Happy Birthday Blog!

A belatedly late happy birthday to ye old blog. Its first post was almost a year ago on March 3.

More importantly, it's Spring time, and like the first buds of tulips poking out of the ground, the tour moves from (mostly) indoor arenas to outdoors in Indian Wells.

This happens in a cold indoor court in the middle of winter:



Not so much full of win.

Getting this close to seeing players practice is full of win.



It turns out the pros just love the relaxed atmosphere of Indian Wells too.




A toast for more shanked ground strokes! If a pro shanks a ball, you can too!

King and Queen of the Desert

After a week where counterpunchers were rewarded for playing consistent tennis, the tide changed this Sunday out in Indian Wells.

Sunshine just couldn't switch to a Plan B of attacking tennis, when Drama Queen kept taking control of the points.



In the end, Drama Queen couldn't lift her 35 pound trophy, but takes home a big enough check to go toward her huge home in San Diego.



ARod's grinding ways could not withstand Ljubs cunning attacks.



Aww. Isn't it sweet to see an ordinary-looking couple share their joys by kissing?



Methinks, the glamor index at Indian Wells was kept from exploding as we didn't get to see ARod and BDeck kiss.

IW's Finals Preview

Well Indian Wells this year turned out totally unexpected in terms of who survived. Who would have thought ...?

ARod toughed out a semifinal win against Sod ...



so that he gets to face a 31 year old guy who only hits about an hour a day, and who beat the most evil topspin forehand in tennis (i.e. Rafa).



Drama Queen was gifted a place in the finals because Sam forgot to keep the ball in,



and she hopes to be mentally tougher (not!) than Miss Sunshine, who now owes her best friend Aggie dinner.



Now to stop blogging and watch some tennis.

Federer Chokes

If you're a tennis nut like me, you probably know by now that this douche bag shanked his way out of Indian Wells.



Fedshanker had 3 match points: 2 in the second set and 1 in the third set tiebreaker. To be sure they were all on Bag's serve. He could not convert his chances. In contrast, the tennis gods gifted Bags with one match point which he converted.



Bag's record against Fed is now 1-6.

The match statistics tell part of the story.

	RF	MB
Aces	8	3
DF	1	2
1st Serve %	60	59
1st Serve % Pts Won	54/63 (86%)	48/65 (65%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	21/42 (50%)	30/46 (65%)
Break Points Won	2/8 (25%)	2/4 (50%)
Total Service Points Won	75/105 (71%)	78/111 (70%)
Total Return Points Won	33/111 (30%)	30/105 (29%)
Total Points Won	108/216 (50%)	108/216 (52%)

At 50-50 in points won, a match will be a crapshoot. But with three match points, Fed had the match on his racquet but he just couldn't close it out. After the match, both players had contrary analyses.

Roger Federer: "I just couldn't find the way to win. I was maybe one shot away, maybe wrong choices at the wrong time, maybe playing too passively."

Marcos Baghdatis: "Roger was a bit too aggressive. He was missing a lot of balls. I was more calm than him."

For the interviews, see here and here.

Hard to say what was going on mentally for Fed, as playing aggressively is his game. For sure he was serving well, but returning mediocrely.

Kudos to Bags for hanging in there for the win!

Rafa on his "grilled steak shorts"

I've usually never been too crazy about the choices Nike makes for Rafa, but this time seems the shorts seem to be a real loss leader.


Check out Rafa's ambivalent response at about 1:06.



By all accounts, the Rafa we know and love is back, hitting an aggressive reverse forehand, and beat Super Mario 2 & 2. Still crossing my fingers for a Fedal final.

In other news, Vika and Splits were upset. Perhaps this is Sunshine's tournament to lose, but there are still a lot of ball bashers waiting to add the bad pusher to their scalp list.

Playstation Broken

This is a bummer. Just after he got his endorsement deal from Dunlop (finally), and folks are finally giving him some respect, it looks like Playstation is broken. He is withdrawing from Indian Wells with a fractured left wrist that was missed by his doctors, and may be out for three months.

Something in Desert Air

Something really must be in the desert air, as there was a string of upsets.

Sveta scattered errors all over the court in a loss to Carla Suarez Navarro



Cilic lost in straights getting bageled in the last set.



As expected Playstation outsteadied Gulby



And the Hit for Haiti got ugly as AA let his tongue get too loose in trying to josh Pete. See video here. Regardless of whether you think Pete was too thin-skinned or AA was too cheesy, it seems safe to say that Rafa and TMF present such a nice contrast of how two rivals can be friends.

Dulko def. Allez Bitch

Well, my prediction for a Henin making it to the finals isn't coming true.

Allez Bitch loses to Dulko (6-2, 1-6, 6-4), and the stats reveal the key to the match.

	Henin	Dulko
Aces	1	1
DF	4	4
1st Serve %	43	67
1st Serve % Pts Won	9/12 (75%)	12/22 (55%)
2nd Serve % Pts Won	4/16 (25%)	5/11 (45%)
Break Points Saved	0/3 (0%)	2/4 (50%)
1st Return % Pts Won	10/22 (45%)	3/12 (25%)
2nd Return % Pts Won	6/11 (55%)	12/16 (75%)
Break Points Won	2/4 (50%)	3/3 (100%)
Total Service Points Won	13/28 (46%)	17/33 (52%)
Total Return Points Won	16/33 (48%)	15/28 (54%)
Total Points Won	29/61 (48%)	32/61 (52%)

Kudos to Dulko for taking advantage of her opportunities, and tough loss for Allez Bitch as a 2 point differential made all the difference. Clearly, her serve is still a work in progress as her 1st serve percentage was atrocious. In all fairness to her, she changed her serve from a platform stance to a pinpoint stance, and to stick to a change in your strokes in match situations takes awhile. That didn't stop her from playing in the Hit for Haiti, where she showed great touch in winning doubles with Navratilova.

In other news, Nails lost to Baltacha [7-6 (6) 2-6 7-6 (7)]; Sunshine survives a close one from gamer Vania King [5-7 6-2 6-4].

Indian Wells Men's Singles Draw

Draw: here
Tournament's You Tube channel: here
Seeded Quarters: TMF v. ARod, Muzz v. Sod, Playstation v. Rafa, Cilic v. Nole

1. Top Quarter: TMF is seeded to meet Bags, TRob/Worm and then ARod. Given that TMF has owned ARod, I expect him in the semis (unless he's really rusty from his lung infection). Expect LeMonf to crash out of the tournament playing dumb tennis.



2. Second Quarter: Muzz is seeded to meet IgorA, Dr. Ivo/Ferrer, Sod/JoWilly. Expect Blah to challenge Ferrer and fail to close it out in a hail of unforced errors. Muzz should advance to face off TMF again but be left crying.



3. Third Quarter: Rafa is seeded to meet Benneteau, Playstation, Q/Tree and then Nando/Playstation. From inside sources, it looks like Rafa has recovered. A lot will depend on Playstation's form after his wrist injury. Let's see whether Gulby can get his head together. Expect Berd to collapse.



4. Bottom Quarter: Nole is seeded to meet Kohlschreiber, Simon, Ferrero and Cilic. If Nole has recovered from working hard in Dubai and in DC, he will face a real challenge in Cilic, who made a great run Down Under to the semis.



After a good two months off (except for Nole), the top men should be able to pull through to the semis. This fan is hoping we get the two boys below facing off again.

Semis: Rafa v. Nole, TMF v. Muzz
Finals: Rafa v. TMF

Indian Wells Women's Singles Draw

It's Spring, and a tennis fan's thoughts turn toward the run up to Paris, starting in sunny and dry Indian Wells. Not that a Californians notice a difference. (Psst, I'm allowed to poke fun at my old home state).



Draw: here
Official Site: here
Seeded Quarterfinals: Sveta/Drama Queen, Vika/Sam, ARad/LenaD, Nails/Sunshine

1. Top quarter of the draw: Since the Williams sisters skip out on Indian Wells, Sveta is the top-ranked seed but she might have to beat Splits who beat her at MSG. Drama Queen's form hasn't been so great lately, though most of her potential opponents are counterpunchers like Flavs. Look for Splits to break through to the semis.

2. Second quarter of the draw: The highest seeded player is Vika but it sure looks like a lot of name players could go home early. Daniela H is coming off a great showing in Mexico but in the 3rd round could meet Whoopie, who made a great run to the semis at the USO. Likewise Bepa and NaturaAna could meet in the 3rd. Look for Vika to make it to the semis, though I wouldn't be surprised if Whoopie pulled off the upset.

3. Third quarter of the draw: This one has the wildcard no one wants to face, Allez Bitch, which is a bummer for ARad. Unfortunately, Allez Bitch is just a better player than ARad and will probably take out Lena D (again) to advance to the semis.

4. Fourth quarter of the draw: Sunshine and Nails are seeded to battle it out in the quarters, but an upset should surely happen here. Shrieka will take out JZ in order to face Nails. If Nails can keep her unforced errors in control and force Shrieka to move, she should advance to the quarters. The most dangerous player for Sunshine on the way to the quarters is Nads who can be streaky. But Sunshine probably doesn't have the firepower to take down either Nails or Shrieka. Look for the winner of Nails/Shrieka to advance to the semis.

Semis: Nails/Shrieka vs. Allez Bitch, Splits v. Vika
Finals: Allez Bitch v. Splits

Looks like a repeat of Brisbane.