Sunday evening at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Daniil Medvedev entered Stadium 1 with a 19-match winning streak and confidence soaring. He was the tour’s hottest player, the greatest hardcourt player of his generation, and the reigning champion. Nevertheless, none of that mattered in the end. At the 45-minute mark of the final, he had utterly run out of ideas.
Carlos Alcaraz is a generational talent who, at the age of 19, continues to produce greatness virtually every time he steps onto the court. Alcaraz reclaimed his position atop the tennis world with a decisive victory over Medvedev, defeating him 6-3, 6-2, to win the Indian Wells title and secure his first major victory since winning the US Open.
Alcaraz’s victory followed Elena Rybakina’s maiden WTA 1000 victory. Rybakina also won her first significant title since her inaugural grand slam victory, defeating Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(11), 6-4 in a tense, mentally draining match.
With his third Masters 1000 title and eighth overall, Alcaraz will reclaim the ATP’s No. 1 classification, surpassing Novak Djokovic, who is absent from Indian Wells and the Miami Open due to a vaccination-related absence. This is the first time Alcaraz has won the Masters 1000 without conceding a single set.
The Spaniard set the tone early by stepping inside the baseline to annihilate the ball off both wings, allowing him to comfortably defeat one of the best defensive players in the world. As Medvedev returned and scurried from close to the back fence, Alcaraz capitalized on his position on the deuce court by combining his destructive, relentless shotmaking with constant forays to the net, serve-and-volley attempts, and drops.
Medvedev laboriously sought a solution, but he was simply outmatched.
When he attempted to defeat Alcaraz with his consistency, he could only observe as the ball flew past him repeatedly. When he attempted to assault, Alcaraz’s formidable defensive abilities rendered him ineffective. A 19-year-old is expected to have glaring weaknesses in their game, but Alcaraz’s game is already so comprehensive that few opponents can keep up.
After the euphoria of Alcaraz’s breakthrough 2022 season, which culminated in a first grand slam title and the distinction of being the ATP’s first-ever teenage world No. 1, he was soon confronted with the harsh reality of professional tennis. Abdominal and hamstring ailments prevented him from competing in the ATP Finals and the Australian Open. Nevertheless, he has been able to swiftly regain both his level and aura, and his most recent victory suggests that his dominance is only just beginning.
In the meantime, Rybakina’s path remained complicated despite her breakthrough to the summit of her sport last summer by winning Wimbledon. While attempting to adjust to her new status as a grand slam champion, her ranking remained low, and she confronted difficult draws and disheartening court assignments.
This season, however, everything is falling into place. By capturing her first WTA 1000 title on Sunday, Rybakina bolstered her status as one of the very best players in the world. Two days after destroying Iga Swiatek, Rybakina remained calm under suffocating pressure to defeat Sabalenka.
The Kazakh will ascend to a new career high of No. 7 with her fourth career victory, her first since Wimbledon. In addition, she overcame a mental obstacle by defeating Sabalenka for the first time in five confrontations, avenging her Australian Open final loss.
Even though it lacked the spectacle of their match in Melbourne, the first set was brutal.
In an agonizing tiebreak, both players labored to close out the set, and Sabalenka’s serve, which had been the key to her success this year, faltered. She committed 10 double faults in the set, including on her set point, and Rybakina was eventually able to capitalize. With the first set secured, Rybakina was able to win with ease.
After many years of unpredictability on the tour and Swiatek’s singular dominance last season, the last ten days in Indian Wells have demonstrated how the landscape has shifted. Rybakina, Sabalenka, and Swiatek are the top three players in the WTA race rankings and the victors of the last three grand slams. The focus is rapidly shifting to the Miami Open, and these three players are the ones to beat.
During the trophy ceremony, while addressing the audience, both players acknowledged the significance of their match and the beginning of what feels like a new rivalry.
“This is the first time it has ever gone my way, so we shall see. “We hope to play in many more championships,” Rybakina said. Then, with a smile, Sabalenka approached the microphone and interjected, “I’ll make sure it was the last one.”
