Three matches to watch as the tournament settles into its opening week, each carrying a distinct storyline.

Alexander Zverev arrives with fresh intent and a mixed history at this event. “I like to play golf here,” he said. “Historically I didn’t like to play tennis here.” His 13-9 record at Indian Wells and absence of a semifinal appearance underline that unease, yet Zverev is taking a different approach this season. “But that could change,” he added, pointing to a more aggressive plan. “Take more risks, maybe take some losses like in Acapulco along the way, but play the right way.” His first test comes against Matteo Berrettini, who leads their head-to-head 4-3 and beat Zverev at Wimbledon in 2023 and in Monte Carlo, 7-5 in the third set, in 2025. Berrettini’s tight win over Adrian Mannarino left him cramping and unable to get up for six minutes after a near three-hour match; he produced 26 forehand winners and was 12 for 12 at net. Fitness and who can impose their game will decide this one.

Coco Gauff returns to home courts for the first time in 2026 buoyed by recent results. “The weather is great as usual, so I’m excited to go out there and play.” She cites the U.S. athletes at the Olympics as inspiration and reached the semifinals in Dubai in February. That tournament has recently been elevated to a 1000, but Gauff says she still thinks of Indian Wells as the first event of the year of that stature. Serve pressure will be the story for her here; she has not solved every serving issue but it has not derailed her season as it did last year. Gauff beat 88th-ranked Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 at the Australian Open, leads her 2-0 and is 11-5 at Indian Wells. Rakhimova arrives having won two qualifying matches and survived a three-set opener with Bianca Andreescu.

Ben Shelton has climbed the draw each year at Indian Wells — second round in 2023, fourth round in 2024, quarterfinals in 2025 — and he may already be eyeing a meeting with Jannik Sinner in the last eight. “It gives you a lot of confidence as a competitor when you’re getting through the tough ones and coming up in the clutch moments,” he said of his performance in Dallas, where he saved match points against Taylor Fritz in the final. “I played my best tennis when my back was against the wall, so I take a lot of confidence from that.” He faces Reilly Opelka, a servebot who can hold serve almost at will; Opelka is ranked 68th, 60 spots below Shelton. Shelton is 2-0 against his countryman, though one match featured two tiebreakers and the other finished 7-5 in the third.

Grigor Dimitrov reversed a defeat from nine days earlier to Terence Atmane, grinding out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory in windy conditions at Indian Wells. The match lasted just under two and a half hours and set up a high-profile second-round encounter with Carlos Alcaraz.

Nine days ago in Acapulco, Dimitrov lost to Atmane in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, in the first round of the ATP 500 event. On Thursday he answered that loss by edging the Frenchman in a tight three-setter. He threatened to avoid a decider when he held seven break points at 5-all in the second set; Atmane held and then broke in the next game to force a third. Dimitrov produced an early cushion in the final set and protected it to snap a four-match losing streak.

“Those are the matches that actually matter to me the most right now,” he said after the match. “Being able to win in such a manner, it gives me confidence, and that’s what I want right now. It’s been a difficult seven or eight months, and I’m just trying to find my game around the court a little bit more. I think overall the body’s been holding up well, but you just never know what you’re going to get on the day, and I think today was one of those days when I really had to dig deep in terms of my experience. I’ve been in the situation like today more than once, but being able to really register quick enough and knowing what I have to do in certain moments, it definitely helped.

“Here we are, back at it, slowly but surely.”

Dimitrov, who missed almost the entire second half of 2025 with a pectoral injury sustained at Wimbledon, will next face the current No. 1. “Of course it’s going to be a tough one—let’s see it for what it is,” Dimitrov said. “I love watching him play. He’s just crushing the ball.

“I love him, in a positive way, but at the same time these are the moments for me that the fun part begins—how, or what can I do differently, or new or interesting, that could potentially not only rattle him but put him in a position where he doesn’t really like that. You never know how the game will unfold because it’s always in your hands, and I believe if I do the right things and cut down on a few mistakes here and there, something good can come out of it. So I’m going to come out with that mindset, and just stay locked in.”

Alcaraz received a bye in the first round and enters Indian Wells 12-0 on the year. Alcaraz leads the pair 4-2 overall, though Dimitrov has won two of their last three meetings, a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win in Shanghai in 2023 and a 6-2, 6-4 victory in Miami in 2024.

Coco Gauff drew a direct line between her own early rise and Alysa Liu’s return to the top after the Milano-Cortina Olympics. The two-time Grand Slam champion, speaking ahead of the BNP Paribas Open, said she could “highly relate” to Liu’s path from a young, high-pressure start to an adult reclaiming her career.

Liu, who topped the podium last month at Milano-Cortina, left a lasting impression with a story that began as a teenage prodigy. She set several youngest-ever marks with back-to-back national championships at ages 13 and 14 before stepping away from the sport and later returning to win Olympic gold. Gauff noted the parallels to her own experience of early success: she made her WTA tour-level debut at age 14 and became a global superstar by 15.

“I think her whole story was super inspiring,” Gauff said, acknowledging that their experiences are not identical but are closely aligned. “I wouldn’t say I have faced burnout, but there are times you’re mentally just tired of it and you feel like you’re doing stuff and you don’t know why,” she added. “So I definitely could relate to her whole story. I was happy to see her be that voice saying the unsaid things that athletes think but are maybe scared to say.”

Beyond Liu, Gauff praised other moments and personalities from recent international competition. She complimented freestyle skier Eileen Gu on her public speaking and referenced the excitement of the U.S. men’s and women’s hockey teams’ gold-medal performances. “Eileen Gu is someone I follow on Instagram and we’ve interacted. I’ve never met her, but she speaks so well,” Gauff said. “Obviously she’s super smart. I think she’s one of those people you don’t want your parents to find out about because she’s so accomplished, and they’re, like, ‘What are you doing?’ I could be Grand Slam winner. And my mom is, like, ‘She graduated Stanford and did all this stuff.’”

Reflecting on other storylines, she said, “It was unfortunate to see everything that went on with Lindsey [Vonn], but I think still for her to take that leap of faith was still inspiring.” Gauff also admitted she had recently watched hockey for the first time and enjoyed it: “There were a few stories that I followed. And obviously the hockey, women’s and men’s hockey was really cool to watch. I had never watched hockey before, but I was watching and I was excited. Maybe I’ll get into it.”