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So far in Indian Wells, things have gone as expected in the ‘quarter of death’ with Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, and Kyrgios all making the fourth round. Murray who had the easiest draw of them all, however, lost his first match against Pospisil.

Yesterday there were two big matches in the stacked quarter between Kyrgios vs Zverev and Djokovic vs Del Potro which Kyrgios won 6-3, 6-4 while Djokovic won 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

They both played incredibly well and the result of the rematch is impossible to predict. Djokovic played better than he did in Acapulco but so did Kyrgios. Kyrgios was basically toying with Zverev putting his unlimited talent on full display and getting the double break to win the opening set.

One shot he hit through his legs surprised Zverev to such an extent that Zverev missed a sitter volley into the open court. That point pretty much summed up the match. Kyrgios was making Zverev look like an amateur.

The guy truly has unlimited talent. The only thing standing between him and multiple slams is his mind. I have gained some respect for him since his last meeting with Djokovic after he called Djokovic ‘the most complete player I have ever played‘.

The 2017 Indian Wells draw is all about the bottom quarter which has been stacked with Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Kyrgios, Zverev, and Del Potro. I think it will make things more interesting in the early rounds but I have to wonder how Djokovic can get this difficult a draw after what happened in Acapulco.

After getting Del Potro in his second match in Acapulco he gets him again in his second match in Indian Wells. The odds of that happening must have been very slim but then he also gets Kyrgios in his next match like in Acapulco.

It seems suspicious, especially with the following in mind:

So Djokovic has been struggling to reach his former level of dominance ever since losing to Querrey at Wimbledon last year, who by the way defeated Obnoxious Nick 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the semis of Acapulco.

As usual, Kyrgios can’t follow through when he defeats a top player. Same as he did when he defeated Nadal and Federer. I guess he didn’t feel like winning. Querrey mustn’t be ‘good’ enough to deserve Kyrgios’ best effort.

To get back to Djokovic, I was wondering what it would take for people to feel like he is ‘back’, and what that means exactly. I mean it’s highly unlikely that he will return to his dominance of 2015.

That was insane dominance which had to end sooner rather than later. And once you lose a couple of matches and lose that edge it can be tricky to get it back. Tennis is a confidence game and winning is a habit.

We have seen Federer and Nadal having the same problems many times and finding confidence again. No player can dominate indefinitely. A tennis career is a series of ups and downs, of peaks and valleys.

After Federer lost to Donskoy Wednesday Djokovic followed him in Acapulco yesterday when he lost 7-6(9), 7-5 to Kygios. I thought Djokovic played great except for the final game where he wilted under the pressure and dropped serve to love.

Up until that point, there was nothing in this very high-quality match. Kyrgios has now won his first match against Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic. Ever since I saw him play against Nadal at Wimbledon I knew he was a special talent.

I actually like his game a lot. The problem is his attitude stinks so much that he is impossible to like. He is the most obnoxious jerk you can possibly imagine. By far the most unlikeable tennis player I have ever come across.

And I’m not saying this because he beat my favorite player. I have disliked him for some time now. Who would ever forget the incident where totally disrespected Stan, one of the nicest guys on tour?

World #116 and qualifier Evgeny Donskoy scored a sensational 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) victory over current Australian Open champion Federer yesterday in Dubai after saving three match points. Donskoy also came back from 2-5 in the second set tiebreak, 2-5 in the third set, and 1-5 in the third set tiebreak.

A truly remarkable turn of events after I assumed Federer would roll over Donskoy in no time. Kind of like I assumed Djokovic would roll over Istomin in Melbourne. But since when does Federer lose after having so many opportunities to finish his opponent?!

You can call it enormous choking from Federer or superb play from Donskoy when he was down. I guess it is a bit of both. But I was really impressed with Donskoy. He reminded me a bit of Djokovic the way he returned and played from the baseline.

He was fearless and stayed positive despite facing terrible odds. It was a fresh and entertaining changeup from the lower ranked players who usually implode in that situation against Federer. In fact, Donskoy was imploding until 1-5 in the third set tiebreak but then made a miraculous comeback.

Federer suffers first loss to a player outside the Top 100 since Delbonis in Hamburg 2013. First on hard since Indy 2000 to James Sekulov.