Indian Wells will host the first Masters 1000 of the new season in exactly one month. The prestigious Californian tournament – defined by many as the ‘Fifth Slam’ – will start on March 5 and all the players will try to get there in the best possible conditions.
After the surprising victories of Cameron Norrie in 2021 and Taylor Fritz in 2022, the Californian tournament has been monopolized by Carlos Alcaraz in the last two editions. The young Spanish champion really loves these courts, which are the slowest on the entire tour of the hard courts.
The 21-year-old from Murcia defeated the same opponent in the 2023 and 2024 finals, Russian ace Daniil Medvedev, who will try to revive his career in California and end a long period of crisis. In addition to facing the Russian in the last two finals in Indian Wells, Carlitos faced his great rival Jannik Sinner in the last two semifinals in California prevailing in both cases.
The current world number 1 will not have to defend points in the first Masters 1000 of 2025, because the 400 points obtained there in 2024 were taken away from him due to the doping case.
ATP 1000 Indian Wells entry list
Novak Djokovic is also expected to participate in the 2025 ‘BNP Paribas Open’, where he will try to get a better result than last year (when he was defeated by the young Italian Luca Nardi playing one of the worst matches of his entire career).
The 24-time Grand Slam champion is still recovering from the injury to his left thigh suffered at the Australian Open and is expected to return to action as early as Doha, scheduled for the second half of February.
A few days ago, the presence of Nick Kyrgios was also announced who will use the protected ranking. The Australian ace disappointed expectations in both Brisbane and the AO, showing that he is still very far from the best form and hinting that 2025 will be the last year he will play singles.
For the moment, all the Top 100 of the ATP ranking appear in the Indian Wells entry list.
ATP1000 Indian Wells entry list – main draw + alternates, via @DartsTennis pic.twitter.com/McvbwWQVuW
— Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) February 4, 2025
Tennis World USA