
The Monte-Carlo Tournament and the Monte-Carlo Country Club, today, go hand in hand. In March 1897, 150 players, men and women, competed in the the first «Monte-Carlo Championships», sharing between them 4,600 Francs in prize-money.
Doherty, the English champion, won the competition which brought together some of the greatest names in the history of tennis: Count Voss, the German champion, Renshaw, Cazalet, Cranston, Chapman, etc …
Well over a century later, the tradition continues and is even greater as can be seen by the presence of most of the world’s best players on the courts of the M.C.C.C.
However, there is one big difference: tennis has made great strides and is today, one of the most popular sports played by the greatest number of sportsmen all over the world, and with, at the summit of the pyramid, an elite composed of professional players idolized as Kings.
These kings who, at the beginning of the century, came to play on the two clay courts in the vicinity – that of the Hotel de Paris and the Monte-Carlo Casino.
The Monegasque competition continued on these two courts for several years and was dominated by the Doherty brothers, the winners of the first ten events! At this moment in time, British tennis held the quasi-total supremacy since Ritchie, Alexander, Lowe, Crawford and the New Zealander Wilding carried on the succession from Doherty, with the only exceptions of the Frenchman Decugis, winner in 1910, the Romanian Mishu in 1919 and the Italian, Count Baldi.
But, as the tournament grew in size and success new premises had to be found, and on 22nd February 1906 the tournament moved to «La Condamine» quarter, near the Monaco harbour.
For 15 years, the tennis played in «La Condamine» contributed to the development of this sport and to the Monegasque competition which in 1921 found itself … on a roof! Since it was impossible to find enough playing space within the Principality, a large garage in Beausoleil «L’Auto Riviera» was transformed into terraces for the building of 3 courts, 3 training walls, club house and stands.
Gordon Lowe, the 1920 winner at «La Condamine», was not in the least perturbed by this change in decor and went on to win his second trophy from the Prince of Monaco. The Briton won, again, in 1923.
SET BETWEEN SKY, MOUNTAIN AND SEA
This «roof» period did not last for long as the summer season replaced the winter one on the Riviera, Monte Carlo adopted, even preceded this movement, and the S.B.M. invested, at the end of the 20’s, 100 million francs to create new summer premises and new tennis courts in a dream setting of sky, mountains and sea … the M.C.C.C. was born with many of the crowned heads of Europe, Gustave V, the King of Sweden and whose favorite hobby was tennis (not so surprising that the Swedes monopolize the M.C. titles!) , the Prince of Conwaught, Prince Nicolas of Greece, and, of course, Prince Louis II of Monaco, attending, in February 1928, the opening of the 22 tennis courts built under the supervision of the well-known architect Letrosne.
Why in February? Simply because the dates of the tournament had been displaced, in contradiction with what was said earlier regarding the tourist evolution in the area. At this moment in time, tennis was still a «private» sport, played by an elite, who, over the 3 winter months of the year, came to find the sun … and the possibility of playing outside on the Riviera.

AND … THE RAIN!
Bad weather … the evil words have been spoken. We all know what happened last year: it rained six days out of the seven. In February 1931 (winner: Frenchman Cochet) the organisers had the weather against them. This misfortune showed in the financial report presented during the General Assembly of the M.C.C.C., «the tournaments left a net profit of 3.771 francs compared to 9.803 francs the previous year. It is true that last February’s tournament which should have been particularly brilliant with exceptional takings was badly affected by the weather». Who said that history continually begins again?
DARMON – THE LAST FRENCH WINNER
Let us come back to sport. At the beginning of the 30’s, the M.C.C.C. was affiliated to the French Federation of Lawn Tennis and recognized as a «Sports Company» by the Ministry of Public Instruction, but, on condition it modified its statutes, somewhat unexpected but which was a sign of the times between the wars.
«Since the company does not do military training, foreigners can be admitted as members on the condition that they hold no official position, that they do not belong to the Administrative or Management Committee, and that they do not speak or vote».
This «segregation» did not prevent the foreigners from laying down the law in the tournament.
Austin was the last British winner in 1933 and 1934. He was succeeded by the Italians (G. Palmieri, Nicola Pietrangeli in 1961, 1967 and 1968) the German (Von Cramm in 1936 and 37), the Yougoslav (Puncec in 1938), the Americans (Parker, Clark, Stewart), the Hungarians (Asboth in 1948 and Gulyas in 1965), the Pole (Stonecki).
Occasionally, the French managed to slip in, as Cochet in 1931, Pelizza in 1939 and 1946, Haillet in 1958 – 1959, and Pierre Darmon who remains the last French winner in Monte-Carlo, for the years 1962 and 1963.
A FASHIONABLE EVENT
But the evolution of tennis continued, a slow evolution which saw the appearance of professionalism … «respected and respectable». A slow evolution since, as early as 1939, the Americans started talking of «Open» tournaments. After the war, the rules were to be defined … allowing amateurs to be indemnified for their expenses, firstly, for eight days, then, for 150 and, finally, for 210 days.
In 1960, the Committee Director of the International Federation agreed to the Open Tournaments, but, during the General Assembly, five more votes were needed to gain the two-thirds majority necessary for a change in statute.
These reform failures gave a boost to the traditionalists and it was not until the 30th March 1968 that the Open was, at last, born.
The Monegasque organizers jumped on the bandwagon, and, as early as 1969, the Monte-Carlo Easter Tournament became the «Open», won by the Dutchman Tom Okker, in a memorable match against the Australian John Newcombe.
The following year, the Yougoslavian Franulovic inscribed his name among the winners … and put an end to this phase in the history of the tournament. The official appearance of professionalism in tennis, the audience development through the media and the increase of tennis as a popular game incited the S.B.M. to hand over the Organisation of the event to a team of more experienced directors in the tennis world and under the presidency of Her Highness Princess Antoinette of Monaco. This was the end of the period when the tournament was a nicely fashionable and almost private event. The players came to Monte Carlo because it was enjoyable. They were welcomed by the S.B.M. and by the Butler family who organized, on the Thursday of the tournament, an evening which the older members of the M.C.C.C. still remember.
Just a word in remembrance of George Butler, honorary vice-preseident of the club and donator of the Butler Trophy, which rewards the winners of the men’s doubles and is reserved for national teams. This event was the origin of a solid tradition of doubles in Monte Carlo, and which has managed to persist even during the periods when the attention was solely on the results of the singles. The winners of the last years (Noah-Forget, Slozil-Smid, Edmonson-Stewart, Gunthardt-Taroczy(twice), McNamara-McNamee) only goes to show the reliability of this tradition.
THE TWO-STEP EVOLUTION
From 1971 onwards, the Monte-Carlo tournament changed course and the loyalty of some of the best world players such as Nastase, Borg or Vilas who were present almost every year, made this into one of the most important tennis events of the year. The evolution was, however, in two steps.
The first one, from 1971 to 1980 during which time the tournament strengthened its new basis and, then a second step, with the introduction of «fields» and more and more prize-money.
Wilander was a loyal player in Monte-Carlo where he won in 1983 and 1987 and lost in the finals in 1984 and 1985. Lendl, also, won twice, in 1985 and 1988. The great clay players Mancini, Chesnokov and Bruguera won in 1989, 1990 and 1991 respectively. Three times Boris Becker, in 1989, 1991 and 1995, went through to the finals, though the famous trophy remained out of his reach. A series of world #1s followed as champions, a Monte-Carlo title serving as a springboard to the top for the likes of Thomas Muster, Carlos Moya, Marcelo Rios, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gustavo Kuerten.
In latter years, the tournament has famously been dominated by Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who has established one of the most impressive records in professional tennis by winning the title 11 times, including a run of eight consecutive victories from 2005-2012. Though the event had to be cancelled for the first time since the second world war in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, few would bet against the former world #1 writing his name in another chapter of the event’s history when it returns in April 2021.
That is the wonderful history of the Monte-Carlo Tournament.
