Preview: Indian Wells

BNP Paribas Open, the first ATP Maters 1000 is set to commence on 9 march at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. With the top 17 of the top 20 ATP players and big names from the WTA squad along with some important wild card entrants, the 41 edition is going to be a mix of power packed performances, drama, tenacity and endurance.

In the top 5, Roger Federer, a four-time champion at this event, is going to be absent for the first time after 15 consecutive appearances due to a persistent knee injury. The top seeds are going to be Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic, who is tied with Federer with 4 titles is going to aim for a fifth one and a third consecutive title here. A clash with the 3-time winner here, Rafael Nadal will be highly anticipated this time.

Apart from the top 10 seeded players at the event, he is going to face tough competition from the wild card entrant and former finalist at the event in 2013 Juan Martin del Potro. Also, there is going to be a fight back from the younger lot that includes Nick Kyrgios and Borna Coric.

Nick Kyrgios is going to make an appearance at the event after a row between fellow Australian player Bernard Tomic who went on to state ‘If he plays Indian Wells, then he’s definitely lost a little bit of my respect’. This is after Kyrgios withdrew from a Davis Cup match due to illness and now will be playing for the Indian Wells in no time.

The top doubles team will be of Bruno Soares – Jamie Murray, followed by Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek.

Venus Williams will be making a comeback to Indian Wells for the first time since 2001 setting up hopes for a clash with sister and top seed Serena Williams. It will be interesting to see how Angelique Kerber will fair at this event after her much talked about win over Serena Williams at the Australian Open this year.

The other big names include Agnieszka Radwanska (who has been playing strong this year), big hitters Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza and the young powerhouse Belinda Bencic. In the doubles corner, all eyes will be on the San-Tina pair who had an incredible 2015 as well as start to 2016. Their 41 match win streak came to an end in Doha, but they are most likely to wrap up the events as the winners.