Any bets on Stevie Johnson or Fernando Verdasco surviving the quarter from Hell in Indian Wells?
These two players might not be the best choices to come out of this section of the draw, but none of the bigger names there will have an easy time either. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev will enjoy seeing Johnson or Verdasco in this path to one of the four semi-final spots at Indian Wells Master.
The tennis world has been buzzing about this, as one article named it, “the group of death.” In a perfect world, fans would want these top players to spread throughout the brackets and meet each other in later rounds.
Finals before the final
Thanks to the mysterious rankings, there will be several finals before the official final.
To get out of this quarter, some of the possible match-ups include:
Federer/Nadal, Federer/Djokovic
Nadal/Del Potro, Nadal/Djokovic
Djokovic/Del Potro
Throw in Kyrgios and Zverev into any of those combos, and there will be a bloody trial in just third and fourth round matches.
Happy Murray
Andy Murray, who has never won Indian Wells, is away from this carnage and smiling broadly.
However, this could be a bit of a trap for Murray who will have to play Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, a recent winner of his last two tournaments. Murray’s easier way to the final might backfire if he coasts to the final because whoever comes out of the bottom quarter will be battle ready. The question will be if that survivor will be tapped out and have anything left for the semi-finals and final.
We wish Johnson and Verdasco good luck at Indian Wells. They expected a test along the way, but neither expected a battle right out of the starting blocks.
To Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and the others in this cage match in the desert, if any of you win the tournament, you will have earned it.
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