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Who's smashing it? Our guide to risers and fallers in tennis rankings - Roger Federer closes on top five and steals Elena Vesnina's thunder - and trophy
Our fortnightly series continues to look at the players causing a storm on the circuit and those who have been blown away with a rundown of the top 20 world rankings in the men and women's game.
On the up...
Roger Federer
If the 2016 sporting success story award belonged to underdogs Leicester, this year's prize has to have already been sewn up in mid-March by renaissance man Roger Federer.
Rising four places in the rankings and now closing in on the top five again at No 6, just imagine the figures and fortunes that could be made in making a movie of Federer's quite stunning return to the top end of the men's game.
At 35-years-old and with a new and improved backhand to boot, could Federer really do the impossible and clamber his way back to the top of the tree?
At Indian Wells, Federer took advantage of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray's early exits to become the oldest winner of a Masters series title - and without dropping a set along the way too.
In the ATP race for London, Federer (3045pts) stands head-and-shoulders above the rest with nearly double the amount of points than current second-place Rafa Nadal has (1635).
Victory in the desert was Federer's 90th ATP title as a professional and his fifth overall at Indian Wells coming 13 years after his first success.
Back in 2012 Swiss producer This Luscher said: "A film about Roger Federer is difficult to articulate, as his story lacks the drama." Now film-makers will be falling over themselves trying to get the rights to what would be another major success.
Elena Vesnina
Talk about the cheek of it. Russian Elena Vesnina was enjoying her moment in the sun - or in the media spotlight at least - fresh from her Indian Wells success over Svetlana Kuznetsova when an official swooped in to take her prized possession.
The Russian, who is up two places to a career-high 13th in the rankings just 15 months after finishing outside the world's top 100, was giving her post-match interview when a tournament official took her trophy away - right in front of her eyes.
With only one piece of silverware available to pose with in California, and an exciting capacity crowd in the desert waiting to see Federer hold it aloft, organisers were forced to swipe Vesnina's big-glass block. I mean, have a heart. The 30-year-old had only had her hands on it for under two hours when it was taken from her grasp. Her reaction is priceless.
Vesnina couldn't even qualify for Indian Wells last time out. But the Russian has been in full bloom since reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals last summer. In California she beat Venus Williams and world No 1 Angelique Kerber on her way to winning her first Premier Mandatory title.
Kristina Mladenovic
The French right-hander has taken a massive leap in the WTA rankings off the back of a positive showing at Indian Wells last week.
The 23-year has shot up eight places to a career high of 18 in the world after reaching her first Premier Mandatory semi-final.
Mladenovic's impressive form saw her dispatch world No 4 Simona Halep in straight sets in the third round and former champion Caroline Wozniacki to reach the last four.
Welcome to the Top 20 @KikiMladenovic! pic.twitter.com/hDKWgDK0ZX
— WTA (@WTA) March 16, 2017
Halep and Wozniacki join a growing list of victims on Mladenovic's 2017 list. Venus Williams and world No 3 Karolina Pliskova have also failed to combat her style. Usually a doubles specialist (she is No 3 in the world), Mladenovic is fast showing she can go it alone.
Alijaz Bedene
Britain now have four men in the top 100 again after Alijaz Bedene climbed up 11 places to No 94 after continuing his love affair in Texas.
The 27-year-old gave his season a much-needed lift with victory at the $150,000 BMW of Dallas Irving Tennis Classic.
The British No 4 won the same event back in 2015 while still under the flag of Slovenia and has a 14-1 record in Irving after finishing runner-up last year.
His latest win in the southern state saw him collect his 12th Challenger title with his win over Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.
Bedene, who missed last season through injury and had been suffering a slump in form this year, has already used that morale-boosting victory to good effect by winning his first qualifying round at the Miami Open.
On the slide...
Marcel Granollers
The only thing the Spaniard has been smashing this year has been his head against a brick wall such has been his torrid run of results.
The 30-year-old, who slips another five places to 41 in the current rankings, has not strung two wins together this year in seven tournaments.
Granollers' four defeats have come against players below him in the world standings with his straight sets loss to world 132 Evgeny Donskoy at the Rotterdam Open his lowest point.
His confidence has been shot to pieces and his defeat to 53rd-ranked Malek Jaziri at Indian Wells led to him heading to Texas and a Challenger event where he hoped to get wins under his belt.
Radu Albot spoiled that ambition, however, with a tie-break win in the third set adding to Granollers' ever increasing woes.
Simona Halep
The Romanian made her return from a five-week absence with a knee injury at Indian Wells but her third-round exit to Kristina Mladenovic sees her slip one place to five in the rankings.
Halep has not found life on the sidelines easy and on her return admitted that she would have to take things slowly and not put herself under too much pressure.
"I cannot think about the results. I cannot think about winning a lot of matches right now because of this knee," she said as she prepared for California.
Halep, a 2015 champion in Indian Wells, cruised past Donna Vekic in her first match but then fell to Mladenovic in straight sets.
Marin Cilic
Andy Murray isn't the only one to suffer with the changing conditions at Indian Wells. Marin Cilic has also strugged to cope with the heat and humidity in California and this year was no different as he slipped to defeat to lowly ranked American Taylor Fritz.
''In the first part of my career coming here I would always have difficulty,'' the 2014 US Open champion revealed. ''I would often practice during the day and then end up playing at night in different conditions.''
It's not all been a sorry tale of affairs for Cilic in the desert. The Croatian reached the quarter-finals last time out. Yet with points to defend, Cilic lost 45 ranking points to slip two places to No 9 in the world. You win some, you lose some.
Sam Stosur
Just when it looked as though the Australian had got her season back on track, the 32-year-old took another step backwards with a second-round loss at Indian Wells.
Stosur suffered opening-round losses in her first three tournaments of the year - including unsurprisingly the Australian Open.
But the veteran picked up momentum with quarter-final showings in Taipei and Doha to lift her spirits ahead of the first Premier Mandatory event of the season.
Against Julia Goerges, however, she gave her opponent too much chances to break serve and ended up on the wrong end of a three-set defeat which sees her slip another place in the rankings to 19.
Goerges also knocked Stosur out of the Miami Open last time out and Stosur will have hoped to have seen the back of the German for the time being at least.
Men and women's rankings
ATP Rankings WTA Rankings - top 20
What's coming up this fortnight...
Part Two of the 'sunshine double' is under way in Miami and runs until April 2. Murray and Djokovic are the biggest absentees in the men's draw. Andy Roddick was the last man other than Djokovic and Murray to win in Miami in 2010.
Victoria Azarenka beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the women's final last time out but is still on maternity leave following the birth of her first child in December. Serena Williams continues to sit out the tour through injury.
