The first big tennis tournament following the US Open takes place at Indian Wells in California, USA. The majority of the best players in both competitions will be involved in this ATP Masters 1000 contest, yet some notable names, unfortunately, won’t.
Men’s part of the draw is without the Big 3, Novak, Rafa and Rodger, but that will only add more thrill to the tournament. Without them, we’ll see a ruthless fight between their successors, which promises a lot of fun.
When talking about the ladies, they too will have several notable absences, like Barty, Osaka and Serena. Still, the same applies here as in the previous case. Other girls are more than ambitious to capture one of the biggest tournaments in the WTA Tour.
Men’s draw
All the options are open here with Novak out. Even though the Serbian lost in New York, don’t be fooled that it would affect his game at this tournament. He is one of the mentally strongest athletes ever, and he would bounce back, no doubt.
His absence leaves Daniil Medvedev as the top favorite. The Russian was playing well all along this year, and winning the title at Flushing Meadows was a well-deserved reward for him. It is no wonder why many see him as the future No.1, and the player with the biggest potential of all those who want to replace Novak atop the list.
This will never get old 😂 Throwing it back to 2017 Indian Wells 🎶
(via @rogerfederer @TommyHaas13 @DjokerNole @GrigorDimitrov #BNPPO21 #TennisParadise) pic.twitter.com/9CQthAiQb5
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 5, 2021
The recent Olympic champion, Alexander Zverev, is the next on the list. The German is very stable this season, which is something we didn’t see from him in the previous years. He finally shows signs of maturing, and if he manages to keep it like that, he has a nice future ahead of him.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rubles, Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner, are all behind this trio, and behind them is young Canadian, Felix Auger Aliassime. Now, in our personal opinion, he is one of the most outstanding talents seen in recent times. Keep an eye on him as the potential dark horse.
The main battle here will be between Zverev and Medvedev, and our pick would be the German, who has what it takes to win another tournament this season and has a much bigger motive to shine here, as he didn’t manage to win the US Open. Plus, he lost to Novak in New York, not Medvedev, against whom he has a positive head-to-head record, 5-4.
Pick: Zverev at BetXchange
Ladies draw
Now predicting a winner in any of the ladies’ tournaments this year has been a lottery. All of them have been so intense filled with surprises, and we can say that 2021 was a masterful year for women’s tennis. It was far more entertaining than the gents’.
Serena, Osaka, and Barty aren’t here. That made the recent US Open winner, Emma Raducanu, the No.1 favorite for the title, slightly ahead of several closely packed rivals, Iga Swiatek, Garbine Muguruza, Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova, Maria Sakkari, etc.
It's time.
After 932 days away, professional tennis makes its return to Indian Wells 🌴 pic.twitter.com/XYpv0zjPE0
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) October 4, 2021
All of these girls play superb tennis, but our pick here would be Muguruza, who recently won the tournament in Chicago and is already adapted to the circumstances and all the other factors.
Of course, we want to say again that the predictions in the ladies’ competition are far more risky than in the men’s, this year so don’t take them for granted.
Pick: Muguruza at BetXchange
