One week before the main draw starts at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the tournament announced its wildcards in both the ATP and WTA main draws.  The joint ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory tournament offers generous amounts of ranking points and prize money.  Thus, these wildcards will feel grateful to receive direct entry rather than hinging their hopes on emerging from the qualifying draw. 

Fans should be entertained and intrigued by this year's wildcards, who comprise an especially talented group.  Here is a glimpse of some key accomplishments by each of them.

Nadia Petrova:  The 31-year-old Russian may have dropped outside the top 150 after personal adversity, but she has finished two seasons in the top 10 and nine of the last 11 in the top 20.  A former Indian Wells doubles finalist, Petrova has won 13 WTA singles titles, including the 2012 Premier Five crown in Tokyo.  She also has won more matches at majors than any active woman who has not won a major.

Vera Zvonareva:  A former world No. 2, Zvonareva earned the most significant title of her career at Indian Wells in 2009.  She defeated Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic on the final weekend that year, when she also won the Indian Wells doubles title.  Zvonareva has reached two major finals in singles, both in 2010, and won the Australian Open doubles title two years ago with Svetlana Kuznetsova.  Her ranking has plummeted outside the top 500 as she attempts to mount a comeback from a shoulder injury that sidelined her for over a year.

Donald Young:  The left-handed American with fine touch around the net has one ATP final to his credit and reached the third round of the Australian Open this year with wins over Robin Haase and Andreas Seppi.  Young also made his Davis Cup debut a month ago, falling to Andy Murray.  He is competing in Acapulco, Mexico this week.

Jack Sock:  A hard-serving youngster from Nebraska, Sock won the 2011 US Open mixed-doubles title with Melanie Oudin.  Many observers have compared him to Andy Roddick, although Sock remains early in his career trajectory.  He reached the third round of last year's US Open and the quarterfinals at two of four ATP tournaments this year.  Ranked barely inside the top 100, Sock upset top-20 opponent Tommy Haas in Auckland.

Ryan Harrison:  This former top prospect has fallen on hard times recently, recording just one main-draw win since the US Open.  But Harrison has reached the round of 16 in two of his last three appearances at Indian Wells, where he has defeated Milos Raonic.  Although he never has defeated a top-10 opponent, he mounted stiff resistance to both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal there in competitive losses.

Steve Johnson:  An NCAA star 100 miles to the west at USC, Johnson earned the best result of his ATP career at Delray Beach this month.  He reached the semifinals there after victories over Haas and Feliciano Lopez.  Johnson also won the Dallas Challenger a few weeks ago against a solid field, defeating Harrison en route.

Rhyne Williams:  He may not be the Williams whom fans most wanted to see at Indian Wells, but a quarterfinal at Delray Beach suggested that he will bring solid form.  Williams defeated Marcos Baghdatis at that event and won a set from Juan Martin del Potro at the Australian Open this year.  One of his tour-level victories last year came against Johnson.

Coco Vandeweghe:  Another local talent, Vandeweghe resides in Newport Beach, California and has earned her greatest successes in her home state.  She defeated Zvonareva, then in the top 10, en route to the San Diego quarterfinals in 2010.  Her best result, however, came at Stanford two years ago, when she reached her first WTA final as a lucky loser after upsetting Jelena Jankovic.  The immensely powerful Vandeweghe has not played a main-draw match at the WTA level this year.

Shelby Rogers:  Just outside the top 100, Rogers has spent most of her career so far at the ITF Challenger level.  She won her first main-draw match at a major last year at Roland Garros, but she failed to qualify for all seven of the WTA events that she has entered since then.  This wildcard should be especially welcome to her.

Victoria Duval:  This wildcard comes at just the right time after a strong week in Acapulco.  Duval first announced herself last year by upsetting former top-10 woman Samantha Stosur at the US Open, the site of Stosur's only major title to date.  She hadn't resurfaced often since then until this week, when she defeated fellow young talents Heather Watson and Belinda Bencic to reach the Acapulco main draw.  Duval dominated Iveta Melzer (formerly Benesova) in her first match there.

Taylor Townsend:  Ranked outside the top 300, Townsend's only main-draw win at the WTA level came at Indian Wells last year.  She rewarded tournament organizers for a wildcard by defeating Lucie Hradecka before falling to Ivanovic.  Controversy regarding her relationship with the USTA has unfairly overshadowed the shot-making talent and competitive strength of this 17-year-old lefty.

Donna Vekic:  The former junior star already has two WTA finals on two different surfaces to her credit:  Tashkent on hard courts in 2012 and Birmingham on grass in 2013.  Vekic has lost her last seven matches at the WTA level, unfortunately, so she will hope to burst out of that slump in her first Indian Wells appearance.

Belinda Bencic:  The current junior No. 1 already ranks inside the top 150 at age 16.  Bencic won a three-set “battle of the ages” from Kimiko Date-Krumm at the Australian Open this year, and she delivered two impressive wins in Switzerland's Fed Cup tie against France.  Fans should not miss the chance to catch a glimpse of a youngster who looks like a future major champion and top-10 stalwart.

Indian Wells also issued wildcards in its qualifying draws to Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis, Great Britain's Heather Watson, and nine American players.  Qualifying matches will start on Monday, March 3.  The BNP Paribas Open will release the men's main draw on Monday, March 3, and the women's main draw on Tuesday, March 4.