Former champions Wawrinka and Fognini handed Monte-Carlo wildcards; Gasquet joins
The event marks the first clay Masters 1000 of the season
Tennis Mag / Psnewz
The 2025 European clay court season is due to get underway at the Monte-Carlo Masters, which promises to be a spectacular event, with wildcards including two former champions.
Stan Wawrinka and Fabio Fognini are among the four wildcards for the event, having not been ranked high enough to qualify for direct entry.
The Swiss, who currently ranked as the world No 161 and is competing at the ATP 250 in Bucharest, was an obvious choice for such a wildcard – winning the prestigious event in 2014 and being a regular fan favorite.
Likewise, Fognini has fallen to the 112th place in the world after reaching a career-high of world No 9 as a consequence of winning the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters, beating 11-time champion Rafael Nadal along the way.
The third wildcard has been given to Richard Gasquet, who will retire at this year’s Roland Garros. Gasquet’s best result at the Monaco event was a semi-final run where he lost out to Nadal
Lastly, world No 259 Valentin Vacherot was gifted entry for the event. He was born in Monaco itself, and recently produced a sensational performance against then world No 37 Nuno Borges at the Davis Cup.
The defending champion for the event is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will be seeking a fourth title in the principality.
