Nadal plays Raonic in round one of the BNP Paribas Open

USA Former world number one tennis player Rafael Nadal will play former Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic in the first round of the Masters 1000 tournament at Indian Wells this week.

The match will take place at 1:00 a.m. on March 7, Hanoi time. Nadal leads 8-2 in head-to-head matches, with the last time they met being at the 2019 Laver Cup. But Raonic won against his senior at Indian Wells on the way to the final of the 2015 tournament.

Nadal won three times at Indian Wells, in 2007, 2009, 2013 and is runner-up in 2022. Photo: ATP

Like Nadal, Raonic has struggled with injuries in recent years. The 2016 Wimbledon runner-up just returned to the ATP Tour at the end of last season and has not regained his physical condition. He withdrew from the opening match of the Australian Open while playing the third set with Alex de Minaur, then continued to give up midway through playing Jannik Sinner at the Rotterdam Open last month.

Before his injury, Raonic was number three in the world and always played well on the hard courts of the BNP Paribas Open. In addition to one final appearance, he has made three semi-final appearances and one quarter-final appearance in five appearances. Both Nadal and Raonic participated in this year's tournament thanks to special tickets.

The winner of this pair will play seventh seed Holger Rune in the second round. According to the draw results, Nadal can face Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

Top seed Djokovic will meet Aleksandra Vukic or a qualifying player in the second round. Nole's quarterfinal bracket has outstanding seeds such as Tommy Paul, Ugo Humbert, Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will start his campaign against either Luca Van Assche or Matteo Arnaldi. Alcaraz's next potential opponent is Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round, then Alexander Zverev or Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals.

Alcaraz will enter the tournament ranked third in the world, below Jannik Sinner, according to ATP's live updated scoreboard. Sinner can play Alcaraz if both reach the semi-finals. Last year Alcaraz won against Sinner in the semi-finals, then defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final.

Sinner is on a 15-match winning streak, meeting Thanasi Kokkinakis or Marcos Giron in the opening match. In the fourth round, the Italian player can play young talent Ben Shelton, then Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals. Rublev shares a branch with Andy Murray, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe.