Alcaraz can win a third successive Indian Wells title this month, with the Spaniard having also defeated Medvedev in the 2023 final.

But a major change is in place for the current edition of Indian Wells, with its courts undergoing a surface change for the first time in 25 years.

In line with the US Open and Miami Open, the hard court tournament has switched from Plexipave to Laykold.

Andy Roddick backs Ben Shelton and Casper Ruud to perform at Indian Wells

Former world number one Andy Roddick has now shared his verdict on the change, having won the Indian Wells men’s doubles title in 2009.

“The ball is going to fly, because you can’t retro-fit air,” he said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.

“That skinny air where there is 0% humidity on any day, so if you hit a kick serve… Indian Wells people go slow, that means Andy is not going to play well there because he plays better on fast surfaces.

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“But if you give me a court where I can hit a kick serve and it bounces over someone’s head, I flipped my forehand up. There are different ways to use this court.

“If it is going to a surface like a US Open or a Cincinnati, and you have that air where there is not an effective humidity to actually make the ball a bit heavier, you are going to see Reilly Opelka kicking serves over the third row.

“Ben Shelton should be licking his chops. But then you’re going Casper Ruud with his spin profile, that ball is just going to hit and explode off the court.”

Andy Roddick wants ‘more extreme’ courts after Indian Wells surface change

Roddick was an Indian Wells regular during his stellar career, but the American failed to win the singles event.

The 2003 US Open champion reached the final in 2010, but lost out to Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in an exciting 7–6(7–3),7–6(7–5) clash.

Roddick did, however, beat Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram 3–6, 6–1, [14–12] in the men’s doubles final with fellow American Mardy Fish the year before.

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Continuing his verdict on the current scenario at Indian Wells, Roddick said: “I don’t know if we need to worry about making all surfaces the same.

“I don’t think anyone who is listening to this podcast has been watching men’s tennis and the way it has evolved in the last 25 years, and this isn’t a criticism of where we are at, but I think the slow surfaces have come middle, the fast surfaces have kind of gone away, so we’re in this thing where a lot of it kind of looks the same.

“And they are going the players all play the same. I am thinking the players play the most effective version of themselves based on the conditions you are giving them.

“I guarantee if you make everything as fast as it was in the ’90s you’d have a lot of great volleyers very quickly, that matters.

“I don’t know if I completely understand the continuity between playing a hard court tournament in March and needing it to match up with a hard court tournament in September, when you have nothing but clay and grass in between.

“If we are going to focus on making something consistent, the weight of a ball, the felt count in a ball. The ball matters way more as far as health than the court.

“I actually would like to see the courts become a bit more extreme, I would like to see a tournament that is known as the fastest court, and you can circle it going in that these players are going to play well at this tournament because it’s so fast.”