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BNP Paribas Open: Djokovic vs Federer Preview

By Gabriel Gonzalez

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While March is in the middle of its Madness, there is another important showdown going on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open final as number one ranked Novak Djokovic faces number two ranked Roger Federer.  The match is scheduled to take place at Indian Wells and is the premiere tennis tournament of Southern California.

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The most recent string of matches between the two has produced some of the most astounding tennis of the last year and the form they’ve shown throughout the tournament promises another exciting match tomorrow.  Djokovic has won two of the previous three meetings.  In their first match-up last year, Federer defeated Djokovic for the title in Dubai and showed that his health problems that had hampered him for most of the previous season had been alleviated. Djokovic would win the next two meetings, the first an epic three-set match at the BNP Paribas Open that was won in the third set tie-break.  The second was a five-set classic in the Wimbledon final where Federer came back from two sets down but fell in the final set to Djokovic.

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    • Mar 21, 2015; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Novak Djokovic (SRB) reacts during his semi final match against Andy Murray (GBR) during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

    For both players, the match is very important in terms of building momentum to finish off the first leg of the hard-court season.  Djokovic began the year with an amazing victory at the Australian Open and has had an impressive run at Indian Wells.  After Sunday, there is only the Sony Open in Miami before the start of the clay-court season in the late spring.  The Serb has had great success the last few years however he has not been able to overcome the great challenge of clay-court master Rafael Nadal at the French Open.  Despite being the top ranked player for most of the last several years, the French Open remains the one Grand Slam missing from his impressive trophy case.  A win in the desert sets Djokovic up for an impressive run going into the most grueling part of the season and a win over Federer would make it only sweeter.

    For the Swiss Maestro, a win at Indian Wells would give an incredible morale boost for the 17-time Grand Slam champion.  His resurgent season last year ended unceremoniously when he injured himself before the final at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, a match that was also scheduled to be against Djokovic.  He also began this year unemphatically with an early exit at the Australian Open.  At Indian Wells he has played excellent tennis and dispatched several top ranked players such as Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic to reach the final.  A win over Djokovic would send a message to all players on the tour that the Swiss is still a force to be reckoned with and a contender for several titles this coming summer.

    The match is scheduled for 1:00pm PT.

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