Indian Wells, BNP Paribas Open, Masters 1000

[britbox]

DATE: March 08 - 18 2018
SURFACE: HARD
PRIZE MONEY: $7,972,535
FIELD SIZE: 96
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Roger Federer
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The Venue:

Under the watch of Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle (a huge Database company) and one of the world's richest men, Indian Wells has firmly established itself as one of the world's elite tennis venues. The views might not match those of Monte Carlo, but the facilities are state of the art.

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden boasts the second largest tennis stadium in the world with Stadium 1 housing over 16,000 fans and 44 suites. Only Flushing Meadows can boast a higher capacity.

Since the above aerial shot was taken Stadium 2 has been added to the Tennis Garden (housing an additional 8,000 spectators)

The venue is situated near Palm Springs, California, in the Coachella Valley and has also played host to various touring bands such as The Who and Andrea Bocelli.It has also hosted NBA pre-season games.

The Players:

The ATP tour is currently littered with injury casualties. Rafael Nadal has confirmed he won't play Indian Wells or Miami following his withdrawal in Acapulco.

Andy Murray is still injured and unlikely to return before the grass court season. Novak Djokovic is still (at the time of writing) on the entry-list but must be considered doubtful. Djokovic is currently in Las Vegas with Andre Agassi. Stan Wawrinka is another marquee name out with an injury.

Ellison and the Indian Wells team will be relieved to hear that Roger Federer is playing. Federer will roll into town as the heavy favourite to repeat last years success.

Marin Cilic, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and an in-form Juan Martin Del Potro will be the most likely potential threats to Federer repeating here. Nick Kyrgios is questionable to play, but he is another who could upset the apple cart on any given day.

Wildcards:

The following players have been awarded wildcards into the main draw:

Tennys Sandgren
Ernesto Escobedo
Bradley Klahn
Reilly Opelka
Taylor Fritz
Alex de Minaur

Coverage:

Tennis Channel and ESPN to Combine for 120+ Hours of Live Coverage. Additionally, all main draw singles matches from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden can be live-streamed via TennisTV (ATP World Tour) and WTA TV.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I think in order to fill the field, they have allotted 5 slots to TP Posters. :lulz2:

 

[10isfan]

Fed meets Potro in the quarters? He has to win that to remain number one? If so, I’m not optimistic.

 

[Front242]

Tommy Haas is the Tournament Director at Indian Wells and still hasn't actually officially retired from tennis. Would be nice if he was healthy enough to make a cameo here Holding out some hope he may be playing grass court season one last time this year.

 

[britbox]

Indian Wells is awarding a $1 million bonus if a player can win both the singles and doubles events. I wonder if Federer will enter the doubles? I doubt it... it's not like he needs the cash, but would be interesting if he did.

 

[britbox]

Tommy Haas is the Tournament Director at Indian Wells and still hasn't actually officially retired from tennis. Would be nice if he was healthy enough to make a cameo here Holding out some hope he may be playing grass court season one last time this year.

Tommy Haas' departure might be the longest goodbye in tennis history! I'd also like to see him have one last hurrah on the grass courts though... maybe even a Wimbledon wildcard. More realistically, it would be good to see him have a cameo at Stuttgart or Halle.

 

[atttomole]

Fed meets Potro in the quarters? He has to win that to remain number one? If so, I’m not optimistic.

Is the draw out?

 

[britbox]

Is the draw out?

ATP draw is out Tuesday, WTA is Monday.

 

[britbox]

 

[Andy22]

Thiem could be the one to save this event, but its likely to be a C-D level event just like all events that don't have Rafael nadal.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Tommy Haas is the Tournament Director at Indian Wells and still hasn't actually officially retired from tennis. Would be nice if he was healthy enough to make a cameo here Holding out some hope he may be playing grass court season one last time this year.

The chances that he would play at IW is less considering he would be busy with organization/management. Also, I kind of vaguely remember he declaring that he is done even though he did not do so before his last match.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Indian Wells is awarding a $1 million bonus if a player can win both the singles and doubles events. I wonder if Federer will enter the doubles? I doubt it... it's not like he needs the cash, but would be interesting if he did.

No way. Fed is very careful about scheduling this year. All he wants is majors and YE#1. The $1 million wouldn't entice him, especially considering his doubles buddy Stan is sitting out also.

 

[Andy22]

Del potro could sent Federer fans crazy then he beats Federer, del potro is getting back to his best tennis.

 

[britbox]

No way. Fed is very careful about scheduling this year. All he wants is majors and YE#1. The $1 million wouldn't entice him, especially considering his doubles buddy Stan is sitting out also.

Yeah, I didn't seriously think so... but maybe Serena will give it a go?

 

[Andy22]

At least thiem playing, still a D-C event, meaning its going to suck?

 

[atttomole]

Thiem could be the one to save this event, but its likely to be a C-D level event just all events that don't have Rafael nadal.

What do you mean by that?

 

[atttomole]

Del potro could sent Federer fans crazy then he beats Federer, del potro is getting back to his best tennis.

Del Potro is able to beat Federer. He has done it before, but don’t bet on it because Roger is playing well too.

 

[Federberg]

Del potro could sent Federer fans crazy then he beats Federer, del potro is getting back to his best tennis.

he's also fully capable of beating Rafa at RG if he gets back to his best and Rafa's not at his best. Not saying it'll happen but don't count your chickens

 

[DarthFed]

We've been hearing about the resurrection of DP for almost 8 years now. It has t happened and probably won't. Winning an ATP 500 isn't going to prove anything.

I like the guy but you have people that are too sentimental propping him up to a higher level than he can play at this point. 2009 DP isn't walking through that door.

 

[britbox]