Brutal Indian Wells draw? These five champs can relate

Much has been made about the “quarter of death” at Indian Wells—and rightly so. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, Nick Kyrgios… it seems like everyone’s there.

But if you were to check in with any of the players mentioned, they would tell you that they can’t get too worried about who they potentially face because once they start doing that, they’re done.

Here’s a look at how some champions in the past—including Nadal and Djokovic—have faced down a murderer’s row of opponents that might leave you wondering, “How did they get through those guys?"

1

This was the tournament that really started Courier on his way to a Hall of Fame career. In 1989, the American won his first title, but he failed to make a final the following year. He started 1991 off solidly enough, but really stepped it up at the first “Super 9” event of the year in Indian Wells.

In the round of 16, Courier beat his former tennis academy roommate Andre Agassi, who was ranked No. 4 at the time. In the next round, he defeated the Spanish veteran and world No. 8 Emilio Sanchez. His semifinal opponent was No. 23-ranked Michael Stich, the German who would go on to win Wimbledon in a few months time. In the final, Courier faced the big-serving Frenchman Guy Forget, who was in the midst of playing the best tennis of his career. Courier went down to the wire with the world No. 5, winning the title in a fifth-set tiebreak.

2

Even though he never did win the French Open, Alex Corretja was considered one of the best clay-court players of his generation. One would be mistaken to consider him a one-surface wonder, though, as his results on hard courts were quite impressive.

Entering the 2000 tournament in Indian Wells ranked No. 26, the Spaniard beat Karol Kucera—ranked as high as No. 6 only two years earlier—in the first round. His next opponent was two-time US Open champion Patrick Rafter, who he topped in three sets. Corretja beat the always-tricky Fabrice Santoro in the next round, before rattling off three straight wins against Top-10 players Magnus Norman, Nicolas Lapentti and Thomas Enqvist to take the title.

3

On his first appearance in Indian Wells in 1988, Agassi reached the semifinals. He made his first final there in 1990 and his second in 1995. Still, by the time 2001 rolled around, Agassi had yet to win a title in the desert. That all changed, though, as Agassi won the only North American Masters 1000 trophy missing from his collection.

From the second round on, he faced nothing but past and present members of the Top 10. Agassi defeated Germans Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer in the second and third rounds, respectively. He waylaid Nicolas Lapentti in the quarterfinals, then beat Lleyton Hewitt, ranked No. 8 at the time, in the semis. It was only fitting that Agassi would meet his longtime rival Pete Sampras in the finals, whom he defeated in three straight sets.

4

At the start of the year, Nadal made a breakthrough at the Grand Slam level, winning his first hard-court major in Melbourne. It was the culmination of years of success beyond the clay: Nadal had captured multiple Masters 1000 events on hard courts, including Indian Wells in 2007.

In ’09, he returned to the winner’s circle there by defeating a series of topnotch opponents. From the round of 16 on, it was nothing but Grand Slam contenders: David Nalbandian, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray.

5

It made sense that Djokovic would win Indian Wells in 2011: After all, he had yet to lose a match by the time this tournament rolled around. Of course, everyone was trying to be his first defeat the Serb, but his winning ways continued.

In the quarters, he topped Richard Gasquet. In the semis, though, is where things got about as difficult as one could imagine. First up was Federer, whom he beat in three sets, thus foiling another classic Federer-Nadal final. Djokovic would outlast the Spaniard in three sets in a year that saw him collect three majors.