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| Andy Murray won the event in 2013 |
Just after Indian Wells finished
last Sunday with Djokovic winning his first title of the season beating Federer
in the final, the second M1000 is about to start. Arguably the most important
of them all and usually described as the 5th slam, it will have
every top player in the field competing, unlike last year when players like
Federer and Nadal decided not to participate. There is no clear favorite for
the title and the other two big events so far this season (Australian Open
& Indian Wells) had more than one upset along the way.
Novak
Djokovic had a disappointing start to the season, going titleless until March,
something that hadn’t happened since 2006. He lost at the Australian Open for
the first time since 2010 and failed to defend the title also in Dubai, where
he lost in the semifinals to Roger Federer. Last week he won Indian Wells
beating Federer in 3 sets in the final and is slowly looking to regain his form
back. The Serbian will be looking to become the second player to win the Miami-Indian
Wells double twice after Roger Federer did so in 2005 and 2006. Novak won it
back in 2011, when he set a record of winning 5 Masters 1000 titles in one
season. He will also have the
opportunity to win a fourth M1000 title in a row after winning the
aforementioned Indian Wells and Paris and Shangai at the end of the 2013.
Rafael
Nadal had a start to the season hampered by injury after a terrific return to
the tour in 2013. After winning Doha he lost the final of the Australian Open
to Wawrinka, match in which he suffered a back injury that forced him to
withdraw from Buenos Aires. He returned to the tour winning the title in Rio de
Janeiro but struggled more than he does usually on clay (was very close to
defeat in the SF against Mariano Andujar). He then lost surprisingly in the 2nd
round of Indian Wells to Alexander Dolgopolov. Despite being the player with
more Masters 1000 titles ever, the Spaniard has never won the title here. He
reached the final in 2005, 2008 and 2011, losing to Roger Federer the first
time and to Novak Djokovic the other two. The world number 1 didn’t play here last year
so he can increase the gap in the ranking between him and the rest of the tour
even more. In the fourth round he may face Janowicz or Fognini, players that already
troubled him recently and has a potential QF with del Potro, that has beaten
him comfortably in their last match. If he reaches the semi final he could face
Stanislas Wawrinka who beat him in the Australian Open final a few weeks ago.
Roger
Federer is having a return to form this season after a very poor 2013. He
reached the final in Brisbane, semi final in the AO and then won the title in
Dubai beating Djokovic and Berdych along the way. He had a great performance in
Indian Wells too, reaching the final and only losing to Djokovic in a 3rd
set tie-break. The Swiss won the title here in 2005 and 2006 but has failed to
reach the final since then. He seems to
have an accessible draw until the semifinals where he’d face Novak Djokovic for
the third time this year. After a horrific 2013 that made him drop in the
rankings to the 8th spot he has already climb back to number 5 and
is only 105 points away from Ferrer, the current number 4.
Andy
Murray has been having a weak season so far after having surgery and missing
the last few months in 2003. He has yet to reach a final and only reached one
semi final, losing to Grigor Dimitrov in Acapulco. The draw wasn’t kind to him
as he has a potential QF with Djokovic. He’s defending the title (also won the
event in 2009) so he might be surpassed in the rankings by Berdych or del Potro
if he doesn’t manage to go far and they have a good tournament.
After
shocking the world by winning the Australian Open, Wawrinka only returned to the
tour in Indian Wells where he lost in the 3rd round to Anderson,
putting an end to a 14 match winning streak (aside from the aforementioned
Australian Open title he also won the title in Chennai and a Davis Cup match
against Serbia). He’s looking to reach
the QF here for the first time with Cilic and Haas/Dolgopolov as potential
obstacles in the earlier rounds. He could meet Berdych in the QF and Nadal in
the SF, same players he had to beat to win his first grand slam title in
Australia.
David
Ferrer reached the final here last year but he hasn’t been at his best since
2012, the best year of his career. In Buenos Aires he managed to finally win a
title again after losing the last 6 finals he played (coincidentally the last
title he had won was in Buenos Aires as well, in 2013) but he hasn’t look so
strong and didn’t reach another final having played six tournaments so far. He
had a match point in the final last year but ended losing in a 3rd
set tie break to Andy Murray in a match remember as one of the poorest M1000
finals in recent history. Dimitrov in the R16, Federer in the QF and Djokovic
in the SF stand as his biggest opponents if he is to reach the same stage
again.
Juan
Martin del Potro had a good start to the season winning the title in Sidney,
but things went downhill from there. He had a disappointing performance in the
Australian Open where he lost in the second round to Bautista Agut and he
followed with a QF in Rotterdam and a first round loss in Dubai, where he
retired after losing the first set to Devvarman. In these last two matches he was clearly hampered
by the wrist injury that has been affecting him since the summer of 2012. This
also forced him to miss Indian Wells where he had reached the final in 2013. He
didn’t have an easy draw and could face Raonic in the R16 and Nadal in the QF
but he has a lot of points to gain since he lost in the first round here the
past year.
Some lower
ranked players that may cause some noise these two weeks are Grigor Dimitrov,
Jerzy Janowicz and Fabio Fognini among others. The last two fell in the same
section of the draw and will face each other in the second round if they both
win their first round match. Dimitrov on
the other hand has the opportunity to advance a few rounds since the highest
seed in his section, David Ferrer isn’t at his best and he has beaten him in
their last meeting, the Stockholm final in 2013.
Predictions:
Semifinalists: Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka, Roger
Federer & Novak Djokovic
Finalists: Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic
Champion: Novak Djokovic
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