Tennis stars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are set to headline the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells this week in contrasting campaigns, with the Spaniard coming off a dismal losing streak, while the Serb reasserting his dominance of the sport.
Indian Wells will feature top stars returning to action on the hard court, including Nadal and Djokovic, who have distinct profiles entering the ATP 1000 Masters tournament.
Nadal's season has yet to experience a turnaround after succumbing to a two-week losing streak in the last three tournaments he joined, merely suggesting that the 29-year-old Mallorcan has not had any success channeling his old form during match time.
While Nadal's main focus this season is seemingly to regain his elite form, the "King of Clay" has not had much of success in winning tournaments either. As a proof, all of his losses in the last three tournaments (Australian Open, Argentina Open and Rio Open) came from lower ranked players (Fernando Verdasco, Dominic Thiem and Pablo Cuevas).
After his most recent defeat in Brazil, Nadal admitted he is lacking consistency in important matches, but hopes to get a "bit of luck" in his next campaign.
"Clearly when you lose two weeks in a row with good chances to qualify for the final it's never good, I fought until the end, I have had a good mentality accepting difficulties and fighting, but I lacked consistency in the important moments," Nadal said, reports Tennis World USA. "I lacked a little bit of luck, I hope it goes better."
In Last year's edition of the tournament, Nadal only finished at the semifinal stage after getting defeated by Canada's Milos Raonic. Nadal, who won the event thrice in his career, would have to hope for all the luck he could get to turn things around at Indian Wells.
Roger Federer, who is still recovering from a knee surgery that repaired a torn left meniscus, will be absent from competition at Indian Wells, giving the likes of Nadal a slight advantage to barge into the latter rounds of the tournament.
However, Nadal would still likely have his hands full, with six of the other top 10 players at the ATP world rankings on board, including defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic, a four-time champ at the tournament, will defend his title for the third-straight time as the Belgrade native bids for a fifth Indian Wells trophy. The 28-year-old Djokovic has been playing the best tennis of his career, winning four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments and starting the season with a 16-1 match record.
An eye problem suffered during his Dubai Tennis Championships run gave the Serb a minor setback, but his recent showing in Serbia's Davis Cup first round tie against Kazakhstan suggests the 11-time Grand Slam winner is ready to reassert his tennis dominance at Indian Wells.