Desert Paradise

Both tours have returned for the yearly trip which is the tennis paradise of Indian Wells. There many story lines this year Rafa Nadal has not played a hard court match since Miami last year although his comeback has had two titles on the clay of the Golden Swing, Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka have both not lost a match this year on way to two titles each. While Andy Murray has not played a match since losing in the final of the Australian Open and has not won a match at Indian Wells since 2010.

Women's Early Matches to watch: Draw
Laura Robson vs Sofia Arvidisson to play Julia Goerges.
Madison Keys vs Melanie Oudin to play Sam Stosur
Fran Schivone vs Maria Sharapova- Round 2

Doubles Pairings to watch: Draw
Sveta Kuznetsova and Flavia Pannetta
Petra Kivtova and Yanina Wickymayer
Julia Goreges and Yaroslava Shvedova
Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber

Men's Early Matches to watch: Draw
Go Sodea vs Ryan Harrison to play Rafa Nadal
Ernest Gulbis vs Feli Lopez
Bernie Tomic vs Tomaz Belluci to play Richard Gasquet
Marcel Granollers vs David Nalbandian
Mardy Fish can play either Ben Becker or Bobby Reynolds in his first match since last years US Open.

Double Pairings to watch: Draw
Ferrer and Robredo play Isner and Querrey in the first round.
Grigor Dimitrov and Freddie Nielson in the totally random department
The Murray Brothers!
Feli Lopez and Milos Raonic
Tommy Hass and Xavier Malisse
Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers- Marc won the title last year with Rafa.

Oh Wells

The final weekend of Indian Wells had surprises, weather,  drama along the way. Let us start with the ladies in the semifinals Vika went through to the final relaitivly comfortably. The match for the other spot in the final was not without drama as one Australian Open final rematch that of the 2008 final gave way to another Aussie Open rematch. When Ana Ivanovic had to retire within the first two games of the second set against Maria Sharapova with a hip injury. The final was the top two seeds which had not happened on the WTA in over four years. Maria had few answers to Vika's game as the number one went to 23-0 winning her first Indian Wells singles title.


While the ladies final lived up to its seeding, one of the more unexpected twists of the weekend was that the men did not, as the third seeded Federer faced the eleventh seeded Isner. Isner defeated the number one seed in three sets closing it out in a third set tiebreaker. Then after an almost four hour rain delay, the second semi final got under way between Federer and Nadal. This match was frankly a mess of conditons in that Roger dealt with way more than Rafa. Actually, at times it seemed like Rafa wasn't even dealing with the conditions. He was just trying to play his normal patterns against Roger in which, like their matched on the indoor low bouncing courts, he left the ball in Roger's strike zone where Roger barely missed. By the time Rafa realized that he needed to hit through the court, he was already down a double break with Roger serving for the match. In that game, down 5-2, Rafa hit through the court to break then hold for 5-4.  The game in which Roger closed out the match had to be one of the more bizarre service games I had ever seen after getting the score to 30-All. Rafa nets a forehand into the middle of the net to give Roger match point. Then the sky opens up for which causes about a five minute delay after the delay Roger hit an ace and it was over. In the final the first set was decided in a tight tiebreaker which Roger won he them broke John's serve early in the second set to win in straights. So what do I think we learned from here Roger has not gone any where having only lost two matches since the US Open to Rafa and John who he beat this weekend. Welcome to the top ten John hope you can stay a while and that even after a month and a half off Rafa was really not as rusty as I thought he would be except for his tactical errors in the semifinals where he just did not adjust his game to the conditions before it was too late and Roger took advantage.

It was that kind of day for Big John. 

Then came the men's doubles final was something I really looked forward too. After not being able to see the doubles at all I was very excited that Rafa and Marc Lopez had advanced to the finally supposed to be televised but eventually shown on espn3 doubles final against John and Sam Querrey. Marc was the star of this show with his awesome doubles skills. Rafa and Marc won the first set breaking Sam's serve a few times. It was a fun match with lots of great rallies that saw Rafa and Marc win in straight sets closing it out in a second set tiebreaker. It was a bummer to see John lose in two finals on the same day but he put in three great performances against the top three players over two days and came out of it with one win and a spot in the top ten. As for Rafa it was the first final he had won since Roland Garros last year and the first title he had one on a hard court since Tokyo 2010. It might just be doubles but I think it matters and when you see the look on his face and how he was holding on to that trophy it looked like it mattered a whole lot to me. 

Doubles Fun: Indian Wells

I think that Indian Wells is one of the best events all year for exciting doubles pairings. Everyone seems to be playing and it's fun to see the singles players out playing doubles.


We have the defending Doubles Champions: Alexandr Dolgopolov and Xavier Malisse.

The 2010 Indian Wells Doubles Champions: Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez.

The 2009 Champions: Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish.

Here is the full draw for the men.

Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azerenka are teaming up as a wild card team.

Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua

Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki

Full Ladies Doubles Draw.