2011 Davis Cup – Team Argentina: Juan Monaco, losing his grip in 2011
Playing tennis from the age of six, Juan Monaco was one of many players that originated from Tandil, Argentina. Some of his fellow ATP players Juan Martin Del Potro, Mariano Zabaleta and Diego Junqueira were also from Tandil, Argentina. Growing up idolizing Andre Agassi and his fellow countryman Mariano Zabaleta, the Argentinean stands in the world ranking at No.43.
The 6ft 1in, right handed player, made his debut in Monaco in 2002 and on February 12 Juan won his first event in Jamaica F20, Montego Bay as he defeated Francisco Rodriguez of Paraguay.
Juan has a 199-162 career record and has won 3 titles in his pursuit. The 27-year-old had his best moments when he was ranked world No.14 in February 2008. During his 11 year career, Monaco has made considerable improvement in his game leading him to win a number of titles as well.
Having played 42 grand slams matches, the Argentinean has won 16 and lost 26. However, he has a better record at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000. He has managed to win 45 out of his 85 fixtures during the tour.
Juan has got three titles to his name. All of these titles were in 2007 and surprisingly or not, he won all three on clay courts. The first title he won was Bet-at-home Cup Kitzbuhel in Austria. His second title was at Poertschach and third in Buenos Aires. Apart from that, the former world No.14 has made it to 9 finals with only three successful ones. Monaco also has two doubles titles to his name, winning them both in 2008.
Comparing to other players in the league, the Argentinean has been proving himself beating the top ten players in a number of matches. Being an Argentinean, he has won most of his career matches on clay. He records 146-87 matches on clay while only 50-65 matches on hard court. Grass courts have disappointed Juan as he lost all of his four matches that he ever played. A look at the stats shows that Monaco sees outdoor courts as his strong hold. He has won 183 matches on outdoor courts in his career.
The 27-year-old has got some pressure points as well. Winning 60 tiebreakers, Juan seems to cope up good under pressure. Having played the top ten he records to win eleven matches and has lost 32. Juan has also proved to be settled while playing the deciding sets. 63 out of 119 matches, leading to the deciding set, were won by him. Considering the fact that Juan is a right handed player, he has performed exceptionally well in playing left handed as well as right handed players.
In the current season 2011, Juan has played 29 singles matches. He succeeded in winning 13 of his fixtures. His performance on clay dropped this season as he has won only eleven matches losing the same number. Regardless of the fact that he performed well in recent years in outdoor courts, he is struggling in this season as he has already lost sixteen matches out of 29 played.
As the Davis cup is currently underway, Monaco he is yet to perform his best. Currently he has won 3 and lost 5 out of his 8 fixtures. Having a good record on clay in Davis Cup he has an excellent chance to make up his mark against the Kazakhstani opponent Andrey Golubev.
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