‘Official’ Andy Murray and Sofia Kenin receive wildcards for Indian Wells 2022


‘Official’ Andy Murray and Sofia Kenin receive wildcards for Indian Wells 2022

Sofia Kenin and Andy Murray

The 2022 Indian Wells Open is about to begin in less than 10 days’ time and the fans are getting excited for one of the biggest Tour events of the season with the tournament often dubbed as the ‘5th Grand Slam of tennis’. The tournament this year will start on 10th March and the wildcards for the tournament have been announced. Former World No. 1 Andy Murray and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin have been handed the first wildcards.

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Murray is ranked 84th in the world currently and with many top-ranked players opting to play the tournament, the Brit’s rank does not see him qualify into the main-draw directly. Kenin is ranked 89th on the WTA Tour right now as she continues her battle with form for over a season now.

With the only option left for both players was to play through the qualifiers, the tournament has recognised the two Grand Slam champions and granted them the wildcard to enter the main-draw directly. Sofia has made a horrific start and is 2-5 for the season so far having lost 5 straight matches after winning her first two matches of the season. As for Murray, he is 8-6 for the season after a mixed run of results.

Andy Murray’s record at the Indian Wells

Andy Murray
Andy Murray

Murray will be making his 14th appearance at the tournament having made his debut at the tournament back in 2006. He has not won the title yet. He had however reached the finals in 2009 losing in straight-sets to Rafael Nadal. He has two semi-final exits, two quarter-final exits, a couple of 4th and 3rd round exits and four exits from the 2nd round. He lost in the 3rd round of the 2021 edition to Alexander Zverev in a tight match.

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Sofia Kenin’s record at the Indian Wells

Sofia Kenin
Sofia Kenin

Kenin will be making her 5th trip to the desert but it will be only her 3rd main-draw appearance. The American youngster was defeated in the first qualifying rounds in 2016 and 2017 before making her main-draw debut in 2018 losing in the second round. She reached the second round in 2019 as well but could not go ahead losing to Elina Svitolina in what was her last appearance as the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Pandemic and Kenin did not play in the 2021 event.

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