Indian Wells 2019: Big 3 re-assembles in evenly-balanced men’s draw; Alexander Zverev headlines quarter of Next Gen stars

While the women had a few big tournaments to keep the top players occupied in February, the men had no comparable event to draw Novak Djokovic out of his post-Melbourne hibernation. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal made appearances in Dubai and Acapulco respectively, but we know that until the World No 1 enters the fray, everyone is just fighting for consolation prizes. In that sense, the year’s first ATP Masters 1000 – the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells – is like tennis’ equivalent of the ‘Avengers Assemble’ phenomenon in comic books. The ‘Big 3’ are all ready to fight for 1000 ranking points and prized addition to their already overflowing trophy cabinet, so you likely won’t be able to tear your eyes away from the on-court action over the next couple of weeks. The men’s draw for Indian Wells was announced earlier on Wednesday, and for what seems like the first time in a while, there is a roughly equal distribution of talent in every corner. Here’s a breakdown of the four quarters, and who might be expected to come out of each: First quarter: Revenge fetishists get their wish [caption id=“attachment_5756441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal won all four slams between the three of them in 2018. Agencies[/caption] Two years ago, Nick Kyrgios established a barely-believable dominance over Novak Djokovic, backing up his straight sets win in Acapulco with…another straight sets win in Indian Wells. Now, with Djokovic fully out of his mid-career slump and looking like the invincible force he was pre-2017, the two are scheduled to meet again at the same venue, in the third round. You can bet your last dollar that Djokovic would want to set the record straight and give Kyrgios a taste of what it means to really face a brick wall (a wall that can also shoot lasers of its own). But the situation may be a little more complicated than it looks; Kyrgios has to first get past Philipp Kohlschreiber or Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and it’s not clear yet whether the Australian’s Acapulco win has imbued him with enough focus to defeat low-profile opponents. Whether or not he faces (and defeats) Kyrgios though, Djokovic’s draw looks fairly interesting. He might face Gael Monfils in the fourth round, and possibly Borna Coric in the quarter-final. Coric on his part may have to deal with Ivo Karlovic’s serve bombs in the second round, Nikoloz Basilashvili’s groundstroke bombs in the third, and Gilles Simon’s bag of tireless tricks in the fourth. Dominic Thiem is slated to be Coric’s fourth-round opponent by seeding, but judging by the Austrian’s poor start to 2019 and poor hardcourt record in general, that match-up is unlikely to take place. Also here is Reilly Opelka, who could face Monfils in the second round. The gigantic American with the gigantic serve had a breakout February, winning the New York Open for his maiden career title, so he could possibly cause some damage in the desert. Quarter-final prediction: Novak Djokovic def. Borna Coric Dark horse: Nick Kyrgios First-round match to watch: Philipp Kohlschreiber vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert Second quarter: Which Next Gen player will put his hand up? Alexander ‘Sascha’ Zverev might still be a part of the ‘Next Gen and thereabouts’ group, but he’s been headlining his own quarter at big events for a while now. He is coming into Indian Wells on the back of a decent tournament in Acapulco; he lost the singles final to Kyrgios, but won the doubles title with his brother Mischa. Sascha probably wants to see a little less of his brother right now though, because the two have been drawn to be on the same court again – this time as potential second-round singles opponents. If the World No 3 handles the emotions of facing his big brother well (as he did in the only time they played each other, last year in Washington), he could face Grigor Dimitrov in the third round and Alex de Minaur or Milos Raonic in the fourth. This could probably be called the NextGen quarter, as Zverev and De Minaur are joined by two other talented youngsters – Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime, who could face each other in the second round. And trying to stop the youth brigade’s march will be a couple of veterans – Roberto Bautista Agut (who Tsitsipas or Auger-Aliassime could face in the third round) and Kevin Anderson, who is slated to be their fourth-round foe. Tsitsipas is arguably the best placed to come out of this crowded section, having recently won in Marseille and reached the final in Dubai. But fatigue could also be a factor, as the Greek has played a lot of tennis over the last couple of weeks – which means Anderson and Bautista Agut need to be kept an eye on too. Quarter-final prediction: Alexander Zverev def. Kevin Anderson Dark horse: Roberto Bautista Agut First-round match to watch: Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Cameron Norrie Third quarter: Mr. 100 gets back to business Roger Federer has been making a lot of headlines lately. He won his eighth Dubai title last week, which also happened to be his 100th career title, and he looked as good as he ever has in his last two matches of the tournament. Now that he has that weight lifted off his shoulders, will he find it difficult to find the motivation for subsequent non-Slam events, or will he play with more freedom and thus be even more dangerous than usual? He won’t have much time to ease into the answer, as he could face countryman and three-time Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in the third round itself. Wawrinka is still in the middle of his long-winding post-injury comeback, but he looked sharp in reaching the Rotterdam final a couple of weeks ago. A rematch of the 2017 final could well wake the sleepy town of Indian Wells out of its slumber. Kei Nishikori is the highest seed at the other end of this quarter, and he has a fairly comfortable first match before potentially running into Australian Open semi-finalist Lucas Pouille. Pouille had an injury-ravaged February, and it remains to be seen whether he is back to full fitness yet. Also in this quarter are Next-Gen players Denis Shapovalov and Frances Tiafoe, as well as the mercurial Fabio Fognini and the experienced Marin Cilic. Cilic has somehow found himself out of the top-8, and his punishment (or reward in disguise?) is finding himself in an obscure part of the draw, where he could face Shapovalov in the third round. Fognini meanwhile could run into Federer in the fourth round – if he gets past Tiafoe or Kyle Edmund in the third round, that is. Quarter-final prediction: Roger Federer def. Marin Cilic Dark horse: Denis Shapovalov First-round match to watch: Frances Tiafoe vs Nicolas Jarry Fourth quarter: Will Rafael Nadal rediscover his hardcourt form? Rafael Nadal looked like a different player at this year’s Australian Open, taking the ball on the rise and employing a strategy of all-out attack – which helped him greatly too, until he ran into the Djokovic buzzsaw. But he reverted to type in his Acapulco second round match against Nick Kyrgios last week, standing 10 feet behind the baseline while returning serve and generally looking less than confident with his game. Which version will show up in Indian Wells? His opening match against Jared Donaldson may not necessarily clue us in, because the Nadal’s standard weapons will likely be too strong for the American. A third round tilt against Diego Schwartzman might be a greater challenge, but only if Schwartzman has gotten past his recent injury and form woes. The Spaniard’s first real test is likely to come in the fourth round, where he could go up against Daniil Medvedev or David Goffin. At the other end of this section is John Isner, who has reached the Indian Wells final in the past. He faces Jaume Munar in his opener and possibly Ernests Gulbis after that, but his next opponent is hard to predict; he could face one of Tomas Berdych, Feliciano Lopez, Robin Haase or Pablo Carreno Busta, all of whom are coming in with question marks around them. Khachanov won the last Masters event (Paris), but he’s had a torrid start to 2019. The Russian has been struggling to win sets, let alone matches or tournaments, and he would be desperately hoping for a turnaround in the California desert. Quarter-final prediction: Rafael Nadal def. Tomas Berdych Dark horse: David Goffin First-round match to watch: Tomas Berdych vs Feliciano Lopez Semi-final predictions: Novak Djokovic def. Alexander Zverev, Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer Final prediction: Novak Djokovic def. Rafael Nadal