Zizou Bergs responds to Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal from Monte-Carlo doubles tournament

Zizou Bergs and Jannik Sinner teamed up for the 2026 Monte Carlo Doubles tournament.

The duo won their first-round match against Casper Ruud and Tomas Machac, 6-4, 7-5, on Court Rainier III.

However, Sinner withdrew from the doubles competition before their second-round clash with Manuel Guinard and Guido Andreozzi to concentrate on singles action. He is chasing a return to the world number-one ranking.

Bergs had just beaten Andrey Rublev in his own singles second round when he was asked about Sinner’s decision to pull out of doubles.

Zizou Bergs calls Jannik Sinner’s decision to pull out ‘unfortunate’ but is hopeful they’ll link up again

Speaking to the Tennis Channel, Bergs explained how their time as doubles partners was brief, but he hopes it’s not the last time.

“Unfortunately, there had to come an end to it today,” he said. “But hopefully in the future, we can still play a little bit together.”

Bergs also talked about how their partnership came together.

“Yeah, we were training in Indian Wells, and we had some fun,” Bergs said. “We had some talks. We talked a little bit about doubles, and then practice was done, and he asked me ‘Do you want to play doubles in Monte Carlo?’”

“I was like ‘I’ll think about it’ [laughs].” Bergs went on to say: “Obviously a lot of people are wondering why he wants to play doubles with me. Honestly? I don’t know!”

“But I was open-minded. We had a lot of fun and played some good tennis.”

If Sinner does decide he wants another run at a doubles event in 2026, there’s no question who he should be calling first.

Sinner and Bergs both make early moves in Monte Carlo singles

Bergs, unseeded, entered the singles draw a round earlier than his doubles partner.

There, he took on the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who hadn’t won an ATP Tour clay-court match since defeating Yannick Hanfmann in Houston, 373 days ago. Bergs entered as a heavy favourite and advanced comfortably with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

But his second-round matchup was far tougher. Facing 2023 champion Rublev, Bergs needed to deliver something special. And he did just that, overwhelming the Russian on Court des Princes with a 6-4, 6-1 win. Next up for Bergs is Alexander Zverev and a shot at the quarter-finals.

Sinner has played just one singles match so far this year in Monte Carlo. In that match (the second round), Sinner cruised past Ugo Humbert with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 result. He was pleased with his performance but kept expectations measured afterwards.

“I come here with good feelings,” Sinner said after his win over Humbert. “But at the same time not many expectations.”

Up next for him is Tomas Machac of Czechia and another chance to move closer to the last eight. There’s more than just the title at stake for Sinner—he’s also within reach of reclaiming the world number-one ranking from Carlos Alcaraz if results go his way this week.

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