Rafael Nadal To Start Indian Wells Bid Against Former Top 10 Star - UBITENNIS

Rafael Nadal To Start Indian Wells Bid Against Former Top 10 Star

By Adam Addicott
3 Min Read
Nadal RG 2022 by Night (foto @RolandGarros)

Rafael Nadal is set to take on Milos Raonic in his opening match at the BNP Paribas Open in what will only be his second tournament of the season. 

The former world No.1 is set to make a return to action in Indian Wells after being sidelined from action in recent weeks due to a minor muscle tear in his hip region. Nadal played an exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz last Sunday, which he lost in three close sets. However, his last ATP event took place during the first week of January where he reached the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International. 

Nadal’s upcoming opponent has also endured his fair share of injury setbacks. Raonic, who is a former Indian Wells finalist, is currently ranked outside the top 200 and has retired from two out of five matches played so far this season. It will be the 11th Tour-level meeting between the two with the Spaniard winning eight of their previous matches. 

Should Nadal win his opening match, he will take on Danish seventh seed Holger Rune. Whoever wins that match has a tough path ahead of them. Their future opponents could be Taylor Fritz in the fourth round followed by Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic and reigning champion Alcaraz. 

Top seed Novak Djokovic will start his campaign against either a qualifier or Aleksandar Vukic. The Serbian is playing in the event for the first time since 2019 and missing recent editions due to reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Djokovic’s projected route is Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round, Tommy Paul in the fourth and then Casper Ruud. Daniil Medvedev could be a semi-final opponent followed possibly by either Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner. 

Sinner and Alcaraz have been drawn in the same section with the No.2 ranking on the line. The Italian is defending 360 points which is more than half of half of what Alcaraz is defending (1000 points). 

Some notable first round matches to look out for include Stan Wawrinka taking on Tomas Machac, who is currently ranked 63rd in the world. Denis Shapovalov used his protected ranking to enter the tournament and will face former US Open quarter-finalist Botic van de Zandschulp. Finally, Andy Murray will start against a qualifier with the winner taking on Andrey Rublev. 

All 31 seeds in the draw have a bye in the first round. 

Should all go according to the seedings, the projected men’s quarter-finals are the following:-

  • No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 8 Hubert Hurkcacz
  • No. 4 Daniil Medvedev vs. No. 7 Holger Rune
  • No. 3 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 5 Andrey Rublev
  • No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz vs. No. 6 Alexander Zverev

This year’s champion will earn $1.1M in prize money. 

Leave a comment