Article Written By: Nicholas Djordjevic
The stars have descended upon Indian Wells for the 2014 BNP Paribas Open, kicking off what is to be a heavy month of tennis in North America for a few participants, with the Sony Open Tennis commencing on the 19th in Miami just 4 days after the conclusion of Indian Wells.
One of the most prestigious tournaments of the year, Indian Wells will be setting the stage for what will be a real test of endurance, consistency and heart, as the likes of Djokovic, Murray, Nadal, Federer and Wawrinka will battle it out for a potential treasure chest-like load of prize money and Emirates ATP ranking points.
Novak Djokovic, The 2008 and 2011 BNP Paribas Open champion, seemed positive leading into the tournament. “Back-to-back Masters 1000 events are definitely not easy on the bodies but with a four or five day rest in between it helps us to recover and get ready,” said Djokovic at a press conference in New York City for World Tennis Day.
“The best-of-three sets (match format) always helps. Of course it is very physical now so you have to be ready to perform at the top of your physical condition.”
Defending Indian Wells Champion and current world number one, Rafael Nadal, had an on-court practice last night with Frenchman Richard Gasquet. While looking in excellent form, the Spaniard was seemingly reluctant to openly showcase his power and ability quite yet. When asked about his back, Nadal told AOSN, “It is good.”
A fan favorite, Nadal enjoyed a good post-practice session of mingling with fans, having a laugh and signing autographs among the large Spanish speaking community of the Coachella Valley.
Another Spaniard, Pablo Andujar, will be looking to rattle the draw in a potential third round much up with fifth seed Andy Murray. Andujar held two match points against Nadal in the Rio semifinals and just last week led Murray by a set and break last week in Acapulco, which was also Murray’s first professional South American venture.
Roger Federer, coming off his 6th Dubai championship, will be looking to reaffirm his status as the greatest of all time, flowing on the momentum of a recent resurgence of classic Federer. An interesting statistic recently surfaced that may all of a sudden be playing on the mind of each and every competitive player on the planet. Roger Federer has never retired from a match. 16 years and 1,154 played matches, almost 300 more than any active player and has never let a match go to waste.
To put that into perspective, the rest of the top ten players in total games played have a collective average of 12.4 career retirements. Those players being Nikolay Davydenko with 23, Tommy Haas with 23, Jarkko Nieminen with 15, Mikhail Youzhny with 13, Tommy Robredo with 9, Tomas Berdych with 9, David Ferrer with 7, Rafael Nadal with 7 and Lleyton Hewitt with 6
As the ATP season rolls on, things are only going to to shift and change more and more. March is setting the bar high for performance and professionalism.