The first Masters Series event on clay reached its conclusion on Sunday, and told us a familiar tale. Here’s what we learned from the past week, much of which we knew already.

Undisputed – Rafael Nadal, 20 years old, five clay Masters Series titles, 67 matches unbeaten on clay. Sets lost in Monte Carlo this year – none. King of Clay. You get the picture, don’t you?

White-flag Roger? – During Sunday’s final, arguably for the first time in their five encounters on clay, Roger Federer looked resigned to defeat during periods of the second set. Has frustration finally boiled over for the world No.1? Rafael Nadal stands between him and tennis immortality and Monte Carlo showed us that Federer is as far away from Nadal on clay as he has been to date.

Federer had not looked particularly impressive throughout the week, although he showed signs of improvement in his matches with David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero. That progression came to a grinding halt against Nadal, with the Spaniard yet again imposing his will on the match at the most pivotal moments and taking what proved to be a crucial first-set lead. Suddenly all talk of a calendar year Grand Slam has died a death, for the time being at least, as it’s hard to see past Rafael Nadal for the French Open in anyone’s book.

Revenge is sweet – One of the most intriguing matches of the week was the semi-final between Nadal and Tomas Berdych. After a spicy affair in Madrid last year, where Berdych was victorious and literally silenced the Madrid crowd, a war of words ensued during the aftermath. A meeting on clay was the perfect way for Nadal to extract a measure of revenge, and he did just that in the first set, winning 6-0. The second set was a tighter affair, with Berdych hitting some fine winners, but ultimately he crumbled at the business end, losing the match 6-0, 7-5.

The real Ferrero standing up? – Back in 2002/2003, Ferrero was the man to beat on clay. A player touted for at least three French Open titles in his career, to date he has one and an additional final appearance. Injuries and illness (as well as the development/maturation of other players on tour) have robbed the tennis world from seeing the same Ferrero subsequently that we used to see back then.

Every now and then, he has shown glimpses of what he once was, and that was evident in Monte Carlo. Ferrero reached the semi-finals, where he blew a good chance to take a stranglehold of his match with Federer. Ferrero will be looking to continue this type of form over the coming weeks, starting in Barcelona this week where a possible early encounter with Guillermo Cañas awaits him.

Ran out of Gas-quet – Having fought his way through energy-sapping matches with Fernando Verdasco and Ivan Ljubicic, Richard Gasquet’s challenge ran out of steam against a thankful Ferrero in the quarter-finals. Gasquet led by a set, 4-2 and 40-15, when the week’s events took its toll on him (which included a final in doubles with Julien Benneteau). To his credit, Gasquet soldiered on and even engineered a break back point in the third set, but Ferrero raised his game when he needed to against a tired opponent and prevailed.

No-show from South America – No clay-court event is complete without a number of South Americans in the latter stages (usually of the Argentine variety). That wasn’t the case in Monte Carlo. Seven South Americans began the event (five Argentinians and two Chileans), and by the third round, all were packing their bags. The poor tournament in Monte Carlo reflects the current poor performance of the marquee players from South America.

David Nalbandian has struggled for form and fitness all season, as has Jose Acasuso. Gaston Gaudio is still taking baby steps in his attempt to recover some of the form he showed on clay in 2004/2005. Bar Guillermo Cañas (who may not be able to play in Rome as his ranking was not high enough on the cut-off date to make the main draw), the Argentinian who can be happy with his efforts this season is Juan Ignacio Chela. He won a clay court title in Acapulco and made the quarter-finals of both hard court Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami.

The Chilean duo of Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu are also experiencing difficulties. Massu has been devoid of form dating back to the second half of last season and although his fighting spirit still remains intact, that hasn’t been enough for him to produce consistent results thus far this season. Gonzalez, a revelation at the Australian Open this year, hasn’t come anywhere close to replicating his form of 2006, never mind his outstanding displays in Melbourne. His current squeeze, Gisela Dulko, has been experiencing a similar vein of form, only for a lot longer.

(Article courtesy of  http://sportsmagician.blogspot.com/ )

You can read Jay Jarrahi's extensive preview of the French Open in the upcoming May edition of All Sports Magazine.