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Indian Wells 2019
ATP Tennis Players, Tennis News

Another former Slam champion joins Indian Wells withdrawal list


A former world number three and Major champion will not grace the courts of Indian Wells as the roster of missing players grows.

Indian Wells is already taking place without any of the ‘Big Three’ of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for the first time since 2000.

Now, 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic has also announced his withdrawal from the Masters 1000 event.

The world number 40 has not played since losing in the opening round of the US Open to world number 115 Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The 33-year-old Croat was in fact forced to retire from the match in the fifth set. It was the first time he has had to retire from a match in his career.

Cilic had his best result at Indian Wells in 2016, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to David Goffin in straight sets.

Cilic has one Masters title to his name, the 2016 Cincinnati Masters, where he defeated Andy Murray in the final.

With the absence of the Big Three, Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin del Potro, Indian Wells is guaranteed a first time champion from the men’s draw.

Since 2004, the Big Three have won 13 of the last 16 tournaments in California. Ivan Ljubicic won in 2010, while del Potro and Thiem won in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The tournament is also one of just two Masters 1000 events that Andy Murray has not won. The other is the Monte Carlo Masters.

The 14-time Masters 1000 champion had his best result in 2009. There, he defeated Federer in the semi-finals to reach a third Masters final of his career.

Rafael Nadal then soundly routed the Brit 6-1, 6-2. Murray has only been as far as the semi-finals since, doing so in 2015.


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