INDIAN WELLS, Calif. _ A day after the draw that put Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the same bottom quarter of the draw at the BNP Paribas Open, players were still marveling at the resulting concentration of talent and the potential for finals-quality matches in the first few rounds. Those three have won 44 Grand Slam singles titles _ 18 for Federer, 14 for Nadal, and 12 for Djokovic.
"Amazing draw, really. I've never seen anything like that, probably. It would be one of the toughest sections of a draw of all time, I would have thought," world No. 1 Andy Murray, who is in the top half of that draw, said Wednesday during a news conference. "It would be interesting to see ones that were comparable in terms of the amount of Grand Slams you have in that section but also in terms of the up-and-coming players. ... It's exciting for tennis fans for sure. There will be some great matches early on in the tournament, hopefully."
No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka seemed happy to be in the top half of the draw. "For sure the last quarter is packed," he said. "It's quite crazy to see all those big names in the same quarter."
But Murray cautioned that things don't always go according to form. "Maybe there will be some upsets and some of the matchups that everyone wants to see, maybe you don't get to see," he said. "But obviously a section that you'd want to be avoiding if you can."
