Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal looking ahead to BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells

Tennis fans of the ATP Tour will be looking forward to the start of Indian Wells in California later this week. Known as the Bnp Paribas Open, the Masters Series 1000 tournament will be the first of nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments that are staged in 2017. The event precedes the Miami Masters, which are played in late March. Along with that event and a trio of Masters Series clay-court events that are soon to be played in Europe, Indian Wells is the co-largest event in terms of ranking points to be played between the Australian Open and the French Open.

Top players will gather

As a part of the Masters Series, the event showcases the best men's tennis players in the world at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. In the current calendar year, the event will be held between March 9th and March 19th with qualifying to come beforehand. The big players that are expected to be in the event are not few as it is a mandatory event for those that aren't injured.

The top two players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, will be in the event. The former is coming off a disappointing showing down in Acapulco where he fell ahead of the final. The latter is coming off of a title in Dubai, one that gave the Scot a clean sweep of the last four 500-series events that he has entered.

Murray also played well in the last 1000-series tournament he was in last season during the Asian swing. The Scot won both Shanghai and Paris in 2016 and he'll look for continued success in California.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the finalists at the 2017 Australian Open, are both expected in Indian Wells as well. Both players were busy last week, Nadal a little more than Federer. The Swiss Maestro suffered a shocking defeat in Dubai to Evgeny Donskoy in the early stages of the tournament. Nadal's defeat was less shocking and in the late rounds, but he dropped the tournament final to Sam Querrey. It will be interesting to see the response of both top players in Indian Wells as they look to bounce back in a bigger event.

Milos Raonic recent injury

Last season, Canadian Milos Raonic made the Indian Wells final and that gives him 600 ranking points to defend this season. However, he missed the Delray Beach final injured about a week ago and then pulled out of Acapulco. He remains a question mark heading into the 2017 BNP Paribas Open.