The Indian Wells men’s draw was released on Tuesday afternoon and is headlined by Roger Federer, who will be contesting his first event since he returned to the world No. 1 ranking two weeks ago.
Australian Open runner-up Marin Cilic is the No. 2 seed in the absence of the second-ranked Rafael Nadal, who has pulled out of both Indian Wells and Miami with a hip injury.
Here are some of the main talking points surrounding the men’s draw, which gets underway on Thursday.
FED’S THE FAVOURITE
This is the first time since 2010 that Federer is seeded No. 1 at Indian Wells, where has been crowned champion five times.
The Swiss is the current title holder and heads into the tournament with a clean 12-0 win-loss record for the season. It’s March and Federer hasn’t lost a match yet.
He’s going for title number three of 2018 and shares a half of the draw with third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. Federer’s quarter includes No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem and young guns Denis Shapovalov and Chung Hyeon.
He is the outright favourite for the title and has a very manageable draw.
DJOKOVIC’S BACK
Novak Djokovic appears to have made a swift recovery from the elbow surgery he had early last month and is in Indian Wells ready to play.
The Serb is seeded No. 10 and has landed in the same quarter as freshly-crowned Acapulco champion Juan Martin del Potro and Cilic.
Djokovic opens his campaign against one of two qualifiers and the first seed he could meet is 22nd-seeded Kei Nishikori in the third round.
It’s a tricky draw for Djokovic to navigate and will be a real test for his elbow. He too is a five-time Indian Wells champion. Can he make it six?
THE TOP SPOT
Even though Nadal isn’t here, Federer could still lose the No. 1 ranking since he is defending 1000 points as last year’s winner. Nadal lost in the fourth round in the 2017 edition and will drop just 90 points this fortnight. Federer will need to reach at least the semi-finals to hold onto the summit.
THE ABSENTEES
Besides Nadal (hip) and the still recovering Andy Murray (hip), the list of tournament withdrawals includes David Goffin (eye), Richard Gasquet (knee), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (knee) and Stan Wawrinka (knee).
PROJECTED QUARTER-FINALS (BY SEED)
Roger Federer (SUI) [1] v Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5]
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [3] v Kevin Anderson (RSA) [7]
Jack Sock (USA) [8] v Alexander Zverev (GER) [4]
Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) [6] v Marin Cilic (CRO) [2]