decision is the reason has to be the tennis schedule at the moment. With the Italian Open and Madrid Masters expanding to 10 days each with the extra round, there is more clay court tennis, and as a result, the field in the Monte Carlo Masters is diminished event though Monte Carlo is a Masters 1000 series event.

Another reason is the timing. Elite players are getting ready for the French Open and players want to be at the top of their game in the middle of May rather than the middle of April.

So who are are the 14 players not in Monte Carlo this week? According to Yasmin Syed of the Express, they are world number four Novak Djokovic of Serbia, world number eight Taylor Fritz of the United States, world number nine Ben Shelton of the United States, world number 17 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, world number 21 Tommy Paul of the United States, world number 22 Learner Tien of the United States, world number 29 Holger Rune of Denmark, world number 25 Jack Draper of Great Britain, world number 28 Arthur Fils of France, world number 33 Brandon Nakashima of the United States, world number 35 Alex Michelsen of the United States, world number 37 Jaume Munar of Spain, world number 41 Jenson Brooksby of the United States, and world number 42 Sebastian Korda of the United States.

It is interesting that eight of the 14 players are American. Remember, American players generally don’t have a great track record on clay.