The first Masters 1000 of the men’s tennis season will have the sensitive casualties of Novak Djokovic, out for the third year in a row for his refusal to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, and Rafael Nadal, who is recovering from the injury suffered in January at the Open of Australia.
Alcaraz, 19, the great jewel of world tennis, also traveled to the desert Indian Wells (200 km east of Los Angeles) between cotton pads due to the hamstring problem he suffered in the final lost in Rio de Janeiro on February 27.
Last year, the El Palmar prodigy lost in the Indian Wells semifinals to his idol Nadal just days before lifting his first Masters 1000 trophy in Miami.
Alcaraz closed the season in style by winning his first Grand Slam at the US Open and rising to world number one who now, after ceding it to Djokovic in January, can recover as long as he wins the Indian Wells title in the final on 20 September. March.
Among his main rivals will be the Russian Daniil Medvedev, another former number one, who will appear in the Coachella Valley brimming with confidence after dealing Djokovic his first defeat of the year in the semifinals in Dubai, a tournament that he later bagged.
However, Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner, has a thorny relationship with Indian Wells, where he has never made it past the round of 16.
The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world number three, also wants to register his name for the first time in the list of winners of this prestigious tournament and remove the disappointment of his resounding defeat against Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open.
The American Taylor Fritz, defending champion, and the Norwegian Casper Ruud are also contenders without forgetting the Dane Holger Rune, another banner of the new generation, who at just 19 years old took his first bite of a Masters 1000 last November in Paris.
Among the Latin American representatives will be Argentines Diego Schwartzman, who is pursuing his second Masters 1000 final, Federico Coria and Francisco Cerúndolo, and Colombian Daniel Elahi Galán.