The new courts at Indian Wells have proved to be a big talking point before the tournament commences.
The main draw of the Masters 1000 event is now due to begin and the players are ready to produce their best at one of the biggest competitions of the year.
Carlos Alcaraz will compete as the two-time defending champion and aims to become just the third player to win the Indian Wells Masters three years in a row.
The 21-year-old defeated Daniil Medvedev in the 2023 and 2024 finals, and the Russian will aim to go one better in 2025.
Daniil Medvedev delivers his verdict on new Indian Wells courts
After 25 years the Indian Wells Masters decided to change the court surface.
The American tournament has followed Miami and the US Open and is now using Laykold in place of Plexipave for its hard courts.
Medvedev is one of those who has voiced his views on the courts, and says the new surface seems even slower than before after practicing on them.
“I will be honest with you, it’s okay, I like Indian Wells, I even like the courts now, but they seem to be almost slower than before, very slow,” the World number six said.
“I don’t know what other players think, but as I said, I just had two days, jet lagged. So you’re not very, how you say, when you don’t see the things maybe in the right way. So I won’t be able to tell you that I’m sure what I’m saying.
“But, yeah, I played two days, and they seemed very, very slow, so let’s see how it plays during the tournament. And I didn’t see the difference.
“Like, today I accidentally, my racquet fell down from my hand, I didn’t throw it (smiling), really, and from the low height, and the grip was completely, you know, torn, just because of how rough the court is, and when it’s rough it’s slow.”
Daniil Medvedev shares his thoughts on the Indian Wells Masters
Medvedev is preparing to compete at the Indian Wells Masters for the seventh time.
The Russian has reached the last two finals and seems to have the formula for having a strong run at Indian Wells.
But this was not always the case, as he failed to reach at least the quarter-finals until 2023. Ahead of the 2025 event, Medvedev described how his relationship with the tournament has developed over the years.
“I really started to love this tournament, because the first couple of times when I came, I was, like, first of all, to come here is a disaster, and you go to LA, you have a crazy long flight, and you’re not even here,” he added. “You have 2:30 to 4 hours, depending on the traffic, to come here.
“The first two times I came here, it’s desert, not much to do. I got very sick the first time I came here. I had mononucleosis. I was, like, wow, I really hate this tournament in a way, like I don’t understand. Everybody was saying such good things.
“Now I totally love it. I have so many things, like, discovered so many things to do here. Now we have a house, and it’s just a nice feeling with the team. We play pool during the evenings. We cook. Yeah, just now I absolutely love coming here.”
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