Tennis star drops 42 places in rankings and is out of top 100 for first time in 14 years

A former world number three tennis star has dropped down a staggering 42 places in the latest ATP rankings update during the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a humbling fate this week at the Monte-Carlo Masters, the third ATP 1000 event on the 2026 calendar, as he dropped 17 places after a straight sets defeat to Argentine star Francisco Cerundolo.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will be favourites to lift the competition this year, with the Spaniard aiming to maintain the title he collected last year, while the Italian is aiming to build on his wins at Indian Wells and Miami.

There were some shocking results in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters, and this included Grigor Dimitrov, as he lost to Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the round of 64.

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in action against Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina (Getty Images)

The Bulgarian reached a career-high ATP ranking of number three in 2017 after he reached the semi-final of the Australian Open in the same year.

Dimitrov has also managed to reach the semi-final of both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2014 and 2019, respectively.

The Live ATP Rankings now place him down in a lowly 135th position after his defeat at the hands of Etcheverry – representing a loss of 42 places from his previous ranking.

This has brought to an end the Bulgarian’s 14-year streak inside the ATP Top 100, and this could have a significant impact for the upcoming draw of Roland Garros.

Dimitrov may not be involved in the main draw, so he will have to contend with the qualifying rounds, as the cutoff to avoid this is the 110th position in the ATP Rankings.

There may be a bit of regret from the 34-year-old that he could not attain the help of Rafael Nadal in 2022.

The Spaniard is rightly considered the ‘King of Clay’ after he won 14 French Open titles and was nearly unbeatable at the Monte-Carlo Masters, as he won nine titles between 2005 and 2014.

Nadal had to battle hard just to beat Fritz but it came at a cost. Image: Alamy

Dimitrov has struggled on clay throughout his career, and this latest defeat to Etcheverry once again shone a light on this problem in the Bulgarian's game.

However, he did try to correct this issue by asking Nadal on a live stream on FanJolt to help him on the surface.

Dimitrov said: “Okay, how about this? Hypothetically, you’re done with your career, let’s say in ten years. I will call you and say, ‘Rafa, can you come with me for three clay-court tournaments?”

Nadal joked: “I’m very expensive, man.”

Yet, the Bulgarian may ask for help ahead of the French Open once again after this latest defeat on clay.