2018 BNP Paribas Open...ATP 1000...Indian Wells, United States

[stroke]

Roger is a massive favorite to win the tournament at nearly even money 6/5 followed by Novak at 7, Del Po 16, Grigor 18, Nick 21.

[stotty]

Finally...the draw.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/score...ells/404/draws

There is a lot of empty spaces in the draw in more ways than one. First of all there appear to be 96 contestants on a draw sheet that can accommodate 128 players. So I ask the obvious question...why? Answer...who cares? Answering a question with a question...what does that make me? Jewish? Something I heard a while back. Maybe it was Seinfield.

But at any rate there is one player there that concerns me and that is of course Roger Federer. Hopefully he is marching his way to the red clay of Roland Garros. But missing in the draw to take up more empty spacer are Fafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to name just a few. Novak Djokovic is making another comeback but luckily Hyeon Chung is nowhere to be seen from his vantage point. Instead it is another Asian player of consequence Kei Nishikori. Nishikori is also struggling to come back from an injury.

Well a lot of the talk could be about injuries but I am not having any of it. I could start addressing the draw and the would of's and could of's but let's wait a couple of rounds to see how things shape up...or shake down. Depending upon your point of view. But just to sneak a peak at Roger's draw it reads like a list of the usual suspects for him. All kinds of things and players that may have been. But alas...things being what they are all things being equal...Roger should be able to navigate his way through to the quarters on the hard courts of Indian Wells.

This is going to be fun. With Rafael Nadal missing it changes a lot of things. The draw looks rather funny. A jumble of names. Names we are used to seeing spaced apart are now being lumped together giving full meaning to the luck of the draw. Like I said...best to see what develops. In the other quarters...quarters other than Roger's.

It's a good half of the draw for Roger. No one he hasn't taken care of a zillion times. Although, strangely, Thiem leads Roger 2-1 in their head to heads.

Djokovic looks to be in the thick of it somewhat in his part of the draw.

Many of the key players are still missing from the tour, which dilutes the tournament somewhat. But you never know. After watching that bizarre Goffin match, which Roger somehow lost from a seemingly unassailable position of dominance, I take comfort in the knowledge that anything might happen and a spanner can always get in the works.

I pray that Djokovic gets back to his best so that I might have a decent game to watch when he and Roger play again. Roger against anyone is no good for Stotty. I want Roger stretched to the max and a game worth watching.

[don_budge]

Finally...the draw.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/score...ells/404/draws

There is a lot of empty spaces in the draw in more ways than one. First of all there appear to be 96 contestants on a draw sheet that can accommodate 128 players. So I ask the obvious question...why? Answer...who cares? Answering a question with a question...what does that make me? Jewish? Something I heard a while back. Maybe it was Seinfield.

But at any rate there is one player there that concerns me and that is of course Roger Federer. Hopefully he is marching his way to the red clay of Roland Garros. But missing in the draw to take up more empty spacer are Fafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to name just a few. Novak Djokovic is making another comeback but luckily Hyeon Chung is nowhere to be seen from his vantage point. Instead it is another Asian player of consequence Kei Nishikori. Nishikori is also struggling to come back from an injury.

Well a lot of the talk could be about injuries but I am not having any of it. I could start addressing the draw and the would of's and could of's but let's wait a couple of rounds to see how things shape up...or shake down. Depending upon your point of view. But just to sneak a peak at Roger's draw it reads like a list of the usual suspects for him. All kinds of things and players that may have been. But alas...things being what they are all things being equal...Roger should be able to navigate his way through to the quarters on the hard courts of Indian Wells.

This is going to be fun. With Rafael Nadal missing it changes a lot of things. The draw looks rather funny. A jumble of names. Names we are used to seeing spaced apart are now being lumped together giving full meaning to the luck of the draw. Like I said...best to see what develops. In the other quarters...quarters other than Roger's.