Carlos Alcaraz controls his own destiny in the battle for No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings over the course of the next two weeks. If the Spaniard wins the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, he will return to the top spot on 20 March.

If World No. 2 Alcaraz does anything less than lift the trophy at the season’s first ATP Masters 1000 event, Novak Djokovic will remain World No. 1 on 20 March.

Alcaraz last September became the youngest World No. 1 in the history of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The 19-year-old maintained the position for 20 weeks and finished as year-end World No. 1.

View Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings

Should Alcaraz get to No. 1 by winning Indian Wells, holding onto top spot won’t be easy. Dropping 1,000 points entering Miami, the Spaniard would need to successfully defend his title at Hard Rock Stadium to remain at No. 1 at the conclusion of the ‘Sunshine Swing’.

World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas is also in contention for World No. 1 in March, defending a combined 135 points in Indian Wells and Miami. The Greek must win one title and reach one final during the swing to give himself a chance of reaching top spot for the first time.

Former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev fell to World No. 12 on 30 January. He has been on a tear ever since, claiming titles in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai to surge to World No. 6.

Medvedev enters the ‘Sunshine Swing’ with an opportunity to continue his rapid ascent. The 27-year-old is defending just 45 points at Indian Wells. Since Taylor Fritz is defending 1,000 points from last year’s championship run, that puts Medvedev at World No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings before a ball is struck.

The former World No. 1 is 1,785 points behind Casper Ruud. However, with a maximum 2,000 points up for grabs in Indian Wells and Miami, and Ruud defending 600 points from his run to last year’s final, Medvedev has an opportunity to make a move.

Another Top 10 player with a big chance is Holger Rune. Last year, the Danish star entered Indian Wells qualifying without an ATP Masters 1000 main draw win to his name. He qualified and reached the second round before falling in the first round of qualifying in Miami, totaling 41 points for the two events.

Now Rune knows what it takes to lift the trophy at this level having done so at last year’s Rolex Paris Masters. The 19-year-old is No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, 21 points ahead of Andrey Rublev.

Rafael Nadal on 20 March will drop from the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time since breaking into the elite group on 25 April 2005, when he was 18. The Spaniard will have spent a record 912 consecutive weeks in the Top 10.

Tennis fans who have enjoyed an unprecedented look at life on the ATP Tour and Hologic WTA Tour through the groundbreaking docu-series Break Point are in for a double treat after Netflix today announced that it had commissioned Series 2 of the show to air in 2024.

Part 1 of Break Point premiered in January, with Part 2 (episodes 6-10) to follow this June. Executive producers Paul Martin and James Gay-Rees from Box to Box Films will continue to helm the show.

Break Point follows a select group of top tennis players on and off the court as they compete in the biggest and most gruelling events in tennis with hopes of emerging as champion and even bigger dreams of becoming World No. 1. As some of the greatest players tennis has ever seen reach the twilight of their careers, there is room for a new generation of players to claim the spotlight.

Break Point gets up close and personal with these top players on tour through an entire year, travelling across the globe for all four Grand Slams and the ATP Tour and Hologic WTA Tour. From injuries and emotional heartbreak, to triumphant victories and personal moments off the court, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at the pressure-tested lives of these pro tennis players.

“Break Point showcases the passion, grit, and determination of tennis players at the highest level of competition. The show has provided an incredible window into our sport and we’re delighted to see it return for a second season,” said ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. “Together with ATP Media, WTA and the four Grand Slams, we’re excited to partner with Netflix to build on the show’s success and bring captivating stories to audiences around the world.”

Netflix also announced today that it has commissioned Series 2 of the PGA Tour docu-series Full Swing, which premiered in February.

“These shows quickly appealed to core fans of golf and tennis, and also recruited brand new fans from all around the world,” said Brandon Riegg, Vice President, Unscripted and Documentary Series, Netflix. “Like so much of our growing sports slate, the compelling characters, competitive stakes, and vibrant storytelling reveal sides of the game you’ve never seen before, and we’re excited to follow the unpredictable turns of the year ahead.”

ATP players featured in the first season of Break Point are Felix Auger-Aliassime, Matteo Berrettini, Taylor Fritz, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Nick Kyrgios, Casper Ruud, Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

WTA players featured are Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, Sloane Stephens, Iga Swiatek and Ajla Tomljanovic.

Break Point provides a behind-the-scenes look at life as a professional tennis player, allowing fans to see members of the players’ support teams, from family members like Berrettini’s grandparents to Kyrgios’ longtime friend and manager Daniel Horsfall. The show includes interviews with members of the tennis community, including Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Paul Annacone and Courtney Nguyen.

All You Need To Know About Break Point

The renewals of Break Point and Full Swing build on Netflix’s overall sports programming success, following previous projects like Cheer; Last Chance U; The Last Dance; Neymar: The Perfect Chaos; and Untold. Current and upcoming titles include:

• Season 5 of Formula 1: Drive to Survive premiered February 24, with this season once again taking fans behind the scenes to witness first-hand how the drivers and teams prepare to battle it out for the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship
• Quarterback, Netflix’s first partnership with the NFL through a new docu-series that will take a unique look at each season told through the lens of NFL quarterbacks: 2023 Super Bowl MVP and championship winner Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota
• Untitled docu-series on global football star David Beckham that will go beyond the shine of stardom to explore his humble working class beginnings in East London, and the drive and determination that led him to become one of the most recognisable and scrutinised athletes of all time
• Untitled behind-the-scenes docu-series from the 2022 Tour de France that will chart the ups and downs of 8 of the cycling teams
• Untitled series at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, featuring exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of all 32 teams from the tournament
• Six Nations (working title): an exclusive, inside look at the international rugby tournament

The 2023 ATP Masters 1000 action kicks off this fortnight in Indian Wells, California, where the ATP Tour’s finest compete at the BNP Paribas Open from 8-19 March.

Carlos Alcaraz, who will return to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings with a title run, is the top seed. Stefanos Tsitsipas, the in-form Daniil Medvedev and defending champion Taylor Fritz are also among the contenders at ‘Tennis Paradise’, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch at the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the year.

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1) Sunshine Double Begins: The BNP Paribas Open is the first of back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 hard-court events known collectively as the ‘Sunshine Double’. Lifting the trophy in both Indian Wells and at the Miami Open presented by Itau is considered one of the toughest feats in tennis — it was last achieved by Roger Federer in 2017.

2) Double Motivation For Alcaraz: The 2022 Sunshine Double was a memorable one for Alcaraz. The then-18-year-old pushed Rafael Nadal to three sets in a blockbuster Indian Wells semi-final before triumphing in Miami, performances which later proved crucial to the Spaniard becoming the youngest No. 1 in Pepperstone ATP Rankings history last September.

Despite having since dropped to No. 2 below Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz arrives in Indian Wells this year knowing that a title run will secure his return to top spot. The top seed has made an 8-1 start to his 2023 season and will hope to maintain that strong form to claim his third ATP Masters 1000 crown.

3) Stef To Step Up?: Besides Alcaraz, Tsitsipas is the only threat to Djokovic’s No. 1 spot across Indian Wells and Miami. The Greek needs one title and another final from the Sunshine Double events to have a chance of reaching top spot for the first time.

His first priority will be to improve on his modest 5-4 record in Indian Wells, where his best showing was a quarter-final run in 2021. Yet the second-seeded Tsitsipas will be feeling confident after racking up a 13-2 record on hard courts in the first two months of the year.

4) Fritz Defending Champ: Fritz’s title run in Indian Wells was one of the stories of the 2022 season. The American dramatically defeated Nadal in the final despite suffering an ankle injury in the warm-up.

As he returns to defend the title at his hometown tournament, the 25-year-old also has some more recent achievements to draw confidence from — he won the United Cup as part of Team USA in January, lifted his fifth ATP Tour trophy in Delray Beach in February, and arrives in Indian Wells at a career-high No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

5) Red-Hot Medvedev Faces Early Test: The fifth-seeded Medvedev has won his past 14 matches en route to an ATP Tour title hat-trick in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai. Extending that red-hot run in Indian Wells will not be easy, however. The 27-year-old will face a high-quality home favourite — John Isner or Brandon Nakashima — in his opening match at an event where he holds a 6-5 record.

6) Top 10 Stars Seek Success: Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune and Felix Auger-Aliassime all seek their first ATP Tour title for 2023 in southern California.

Of the four, only 2022 semi-finalist Rublev has ever been past the fourth round in Tennis Paradise. The 19-year-old Rune competes in his first ATP Masters 1000 event since becoming a champion at that level for the first time at last November’s Rolex Paris Masters.

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7) #NextGenATP Shelton Makes Debut: Alongside Alcaraz and Rune, another young talent in the Indian Wells draw is starting to establish himself among the world’s best — #NextGenATP American Ben Shelton. The 20-year-old lefty, who reached the quarter-finals in his maiden Australian Open campaign in January, will take on the experienced Fabio Fognini on his Indian Wells debut. His reward for victory would be a mouth-watering all-American clash with defending champion Fritz.

8) Can Americans Maintain Momentum?: Fritz and Shelton are two of 14 home favourites in the Indian Wells draw (not including qualifiers). With 10 players from the United States currently in the Top 50 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the emergence of such a strong group of Americans has been one of the talking points of the year so far.

Among those hoping to emulate Fritz and become a home champion in California are four seeded players — Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Maxime Cressy.

9) Wu Aims To Back Up History: Both competing as wild cards, Wu Yibing and Dominic Thiem possess contrasting levels of experience in Indian Wells. Wu, who became the first Chinese ATP Tour titlist in history in February in Dallas, faces Jaume Munar on his event debut. Meanwhile, Thiem is preparing for his seventh appearance at an event where he defeated Federer to lift the trophy in 2019. The Austrian is one of just three former champions in the draw, alongside Fritz and 10th seed Cameron Norrie.

10) Isner/Sock Chase Third Doubles Crown: Home favourites John Isner and Jack Sock team up in pursuit of their third Indian Wells crown, but the 2018 and 2022 champions face stiff competition in California. That includes top seeds Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski, second seeds Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury, and Australian Open winners Rinky Hijikata/Jason Kubler.

A host of singles stars will also team up on the doubles court. Ruud partners Thiem, Fritz plays with his countryman Paul, Tiafoe teams with Stan Wawrinka, and Rune competes alongside his fellow #NextGenATP star Shelton.

Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev comes into the BNP Paribas Open as the hottest player on the ATP Tour and the fifth seed will need to be on his game early at the year’s first ATP Masters 1000 event to extend his 14-match winning streak.

Drawn in the same half as second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, third seed Casper Ruud and sixth seed Andrey Rublev, Medvedev faces a testing opening match against the winner of 2012 Indian Wells finalist John Isner, whose fearsome serve gets extra bite in the dry desert conditions, and Next Gen ATP Finals champion Brandon Nakashima.

Medvedev, who beat Rublev in last Saturday’s Dubai final to cap a hat-trick of titles that also included Rotterdam and Doha, is seeded to meet Alexander Zverev in the fourth round. The German last week returned to form with a semi-final run in Dubai.

Top seed and 2022 semi-finalist Carlos Alcaraz, who will return to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings should he win his third Masters 1000 title this fortnight, leads the top half of the draw and in his opening match will face the winner of American wild card Brandon Holt and a qualifier. The Spaniard missed last week’s ATP 500 event in Acapulco with a right leg injury.

Great Britain fans will not have been happy with the draw, as 24th seed Daniel Evans could face emerging 21-year-old lefty Jack Draper in the second round, with the winner possibly playing Andy Murray, if the Scot can defeat Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round and 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round.

Eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is looking for a spark after a modest 8-5 start to the year, is seeded to meet Poland’s ninth seed Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round.

Defending champion Taylor Fritz, who is at a career-high No. 5, will open against the winner of fast-rising 19-year-old American Ben Shelton and wily Italian veteran Fabio Fognini. But with 1000 points to defend, the 25-year-old enters the tournament at No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and needs a deep run to remain within reach of the Top 5.

Seeded 11th, Jannik Sinner could meet fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the third round and seventh seed Holger Rune in the fourth round.

Second seed Tsitsipas, who has a chance to climb to World No. 1 after the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami, will open against either French veteran Gael Monfils or Australian Jordan Thompson. The Greek needs to win one title and reach one final during the swing to put himself in contention for top spot. Tsitsipas is defending just 135 points in March, having reached the Indian Wells third round and the Miami fourth round in 2022.

Tsitsipas is seeded to meet Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round, with Rublev, 2021 champion Cameron Norrie and Matteo Berrettini all potential opponents in the quarter-finals, should he make it that far.

World No. 4 Ruud, who last year reached the final of the Miami Open, will play the winner of the all-Argentine first-round battle between Diego Schwartzman and Federico Coria. Schwartzman is looking to turn around his season, having won just one of his seven matches this year as he has slipped to World No. 38.

A number of the world’s leading coaches, players and sports scientists, including Toni Nadal, Gilles Cervara, Magnus Norman and Tommy Haas will meet for the third World Tennis Conference, to be held virtually from 30 March – 2 April.

Organised by the Global Professional Tennis Coaches Association (GPTCA) and the Segal Institute, WTC3 will feature 68 speakers from 28 countries, including ATP World No. 1 players, Grand Slam champions and tennis legends. The event’s third edition continues its effort to connect the world’s top high-performance tennis coaches and sports scientists with other coaches and people around the world.

Visit World Tennis Conference Website To Sign Up

The four-day programme is thoughtfully designed to raise the level of understanding surrounding player development, while helping ambitious tennis coaches develop. The conference is dedicated to education, training and assisting professional tennis coaches globally — whether they work in a local club or are travelling on the ATP and WTA Tours.

A star-studded line up will see Pat Cash, Frederic Fontang, Brad Gilbert, Wolfgang Thiem, Liam Smith, Craig O’Shannessy, Jordi Vilaro and Neal Skupski give speeches during the event.

Each attendee will be able to participate in a Q&A webinar with some of the main speakers in ‘Meet The Speaker Room’ and will receive a WTC3 WorkBook with Top 10 recommendations of each presentation.

New to 2023 is the NextGen Tennis Coaches programme, promoting 12 young coaches, aged 30 or under who will receive free registration to WTC3.

Officially certified by the ATP Tour, the event is organised by the Global Professional Tennis Coaches Association (GPTCA) and the Segal Institute (SI), and will be powered by the educational platform CoachTube.

Luca Van Assche and Max Purcell etched their names into the ATP Challenger Tour record books this week.

Van Assche, 18, saved two championship points against countryman Ugo Humbert to win the longest Challenger final in history (three hours, 56 minutes) at the Terega Open Pau Pyrenees. The Australian Purcell extended his winning streak to 15 by triumphing for a third consecutive week in India. American Aleksandar Kovacevic also collected a title of his own at the Texas Tennis Classic.

In the Pau Challenger 125 final in southern France, home hope Van Assche rallied from a double break down at 0-3 in the final set and again from 4/6 in the deciding-set tie-break before winning four consecutive points to survive Humbert 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6) and capture his second Challenger title.

“It was a crazy match, an amazing fight against Ugo,” Van Assche said. “I’m very happy. A lot of emotions during this match. I was leading, then losing. I was match point up, then match point down. It was a fantastic match with great support from the crowd.

“At 4/6 in the tie-break, I was hoping he wouldn’t hit an ace! I was playing point by point, just focussing on every point. I was a little bit exhausted so I was not thinking too much, just playing my game.”

Van Assche, who won the Maia Challenger in 2022, is the fourth Frenchman to win multiple Challenger titles before turning 19, joining Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils, and Fabrice Santoro. The Belgian-born player is the fifth #NextGenATP Challenger champion of the year and joins Arthur Fils as the only teenage champions of 2023.

En route to the title, Van Assche needed deciding sets in four of his five matches and ousted the Top-3 seeds Arthur Rinderknech, Humbert, and Gijs Brouwer. The teen rises to a career-high No. 110 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Luca Van Assche triumphs at the Challenger 125 in Pau, France. Credit: Alexis Atteret

There was no stopping Max Purcell at the Pune Metropolitan Region Challenger. After dropping the opening set in his first-round match, the 24-year-old didn’t lose a set the rest of the week to claim a third consecutive Challenger title (Chennai, Bengaluru). In the championship match, the third seed defeated 19-year-old Italian Luca Nardi 6-2, 6-3.

“It’s great to win three in a row,” Purcell said. “In tough, hot conditions too, I recovered well since the first week and now I’m thrilled to move into the Top 100.”

Three weeks ago, Purcell was No. 203 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, but following his trio of titles in India, the Sydney native climbs to a career-high 95.

Max Purcell in action at the Challenger 100 event in Pune. Credit: Pune Metropolitan Region Challenger

The 2022 Wimbledon doubles champion (w/ Matthew Ebden) is the 14th player to claim three consecutive Challenger titles and the first since Ben Shelton did so this past season (Charlottesville, Knoxville, Champaign). Purcell is the first Australian to achieve the feat in Challenger history.

At the Texas Tennis Classic in Waco, third seed Kovacevic dropped just one set en route to his second Challenger title of the season. The 24-year-old defeated Alexandre Muller in the final 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

In the semi-finals, the American avenged his loss from last week’s Monterrey Challenger to Borna Gojo, who defeated him in the quarter-finals in Mexico en route to the title.

This past month, Kovacevic won his maiden Challenger title in Cleveland, where he defeated Wu Yibing in a thrilling championship match before the Chinese star won the ATP 250 event in Dallas the following week.

Now at a career-high 107, the former University of Illinois standout Kovacevic sets his sights on cracking the Top 100 at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, where he received a main-draw wild card.

An action-packed week featuring events on three continents ended with Alex de Minaur, Daniil Medvedev and Nicolas Jarry lifting ATP Tour titles in Acapulco, Dubai and Santiago, respectively.

ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as of 6 March 2023.

View Pepperstone ATP Rankings

No. 18 Alex de Minaur, +4
A pair of stirring comebacks earned the Australian the biggest title of his career at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC. De Minaur dropped the first set in both the semi-finals against Holger Rune and the final against Tommy Paul, but stayed rock-solid to turn around both matches and claim his maiden ATP 500 crown. The 24-year-old has jumped four spots to No. 18 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as a result, his highest ranking since August 2021 and just three shy of his career high. Read Acapulco Final Report & Watch Highlights.

No. 6 Daniil Medvedev, +1
Daniil Medvedev’s completion of a hard-court hat-trick has lifted the 27-year-old one spot to No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Medvedev backed up his Rotterdam and Doha victories with a perfect run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where he did not drop a set all week. The third seed ended Novak Djokovic’s unbeaten start to 2023 in the semi-finals, before racing past 2022 winner Andrey Rublev with a clinical championship match display for his 14th consecutive tour-level victory. Read Dubai Final Report & Watch Highlights.

No. 8 Holger Rune, +2 (Career High)
A semi-final run on his Acapulco debut has lifted the 19-year-old Rune, who only broke the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings just over 13 months ago, to a career-high No. 8. The Dane moved past fellow #NextGenATP star Ben Shelton, Nuno Borges and Matteo Berrettini in Mexico before falling to eventual champion De Minaur.

On Monday I will reach my new career high as number 8 🤩
Thank you to my team, my family and sponsors for your ongoing support and trust 🙏🏽 let’s continue the good work 🦾

— Holger Rune (@holgerrune2003) March 4, 2023

No. 19 Tommy Paul, +4
Paul’s strong start to 2023 continued in Acapulco, where the 25-year-old reached the biggest final of his career with a series of victories against fellow Americans. The Australian Open semi-finalist saw off Michael Mmoh (his 100th tour-level win), Mackenzie McDonald and World No. 5 Taylor Fritz en route to the championship match in Mexico, a run that has returned him to the Top 20 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after just two weeks away.

No. 52 Nicolas Jarry, +35
Home favourite Jarry completed a memorable run at the Movistar Chile Open, where he lifted his second ATP Tour trophy with a hard-fought comeback win against Tomas Martin Etcheverry. It was a continuation of strong form from the 27-year-old — he arrived in Santiago off the back of a run to the Rio de Janeiro semi-finals, where he pushed Carlos Alcaraz to three sets.

Jarry, whose aunt Catalina Fillol is the tournament director of the clay-court ATP 250 in the Chilean capital, has surged 35 spots to No. 52 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as a result of his title run, 100 places higher than he started the season. Read Santiago Final Report & Watch Highlights.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 14 Alexander Zverev, +2
No. 36 Tallon Griekspoor, +3 (Career High)
No. 53 Mackenzie McDonald, +9
No. 57 Mikael Ymer, +2 (Career High)
No. 58 Jaume Munar, +8
No. 60 Lorenzo Sonego, +7
No. 61 Tomas Martin Etcheverry, +15 (Career High)
No. 77 Ugo Humbert, +12
No. 95 Max Purcell, +21 (Career High)