ATP MASTERS 1000 Indian Wells: Let The Party Commence!

First topic message reminder :

At last!

Tennis is back in town. And sleepless nights, and bags under the eyes in the mornings.

For a fortnight or so, we'll forget about fast courts and GOATs and watch some good tennis for a change.

Indian Wells first 1000 Masters event of the year, first "big" tournament after AO.

All players are there, fit and raring to go, the "come-backers": Davydenko, Querrey, Simon, the "newcomers": Tomic (I think he's already out), Raonic, Dolgopolov, and last , but not the least the "big" 4.

I'm sure you'll forgive me for focusing on the top 4 players, because at the moment, they all seem be pretty keen to win this tournament (which is not always the case when it comes to non-slam tournaments).

Nole, who loves slow hard-courts of IW, will want to continue where he stopped in Melbourne, and should he bump into Murray in the semis, show him who's the boss.

Nadal, match-free for nearly 6 weeks, must've worked on his game or serve in the meantime, 2012 is his make or break season in many ways, and it's usually this time of the year he gets going as a warm-up for clay season.

Federer, on a good winning streak since last autumn (lost only two matches, one to Nadal one to Djokovic), will want to get a good result and possibly close the points gap between him and Nadal, or at least keep Murray at bay.

Murray, with, I believe Lendl again by his side, must be hoping that this 2012 is his slam-break-through year: he has been working very hard for several years and generally improving his game and shots. His win over Novak in Dubai must have boosted his confidence immensely, still, he failed to capitalise on it and win Dubai, failing to Federer.
He has few points to defend in IW and Miami, and a great opportunity to move up the rankings.

The players have had a party last night, and all seem to be happy to be there and play.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8T10SOE

Indian Wells has apparently continued to improve their facilities and make life nicer both for players and fans :

( http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2012/03/nice-work-if-i-can-get-it.html )

In today's order of play, we have some interesting matches, and Novak and Murray out on central court.

Order of play for Friday, 16th of March:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/404/op.pdf



So, let's enjoy the return of tennis and may the Best win

Finally, last but not the least:

GO NOLEEEEE

laverfan wrote:NitB... you can relax now. Djokovic pulls it out.

I'm going to reward myself with a nice coffee and a double portion of Cornish ice-cream , ok single portion

Novak is well & truly warmed up ......

Pablo got more exercise than he might have expected .....

lags72 wrote:Novak is well & truly warmed up ......

Pablo got more exercise than he might have expected .....

and now for my non-existing spanish (learnt one lesson from a /tv show million years ago)

Pablo, un amigo molto simpatico, molto bueno match

nitb - think you must have been watching a spot of Italian tv too

Substitute the 'molto' with 'muy' and you're pretty much there !

lags72 wrote:nitb - think you must have been watching a spot of Italian tv too

Substitute the 'molto' with 'muy' and you're pretty much there !

Oh bugger, I did study Italian, I though I could pull it off

Novak is like a cat with nine lives. What life is he on now...

It wasn't very impressive from Djokovic against a not very accomplished opponent, but he coud always count on hanging in there. Bit jammy on the lines on 3rd set break points I'd agree, but matches arent decided on just one or two points no matter what the commentators say.

bogbrush wrote:It wasn't very impressive from Djokovic against a not very accomplished opponent, but he coud always count on hanging in there. Bit jammy on the lines on 3rd set break points I'd agree, but matches arent decided on just one or two points no matter what the commentators say.

yeah, the second set was average. the guy played really well, proper all court effort, had nothing to lose.

Right then, Azarenka has just brushed Radwanska aside which means one thing - Nadal vs Dolgopolov time! I must say I'm looking forward to this match...

HarpoMars wrote:Right then, Azarenka has just brushed Radwanska aside which means one thing - Nadal vs Dolgopolov time! I must say I'm looking forward to this match...

I WAS looking forward to it, too until I saw their H2H statistics....esp the second one on hard court:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=N409&oId=D801

I'm pretty sure someone took the mickey out of players with photo-shop and slapped some lipstick on

noleisthebest wrote:I'm pretty sure someone took the mickey out of players with photo-shop and slapped some lipstick on

Haha! Never noticed that before! Yeah I had a look at the head to head too, but you never know, it could be one competitive match, different styles and all that.

Nalbandian is still a joy to watch. The depth of his shots are amazing, even when pushed in difficult positions, he still brings the ball deep.

Magic timing.

some result there for almagro

rafa saves 3 Bp's without having to do too much :/

Nalbo!!!! great point there to break for 3-1 final set"!

I knew Dolgo did not have it in him.

His game is far too risky for Nadal. Especially this pumped up Nadal. He is getting stronger year in year out.

NAlbo!!! through to the quarters what a comeback after tsonga served for it in the 2nd

Did Tsonga have a MP as well? He was 30/0 in that game serving for the match.

yup 2 match pointsss olayyyy olayyy olayy olayyy Nalbo Nalbooo!!

ouah!!!!
STill Nalby was the more agressive of the 2.

finally found this Argentinian song, from the 2007 rugby world cup, but they use it for everything. What a sight! amazing atmo
oleee ole ole ola ole ole ole ola!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eILYfE7LWcQ

I've just woken up

what was Dolgo Nadal score, can't find it anywhere?

6-3, 6-2 I think. Pretty emphatic victory for Nadal.

Fantastic from Nalbandian

Sloppy Fed.

time please wrote:6-3, 6-2 I think. Pretty emphatic victory for Nadal.

Fantastic from Nalbandian

so Nadal Nalby tomorrow, i.e. today...ah well...Nalby will be semi -dead

bogbrush wrote:Sloppy Fed.

Oh dear Fed I'm off to bed!!

I've seen Bellucci start well before only to choke it away....

time please wrote:

bogbrush wrote:Sloppy Fed.

Oh dear Fed I'm off to bed!!

He really does look blunted these days on ths type of surface. Still, early days.....

Fed aiming for UE record.

drops the first set 6-3, not playing well

He just woke up I think. Break to Fed 1;0

best start possible to the 2nd federer breaks!

That was quick - I brushed my teeth and came back to check score!

C'mon Fed!

Stubborn as always from Federer, determined to have a hitting contest.

So what happed in first set? Is Fed just playing cat and mouse with this guy now?

Another stellar slow condition match. Fed and Bellucci adding to these great matches that we are watching. Really enjoying the tourney so far. On vacation and can watch so much of it. Can fed comeback down a set on back to back days, I think he can. As lydian pointed out bellucci infamous headcase. Like that ridiculous drop shot.

Social, you should go more often on holidays, your posts are stress-free now.

strong comeback hold there for B

'Stellar slow condition match'?

Dolgo is a massive talent, but the slow conditions means he has no chance against the reason why the courts are so slow.

Tennis is awful when they make sure the real talents are held down in every event. But I guess we'll always have the leg kicking, vamosing, fist pump. Not much good tennis though.

Jahu wrote:So what happed in first set? Is Fed just playing cat and mouse with this guy now?

No he's not. His problem on these slow surfaces is that his higher risk plays don't carry a great pay-off. Its great if you think ball-bashing long rallies is exciting (or of course if your main interest in the sport is to support a retrieval based player).

Oh what a set point to take the set.

WHAT A POINT! amazing defence by feds and he takes the 2nd 6-3

big hold from both players there, Bellucci serving to stay in it.

FEDERER THROUGH!

All done, Fed takes it, tight third set, very good play from both.

3:6, 6:3, 6:4

Yeah, good standard from Bellucci but not good from Federer, this slow stuff wears him down.

I think if Feds can't recover sufficiently I believe DP, if he beats istomin, will finally get his man i hope im wrong.

Fed better hope Nalby pulls off the upset, Rafa will put him to the sword again. Nice job Harrison, great match 3rd set in harrison and simon.