Second round action in the top half of the draw at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday features World No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka, No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 8 Dominic Thiem and No. 10 Gael Monfils. There are 11 other seeds on the order of play. In the first men’s match on Stadium 1, Tsonga brings a 4-0 FedEx ATP head-to-head record against Fabio Fognini. Tsonga has two wins on clay and hard courts against the Italian No. 2. Tsonga is one of three players (Dimitrov, Sock) with two ATP World Tour titles this season. He also leads the ATP World Tour with 17 match wins (17-3). Fognini is trying to earn his first Top...
Rafael Nadal has traveled the world competing on the ATP World Tour, but the Spaniard says that one place has a special place in his heart. Speaking to the Indian Wells faithful on a brisk Friday night at the BNP Paribas Open, following a first-round doubles victory with Bernard Tomic, Nadal conveyed his admiration for the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year. Nestled in the sun-drenched Coachella Valley, it's tennis in paradise. "It's no doubt that these are my two favorite weeks of the year," said Nadal. Nadal returns to his happy hunting ground in the California desert, having lifted the trophy on five occasions - three times in singles and twice in doubles. The 29...
• The bottom half of the main draw action at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday features four #NextGenATP players: American wild cards Taylor Fritz and Stefan Kozlov along with Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Borna Coric of Croatia. • In the lone men’s singles match on Stadium 1, Frenchman Benoit Paire takes on Fritz for the first time. Fritz was the ATP Star of Tomorrow recipient last season for becoming the youngest player to finish in the Top 100 Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 76. Fritz is trying to break a 13-match losing streak against Top 50 opponents. Paire is ranked No. 40. • There are three matches on Stadium 2 with 2013-14 quarter-finalist Kevin Anderson of South Africa...
He’s hit every high there is in tennis, but in the past few months Novak Djokovic has also had to endure some of the lows. They say the only way is down once you reach the top, but the Serbian insisted on Thursday that he is as hungry as ever and determined to fight his way back to the pinnacle of the sport. Djokovic was seemingly unstoppable as of June 2016. He finally achieved his lifelong dream of winning Roland Garros, completing the career Grand Slam, and had a healthy lead on his closest competitors in the Emirates ATP Rankings. But a shock third-round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon led to a frustrating second half of the season. By...
Forget the stacked bottom half of the BNP Paribas Open singles draw for a second. How about the loaded doubles draw in Indian Wells? In addition to former champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan and top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the draw features a plethora of ATP World Tour singles stars. On the top half, three-time defending singles champion Novak Djokovic is pairing with countryman Viktor Troicki. They'll face Indian Rohan Bopanna and Brasil Open singles champion Pablo Cuevas in the first round. In the same quarter, World No. 6 Rafael Nadal is partnering with Aussie Bernard Tomic. Nadal/Tomic will meet Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain and Joao Sousa of Portugal in their opener. On the bottom half,...
