Nadal to combat Raonic threat in Indian Wells opener

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Three-time champion Rafael Nadal will face former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic in a testing first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open.

Monday's draw for the year's first ATP Masters 1000 of the year threw up an interesting challenge for the Spaniard, who reached the final in 2022 during his last visit to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Nadal leads Raonic 8-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head Series, but the Canadian won their lone meeting in the desert: a 4-6, 7-6(10), 7-5 classic in 2015, when he went on to reach the final.

Nadal will be making just his second appearance of the year, following a quarter-final run to the ATP 250 in Brisbane in the first week of the season.

Raonic, a former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, has been competitive in his two outings this year but has been let down by his 33-year-old body. At his last start, he pushed Jannik Sinner to a first-set tie-break in the Rotterdam quarter-finals before retiring. At the Australian Open he split sets with Alex de Minaur before retiring early in the third.

Raonic has also played some of his best tennis in Indian Wells, where the lively conditions suit his big-serving game, reaching one final, three semi-finals and one quarter-final in his past five outings. He has not played in the desert since 2019.

Nadal and Raonic will meet during Thursday’s evening session. The winner won’t get any respite in the second round, where seventh seed Holger Rune awaits.

Top seed Novak Djokovic, making his first appearance in the desert since 2019, will open against World No. 69 Australian Aleksandar Vukic or a qualifier. Djokovic is seeded to meet either American Tommy Paul or newly minted ATP 500 Dubai champion Ugo Humbert in the fourth round before a potential quarter-final with Casper Ruud or Hubert Hurkacz.

Defending champion and second seed Carlos Alcaraz, who begins the tournament at No. 3 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings behind No. 2 Jannik Sinner, faces a first-round battle with either #NextGenATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche or 23-year-old Italian Matteo Arnaldi.

The Spaniard is seeded to meet Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round, sixth seed Alexander Zverev or back-to-back Acapulco champion Alex de Minaur in the quarter-finals and Sinner in the semis.

Australian Open champion Sinner, who is riding a 15-match winning streak, awaits big-serving Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis or American Marcos Giron in his opener. The Italian is seeded to meet Ben Shelton in the fourth round and in the quarters fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who could open against three-time major champion Andy Murray.

Drawn in the top half with Djokovic, last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev awaits the winner of 21-year-old Italian Flavio Cobolli and World No. 64 Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena. Medvedev is seeded to meet American Sebastian Korda in the third round and potentially Grigor Dimitrov or Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round.

2022 champion Taylor Fritz, who is also in the top half, is seeded to meet Rio de Janeiro and Santiago champion Sebastian Baez in the third round and Rune in the fourth round.