The first Masters 1000 event of the season will get underway this week at the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
96 players in the main draw will fight it out to win 1000 ranking points and $1,262,200 in prize money. Past winners include Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer who have both claimed the trophy on five separate occasions. Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt and Pete Sampras have also won Indian Wells multiple times.
Here are five topics to follow during the 2023 tournament.
1) Will Djokovic lose his No.1 position?
Following the withdrawal of Djokovic from Indian Wells, the door has opened for two players to claim the No.1 position in the coming weeks. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who reached the semi-finals 12 months ago, can return to the top spot if he wins the title. Alcaraz began his season later than others due to injury but has already won a Tour title in Argentina and then reached the final of the Rio Open before pulling out of his next event due to a hamstring issue.
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas will not be able to remove Djokovic from the top spot no matter how well he performs. However, should he win the Indian Wells title, he will put himself in contention of claiming the No.1 position at his next tournament which will be the Miami Masters.
Djokovic hasn’t publicly commented on his withdrawal this week but it is assumed that he had no choice but to do so after being unsuccessful in his attempt to be awarded a special exemption to enter America. The country has a national health emergency law in place until May which requires all foreign visitors to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
2) Is Medvedev the player to beat?
Daniil Medvedev has shown he is back playing his best tennis after winning three consecutive Tour titles within as many weeks. The former US Open champion is currently on a 14-match winning streak and has recorded more wins on the ATP Tour than any other player so far this season. Out of those 14 wins, six of those were against players currently ranked in the top 20, including Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime (twice) and Djokovic.
Medvedev’s opening match will be a testing encounter. Granted a bye in the first round, he will take on either former champion John Isner or reigning Next Gen Finals champion Brandon Nakashima.
“The more I can achieve this season, the better. If I can manage to keep the level I played these three weeks, I can do big things and I know about it,” Medvedev told reporters in Dubai on Sunday.
“But other players want to win also, so it’s not going to be easy.”
Medvedev has been drawn in the same half as Tsitsipas, Rublev and Casper Ruud.
3) Fritz faces a tough task
12 months ago Taylor Fritz delighted home fans by winning the biggest title of his career at Indian Wells when he defeated Rafael Nadal in the final. Since then the 25-year-old reached his first major quarter-final at Wimbledon and has won another three ATP trophies, including this year’s Delray Beach Open.
However, Indian Wells will be a new test of Fritz’s ability to handle pressure. With 1000 points on the line he faces the prospect of attempting to defend a title for the first time in his career. Furthermore, he is required to produce another deep run at the tournament to avoid the prospect of exiting the world’s top five. Last month he became the first American to crack the top five since Andy Rodick in 2009.
Fritz is seeded fourth in this year’s draw and could be another player set to experience a tricky opening match. He will begin his campaign against either veteran player Fabio Fognini or rising star Ben Shelton who reached the quarter-finals of this year’s Australian Open on his debut. He could also potentially play 30th seed Sebastian Baez in the third round followed by either Borna Coric or Alex De Minaur.
4) Ruud seeks a change in fortune
Casper Ruud enters the first Masters 1000 event of 2023 in need of a confidence boost. So far this year the Norwegian has contested three tournaments but is yet to win back-to-back matches. He lost his opening match at the ASB Classic before suffering a second round defeat at the Australian Open. Ruud then took a mini break from the Tour for a training block which most of his peers conducted during the off-season. He returned to action last week in Mexico where he suffered a three sets loss to Taro Daniel in the second round.
Despite his string of achievements such as being runner-up at two Grand Slam events in 2022, Ruud has never won a Masters final but came close in Miami last year. At Indian Wells, his best result was a run to the fourth round in 2021.
In Ruud’s section of his draw, he could play Yoshihito Nishioka in the third round followed by Karen Khachanov. He has won 9 titles so far in his career but all of his triumphs were at ATP 250 events.
5) Could Rune spring a shock?
Last November Holger Rune illustrated for the first time how much of a threat he can be with a sensational run at the Paris Masters which saw him defeat five top 10 players in a row en route to the title. The Dane hasn’t won another trophy since then but has reached the semi-finals of events in Montpellier and Acapulco.
Rune has been hindered by a wrist issue in recent weeks and looked to be physically suffering from cramps during his clash with de Minaur in Mexico. However, his coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, has insisted that he is fully fit heading into Indian Wells.
The 19-year-old has shown he has what it takes to compete against the best in the world and should be considered a potential outsider to win the title if he is fully fit. He is the seventh seed in the draw which is a massive turnaround compared to 2022 when he had to come through qualifying to secure a place in the main draw.
The full men’s draw can be viewed HERE.
