ATP Masters 1000: Indian Wells

After AO, followed by an unusually eventful and interesting February, the season is now beginning to gather its momentum that will take us right through to Wimbledon.

First stop: Indian Wells, aka Larryland.

ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells, outdoor hard
The BNP Paribas Open, the first of nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, showcases the best men's and women's players at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The 2014 edition of the BNP Paribas Open was the most successful tournament in its history, achieving an attendance milestone of 431,527 fans. A new 8,000-seater Stadium 2 court was opened prior to the event.

Players: everyone, even Delpo is back with a WC!
Drawhttp://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2015/404/mds.pdf
Order od Play http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2015/404/op.pdf

In effect it starts Saturday...or Sunday even if I remember correctly.

When is the draw?

Tenez wrote:In effect it starts Saturday...or Sunday even if I remember correctly.

When is the draw?

Not sure, should be out by Friday, I guess.
Women's draw is already out.

Toni imust be ironing out finer details with Larry....

I think it is a 2 weeks event so it starts officially this week...Weds more likely but the main players are not out before Saturday....usually.

The Draw shoudl be out today as well.

Yes, Larry really drags this tournament out...trying to create the image/impression of the 5th slam.
One of the reasons 4 are more than enough!

Looks like Coric has to go through qualification.

No trace of Pouille.

Tenez wrote:Looks like Coric has to go through qualification.

No trace of Pouille.

Yes, just saw that in the order of play.
Maybe Pouille is on tomorrow?

I saw Paire play a challenger last week. Competition is so tough at the moment.

I think it actually officially starts on the 12th, so Thursday, but as Tenez said, top players usually don't start playing till the first weekend.

Also, DelPo withdrew  and is replace by Kokkinakis

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/03/10/Del-Potro-Indian-Wells-Withdrawal.aspx

So, who's going to have Nadal in his half Fed or Nole?

Not sure about this, but I think seeds for IW are done before this week's ATP ranking, so Murray will probably be seeded 5 and Nishi 4.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Looks like Coric has to go through qualification.

No trace of Pouille.

Yes, just saw that in the order of play.
Maybe Pouille is on tomorrow?

I saw Paire play a challenger last week. Competition is so tough at the moment.

unless he has a WC, he is not in the qualification draw. So maybe Miami?

sphairistike wrote:I think it actually officially starts on the 12th, so Thursday, but as Tenez said, top players usually don't start playing till the first weekend.

Also, DelPo withdrew  and is replace by Kokkinakis

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/03/10/Del-Potro-Indian-Wells-Withdrawal.aspx

Yes..shame about Delpo....I seriously doubt he'll be able to get back to the very top.

noleisthebest wrote:So, who's going to have Nadal in his half Fed or Nole?

Not sure about this, but I think seeds for IW are done before this week's ATP ranking, so Murray will probably be seeded 5 and Nishi 4.

I think there is not much difference between Nishi and Murray nowadays so it would not matter much if anything.

I think Fed has had Nadal on hos side quite a bit recently.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Looks like Coric has to go through qualification.

No trace of Pouille.

Yes, just saw that in the order of play.
Maybe Pouille is on tomorrow?

I saw Paire play a challenger last week. Competition is so tough at the moment.

unless he has a WC, he is not in the qualification draw. So maybe Miami?

Why do you think he is not playing?
Cost?
Injury?
Not ready?

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:So, who's going to have Nadal in his half Fed or Nole?

Not sure about this, but I think seeds for IW are done before this week's ATP ranking, so Murray will probably be seeded 5 and Nishi 4.

I think there is not much difference between Nishi and Murray nowadays so it would not matter much if anything.

I think Fed has had Nadal on hos side quite a bit recently.

You're right, on balance both are quite similar atm.

I just hope the surface is not dead slow like in the past.

I'd love to see Fed make another final there.

Probably costs. It's a long and expensive trip.

Tenez wrote:Probably costs. It's a long and expensive trip.

Amazing Coric can afford it...

French tennis federation seems good at nurturing talent but not skilled at lobbying once players leave the "nest".

noleisthebest wrote:
Amazing Coric can afford it...

I am actually surprised he is required to qualify. He is ranked 60 this week and I believe the draw is close to 128.

French tennis federation seems good at nurturing talent but not skilled at lobbying once players leave the "nest".

Very true. And they are extremely strict on doping too.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
Amazing Coric can afford it...

I am actually surprised he is required to qualify. He is ranked 60 this week and I believe the draw is close to 128.

It is a bit confusing, but I think IW have long cut-off period.
I haven't followed Coric's ranking, so not sure where he was after AO. He did have to qualify for Dubai, and that's a smaller pool of seeds/players.

The draw will probably be out asap the Qualif are done.

I look forward to IW.
Masters 1000 have become more interesting than slams in a way, lots more good matches in rounds of 32 & 16 for some reason.

And they are not so predictable any more.

noleisthebest wrote:...And they are not so predictable any more.

Yes. It's a bot less about fitness.

I saw a strange stat last night. Djoko has earned $75.2M career prize money as opposed to $71.8M for Nadal. So Djoko earned $3,5M more...though Nadal has of course won more TMS1000, more slams and all in all 100 more matches than Djoko for the same number of losses...more or less. Nadal still is ahead in weeks at number 1 nas won 15 more tournaments I believe.

Considering they are roughly the same age I really cannot explain this prize difference as they roughly fought for the same titles.

This is a very weird stat! It shows that the WTF pays obviously a lot more.....but even that is hardly credible cause then Federer woudl have pulled away from those 2 but he has "only" won $14M more than Djoko having a much better TMS/Slam/WTF/Number 1 record...though the age difference between those 2 can explain some if it.

Yet....I still don;t know how Djoko managed to earn more than Nadal. ...Nadal won 32% more tournaments than Djoko, yet has earnt 5% less money than Djoko.

The conclusion is that the FO and clay TMS don't pay much!

Larry no longer in charge of IW

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:...And they are not so predictable any more.

Yes. It's a bot less about fitness.

I saw a strange stat last night. Djoko has earned $75.2M career prize money as opposed to $71.8M for Nadal. So Djoko earned $3,5M more...though Nadal has of course won more TMS1000, more slams and all in all 100 more matches than Djoko for the same number of losses...more or less. Nadal still is ahead in weeks at number 1 nas won 15 more tournaments I believe.

Considering they are roughly the same age I really cannot explain this prize difference as they roughly fought for the same titles.

This is a very weird stat! It shows that the WTF pays obviously a lot more.....but even that is hardly credible cause then Federer woudl have pulled away from those 2 but he has "only" won $14M more than Djoko having a much better TMS/Slam/WTF/Number 1 record...though the age difference between those 2 can explain some if it.

Yet....I still don;t know how Djoko managed to earn more than Nadal. ...Nadal won 32% more tournaments than Djoko, yet has earnt 5% less money than Djoko.

The conclusion is that the FO and clay TMS don't pay much!

Yes, I saw that too and was quite surprised.
Nole also plays fewest tournaments of all top 10 players, but he rarely loses before SFs.
He has played in many slam finals, so that all probably adds up.
I think AO is a highest paying slam, too.

And Nole won 4 WTFs (or is it 3? )

Fed playing Dimi in some exo in New York and was asked about possibility of Nadal overtaking him in slam wins:

"If he wins the French Open a few more times and I don't win any more, then clearly he can catch me very quickly."

Love it!

I'm at the msg Exo now- going to meet fed and others at a rolex cocktail party in a bit. I'll tell him you said hi!

Lucky you, have fun!

And don't forget, we want all the gossip here...FIRST!!!

Draw is out !

Murray in Nole's and Nadal in Fed's half.
Nole has Ferrer in the quarters, Murray - Nishi, Fed - Stan and Nadal - Raonic.

Another ridiculously easy draw for Nadal.
I hope Simon knocks him out.

Fed's and Murray's draw quite tough, Nole's is not easy either.

truffin1 wrote:I'm at the msg Exo now-  going to meet fed and others at a rolex cocktail party in a bit.  I'll tell him you said hi!

Lucky you Truffin...mention me...the one who really understands his genius.

I actually find the draws quite balanced. Not easy for any of the top 3.

Tenez wrote:

truffin1 wrote:I'm at the msg Exo now-  going to meet fed and others at a rolex cocktail party in a bit.  I'll tell him you said hi!

Lucky you Truffin...mention me...the one who really understands his genius.

We had a great time!  I'm surprised Fed let Dimitrov take the 3rd set, but both looked fine. Hard to take results seriously when Dimi pulls a boy from the audience and Fed lets the kids win points.

We had a really nice moment with Fed that speaks to his genuine niceness and nature.  When I took my grandson a couple of years ago to see Fed/Roddick at the same event, we were given tickets to attend the prematch banquet in the MSG Garden theater by my friends in the Rolex Ambassador division. Same as this time.  My grandson dressed all in Fed gear, an RF hat from his/our collection and I had on RF hat.  We were laughing and quite out of place because all around us were Arab Sheiks in robes, NYC Financial bigwigs just coming off work in Brioni suits, etc.   Not Federer clothes wearing fans!!!  So when we went through the meet and greet line, Fed was smiling and gracious to everyone, a perfect professional endorser, but when we came up, he got a huge grin on his face and started joking around with my grandson.. Asked Andrew about junior tennis, his ranking etc...  Great moment and he def seemed more excited to see "real fans" in the crowd

So 2 years later- here we are again, and now Andrew is 14 yrs old 6-2- different looking kid.  We did our dress up again for kicks... So as we make our way through line- Fed looks up and does a double take and gets a huge grin on his face again..  as we get up to him- he says "you guys are back!" "Very nice to see you again" "How are the juniors going Andrew"  He REMEMBERED my grandsons name from two years earlier!  and then started asking details again aobut his tennis that showed he clearly had some rememberance of the last conversation.  Really good stuff from the guy as we all know he meets thousands of RF hat wearing fans, etc.   

2nd observation which I have made before-  Federer has terrible posture while sitting.  They had a question and answer session with the 4 players, and he sits in his chair with a slouch and compresses his lower back.  I've noticed it a bunch of times.   I know from experience that lower back pain sufferers sit like this often because it actually feels better. When my back is hurting, it feels like you are taking the weight off and relaxing by letting everything relax. In reality you are making it worse as it compresses the vertebrae and inflames the nerves.  As we all have been told- better to sit up straight and elongate the spine, tighten up the musles,etc.    In addition- sitting like that is what ultimately can lead to blown discs in the first place.

What I am seeing is either- he is suffereing and thinks that's more comfortable, but I am very surprised his docs haven't broken him of the practice...    or it's a bad habit that is certainly not helping his issue- and again- surprised he's not being told or hammered into him to sit straight!!

truffin1 wrote:

Tenez wrote:

truffin1 wrote:I'm at the msg Exo now-  going to meet fed and others at a rolex cocktail party in a bit.  I'll tell him you said hi!

Lucky you Truffin...mention me...the one who really understands his genius.

We had a great time!  I'm surprised Fed let Dimitrov take the 3rd set, but both looked fine. Hard to take results seriously when Dimi pulls a boy from the audience and Fed lets the kids win points.

We had a really nice moment with Fed that speaks to his genuine niceness and nature.  When I took my grandson a couple of years ago to see Fed/Roddick at the same event, we were given tickets to attend the prematch banquet in the MSG Garden theater by my friends in the Rolex Ambassador division. Same as this time.  My grandson dressed all in Fed gear, an RF hat from his/our collection and I had on RF hat.  We were laughing and quite out of place because all around us were Arab Sheiks in robes, NYC Financial bigwigs just coming off work in Brioni suits, etc.   Not Federer clothes wearing fans!!!  So when we went through the meet and greet line, Fed was smiling and gracious to everyone, a perfect professional endorser, but when we came up, he got a huge grin on his face and started joking around with my grandson.. Asked Andrew about junior tennis, his ranking etc...  Great moment and he def seemed more excited to see "real fans" in the crowd

So 2 years later- here we are again, and now Andrew is 14 yrs old 6-2- different looking kid.  We did our dress up again for kicks... So as we make our way through line- Fed looks up and does a double take and gets a huge grin on his face again..  as we get up to him- he says "you guys are back!" "Very nice to see you again" "How are the juniors going Andrew"  He REMEMBERED my grandsons name from two years earlier!  and then started asking details again aobut his tennis that showed he clearly had some rememberance of the last conversation.  Really good stuff from the guy as we all know he meets thousands of RF hat wearing fans, etc.   

Wow....That must have been a great experience for you and your child. I must say Federer is one person I would really want to interview. I would get straight to the point...though I don't think I'd get honest answers from him. I am curious to see how much he will be able to talk once he retires. I am not referring to doping here as I know he won;t ever talk about it (maybe on his death bed but I won't be there myself by then) but more on his honest views on the different players he faced.

Tenez wrote:

truffin1 wrote:

Tenez wrote:

truffin1 wrote:I'm at the msg Exo now-  going to meet fed and others at a rolex cocktail party in a bit.  I'll tell him you said hi!

Lucky you Truffin...mention me...the one who really understands his genius.

We had a great time!  I'm surprised Fed let Dimitrov take the 3rd set, but both looked fine. Hard to take results seriously when Dimi pulls a boy from the audience and Fed lets the kids win points.

We had a really nice moment with Fed that speaks to his genuine niceness and nature.  When I took my grandson a couple of years ago to see Fed/Roddick at the same event, we were given tickets to attend the prematch banquet in the MSG Garden theater by my friends in the Rolex Ambassador division. Same as this time.  My grandson dressed all in Fed gear, an RF hat from his/our collection and I had on RF hat.  We were laughing and quite out of place because all around us were Arab Sheiks in robes, NYC Financial bigwigs just coming off work in Brioni suits, etc.   Not Federer clothes wearing fans!!!  So when we went through the meet and greet line, Fed was smiling and gracious to everyone, a perfect professional endorser, but when we came up, he got a huge grin on his face and started joking around with my grandson.. Asked Andrew about junior tennis, his ranking etc...  Great moment and he def seemed more excited to see "real fans" in the crowd

So 2 years later- here we are again, and now Andrew is 14 yrs old 6-2- different looking kid.  We did our dress up again for kicks... So as we make our way through line- Fed looks up and does a double take and gets a huge grin on his face again..  as we get up to him- he says "you guys are back!" "Very nice to see you again" "How are the juniors going Andrew"  He REMEMBERED my grandsons name from two years earlier!  and then started asking details again aobut his tennis that showed he clearly had some rememberance of the last conversation.  Really good stuff from the guy as we all know he meets thousands of RF hat wearing fans, etc.   

Wow....That must have been a great experience for you and your child. I must say Federer is one person I would really want to interview. I would get straight to the point...though I don't think I'd get honest answers from him. I am curious to see how much he will be able to talk once he retires. I am not referring to doping here as I know he won;t ever talk about it (maybe on his death bed but I won't be there myself by then) but more on his honest views on the different players he faced.

Yes, tennis journo's are so predictable.  The top players can answer in their sleep.  Even in this question/answer- it was so basic. Nothing of substance.

It was nice.  I've worked with many athletes and there are genuine good and great guys, and genuine horrible guys.  Just like in all walks of life. Fed is def on the great side.

truffin1 wrote:
It was nice.  I've worked with many athletes and there are genuine good and great guys, and genuine horrible guys.  Just like in all walks of life. Fed is def on the great side.

No doubt!

Fantastic post Truffin, uber jealous!

Also your gkid is 6'2 at 14?!?!?! wow

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
Amazing Coric can afford it...

I am actually surprised he is required to qualify. He is ranked 60 this week and I believe the draw is close to 128.

Also odd that Coric had to qualify but Kokkinakis was given a WC.

luvsports! wrote:Also your gkid is 6'2 at 14?!?!?! wow

I'm 32 and still not even close to 6'2 ...  



Good post truffin, thanks for sharing.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

luvsports! wrote:Also your gkid is 6'2 at 14?!?!?! wow

I'm 32 and still not even close to 6'2 ...

You should've eaten all those greens your mum served up for you, rotla!

Tenez wrote:

truffin1 wrote:

Tenez wrote:

truffin1 wrote:I'm at the msg Exo now-  going to meet fed and others at a rolex cocktail party in a bit.  I'll tell him you said hi!

Lucky you Truffin...mention me...the one who really understands his genius.

We had a great time!  I'm surprised Fed let Dimitrov take the 3rd set, but both looked fine. Hard to take results seriously when Dimi pulls a boy from the audience and Fed lets the kids win points.

We had a really nice moment with Fed that speaks to his genuine niceness and nature.  When I took my grandson a couple of years ago to see Fed/Roddick at the same event, we were given tickets to attend the prematch banquet in the MSG Garden theater by my friends in the Rolex Ambassador division. Same as this time.  My grandson dressed all in Fed gear, an RF hat from his/our collection and I had on RF hat.  We were laughing and quite out of place because all around us were Arab Sheiks in robes, NYC Financial bigwigs just coming off work in Brioni suits, etc.   Not Federer clothes wearing fans!!!  So when we went through the meet and greet line, Fed was smiling and gracious to everyone, a perfect professional endorser, but when we came up, he got a huge grin on his face and started joking around with my grandson.. Asked Andrew about junior tennis, his ranking etc...  Great moment and he def seemed more excited to see "real fans" in the crowd

So 2 years later- here we are again, and now Andrew is 14 yrs old 6-2- different looking kid.  We did our dress up again for kicks... So as we make our way through line- Fed looks up and does a double take and gets a huge grin on his face again..  as we get up to him- he says "you guys are back!" "Very nice to see you again" "How are the juniors going Andrew"  He REMEMBERED my grandsons name from two years earlier!  and then started asking details again aobut his tennis that showed he clearly had some rememberance of the last conversation.  Really good stuff from the guy as we all know he meets thousands of RF hat wearing fans, etc.   

Wow....That must have been a great experience for you and your child. I must say Federer is one person I would really want to interview. I would get straight to the point...though I don't think I'd get honest answers from him. I am curious to see how much he will be able to talk once he retires. I am not referring to doping here as I know he won;t ever talk about it (maybe on his death bed but I won't be there myself by then) but more on his honest views on the different players he faced.

Thanks, truffin, looks you enjoyed yourself!

Contrary to popular belief, pros are even more mortal than us as they have to deal with an isolated, more intense inner life.
That's what fascinates me about them.

But with Rog, I wouldn't care to interview him.
I'd ask for a game of tennis, instead

luvsports! wrote:Fantastic post Truffin, uber jealous!

Good things come to those who wait, LS!

summerblues wrote:

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
Amazing Coric can afford it...

I am actually surprised he is required to qualify. He is ranked 60 this week and I believe the draw is close to 128.

Also odd that Coric had to qualify but Kokkinakis was given a WC.

I think Kokkinakis stepped in last minute instead if Delpo.

Haha I may have to wait until I'm a Gpa!

Though the two tournaments are extremely well run and attract the best players in the world, Federer has never been a big fan of them being squeezed together.

“I don’t mind the 10 days but when it’s back-to-back 10 days there’s a lot of time that gets wasted, especially for those who lose (in the) first round,” he said.
========================
I always said so...not a fan either. There are 2 weeks wasted in this calendar month.

I was looking forward to Vesely Djoko but Vesely lost to Bagdhatis.....due to injury.

Tomic Coric shoudl be fun....if they could both break a leg.....

It's bizarre cause I can't stand Coric but because I have argued he will do very well soon....I now find myself supporting him! What a pain!

Coric will get past Tomic, mainly because Tomic is god awful, but Ferrer will cruise past Coric.

Well Ferrer is a top 10 so your appreciation of Coric will be swiftly tested.

I however don;t think Coric will have it easy v Tomic.

Tenez wrote:I was looking forward to Vesely Djoko but Vesely lost to Bagdhatis.....due to injury.

Tomic Coric shoudl be fun....if they could both break a leg.....

It's bizarre cause I can't stand Coric but because I have argued he will do very well soon....I now find myself supporting him! What a pain!

I saw Vesely retired in the 2nd set, weird...but not as weird as Baghdatis retiring a 4:4 in the third set TB against Coric the other week...
Yes Tomic-Coric should be really good as Tomic has been playing well recently incl last week's DC.

They are both Croatian, so it will be interesting from that point of view, too, as Tomic does not like to be thought of as Croatian, and nationalism/patriotism is big there atm, with Croatia being a young country.

Tennis-wise, I expect Coric to win, but wouldn't be surprised if he lost, Tomic will need to be aggressive and he is so lazy.

Kyrgios-Coric will  be more fun when it happens.

Ferrer-Coric will be properly interesting, actually if it comes to that match.
Whoever can get past The Gatekeeper is destined for big things!

Conditions in IW are monstrous.
Ball is bouncing like it's made of sponge.
S.Johnson"s kick serve is only returnable by 5m tall people. Granollers just looking at the ball as it flies over his head.


In Stakh-Querrey match, very windy, poor guy...