Indian Wells Mens Top 5 Tennis

The first of nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events will be serving up a treat for the BNP Paribas Open in California. The big event starts on March 7th, 2013 and concludes on the 17th, and is only second in terms of importance to the Grand Slams. Big money, big draws and big efforts are needed to go all the way and of course, all of the big guns will be there, including Rafael Nadal. So with the big five in the world all attending Indian Wells this season, is it likely that anyone outside of them are going to get their hands on the title? Probably not, not when, in all probability, you will be watching the top five ranked players in the world scrap for the four semi final spots. If four of the five, from Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal aren’t occupying the semi final spots, then a dramatic tournament will have been played up to that point.

So who is going to be the frontrunner in 2013 Indian Wells tennis betting? Look no further than NovakDjokovic of course for this one. The Serbian world number one has taken the title twice before in his career, back in 2008 and again in 2011. Surprisingly he was dumped out of last year’s competition before the finish line as big John Isner powered his way past Djokovic in the semi final stage. So that has left Djokovic with a 26-5 match record at Indian Wells and in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals, the Serbian holds a 10-7 record. With the big win at the Australian Open at the start of the year, and only warming up in Dubai, he should be fresh enough and sharp enough to back in the final. He will go as top seed and outright favourite for 2013 Indian Wells tennis betting.

What of the defending champion? That is Roger Federer who eased his way past John Isner in last year’s final. The Swiss legend has already announced that he will take a break until the clay court swing of the season following Indian Wells. As Andy Murray had the legs over him in the semi finals of the Australian Open and with Federer crashing out of Rotterdam against Julien Benneteau, he may not be the strongest option of the big guns. Still, he is the first man ever to claim four BNP Paribas Open titles and equalled Rafael Nadal’s record of 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in winning Indian Wells in 2012. Perhaps not the force he was, and he may struggle on most occasions to get the better of the younger Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Andy Murray is targeting a big clay court swing of the season, but he is most at home on the hard surface, and that is why he could go well at Indian Wells. The Brit took a long rest after his defeat in the final of the 2013 Australian Open, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. May as well not have shown up last year at Indian Wells, as the British Number One bombed in the second round against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets. Murray’s best ever run at Indian Wells came back in 2009 when he reached the final, losing out there to Rafael Nadal. He is long overdue a return there and has landed six ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in his career, however 2012 was the first season since 2009 that he didn’t get on under his belt.

While those three will remain the strongest options in the 2013 Indian Wells betting markets, what of Spanish duo Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer? Nadal is still on the comeback trail after a long injury and this will be by far the toughest test that he will have faced on his return to the game. He is untried and untested and therefore would be an outside shot against the best in the world at the moment. David Ferrer, the world number four has enjoyed a very strong start to the 2013 season, winning titles and making a run to the semi finals of the Australian Open. Both are tenacious but both still may be lacking that cutting edge at the big top tiered events like this. Nadal won Indian Wells twice in 2007 and in 2009, while Ferrer has never been past the quarter finals. Also floating around in the draw and causing problems will be the big serving Argentine Juan Martin del Potro who made a semi final run back in 2011.