With pressure building on Novak Djokovic as he returns to the Indian Wells Masters for the first time in half a decade, tournament director Tommy Haas has stepped in to deflect attention from his main men’s draw card.
Djokovic, 36, has won five titles at the Californian desert venue, with his last coming in 2016; his previous appearance at the Tennis Garden was a third-round loss in 2019 to Philip Kohlschreiber.
Due to COVID and his refusal to be vaccinated in order to enter the US, Djokovic has been a stranger at the tournament.
But that should change from tomorrow when the joint ATP-WTA first Masters of the season kicks off.
The weight will be on the Serb to perform on cue, with former world No. 2 Haas prepared to help deflect as much as possible.
“Djokovic has had a lot of success there, he is going to return ,” Haas told Eurosport.
“I feel like every time he doesn’t win a tournament we all see it as a failure – I hate using that word.
“Even in the semi-finals of the Australian Open we all said, ‘oh, he lost in the semi-finals, he didn’t win in Australia.’ How many people would love to reach a semi-final sometime.
“It’s really outrageous, so you can never rule it out. Obviously he will always be the favorite and will always see himself as the favorite to win the title.”
Djokovic’s fan popularity will be challenged by Spaniards carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal,, hopefully back for good after a year or more of injury setbacks.
