Indian Wells Tennis Tournament March 2009
Review of
Indian Wells Tennis Tournament 2008(formerly Pacific Life
Open) , Indian Wells,
CA.
By Gordon
Schaeffer
Looking
for the perfect way to spend a week in the sun during the
cold wet damp PNW winters? Well, look no further than
the upcoming Indian Wells Tennis Tournament(formerly Pacific Life Open) held March
--22nd 2009, in sunny Indian
Wells, CA.
The Indian Wells Tournament
boasts one of the most prestigious ATP Masters Tournaments
and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premiers.
The ATP Masters is the men's points based competition for the pros that
results in an opportunity to compete in the largest money
purse events in professional tennis. The Sony Ericsson WTA
is the women's version of this multi tournament event.
Indian Wells now joins Miami
as the only multi-week, Men and Women's combined
professional event outside of the four Grand Slams. In 2008
the tourmament became the 5th most attended tennis
tournament in the world. In 2009 over 300 professional
men and women will participate in the event.
The tournament has become very popular for
tennis fanatics on many different levels. Last year
over 330,000 fans attended the event in
person. Many who could not attend watched on Fox Sports
Network(FSN). The tournament also has enabled Live Scoring
on the main website and traffic to the site was up
dramatically over previous years.
Many in the tennis world are of the opinion
that the Indian Wells Tennis Garden venue is one of the fan
friendly venus in the world. The time of year with weather
usually in the 70's and 80's in Palm Springs also
contributes to the fan friendly atmosphere.
Let me describe the
perfect vacation where you can see world class tennis up
front and personal, play tennis yourself and enjoy the warm
climate of Palm Springs.
Held in the second largest tennis stadium in
the world (capacity: 16,100) at Indian Wells, CA, the
Indian Wells Tennis Tournament showcases the combined talents of the best
professional male and female tennis players. It is the
world's fifth largest tennis event, and features a purse of
over $5 million. The Men's tournament has a 128 main
draw(plus 48 qualifiers) and the WTA women's draw is 64(plus
48 qualifiers).
As attendance and interest grows each year,
The Indian Wells Tournament is fast becoming a journey every fan
of world class tennis should make. Tournament Director
Charlie Pasarell has done a fabulous job improving the
tournament on a yearly basis. It's been said this is "the"
choice tournament of pros and fans alike. The combination of
the Indian Wells Tennis Garden venue, top players and
climate make it a destination tournament that attracts an
important inflow of tourist dollars in the Palm Springs
economy.
The 2009 Indian Wells Tournament, which is the
first tournament of the Tennis Masters Series for 2009, will
be played March 9-22nd, 2009. The main draw for women will
commence on Wednesday March 11th while the main draw for the
men’s will begin a day early this year, Thursday March
12th.
 
2008 Results
The tournament action and match ups for
the 2008 tournament showcased some of the best matches in
years. There is so much to see and understand for any ticket
holder. You can watch the practice courts and really see and
understand
who's playing well and who is training intensely.
MEN
The men’s
draw for 2008 featured some incredible matches, huge upsets and
riveting drama.
The
tournament and results showcased young talent that used the
tournament to have breakout matches and emerge into the
limelight. It could be
said that the men’s draw was a roadmap to ATP men’s results for
the entire year.
Rafael Nadal
emerged unbeaten and won his first Pacific Life Open Title after
exhibiting his best tennis of the year. He was flawless, with
strong serving, heavy groundstrokes. He tore through the draw
without losing a set.
Andy Roddick
played the toughest match against Nadal in the semis. Roddick
was playing great tennis after extensive physical and mental
training under the watchful eye of coach Jimmy Connors. However he
was no match for Nadal who ended up winning 6-3, 6-4.
The other
semi bracket was Andy Murray against 19 year old Novak Djokovic.
Murray had a sensational quarters match against Tommy Hass that
ended with a 8-6 3rd set tiebreaker, however Djokovic
had more energy winning 6-2,6-3 and moved into the finals.
No doubt
that Pacific Life 2007 was Djokovic’s breakthrough
tournament. Djokovic became the first teenager to reach the
finals since Agassi did it in 1990. He played brilliant and
mature tennis the complete tournament. This tournament served as
the foundation to Djokovic’s confidence who then finished 2007 as
#3 in the world.
There were
other notable matches that included the great Roger Federer
being eliminated by lucky loser qualifier Guillermo Canas
playing the best tennis of his career. Canas had an incredible
win streak since coming off his drug suspension.
The stadium
crowd was shocked at the loss of Federer. This was one of those
rare matches where you could feel the stadium murmuring “watch
Roger come back”, but the great Roger never came back and in the
end Canas prevailed by playing boldly.
Another
standout player, quarter finalist David Ferrer, had an excellent
tournament. He could be seen on the practice courts
training for 4 hours at a time. His work ethic paid off by making it
to the quarters. This tournament also set the tone for the year
and he rocketed up the ranks to finish the year at 5th
in the world.
Women
Daniela
Hantuchova played confident tennis to win her second title in
five years at the Pacific Life Open. Her last title was an
upset win over Martina Hingis and she wasted little time in the
final to defeat second seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4 in
the Saturday final.
The final
was marked by deep baseline rallies and some trading breaks of
serves but in the end Hantuchova has fewer unforced errors which
determined the outcome. Hantuchova took away a first prize of
$307,000 for the win.
Possibly the
best women’s match of the tournament was the semi finals between
Hantuchova and Israeli Shahar Peer. This match captivated the
crowd and with intense baseline rallies ending with powerful
winners. The 3rd
set tiebreaker decided the match with Hantuchova taking the
victory 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(5). Tennis is a game of inches but in
the end Hantuchova edged out Peer with a bit more mental maturity and
confidence on the key points.
All in all, the
Pacific Life Tournament provides the greatest value and best venue of the tennis world. It’s a tournament
where a tennis fanatic can come to understand
the players at a much greater level.
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