Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters tournament officials announced two of the wild card recipients earlier this week. Former champion Stan Wawrinka will also return to the principal along with Matteo Berrettini.
Wawrinka, who is about to play his 16th major in Monte-Carlo, lifted the trophy in 2014 – beating fellow Swiss Roger Federer in the final. The 40-year-old is in his final season on tour but is in fine form, recently breaking out of the top 100 for the first time since 2024. Wawrinka has won six ATP titles in 2026.
Berrettini beat Alexander Zverev en route to the Monte-Carlo third round last spring. The Italian is currently ranked 68th in the world, which is good enough to qualify for most Masters 1000 events but not the smaller ones like Monte-Carlo.
This is the only 1000 point tournament on the calendar year that is not required. However, nine of the world’s top 10 players are on the first entry list. Ben Shelton is the only exception, which is not surprising since most Americans skip Monte-Carlo and prefer to start throwing on the clay court in Houston before heading to Europe for the Madrid Masters.
