The BNP Paribas Open 2014
ATP Masters 1000 Series
March 6th to 16th
at The Indian Wells Tennis Garden
Britain's number one tennis player, Andy Murray has now slid down the rankings from his lofty, pre operation position of number 2, to a lowly number 6. This of course means he runs the risk of having to play the top ranked player earlier than the final. And that's just what has happened in Indian Wells as Murray has been drawn to be the potential quarter final opponent for Rafael Nadal.
If he does manage to beat him, it will be the winner of the all Swiss showdown, if they both get there that is, of all time great, Roger Federer and the new Australian Open champion, Stanislas Wawrinka. That's a real tough draw for Andy and there's no particular evidence yet that the Wimbledon champ is about to regain the form that took him to that number 2 high spot. His first opponent in this, the first ATP 1000 event of the year, could be Lukáš Rosol, the Czech player who beat Nadal famously at Wimbledon in 2012. Further down the line could come tricky opponents in the shape of Pablo Andujar, Jerzy Janowicz and Milos Raonic.
The bottom half of the draw is headed by the number 2 seed, Novak Djokovic. His projected semi final opponent is Tomas Berdych and also in this half of the draw are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet.
The action starts, well it's started already, but the televised tournament starts on Saturday night at 8pm on Sky Sports 3.
Men's draw
In the WTA event being held simultaneously at the same venue, Britain's former number 1, but now down to number 3, Guernsey's Heather Watson, has already won three matches this week, without dropping a set. She won both her qualifying matches and yesterday won her first round proper match against the Swiss girl Belinda Bencic 7-5, 6-4. This has earned Heather a pop at the number 2 seed for the tournament, Agnieska Radwanska. Johanna Konta didn't make it though. She was beaten in the second qualifying round by the Aussie, Casey Dellacqua.
Britain's number 1, Laura Robson, is still recovering from the wrist injury she sustained last year and has restricted her appearances this year.
Women's draw
2014 Calendar. Grand Slams and ATP Masters 1000 Series
13 Jan: Australian Open, Melbourne. Winner - Stanislas Wawrinka
6 Mar: BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells.
19 Mar: Sony Open, Miami.
13 Apr: Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Monte-Carlo.
4 May: Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid.
11 May: Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Rome.
25 May: French Open, Roland Garros, Paris.
23 June: Wimbledon.
4 Aug: Rogers Cup, Montreal.
10 Aug: Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati.
25 Aug: US Open, Flushing Meadows, New York.
5 Oct: Shanghai Rolex Masters, Shanghai.
27 Oct: BNP Paribas Masters, Paris.
9 Nov: Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, O2 Arena, London.