Only nine matches could be completed on Day 1 at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open as late afternoon rain washed out most of the day’s play in tennis paradise.
The big talking point outside the weather was Rafael Nadal’s late withdrawal. The Spaniard arrived in the States amid huge fanfare, and the tournament organisers quickly ensured he had a pre-scheduled slot on Thursday evening on the Stadium Court long before the draw had been made.
However, after playing at the Netflix Slam Exhibition and giving some coaching lessons to the wealthy in Las Vegas, Nadal concluded he was not fit to take to court against Milos Raonic. Sumit Nagal takes his place as a lucky loser.
We’ve seen this happen in Australia, where Nadal is announced to drive ticket sales and then makes a late withdrawal.
Fans are inundated with video footage of his training, in which he’s looking sharp and beating juniors at his academy in Manacor, but when it comes to tour-level play, he’s not ready.
Rather than all the performative nonsense about his attendance, I’d much prefer less training footage and for Rafa to make a lower-profile comeback where he takes a last-minute wild card at an event and plays it.
You can see the results from day one below.
Day One 2024 BNP Paribas Open Round of 128 Results
| Winner | Loser | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Taro Daniel | Daniel Elahi Galan | 6-4 6-1 |
| Matteo Arnaldi | Luca Van Assche | 7-6(6) 7-6(3) |
| Yannick Hanfmann | Pedro Cachin | 7-6(7) 6-4 6-1 |
| Thanasi Kokkinakis | Marcos Giron | 6-3 7-5 |
| Fabian Marozsan | Jurij Rodionov (LL) | 6-3 6-2 |
| Andy Murray | David Goffin (Q) | 6-3 6-2 |
| Brandon Nakashima | Christopher Eubanks | 6-3 7-6(3) |
| Christopher O’Connell | Jack Draper | 1-6 6-3 6-2 |
| Alexander Shevchenko | Dominik Koepfer | 6-3 1-6 7-6(3) |
Murray Makes a Solid Start
Andy Murray has had a woeful start to 2024, but after announcing he might not play for much longer past this summer, he played with more freedom in his Indian Wells opener.
The Brit comfortably dispatched qualifier David Goffin 6-3, 6-2 in his best match of the year, hitting his serve and forehand with more authority. He’ll face Andrey Rublev in round 2, which you’d think is too much of an uphill task.
Draper Down By O’Connell
Jack Draper made the semi-finals in Acapulco last week, and I thought he had the right type of game to play well in Indian Wells,
However, he faltered at the first hurdle, surrendering a one-set lead to lose 6-1 3-6 3-6 against world No. 66 Christopher O’Connell.
Draper’s heavy game is a threat to all comers, but he struggles whenever the game gets physical or goes three sets. Can he sort that out?
Other Matches of Note
- Kokkinakis beats Giron: A good win for the Aussie who had a decent run here in 2015.
- Nakashima too strong for Eubanks: A bit of an upset, but Nakashima has been picking up wins on the Challenger Tour and prefers the slower conditions.
Indian Wells 2024 Day 2 Round of 128 Matches
- Shintaro Mochizuki (Q) vs Aleksandar Vukic
- Lorenzo Sonego vs Miomir Kecmanovic
- Stan Wawrinka vs Tomas Machac
- Dusan Lajovic vs Emil Ruusuvuori
- Constant Lestienne (Q) vs Denis Kudla (Q)
- Lucas Pouille (Q) vs Daniel Altmaier
- Roman Safiullin vs Daniel Evans
- Jakub Mensik (WC) vs Seong-chan Hong (Q)
- Borna Coric vs Sebastian Ofner
- Alex Michelsen vs Jaume Munar
- Thiago Seyboth Wild (Q) vs Jeffrey John Wolf
- Gael Monfils vs Max Purcell
- Juncheng Shang (Q) vs Jordan Thompson
- Arthur Fils vs Nuno Borges
- Fabio Fognini (WC) vs Bernabe Zapata Miralles
- Ethan Quinn (Q) vs Patrick Kypson (WC)
- Pavel Kotov vs Alejandro Tabilo
- Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (Q) vs Lukas Klein (Q)
- Hugo Grenier (Q) vs Arthur Muller
- Flavio Cobolli vs Roberto Carballés Baena
- Aleksandar Kovacevic (WC) vs Zhizhen Zhang
- Milos Raonic (PR) vs Sumit Nagal (LL)
- Botic Van De Zandschulp vs Denis Shapovalov (PR)
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