Tennis Panorama News

By Jennifer Knapp

After a very busy Friday, I knew that today (Saturday) would be all of that and more as more of the seeded players took to the courts to play their first matches.  First up was Ana Ivanovic who made quick work of Joanna Larsson 6-1, 6-2.  I made it a point to sit in on her news conference as I had yet to seen her in person and was very impressed with her poise and demeanor as she answered a series of questions ranging from her current excellent form to her Olympic aspirations and her thoughts on the mandatory tournament schedule.

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Next up was a stroll around the practice courts as you’re pretty much always guaranteed to see many of your favorites at any point throughout the day.  Indian Wells is known for the great fan access to the practice courts and this particular trip did not disappoint.  I came across Jurgen Melzer, Marcos Bagdhatis, Victoria Azarenka, Gael Monfils and Feliciano López spread out across the many courts.  Not bad for a 15 minute walk!

Juan Monaco

My ultimate destination was the Juan Monaco/Nicholas Mahut match on Court 6, the smallest of the show courts. For the first 20 minutes or so that I was there, Mahut missed at least a half dozen drop shots. It was as if his racquet magnetically directed the balls into the net.  You could hear everyone in the crowd wince as he missed each one. Also,  Monaco was sliding all over the court as if it was made of clay.  There were a few crowd winces for him as well!  Monaco had multiple chances to win the match in two sets but needed a third to close it out.  He advances to play his Twitter buddy, John Isner on Monday.

Stpanek and Paes

Next up on the agenda was the David Ferrer/Albert Ramos versus Leander Paes/Radek Stepanek match on Court 4.  There’s nothing like watching doubles action up close and sitting in the front row gives you amazing perspective.  You also need to pay close attention though as it’s quite likely that you’ll end up getting hit by a ball at some point. I say this because it’s happened to me more than once. The stands were full and the cheering was equally split for the two teams.  Ramos was fresh off his big win over Richard Gasquet but he and Ferrer were no match for the stronger, more seasoned team as Stepanek/Paes won 6-3, 6-3.

Sitting in the direct sun for over an hour had taken its toll so I opted to take a shade break before heading to another match.  With so many great matches to choose from I ended up going to Stadium 3 for Kei Nishikori/Santiago Giraldo. Another near capacity crowd was thoroughly entertained although it wasn’t without (minor) incident thanks to a malfunctioning electronic scoreboard with bad timing.  The board went out just as Giraldo challenged a call and once he realized that the play could not be reviewed, he protested the by sitting down in his chair and refusing to play.   Entertaining for the crowd but unsettling for Nishikori who eventually lost the match.

Caroline wozniacki

I headed back to the media room in time for a series of news conferences Mardy Fish, Caroline Wozniacki, Ryan Harrison and Maria Sharapova. I really enjoy hearing from the players directly and having the opportunity to do so live is an absolute thrill for me.  Fish was first, followed by Wozniacki, who unceremoniously busted into the news conference and (humorously) turned in into more of a comedy routine.  The talk quickly turned to golf and ended when a reporter asked Wozniacki how she thought Fish would do on the PGA Tour. Her response was “no comment which was followed by lots of laughter.  Wozniacki proceeded to answer multiple questions about golf intermixed with tennis but the classic question came at the very end, when she was asked if she had “ever met Tiger Woods and had interactions with him  Her reply?  (pause), I was going to say something. (another pause) No, no, I have never met Tiger.” Enough said.

Ryan Harrison

The next news conference was with Ryan Harrison who had just upset 25^th seed Viktor Troicki.  I am always amazed how poised and mature he is in general conversation and impressed by the fact that he made it a point during the offseason to work on controlling his energy into a positive mindset.  He spoke about his first Davis Cup experience and the positive influence of team captain, Jim Courier.  Next up for him was supposed to be Andy Murray but will now be Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova came to press following her win over Gisela Dulko. Questions for her included her thoughts about the mandatory 15 tournaments per year and her time at the Bollettieri Academy. She was incredibly complimentary of Nick Bollettieri and considers him one of the “best businessmen I have ever met in my life but yet he’s very professional in everything he does.” Surprisingly, there were no questions about basketball.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

Following the media conferences I headed down to the photo pit to watch Andy Murray and Guillermo Garcia Lopez.  What was expected to be a pretty routine match for Murray was anything but.  Garcia Lopez was playing lights out and Murray simply was not.  The majority of the crowd was stunned but continued to show their support for Murray throughout the match.  Murray had multiple break chances but simply couldn’t convert when necessary and Garcia Lopez won in two.  Indian Wells hasn’t been too kind to Murray as he lost to Donald Young in his first match in 2011.

Andy Murray

Murray came to press within minutes of losing the match and made no excuses.  He did say that he had a hard time trying to hit though the court, missed a lot of returns and squandered many chances.  He also said compared to last year, he was hitting the ball much better in practice and that he felt better mentally as well so he needs to turn it around for Miami.  The upside? He didn’t have any points to defend!

Jennifer Knapp is covering the BNP Paribas Open as media for Tennis Panorama News. Follow her updates on twitter @TennisNewsTPN. Follow her personal twitter @Jusbjen.

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