After a month of few meaningful matches, with the notable exception of Rafael Nadal's matches on his comeback trail, we finally get into the swing of the Spring season with the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
As usual, most of the big names are here, including Rafael Nadal in his first tournament of the season off of clay.
With this being the case, we are often treated to some Grand Slam-level matches at this event. Before we even get that deep into the tournament, though, there are some early-round matches that are worth your time.
The ones that I'm looking forward to are as follows:
Mardy Fish vs. Whoever he ends up playing first
Because Mardy still has enough points left over from when he was playing, he was able to be seeded 32nd in this draw. That puts him through to the second round automatically where he will play the winner of a first-round match between Benjamin Becker and a qualifier.
Honestly, the player that ends up facing off against Mardy isn't all that important. If Mardy is anywhere close to the player he was before his long hiatus, he will win the match. But if he is the same player we saw just before he decided to shut it down last season, he's going to get beat.
I'm really rooting for Mardy. His comeback story of a couple of years ago was fantastic and I've always loved his game. But I fear that if he suffers another setback, he might end up face to face with the prospect of hanging it up for good. That's how serious his health concerns are.
James Blake vs. Robin Haase
James Blake is another American that has had his career threatened by injuries. You are left wondering what his peak would have been had he not missed significant time with various ailments. And now that he is relatively healthy, he doesn't have game like he used to.
That's not to say that he can't still have a successful last ride through the ATP Tour. He still plays well in spurts and he loves hard courts in his home country. Keeping that in mind, I wouldn't be shocked if he puts together some good tennis over these next couple of weeks.
Haase is the type of player that Blake is going to have to be able to beat if he is going to find his way back into the top 100 and into the main draw of majors. Haase is a solid top-50 or 75 player that is consistently having the type of seasons that you would hope for Blake to be able to have in these last years of his career.
Sam Querrey vs. Jack Sock
In order for this match to take place, Sock would have to win his first round match against a qualifier, but I think he will manage to do that.
Sam needs a good week and I think he can accomplish that if he avoids the early-round loss that can sometimes plague him. If the draw holds, he would end up facing Juan Monaco in the third round. Monaco doesn't play all that well on hard courts and he has been terrible so far this season. From there, he would likely face Novak Djokovic, but getting that far and fighting hard against Djokovic should be taken as a positive result.
It's getting past Sock that might be the problem. Sock has the game to win just about any match he is in and, similar to a young Andy Roddick, he has the belief that he's among the best in the game, even though he's not there yet.
This match also represents a big opportunity for Sock. It is assumed that Ryan Harrison leads the pack when it comes to young American players, but his development is taking a bit longer than some would have hoped. With a big win over arguably the top American on tour right now, there might start to be some rumblings that Sock is the young American to watch.
Lleyton Hewitt vs. Lukas Rosol
In tennis, few things are more fun than a classic contrast of styles and that's what we have here in this first round match.
There are no secrets about what Hewitt is going to bring to the table. He is going to fight and scrap for every point. If Rosol isn't on his game, Hewitt is going to make him miserable.
The downside of that style is that Hewitt doesn't have the firepower to really dominate a match. Even if his opponent is not at the top of his game, Hewitt's style will allow the player to hang around a little bit.
When it's all said and done, it's hard to bet against a battler like Hewitt, though.
Kevin Anderson vs. Victor Hanescu
I have long been bullish on the potential of the big South African Kevin Anderson and after a breakthrough performance at the Australian Open, it looks like I'm finally being rewarded for that faith.
To really take the next step in his development, though, he will have to put away opponents like Hanescu routinely. Hanescu is a solid but unspectacular player that guys the caliber of Anderson should be beating with regularity.
In the past, Anderson has been up and down against these types of players in early-round matches and that has to stop if he is going to consistently keep his ranking around the top 30.
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