Monte Carlo Masters: Italian star suffers shocking rankings slide after defeat to local hero
Lorenzo Musetti was under huge pressure as he headed into this year’s Monte Carlo Masters and what may be his predictable early exit has now been delivered.
The Italian reached the final of the clay court tournament last year and that meant he had 680 ranking points to defend.
After an injury-disrupted start to the season, Musetti faced an uphill battle to match his run to last year’s final and he didn’t get close after losing against local Monaco player Valentin Vacherot.
The player who enjoyed a stunning breakthrough when he won his first ATP Masters 1000 event in China at the back end of last season arrived at the Monte Carlo Masters with high hopes of continuing his remarkable rise up the tennis ladder on home soil.
In what was a match of fluctuating fortunes, Vacherot served for the match at 5-4 in the second set and was broken.
More Tennis News
Andy Roddick reveals why Valentin Vacherot should be ‘the inspiration’ for most tennis players
He didn’t make the same mistake when he served for the match once again at 6-5, with his joy as he knocked out the world No 5.
Musetti will now slide down to No 9 in the updated rankings and he will need to raise his levels to ensure he doesn’t suffer an even more damaging slide by the end of the clay court season.
“The emotions went [up and] down a bit,” said Vacherot.
“If someone told me that my first top five win, second after Shanghai, will be here on a night session on the centre court I have been hitting on since I was six years old, it’s nothing, nothing can be done.”
The ranking slide could get even more damaging for Musetti unless he finds a winning formula very quickly.
He reached the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome last year, so he will be defending a total of 800 ranking points in those two upcoming events this year.
Then he has a further 800 ranking points to defend at the French Open after his run to the Roland Garros semi-finals last season.
If those 1,600 points were taken off Musetti’s rankings total now, he would be close to dropping out of the top 20 and that would be a hammer blow to his career.
The Italian will be hoping he can avoid that scale of drop and if he can find his best form and remain fit over the next few weeks, there is every reason to believe he can challenge at the back end of the class court events that will run until the middle of June.
Musetti has entered next week’s tournament in Barcelona, so that gives him a chance to make up some extra ground in a week when he has no ranking points to defend.
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
READ NEXT: Patrick Mouratoglou reveals his breakthrough player of the year as he makes big comparison