Athletistic / Tennis. Every year at the beginning of March, the small Californian town of Indian Wells hosts the first Masters of the season. The competition is unofficially considered the fifth Grand Slam tournament and attracts increased attention. Although this tournament is played on hard (hard rubber surface), it has its own specificities. The sweltering climate of the Californian desert and the special “stretch balls” bring it very close to playing conditions on clay.

A Russian tennis player has never won Indian Wells: in 1992, Andrei Chesnokov reached the final, and in 2023, Daniil Medvedev. Last year, Medvedev lost without any chance to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the deciding match. Today, Russians are eager to take this final step and achieve a historic victory for Russia.

March 11 (North American time) should have given Medvedev more confidence. To achieve this, he tried his hand and enlisted the services of an unexpected assistant. The fact is that before the start of the tournament, during the draw, Daniil found himself in the upper part of the table headed by Novak Djokovic. The Serb reaches Indian Wells for the first time in five years and is very determined. Statistics also made him a tournament favorite – Novak won five times in the Californian desert. However, the current recovery ended in complete failure for him.

Photo source: Reuters

In the third round of the Masters, Djokovic’s opponent was the unknown Luca Nardi. The 20-year-old Italian was ranked 123rd in the ATP rankings before the start of the tournament and found himself in Indian Wells as a lucky loser. In the second round, Nardi sensationally defeated the strong Chinese Zhang Zhizhen and met his idol, Novak Djokovic, for the first time. But the Italian didn’t look at the other side of the net with his mouth open and put the Serbian to the test. Luka played well on the back line and managed to win the first set with a score of 6:4. It was already a sensation!

The second set gradually brought everything back to normal. Novak managed to find gaps in Nardi’s defense and reduced the number of unforced errors himself. As a result, 6:3 in favor of Djokovic. It seemed that the crisis had passed and the Serb must now take the matter to its logical conclusion. However, the third set gave us the main sensation of this season. Nardi managed to make a break in the sixth game and led the affair to victory – 6:3 in the deciding set and 2-1 in the matches.

— Congratulations to my opponent, he showed excellent tennis. But I was more surprised by my level. I had a very, very bad performance. To be honest, I didn’t know much about Nardi until today, but he played amazing and deserved to win.Djokovic will say during the post-match press conference.

Photo source: ATP

From the third set of the Nardi-Djokovic match, Daniil Medvedev’s second match in this tournament began in a neighboring stadium. In the second round, Danya beat the strong Spaniard Roberto Carballes-Baena (6:2, 6:3), but Sebastian Korda was waiting for him next. The American, who occupies the 29th position in the ATP rankings, led in personal meetings (2-1) and constantly caused big problems for Medvedev in head-to-head matches.

Medvedev made the first break in the third game. In addition, the Russian managed to bring the opposing serve to zero! Then Danya confidently returned to her serve and repeated the round with a break, bringing the score to 4:1 in the first set. It seemed that the end of the match was near, but the Russian had his own opinion on this matter. He managed to commit three double faults on his serve and simply gave the match to the American – 4:2. Then the tennis players exchanged serves again, Korda finally won the match against his brother-in-law, and Medvedev finished the set with a victory on his own serve. 6:4 in favor of the Russian!

During the second match, the two tennis players once again allowed themselves to make many mistakes. Medvedev wouldn’t be himself if he hadn’t acted strangely. With a score of 5:6 on serve, Daniil led 40-0, but managed to lose the match and give the set to his opponent – 5:7.

A grimace once again reigned on Medvedev’s face, indicating the approach of a nervous breakdown. Often, Daniil releases negative emotions through arguments with judges, heated dialogues with coaches or shouting at fans who harass him. However, this time the Russian dealt with his nerves in a banal way – he asked for a toilet break and left the field.

The third set continued in a familiar vein: both tennis players gave each other points, committing a large number of unforced errors. During the entire decisive match, the tennis players made six (!) breaks, and there were 16 of them during the match! For us, the most important thing is that Medvedev made two more breaks. This allowed him to defeat Korda – 6:4, 5:7, 6:3.

Photo source: Indian Wells Masters press service

In the fourth round (1/8 final), Daniil Medvedev’s opponent was the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. At the moment, the Russian has a double advantage in personal meetings (6-3), but he clearly needs to do something with his game. Such a number of errors, as in the match against Korda, could give Dimitrov a good chance for a fourth victory.

But the main result of the match day was the realization that Medvedev has a real chance of reaching the second final in a row in Indian Wells – Novak Djokovic laid the carpet on him for this. From now on, it is the Russian who occupies first place at the top of the tournament rankings. If Danya manages to improve her game and significantly reduce the number of errors, she will be able to compete for the first triumph of Russian men’s tennis in Indian Wells.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



Athletistic