BNP Paribas India Wells Masters ATP nominees

The list of nominees  include the following:-

*    Carlos Alcaraz - very interesting to follow his career path

*    Novak Djokovic  - not sure he will in fact allowed to play because of his vaccination status.   His last match in Dubai showed he needs game practice and he may still be the same way even if he does play in Indian Wells

*     Matteo Berrettini because of  injury worries - unlikely he would actually play.

*    The other  top 10 players are all nominated.   

*    Dominic Thiem has not played any tennis for near to a year and is nominated - but will he in fact play?   

I thought that  Casper Ruud may be out with an injury - but he played for Norway in the Davis Cup play-offs.  

Incidentally the WTA and ATP  tournaments will be played simultaneously and the Women Qualifying matches starting today with the men starting tomorrow,   The draws will be undertaken 15:00 Indian Wells time on Tuesday - ie SA time 01:00 on Wednesday morning.       

The qualifying rounds will start on 8 March and the first Round matches will commence on 10 March  with  the finals being played on 20 March 2022.

There will apparently be 48 First Round matches with the 16 seeded players will start playing in Round 2.   Round 2  will entail 32 matches - Round 3  will entail 16 matches and Round 4 will entail 8 matches.   So the playing program would rather follow the route of the Majors.   

I will definitely provide the seeding list before the First Round - but will not give a breakdown of Matches in Round 1.  Will try and get the Round 2 info on site.   

 The qualifying rounds for the Miami Masters Tournament will start on 23 March 2022. 

The problem faced by Russian Players who disagree with the present Invasion of Ukraine is they cannot return to Russia without having to face serious problems - even potential imprisonment.

Rublev is in fact operating from Miami and is likely to remain in the USA for the foreseeable future - while Medvedev has a housing unit in Monaco.   Rublev has clearly pleaded for peace and is openly against the war - while both Medvedev and Khachanov has removed the Russian flag from their instagram accounts.  

What is not clear is how the two will perform in the USA having to counter animosity on the part of the spectators,   Rublev was tennis player of the month for February 2022 having reached the semi-final in Rotterdam and then the next week won the Marseilles tournament both the single and doubles trophies.   In the third series  he also won the Dubai Open tournament.   In the final he had to face the qualifier who sent Djokovic packing in the quarterfinal.   He never really was under real pressure in the final.

Looking at what happened thus far in the women's game there will be 12 qualifiers and then 4 more unlucky losers or additional wildcards  that would be going through to the main series,   The men qualifications start today - but the draw for the qualifiers have not been provided yet - likely to happen within the next 12 hours- but that could be according to the same format.   Be it as it may Round One would entail 48 matches - leaving 48 winners - it round 2 will require 64 players in 32 matches so there will be 16 seeded players not playing in Round 1 that will make up the difference.             

Information on the seeding and draw will be made available on Wednesday with the Qualifying matches starting on Tuesday.  There is no certaincy whether Djokovic will in fact play and Berrettini is likely out of contention due to injury.

After the Dubai final Rublev said he will sleep for two days and will then go surfing - probably in Miami while after that moving to .Indian Wells.