Carlos Alcaraz admits he \u201cdidn\u2019t understand\u201d why Indian Wells decided to change the tournament\u2019s courts ahead of this year\u2019s event in the desert.<\/p>\n
Indian Wells was famously known for it\u2019s slower hard courts, which has made winning the combined Masters and WTA 1000 event one of the toughest tasks in tennis.<\/p>\n
However, just days before the start of the 2025 edition of the tournament, the Indian Wells governing body announced a surprise switch from Plexipave to Laykold.<\/p>\n
Laykold surfacing is currently in use at the Miami Open and US Open, which traditionally had faster court speeds than in Indian Wells.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz<\/a> has found himself at home in the desert the past two years, lifting the title in both 2023 and 2024 \u2013 beating Daniil Medvedev in both finals.<\/p>\n Speaking ahead of his title defence, the Spaniard still appeared confident about his quest to seal an Indian Wells \u2018three-peat\u2019 \u2013 but admitted the surprise change was unexpected.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe court is faster, right?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. Honestly, it\u2019s a change that I didn\u2019t understand when I saw it, it was 25 years the tournament, it was the same court, and then right now has changed. I don\u2019t know the reason why they did it.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to practice on it. I think I consider myself a player who adapt very well his game, you know, on the surfaces and all the conditions that you\u2019re playing on.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I play great tennis anyway, even though the courts are a bit faster. But all I can say is I didn\u2019t understand when I saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n The second seed in Indian Wells, Alcaraz is still widely considered the favourite to lift the title despite the court change.<\/p>\n Should he triumph, he would join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in having won three straight titles at the event.<\/p>\n Djokovic and Alcaraz could meet in the quarter-final of the men\u2019s singles draw, though world No 1 Jannik Sinner<\/a> is absent amid his three-month suspension.<\/p>\n Taylor Fritz \u2018hopeful\u2019 Elena Rybakina will say yes after asking important question<\/a><\/p>\n Jannik Sinner\u2019s coach reveals Italian\u2019s \u2018mature\u2019 response to doping ban critics<\/a><\/p>\n Though the Italian also missed the Qatar Open after his doping ban was confirmed, this is the first significant event the world No 1 has found himself unable to play.<\/p>\n Alcaraz defeated Sinner in three sets in the semi-final a year ago, and the two\u2019s rivalry has been a dominant feature on the ATP Tour in recent months.<\/p>\n However, world No 3 Alcaraz admits that Sinner\u2019s absence has not changed his outlook or approach heading into this year\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it didn\u2019t change at all,\u201d added the Spaniard.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, this tournament obviously, I mean, Jannik\u2019s not playing, but a lot of the best players in the world are playing here as well. I think the draw is really open, and a lot of players playing great tennis.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, coming here to approach the tournament, it doesn\u2019t change at all. I\u2019m just focused on my things, on myself, and I try to play good tennis here.\u201d<\/p>\n Having received an opening-round bye, the second seed will face Quentin Halys or qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta in the first match of his title defence.<\/p>\n He could then face 27th seed Denis Shapovalov and 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov before a potential clash against Djokovic.<\/p>\n Alcaraz is projected to face world No 2 and first seed Alexander Zverev in the final.<\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a0Carlos Alcaraz looks to emulate Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic with rare Indian Wells feat<\/a><\/p>\n The post Carlos Alcaraz \u2018didn\u2019t understand\u2019 major Indian Wells change ahead of title defence<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carlos Alcaraz admits he \u201cdidn\u2019t understand\u201d why Indian Wells decided to change the tournament\u2019s courts ahead of this year\u2019s event in the desert. Indian Wells was famously known for it\u2019s slower hard courts, which has made winning the combined Masters and WTA 1000 event one of the toughest tasks in tennis. However, just days before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n