The Rolex-sponsored Monte Carlo Open is another ATP 1000 event for men, following Indian Wells and Miami Masters. It has its popularity with top tennis professionals for a crucial reason. The tournament presents the first true clay surface, which along with several upcoming events, affords an opportunity for acclimatizing the players in the run up to the year’s second Grand Slam, beginning May 25, 2014. After Monte Carlo, there are nearly similar playing surfaces at Barcelona, Bucharest, Oeiras, Munich, Madrid, Rome, Dusseldorf and Nice, before the players converge at Paris’s famed Roland Garros arena in the last week of May.