Tennis, in my possibly biased opinion, has the most reliable symbol of spring in sports.
Opening Day in baseball is the traditional harbinger of warmer days in the U.S., but this season it came too early. The lingering chill of a long winter has kept fans away from the park in droves thus far. Now the Masters, golf's spring “tradition unlike any other,” was revealed over the last four days as a one-trick—or one-player—pony. The only thing it takes, it seems, to rob the tournament of all tension and interest is for Tiger Woods to withdraw.
Tennis, by contrast, can never go wrong with its own entrant in the “you know it’s spring” sweepstakes. All you need is a photographer, or three, to stand at the top of the Monte Carlo Country Club and take a shot of the red clay on center court, with the blue Mediterranean beyond. That's spring to a tennis fan. Then, over the next week, we have the little bonus of the tournament itself, a traditional stop for the men since the 19th century.
These days, spring begins a day early in Monte Carlo. In the greedy spirit of expansion that grips all sports, the tournament now schedules four first-round matches on Sunday. With those results in mind, here’s a look ahead at a pretty loaded Monte Carlo draw. It’s no longer a mandatory Masters event, but there are still 1,000 ranking points for the winner. This year, that was enough to lure seven of the Top 10 to the little country by the sea. The ATP's principals are in the Principality.