Indian Wells: Red-hot Rafa Nadal will be the man to beat when Indian Wells kicks off this week while Naomi Osaka will look to begin her ascent back to the top of the tennis world at the tournament that launched her career.
Nadal’s season was cut short last year due to a foot injury but the Spaniard has come roaring out of the gates in 2022, winning January’s Australian Open for a men’s record 21st Grand Slam title.
He followed that up by winning his fourth title in Acapulco last month and has not lost in 15 matches this season.
“Rafa Nadal is now 35-years-old and he’s never had a start to the season like this one,” Indian Wells tournament director and former player Tommy Haas said on a recent podcast. “He’s the guy to beat here, there’s no doubt about it. And he obviously enjoys it here very much,” Haas said of Nadal, a three-time winner of the Masters 1000 tournament. A cadre of emerging stars will be eager to topple Nadal. Chief among them is Daniil Medvedev, who enters a tournament as the world number one for the first time, and big-serving Andrey Rublev, who won a title in Dubai last month.
On the women’s side, opportunity knocks for Naomi Osaka, who as a 20-year-old announced herself with a triumph at the WTA 1000 event in 2018. From there she won four Grand Slams, became the world’s highest-paid female athlete and sparked a conversation about mental health in sports. But time away from the court after last year’s US Open has caused her world ranking to plummet and the former world number one is now number 78 and unseeded at the tournament.
Osaka, who fell in the third round at the Australian Open, will face Sloane Stephens in the first round.  Osaka will not have to worry about facing world number one Ash Barty or top-ranked American Danielle Collins after both players withdrew from Indian Wells due to injury. Also missing will be top seed and world number two Barbora Krejcikova, who pulled out due to an elbow injury.