BNP Paribas Open Tournament Men's Preview

The top 10-ranked male tennis players in the world will all be on the court for the first time since the Australian Open when the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California , kicks off Thursday.

The 1,000-point Masters has been won by just five men in the past nine years, and all five are present in the field of 128, including defending champion Ivan Ljubicic, the 14th seed.

Before Ljubicic broke through for the victory last year over American Andy Roddick, a familiar trio has snagged the previous six Indian Wells’ titles: world No. 1 Rafael Nadal(2007, 2009), No. 2 Roger Federer (2004-2006) and No. 3 Novak Djokovic (2008).

With the Australian Open title already in his back pocket in 2011, Djokovic has narrowed the points gap on Federer to a paltry 165 heading into the main draw on Thursday. Neither man has much of a prayer of catching Nadal—who leads Federer by 4,425 heading into this week—anytime before Halloween, but the rivalry between the Serb and the Swiss has really heated up over the past six months. 

Here's a sneak peak at the four mini-brackets for this year's BNP Paribas Open.

Top Left Quarter: You might think this was being played in Barcelona, not California, by the number of Spaniards populating this part of the bracket. Rafael Nadal is the obvious No. 1 seed and joined here by countrymen Pere Riba, Marcel Granollers, Nicolas Almagro, Albert Montanes and David Ferrer. If the seeds all fall as they're lined up, it would be an Australian Open quarterfinal rematch of Nadal and Ferrer.

But the muscular Mallorcan will have to get past either Marcos Baghdatis or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to get there, while Ferrer may face the red-hot Almagro in the fourth round. This isn't clay, but it's hard to say anyone's played better than Almagro of late; he's 18-3 so far in 2011.

Across the way, familiar world Nos. 4 and 5 Robin Soderling and Andy Murray lead a field of big names, some of whom are fighting to regain the spotlight. Two of those—   Radek Stepanek and Juan Martin Del Potro—must face off in the first round. The 32-year-old Czech Republic native Stepanek was ranked as high as eighth in 2006, but currently sits 67th.

Del Potro enters the field off his win at Delray Beach and has charged up the rankings to 90th. He's 0-2 against Stepanek all-time. The winner will get defending champion Ljubicic in the second round.

Fresh-faced Alexandr Dolgopolov calls this part of the bracket home as well. The 20th seed, he may see Romania's Victor Hanescu in round two. Also enjoying a bye is American Sam Querrey, who has sputtered to a 3-5 start in 2011, dropping from 17th to 24th in the process.

Things aren't likely to get much easier for the young American favorite. A second-round matchup with Janko Tipsarevic is likely. The winner of that matchup will likely bump heads with No. 9 seed Fernando Verdasco.

Last year's runner-up, Andy Roddick, sits at one end of the Bottom Left Quarter, with Djokovic at the other end. Someone with a patriotic flair clearly set up the top half of this quarter, with Roddick likely to face wild card James Blake in the second round, with a shot at John Isner in the third.

This tournament was the beginning of Isner's coming out party a year ago, as he made the fourth round and took Nadal three sets before going down. He hasn't done much in 2011 to date.

Djokovic might have the least-threatening path to the final four on paper. Former champion Lleyton Hewitt or Ernests Gulbis will likely be there in the third round, and Viktor Troicki could pop up in the fourth.

The bottom right quarter promises to have the most entertaining matches early, including a likely contrast of styles between American Mardy Fish and Canadian Milos Raonic in the second round. Raonic took a three-set win in the semifinals at Memphis last month, and if the kid with the big serve gets rolling again, the sky's the limit for another rankings boost. 

If Raonic does something truly schedule, like win three straight, he'll face the greatest legend of them all, Federer, who anchors the bottom of this bracket and doesn't seem likely need to break a sweat given the competition on his end.

Tomas Berdych sits at the top of the bracket, which also hosts Marin Cilic, Stanislas Wawrinka and wayward former Top 10 player Nikolay Davydenko, who is still seeking the magic touch that seems to have completely eluded him.

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