Indian Wells preview: Jack Draper targets 'very top', Carlos Alcaraz aims to keep winning, Novak Djokovic back in action
Published 26/02/2026 at 17:57 GMT
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Indian Wells, one of the biggest tournaments on the tennis calendar outside of the four Grand Slams, starts on March 4. Jack Draper will be the defending men's champion, having returned to action just in time following an arm injury. Draper will be looking for another deep run at the tournament, while Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic and Mirra Andreeva are also featuring.
Alcaraz wins 'point of the tournament' after Djokovic hits shot round the net
Video credit: TNT Sports
Fonseca, Brooksby, Fritz, Shelton, Alcaraz, Rune.
Jack Draper’s run to winning Indian Wells a year ago was tough.
It was also the springboard for further success as Draper reached the Madrid Open final, enjoyed a career-best run to the fourth round of the French Open, and hit No. 4 in the world rankings.
By the time the grass season came around, Draper was flying and there was talk that he could be a genuine contender at Wimbledon.
But then the script flipped.
Draper was shocked in the second round of Wimbledon by former runner-up Marin Cilic and didn’t play again until the US Open, where he withdrew before his second-round match due to an arm injury.
That injury kept him out for the rest of the year and beyond.
He only made his return in February in the Davis Cup, playing - and winning - one match for Great Britain against Norway.
An ATP Tour comeback followed in Dubai after almost six months off the tour. Sporting a new buzzcut, Draper won his opening match against Quentin Halys before falling in a tight three-set battle to Arthur Rinderknech.
Next up? The defence of his Indian Wells title.
The prestigious Masters event starts on March 4 and Draper could again face a tricky run as he will not be among the top seeds, having slipped from No. 4 in the rankings down to No. 15.
He admits he has work to do to catch up with the leading players on tour, but is confident he can compete again with the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the "very top" of the game.
"Right now, I am obviously behind the start of last year, I was building my way up," he told Khaleej Times before playing in Dubai.
"I think, obviously, this injury has set me back a little bit, just in terms of the fact that I haven’t competed for a while and at the same time, it has made me more resilient and made me learn a lot about my game.
"So I think the next year and a half, two years is going to be very interesting for me because I feel like I have a lot to improve, a lot to develop and a lot of experience still to come, which maybe they have over me. But I have full belief in myself that I can reach the very top of the game."
Draper will be defending 1,000 ranking points at Indian Wells as defending champion, meaning an early exit would see him fall down the rankings.
"I've been craving the feeling of competing for a very long time," he added. "It just felt normal, it felt like I was coming back to doing what I love, which is being out here, competing and having the adrenaline of winning and losing points."
Draper is not the only British Indian Wells winner in the draw. Cameron Norrie won the tournament in 2021 and followed up by making back-to-back quarter-finals.
Alcaraz, Sinner headline Indian Wells
The two biggest names at Indian Wells will be Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz has made a perfect 12-0 start to the season, following up his first Australian Open title with victory in Doha.
All the signs point to Alcaraz as the favourite. Not only is he in red-hot form, but he is 20-3 at the tournament, winning the title in 2023 and 2024, and has not lost before the semis since his debut in 2021.
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Watch best shots from men's final between Alcaraz and Djokovic
Video credit: TNT Sports
It is a sign of the sky-high standard that Alcaraz and Sinner have set that there are questions about the latter’s form before Indian Wells.
Sinner is yet to win a title this year, losing in the Australian Open semis to Novak Djokovic and Doha quarter-finals to Jakub Mensik, and he has not looked as unstoppable as he did at the back end of 2025 when he won 15 matches in a row.
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Highlights: Djokovic beats Sinner in thriller to set up Alcaraz final
Video credit: TNT Sports
Still, there do npt appear any serious reasons for worry and it would not be a surprise to see him win the only hard-court Masters missing from his collection.
A surprise would be seeing anyone other than Sinner or Alcaraz triumph, considering one of the pair has lifted the title in the past 17 successive tournaments they have played together.
Will Serena Williams return?
Serena Williams looks set to make a tennis comeback this year.
The question is where?
The 23-time Grand Slam champion has not played a competitive match since losing in the third round of the US Open in 2022.
But her re-entry to the drug testing pool in October 2025 started talk of a return and now, six months later, she is eligible to compete again.
Williams has continued to tease, posting a video on social media of her serving (for the first time since September 2023 apparently) and saying she is getting ready for a ‘Serena summer.’
The first option for Williams to start her comeback appears to be Indian Wells.
There are still wildcard slots available, with sister Venus already receiving a wildcard for both singles and doubles.
Williams is a two-time champion at Indian Wells, but boycotted the event for 14 years after she, along with family members, was booed and heckled in the 2001 final.
Williams returned to Indian Wells in 2015 and played there four more times before her retirement.
If not Indian Wells then Miami comes next, followed by the clay swing, and then grass and Wimbledon.
Djokovic back in action
Djokovic is set to make his return in Indian Wells.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played since losing in the final of the Australian Open to Alcaraz, pulling out of the Qatar Open due to "fatigue".
At 38, Djokovic appears to be in the twilight of his career but any concerns that he might be stepping away from the sport soon seem to have been allayed by him saying he still has the desire to compete at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Watch best shots from men's final between Alcaraz and Djokovic
Video credit: TNT Sports
Djokovic will be 41 by the time the event gets started on July 14, 2028, but he says he still wants to defend his Olympic crown.
"At this stage of my life and career, it’s far off, but obviously I have the desire to get there," he told Corriere TV.
Djokovic is a five-time winner at Indian Wells but has not enjoyed much success there in the past, not making it beyond the fourth round since his last title win in 2016.
Andreeva set to defend title
Mirra Andreeva won Indian Wells in style a year ago, taking out world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semis and then world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
The 18-year-old has continued to soar since and is 11-4 this season, winning the title in Adelaide to start the year and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Ranked at No. 8 in the world, Andreeva is bidding to become the first woman to defend an Indian Wells title since Martina Navratilova in 1991.
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Mirra Andreeva won Indian Wells in 2025
Image credit: Getty Images
Another teenager to watch will be 19-year-old Victoria Mboko.
The Canadian has rocketed up into the top 10 of the rankings after a run to the Qatar Open final, where she beat Andreeva and Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina.
Fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard has said "the sky’s the limit" for Mboko.
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