Pacific Life Open Tournament Just Gets
Better
Review of
Pacific Life Open Professional Tennis Tournament 2007, Indian Wells,
Ca.
By Gordon
Schaeffer
Looking
for the perfect way to spend a week in the sun during the
cold wet damp winters? Well, look no further than
the upcoming Pacific Life Open held March 2008, in sunny Indian
Wells, CA.
 
The Pacific Life Open boasts
one of the most prestigious ATP Masters Tournaments. The Masters
is a points based competition for the pros that results in
an opportunity to compete in the largest money purse events
in professional tennis.
Indian Wells now joins Miami
as the only multi-week, Men and Women's combined
professional event outside of the four Grand Slams. In 2007
the Pacific Life Open became the 5th most attended tennis
tournament in the world.
Over 303,000 fans attended the
2007 Pacific Life Open during its 13 day span. 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 while your friends are shivering and
looking for you in the stands on the Tennis Channel.
Held in the second largest tennis stadium in
the world (capacity: 16,100) at Indian Wells, CA, the
Pacific Life Open 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 WTA Tour (women) main draw includes 96
top professionals (plus 48 qualifiers) who compete over a
two-week period. In 2005, the tournament began a 96
player-draw (plus 48 qualifiers) for ATP (men) to compete
simultaneously with the women.
As attendance and interest grows each year,
The Pacific Life Open 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 2008 Pacific Life Open, which is the first
tournament of the Tennis Masters Series for 2008, will be played
March 10-23, 2008. The main draw for women will commence on
Thursday March 12th while the main draw for the men’s will begin
a day early this year, Wednesday March 13th.
 
2007 Results
The tournament action and match ups for
the 2007 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 2007 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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