It’s been seven years since a tennis player has managed to achieve a truly important milestone on the ATP Tour.
In recent years, how many times has a player started a season by winning both the Australian Open and the BNP Paribas at Indian Wells? Or win both the first Slam tournament and the first Master 1000? This is a milestone that has been missing for seven years, when Roger Federer, in 2017, won both the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
Roger Federer© Clive Brunskill / Staff Getty Images Sport
After winning the Australian Open in January, Jannik Sinner will also try to win the first ATP Master 1000 tournament of the season in Indian Wells.
Novak Djokovic has not been able to achieve this achievement in recent years, as he had to miss some editions of Indian Wells due to his non-vaccinated status and, in 2020, the Californian tournament was not played due to the pandemic.
Analyzing the tournaments starting from 2010, in that year there was Federer’s success in Australia over Andy Murray and then, at Indian Wells, Ivan Ljubicic’s victory over Andy Roddick.
In 2011 there was Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open-Indian Wells double, in his first super season in which his first defeat came at the Roland Garros. Nole achieved success in Australia over Andy Murray and he triumphed at Indian Wells over Rafael Nadal.
In 2012, victory for Djokovic in Australia and for Federer at Indian Wells. In 2013 Djokovic won again in Australia while Nadal won in Indian Wells. In 2014 Stan Wawrinka triumphed in Melbourne and Djokovic in California.
Two more Australian Open-Indian Wells doubles came for Djokovic in 2015 and 2016: two finals won in Australia against Murray and successes in California over Federer and Milos Raonic.
Novak Djokovic© Matthew Stockman / Staff Getty Images Sport
The last to achieve this double was Roger Federer in 2017, with the success in Australia over Nadal and the victory in California in the derby over Wawrinka. Since 2018 no one has done this double again.
In 2018, in fact, Federer won in Australia again while Juan Martin Del Potro beat the Swiss in a hard-fought final in Indian Wells. In 2019-2020-2021 three trophies in Australia for Djokovic and victories in California respectively in 2019 for Dominic Thiem and in 2021 for Cameron Norrie, while in 2020 the tournament was not held due to the pandemic.
In 2022, Nadal won in Australia and Taylor Fritz beat the same Spanish player at Indian Wells. In 2023, success for Djokovic in Australia and for Carlos Alcaraz in California. Now Sinner, champion of Melbourne, will attempt to be the first tennis player to achieve this feat since 2017.
And in the meantime Jannik Sinner can become ATP No.2 in Indian Wells
Carlos Alcaraz’s debut at the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro lasted just 18 minutes, most of which was spent waiting for the physiotherapist and taking advantage of the medical time out. During the second point of the match with Thiago Monteiro, the Spaniard attempted to quickly change direction to respond to the Brazilian’s counterattack and his ankle caught on the ground.
A bad sprain that recalled the sad episode that happened to Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros in 2022. The injury, as specified by the person concerned, should however be much less serious than the one that occurred to the German.
Alcaraz allowed himself to be treated by the doctor who bandaged his ankle and he resumed playing for a few moments.
“These things happen, especially on clay. They say it’s nothing serious, but I felt bad when I fell. Tomorrow I’ll carry out some tests. I hurt myself in a change of direction and this happens. I went back to see if I could continue, spoke to the physio and we decided I would continue to see if the ankle would get better. It didn’t happen, so we preferred to be cautious and withdraw as a precaution,” Alcaraz declared at a press conference.
Doubts about his physical situation were swept away by the comforting performance at the Netflix Slam against his countryman Rafael Nadal.
Jannik Sinner© Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Staff Getty Images Sport
However, Alcaraz’s withdrawal in Brazil will also have consequences on the rankings. Sinner could in fact become number two already at the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells.
The Spaniard will not be able to defend the final he won last year at the Rio Open and has therefore lost 300 points. Considering the results achieved by both last year in California, Sinner will find himself ahead in the live rankings when the first ATP Masters 1000 of the season begins.
Jannik will start from 7910 points and the Spaniard from 7805. The Italian will therefore only need to obtain the same result as his rival or do better than him to overtake him in the standings. Destiny is therefore in the hands of Sinner who by triumphing in Indian Wells would guarantee himself the 2nd position in the ranking.
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