Indian Wells will kick off the Masters 1000 tour on March 7. The Californian tournament has released the list of players who will participate in it and Novak Djokovic appears as the first seed in it. However, their participation is unknown, since it is necessary to have received the complete vaccination schedule to dispute it. In fact, the organizers of the BNP Paribas Open hide the number one: his image does not appear on the tournament poster and he is only briefly mentioned in the press release.
There is less than a month to go before the first Masters 1000 of the season is played. In Indian Wells , from March 7 to 20, the main rackets of the circuit will meet, both from the ATP and the WTA. The Californian tournament has released the list of participating players and it appears as number one in the ATP, as the first seed, Novak Djokovic. However, their presence in the tournament is not guaranteed since the complete vaccination schedule is necessary to be able to play it.
Faced with a possible absence of Djokovic -due to his well-known position against being vaccinated and which already caused him to miss the Australian Open-, in Indian Wells they have chosen to leave the Serb in the background or third place. The tournament gives maximum prominence to Rafa Nadal, who will reappear in Indian Wells after his last participation in 2019, an edition in which he reached the semifinals but was unable to play due to injury. The Spaniard is the main face of the Californian tournament poster, in which Daniil Medvedev, number 2 in the ATP, Asleigh Barty, number one in the WTA and the Spanish Paula Badosa also appear.
In the press release of the Indian Wells tournament they remember the need to be vaccinated with the complete guideline to be able to participate during the two weeks that the event lasts. “With health and safety as the tournament’s top priority, the BNP Paribas Open will require valid proof of full vaccination to enter the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the tournament,” the statement read.
Possible absence of Djokovic
The Indian Wells tournament boasts of counting in its next edition with the participation of the last two winners of the Australian Open, Rafa Nadal and Asleigh Barty, to whom they dedicate a paragraph respectively in the press release, recalling their most recent successes and what has been his career in the Californian tournament to date.
The show returns March 7-20 🌴
See who’s in and secure your seat today 👉🎟️https://t.co/uaNIUlNKxQ pic.twitter.com/xeJFc2Cvi7
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) February 9, 2022
They also boast of having several of the players in the top 10 of the ATP ranking, such as Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Cameron Norrie , defending champion in this edition. Only after citing these tennis players does the name of the Serbian appear. “The number one in the world and five times champion of Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic, is also on the list of participants of the tournament,” he limits himself to appreciating the press release.
Novak Djokovic is expected to reappear on the circuit this February – from 14 to 26 – to participate in the Dubai tournament, where vaccination is not required to enter the emirate or to play the tournament. In addition, during that time the first place in the ATP ranking will be at stake, with possibilities for Daniil Medvedev to snatch the first place depending on the results obtained by the Russian in Acapulco.
On the other hand, the Serbian is expected to make a statement in the coming days, as he himself warned that he would do in his meeting last week with Prime Minister Aleksandr Vukic , whom he thanked for his support for what happened in Australia. “In 7-10 days, I will address in more detail everything that happened there,” Djokovic said then.
