Top five youngest men's singles champions at Monte Carlo Masters

Mats Wilander is the youngest player to win the Monte Carlo Masters.

The Masters 1000 tournaments have ranking requirements to enter and competition is intense once the required ranking threshold is reached. The ATP 1000 tournaments are the top level and are ranked just below the four Grand Slams based on achievements. 

Triumph at an ATP 1000 level event showcases mental toughness alongside the ability to slug it out against quality opponents. Winning at this stage is an important milestone for many aspiring players. 

When players win Masters events at a young age, it gives an idea of ​​their ability and career. Let’s take a look at the top five youngest men’s singles champions at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Also Read: Top five oldest men’s singles champions at Monte Carlo Masters

Bjorn Borg – 20 years and 10 months

Björn Borg won three trophies at Monte Carlo, the first of which he won in 1977 at the age of 20. The other two title runs came back-to-back in 1979 and 1980. En route to the title in 1977, Borg prevented Guillermo Vilas from making a second straight attempt at the title when he defeated Vilas in the last four. 

The Swedish tennis star won the 1977 Monte Carlo title by defeating Italy’s Corrado Barazzutti 6–3, 7–5, 6–0. Borg picked up two more Monte Carlo titles in 1979 with a win over Vitas Gerulaitis (6-2, 6-1, 6-3) and in 1980 over Guillermo Vilas (6-1, 6-0, 6-2).

Borg had reached the Monte Carlo final in 1973 when he was just 16.  In a face-off against Ilie Nastase, Borg, who battled through qualifying, could not find a way past the Romanian top seed and fell to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 defeat.

Sergi Bruguera – 20 years and 3 months, 1991

About 13 years before Rafael Nadal’s dominating run began at Monte Carlo, countryman Sergi Bruguera became the first Spaniard since Manuel Orantes in 1975 to win the tournament. Bruguera won his first Monte Carlo title in 1991 at the age of 20, followed by a second in 1993.  

Bruguera defeated Boris Becker in 1991 in a four-set thriller to claw back after Becker took the first set. Bruguera prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) to hand the German his second championship-round loss in three years. In 1993, Bruguera took on unseeded Frenchman Cedric Pioline and delivered a comfortable straight-set win, 7-6(2), 6-0 in 97 minutes.

Alberto Mancini – 19 years and 11 months

Alberto Mancini was only the second Argentine to win the Monte Carlo Masters after Guillermo Vilas. Vilas won two titles in 1976 and 1982. Mancini won in 1989 as a 19-year-old and was seeded 14th.

It was the then 19-year-old’s debut final at an ATP 1000 event, where he overcame third seed Boris Becker to post a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 win. Though Mancini would not win another Monte-Carlo title, he reached two other ATP 1000 finals at Rome (1991) and Miami (1992).

Also Read: Top five youngest players to win a match at Monte Carlo Masters main draw

Rafael Nadal – 18 years and 10 months

Rafael Nadal missed becoming the youngest man in the men’s tour to win in Monte Carlo by just three months. Nadal was 18 years and 10 months old when he claimed his first win at the venue in 2005. 

The Spaniard won ten more Monte Carlo crowns, eight of which came between 2005 and 2012. Three more came Nadal’s way between 2016 and 2018. Nadal faced fellow members of the Big 3, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, in three finals each. Only Djokovic has gotten the better of the Serb during his title run in 2013.

Also Read: Top five players with most Monte Carlo Masters singles titles in open era

Mats Wilander – 18 years and 7 months

Mats Wilander was the second Swedish player to win the Monte Carlos Masters after Bjorn Borg in 1977. He also became the youngest player to lift the trophy at the age of 18 years and 7 months, a record that still stands today.

Wilander defeated American Mel Purcell 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 for the first of his Monte Carlo titles. In the 1987 finals, the Swede overcame another American, Jimmy Arias in four sets to win 4-6, 7-5,  6-1, 6-3. Wilander, then ranked World No. 5, did not drop a set until the title round.

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