This week and next, while I will mostly be huffing the March Madness gas, I will also be keeping an eye on the ATP Indian Wells tournament, perhaps the most prestigious tourney outside of the slams and the ATP Finals.
In October, in my irregular checking-of-the-pulse of U.S. Men's tennis, I highlighted (among others) Learner Tien and Nishesh Basavareddy. At the time, they were ranked #147 in the world and #245, respectively.
Since then, Basavareddy has climbed to #99 in the ATP live rankings, making the semifinals at the Auckland Open and taking a set of Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
Tien has done even better; coming through qualifiers, he made the 4th round at the Australian Open, becoming the youngest man to do so at the tournament since Rafa Nadal in 2005. He beat Daniil Medvedev along the way, and beat Alexander Zverev in his quarterfinal run in Acapulco this week. He's all the way up to 64th in the live rankings.
This is sort of what I've been waiting for for over a decade; young, as in teenager-young, American players on the men's side who are putting together results that make you wonder if they will be challegning for slams in their twenties. It's been a long time.
How much of a chance do they have to make a run at Indian Wells? Well, Basavareddy has come a down a bit from the clouds and as I write this is losing the first set to one Yunchaokete Bu. If he comes back, he will have his turn in the ring with Medvedev, in a section of the draw that also includes Tommy Paul and Alex Michelsen.
Tien might have it easier; he's a big favorite over his opening round opponent, Mariano Navone of Argentina. If he wins, he will face Ben Shelton, another budding young American star that I wrote about in October. I like the winner of that match to win their section, as the top seed in it, Andrey Rublev, has been inconsistent of late.
The rest of the field is wide open. The only player in the top 45 not here is Jannik Sinner, who hasn't lost since October of last year and is serving a three-month doping ban.
Everyone else has shown chinks in the armor this year, but there are two names I have my eye on who are in great form and could surprise.
The first is Denis Shapavalov. He's only lost one match since the Australian Open, and rolled over the top three seeds en route to the title at the Dallas Open last month.
The other is Tomáš Macháč, who is coming off his first career title in that Acapulco tournament, only losing two sets in the process. Both might be worth sprinkling a dollar or two on at the cage.
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