Just in-Roger Federer reveals his ‘big favourite’ for Indian Wells Open as ‘hard-court specialist’ gets snubbed

Roger Federer has lamented Rafael Nadal’s late withdrawal from the Indian Wells Open as he named his three favourites to win the tournament although one of them is “the big favourite”.

Tennis great Nadal was due to make his return to competitive tennis at the ATP Masters 1000 event in California on Thursday, but he withdrew hours before his opening match, stating that was simply not ready to compete at the highest level.

“It is not an easy decision, it’s a tough one as a matter of fact but I can’t lie to myself and lie to the thousands of fans,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner said. “I will miss you all and I am sure the tournament will be a great success.”

The Indian Wells Open show, though, continues without Nadal with world No 1 Novak Djokovic, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner leading the way.

Djokovic is a five-time champion in California, Alcaraz won last year’s tournament without dropping a set while Sinner is unbeaten in 2024 as he has won the Australian Open and the Rotterdam Open.

Those three are predictably Federer’s favourites although he is leaning towards Djokovic to be the last man standing.

“Unfortunately, Rafa pulled out but I think Novak’s the big favourite,” the 20-time Grand Slam winner told NBC in an interview.

“Sinner hasn’t lost I believe since the Australian Open. Alcaraz, I think he’s back playing as well and he’s the defending champion I believe so I think the winner’s going to be one of those three guys.”

The trio all picked up second-round wins with Sinner looking the most impressive as he destroyed Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-0. Both Djokovic and Alcaraz dropped a set with the former beating Aleksandar Vukic in three while the latter went the distance against Matteo Arnaldi.

Unfortunately, there was no place among Federer’s favourites for Daniil Medvedev despite the former world No 1 being a self-proclaimed “hard-court specialist”.

Medvedev finished runner-up to Alcaraz at Indian Wells last year and a fortnight later he defeated Sinner in the final of the Miami Open.

En route to finishing runner-up in Indian Wells last year, Medvedev famously criticised the state of the courts at the Tennis Garden as he felt it was too slow.

“It’s not a hard court,” he told the chair umpire during one of his match. “I know what is hard court, I’m a specialist.”

The Russian, seeded fourth for the tournament, is 10-2 in 2024 after finishing runner-up to Sinner at the Australian Open.

Eighteen of Medvedev’s 20 ATP Tour singles titles have come on hard courts.
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