Novak Djokovic remains the only player ever to win Miami and Monte-Carlo back-to-back

Carlos Alcaraz’s exit in Monaco means that Novak Djokovic remarkably remains the only man to have won the Miami Open and Monte Carlo Masters consecutively in the same season.

The ‘Sunshine Double’ of clinching Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back is often spoken about as a rare feat in tennis, with just 11 men and women doing so to date. But a far rarer double of winning Miami and then Monte Carlo has only been achieved by one player, world number one Djokovic.

That holds true after Miami Open champion Alcaraz fell to fellow Next Gen star Sebastian Korda in his first career match in Monte Carlo. While initially, one might expect fellow GOAT contender Rafael Nadal to have claimed the Miami-Monte Carlo double at some point given his record 11 titles at the latter, the Spaniard has notably never won the Miami Open, that event and the Paris Masters remaining the only 1000 level trophies he is yet to claim.

Back in 2015, after securing his third ‘Sunshine Double’, Djokovic added a second Monte Carlo title to his cabinet in a season that saw him go on to eventually claim a record six Masters 1000 titles, the only man to ever achieve such a record. Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in the Miami final before taking out Tomas Berdych in the final of Monte Carlo.