The 2015 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells will be host to ATP Tour comebacks for Marin Cilic, Tommy Haas and Mardy Fish, plus a surprise appearance from wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Tennis Review looks at the players to watch in the Californian desert.
Marin Cilic
Cilic has not played on the ATP tour since the ATP World Tour Finals 2014. The U.S Open champion withdrew from the Australian Open with a shoulder injury and was unable to defend his title at his home tournament the Zagreb Open.
The Croat achieved the biggest success of his career the last time he played on American hard courts, winning the 2014 U.S Open.
Last year in Indian Wells, the Croat took the first set 6-1 off Novak Djokovic before losing in three sets in the last sixteen. That performance has been his best showing in the desert- he is 6-7 at the event.
If Cilic can reproduce the big ground strokes and serves he showcased against Djokovic last year and which were the hallmarks of his U.S Open title run, he should at the very least repeat his 2014 last sixteen finish.
Watch highlights of Cilic’s three set battle with Novak Djokovic at last year’s BNP Paribas Open below.
Mardy Fish
Fish has not played since the 2013 Winston Salem Open when he retired with an anxiety attack, a side effect of a heart condition. Those attacks derailed his career, none more heartbreaking than the one that forced him to pull out of his 2012 U.S Open last sixteen clash against Roger Federer.
Fish could not have chosen a better place to come back to the tour. Indian Wells will bring back some good memories for the American- he beat Roger Federer in the 2008 semi-finals and took Novak Djokovic to three sets in the final.
The 33 year old, who has a protected ranking of 25, is 15-12 at the event and has also beaten David Nalbandian, Nikolay Davydenko (2008) and won a love set against Djokovic (2010) at the tournament.
Fish will have the home support of a sympathetic home crowd, and that could help him reproduce some of the form that has served him so well in previous visits to Indian Wells.
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Kokkinakis got a wild card after Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew from the tournament. The 18 year old Australian, ranked 124, is coming off a big Davis cup victory over 31st ranked Lukas Rosol in which he came back from two sets to love down to win.
Kokkinakis is proving to be a big match player- he knocked out 13th seed Ernests Gulbis in the Australian Open first round, winning 8-6 in the fifth. He also boasts a straight sets win over Julien Benneteau in Sydney and has qualified for ATP Tour main draws in his last three tournaments (Memphis, Delray Beach, Acapulco).
Watch highlights of Kokkinakis’ win over Ernests Gulbis in the first round of the Australian Open below.
This will be Kokkinakis’ first appearance in the main draw of Indian Wells (he lost in the first round of qualifying last year), and his third appearance in the main draw of an ATP 1000 after he qualified for the main draws of Canada and Shanghai last season.
Kokkinakis has earned his wild card and the chances of him upsetting a lower seed or pushing one of the favorites are anything but wild.
Commentary by Christian Deverille.
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