'IT'S A FAMILY THING': MONEGASQUE ROYAL MEMBER HELPING TENNIS GROW IN THE SECOND-SMALLEST COUNTRY

Sharing the honour of being part of a Royal family can become exhausting at the best of times, especially when juggling three jobs at once.

That is the role taken on by Mélanie-Antoinette de Massy, who is currently President of the Monte Carlo Country Club, Monegasque Tennis Federation and the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters.

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De Massy is the daughter of the late Baroness Elizabeth-Ann de Massy, who acted as the Princess of Monaco.

With the first Masters 1000 event on clay for 2025 almost reaching its conclusion, The First Serve host Brett Philipps sat down with Mélanie-Antoinette to delve into her unique responsibilities.

"It's a full-time job having three positions. It's a great honour," she told The First Serve Live on Monday Night.

"It's extremely interesting because I get to see all the aspects of the sport... It's interesting to see how players [and] Federations function. It's a lot of work, but I'm really happy to be doing this."

De Massy was joined by Prince Albert of Monaco and Novak Djokovic for a touching ceremony at the Monte Carlo Country Club, highlighting the family's love for the global sport.

"I think it's a family thing. [Prince Albert's] father and my grandmother love tennis; they used to play tennis as teenagers and real fans," de Massy said.

"My mother has been quite active since 1970, creating the first women's team for the Monte Carlo Country Club and she was trying to be quite active at the club, which is why she became Vice President at 24. She then became President of the Federation in 1988.

"It's always a pleasure when the Prince comes [to the Monte Carlo Country Club]. He comes to play sometimes at the club. Unfortunately, he is very busy so he doesn't have a lot of time, but it's a sport he really loves."

Throughout the week, there has been player representation from Monaco, with world No.256 Valentin Vacherot winning a main draw match before going down to the experienced Grigor Dimitrov.

In doubles, Romain Arneodo is hoping to book his spot in the final alongside France's Manuel Guinard, while Hugo Nys was eliminated in the round of 16.

"We keep one wildcard main draw [for a] Monaco player if he really deserves it, and that's Valentin Vacherot," she said. "He won his first-round match [this year], and the last time that happened for a Monégasque player was actually his half-brother in 2006.

"[I'm] really happy and proud. I gave [Vacherot] a huge hug and said, 'I'm so proud of you. Thank you, thank you'.

"It's exciting for our Federation. We are such a small nation - the second smallest country after the Vatican. I'm very proud of what we're doing and the last two to three years we have developed a structure for the juniors [and] now we have a junior Davis Cup team."

Hosting its 118th edition, the Monte Carlo tournament, which transitioned into a Masters event in 1990, is one of two Masters events that run for one week.

Despite the small venue, is expansion a possibility in the near future?

"For the moment, everything is up for discussion, but we are not planning to expand" she shared. "This could of course change in the future.

"We have to see [where we would fit] in the calendar because we wouldn't want to move. We're the oldest tournament on clay.

"I wouldn't want to change the dates and it wouldn't be good also for the weather and so on. We could grow, but the players like the small Masters events as it can get complicated for them if they have to stay longer.

"We've actually expanded our territory by 35 per cent this year [and] we've developed a brand new player village."

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