Nadal starts in desert with doubles win, Federer in action on Saturday

A busy practice schedule has seen Federer train with Alexander Zverev (on Thursday) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (on Friday). The Swiss’ session with Kohlschreiber on practice court 2 was especially packed, with fans flocking into adjacent courts just to catch a glimpse from afar.

“[Tuesday’s] match in New York actually gave me some input of what I needed to work on,” Federer said of his World Tennis Day exhibition against Grigor Dimitrov. “I was always going to come here and make sure the first few days I get used to the courts. I had a bit of a slow week last week after Dubai, so I think the next few days are going to be important for me.

“I feel like I am playing very well.”

Federer will get to to test that theory with some match practice on Saturday, when he teams up with countryman Michael Lammer to face Nenad Zimonjic and Marcin Matkowski in the doubles first round on Saturday afternoon. Federer and Stan Wawrinka finished runner-up at this event in 2011 and made it to the semifinals last year.

Nadal’s tournament got underway on Friday with his first-round doubles contest. The all-Spanish duo of Nadal and Pablo Carreno Busta crushed Pablo Cuevas and David Marrero 6-2, 6-1.

“We have a great relationship,” Nadal during the on-court interview as Carreno Busta stood by his side. “We were supposed to play together last year but I had some (injury) problems.”

Nadal, who has also been active on the practice courts with Tommy Robredo and Joao Sousa, is now 14-1 in his last 15 Indian Wells doubles matches. He won titles in 2010 and 2012 with Marc Lopez and that duo also reached the semis in 2011.