Closer to the event’s scheduled start, there were some late withdrawals – Guido Pella pulled out, to be replaced by Jannik Sinner, for example. Roger Federer was still recovering from knee surgery, so he was unable to be there, and Kei Nishikori had an elbow issue. There were, obviously, some withdrawals due to injury – notably defending women’s champion Bianca Andreescu, who had been struggling with fitness for months Simona Halep, who had a right foot injury, and Angelique Kerber, who had a problem with her left leg. The top-ranked players in the world were all expected to be there, from the world No 1s Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty downwards. Scheduled to start on March 9, the field was stacked. In 2020, the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells was, as usual, expected to be one of the highlights of the tennis season.
