The first week of March saw tennis move to the US where the Sunshine Double awaited. With both tours competing at the Indian Wells Open over the last seven days, there’s plenty to break down even though the event is barely halfway complete.
Djokovic bombs out again
Novak Djokovic bombed out in the last event he played, losing his first match in Doha against Matteo Berrettini. Things didn’t go that much better in Indian Wells. For the second year in a row, Djokovic was beaten in his opening match at the Indian Wells Masters.
Last year it was against Luca Nardi and this year it was against Botic van de Zandschulp. It was an odd match, but the bottom line was similar to that in Doha. He simply wasn’t good enough, especially with 37 unforced errors. He never looked comfortable, never looked in the match, and it’s worrying.
Fans are concerned that this might not be something random but actually part of a broader decline, though only time can tell. Clay will provide good answers, but post-Australian Open Djokovic has not been very good.
Seeds fumbling
Djokovic is not the only seed that lost early in Indian Wells. There were a couple others beaten early, including Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev. The latter in particular will find his recent form rather aggravating.
With Jannik Sinner being barred from tennis for three months, Zverev got a decent chance of possibly becoming world No 1. He needed a good run, but it’s been anything but that. Despite being the highest-ranked player during the Golden Swing in South America, Zverev struggled massively, barely winning any points.
He wasn’t very good in Acapulco and was now beaten early at the Indian Wells Masters as well. It might just be that Sinner will keep his No 1 rank without having to do anything simply because Zverev can’t seem to win two matches in a row.
Daniil Medvedev shows off humor after IW win
Daniil Medvedev is on record about hating the Indian Wells court. Traditionally, the event has always played rather slow. It is a hard court event, but the court was generally quite bouncy and rather slow, mimicking kind of how clay played.
It wasn’t uncommon for clay specialists to score a few wins here at the event, unlike generally on hard courts. He generally hates anything slow and has ranted repeatedly at the Indian Wells Masters because of the courts.
What makes it even more fun is that he made the final in the previous two editions despite hating the court, and what’s even funnier is that the court is even slower this year. Not only that, it’s not that bouncy either, making it even harder to generate power and hit through.
That shift should benefit him even more, even though he probably won’t like it. He found the fun side in it, though, writing on the camera “very fast court” after winning his first match at the event. It’s good to see Medvedev in good spirits after the unfortunate things that happened in the Middle East.
New couple alert
It seems like the tennis world has a new tennis couple, as Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova was spotted watching the match of Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in Indian Wells. He was also seen at her matches which only solidified the rumors, though they haven’t made it official yet, at least not on social media.
Jessica Pegula offers fellow players a ride on her private jet
Jessica Pegula was in Austin recently and played the singles final. She won the event and was about to make her way to Indian Wells when she offered a couple of other players who got stuck in Austin a ride on her jet as they were all traveling to the same location.
Chinese players Zhang Shuai and Yuan Yue both thanked Pegula for the gesture. Pegula is famously the daughter of Terry Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Bills, with a net worth of eight billion. She’s also a really great tennis player in her own right. Read more about Pegula, her racquet and career.
Coming up this week
Obviously, next week is going to be dominated by the second week of the Indian Wells Masters. There are plenty of great players remaining in the draw, including Carlos Alcaraz, who is widely considered the favorite to win the event.
Daniil Medvedev is in there as well, and the women’s draw is looking pretty strong as well, with both Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka in hot form. Overall, next week we’ll see the conclusion of the first half of the Sunshine double, after which the Tour moves to Miami.
