2025 ATP Indian Wells Seeds: Zverev ahead of Alcaraz, Djokovic No 6, seven Americans seeded
Thirty-two players will be seeded for the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the 2025 tennis season and Alexander Zverev has the honour of being the top-ranked player in the Indian Wells Open field.
Although Zverev is currently No 2 in the ATP Rankings, he has been bumped up to top seed due to Jannik Sinner’s suspension.
The Indian Wells tournament is the second event that Sinner has been forced to withdraw from after he was banned for three months by the World Anti-Doping Agency following his failed dope tests last March.
The Italian is set to miss another four tournaments and Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz will battle it out for the top-seeded status at those events in the coming months.
But for now Zverev is top seed followed by two-time defending champion Alcaraz, 2022 winner Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, two-time runner-up Daniil Medvedev and five-time champion Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz, Fritz, Djokovic and 2021 Norrie winner are the only former champions in the draw and only the latter is not seeded as he is outside the top 60.
World No 4 Fritz, who reached the fourth round last year, is one of seven American men to be seeded with Tommy Paul (11), Ben Shelton (12), Frances Tiafoe (16), Sebastian Korda (24), Alex Michelsen (31) and Brandon Nakashima (32) also getting the nod.
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Michelsen and Nakashima just made the cutoff as the former climbed two spots in the ATP Rankings to No 32 on Monday while the latter surged nine places to No 33.
As with all 96-player ATP Masters 1000 fields, the 32-seeded players all have byes into the second round so that is good news for those outside the top 10 as it means they won’t be able to draw the likes of Zverev, Alcaraz or Djokovic early on.
With Djokovic only seeded sixth, he will likely have to face either Zverev or Alcaraz as early as the quarter-final, should they all reach that stage.
Rising stars Jakub Mensik (57), Luca Nardi (67), Learner Tien (68) and Joao Fonseca (80) are not seeded, but they are in the main draw thanks to their ranking and wildcards.
Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios and Jenson Brooksby are also not seeded, as they used their protected rankings to enter the tournament.
The draw is set for 15:00 local time (23:00 UK time).
Indian Wells Open Seeds
1. Alexander Zverev
2. Carlos Alcaraz
3. Taylor Fritz
4. Casper Ruud
5. Daniil Medvedev
6. Novak Djokovic
7. Andrey Rublev
8. Stefanos Tsitsipas
9. Alex de Minaur
10. Tommy Paul
11. Ben Shelton
12. Holger Rune
13. Jack Draper
14. Grigor Dimitrov
15. Lorenzo Musetti
16. Frances Tiafoe
17. Felix Auger-Aliassime
18. Ugo Humbert
19. Tomas Machac
20. Arthur Fils
21. Hubert Hurkacz
22. Karen Khachanov
23. Jiri Lehecka
24. Sebastian Korda
25. Alexei Popyrin
26. Francisco Cerúndolo
27. Denis Shapovalov
28. Matteo Berrettini
29. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
30. Alejandro Tabilo
31. Alex Michelsen
32. Brandon Nakashima
