A big breath of fresh air - that's what it feels like when Indian Wells rolls around, especially for me living in the midwest. A sunless winter full of snow doesn't exactly provide a cheery mood as I try to wait out the terrible lull in tennis between the Australian and the first Masters Series tournament of the year. Yes yes I know we've got tournaments like Rotterdam, Acapulco, Dubai, etc. Its enough to tide me over, but without the big guns such as Fed, Rafa, and Delpo I find it hard to make time to watch more than just the final.
Even Andy Murray can't bring his full dedication to these tournaments. He's been infamously quoted saying things such as 'If it was a Slam or something, my tactics and my game style would have been a bit different.' Kudos to Novak Djokovic though. He's been in the trenches since he left Australia, playing making the semis of Rotterdam and defending his title in Dubai. He thinks the players owe it to the fans to give their all wherever they go, especially when tournaments like Dubai offer the top players several hundred thousand dollars just to show up. I completely agree. Sometimes players just don't realize how well off they are. Hopefully Murray will learn a lesson from this and either change his outlook on these smaller tournaments or learn to keep his feelings to himself.
Roger Federer has been dealing with a lung infection for the past few weeks but is in Indian Wells now practicing which means (hopefully) that he will play for the first time since Melbourne. Rafael Nadal has confirmed that he will play as well, but no longer being ranked #2 means that it is possible he could meet Roger before the final. Not counting the Master's Cup, such a thing has not happened since the semis of Roland Garros 5 years ago! 8 of the top 10 men's players are slated to show up. The reigning US Open champ Juan Martin Del Potro is out with a right wrist injury and Fernando Gonzalez is opting out due to the tragic Chilean quake. Its a good field, and one that will bring us the biggest match ups since the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic is my pick to win the title provided he won't succumb to fatigue during the tournament. He hasn't stopped playing yet this year, and is in the best form of anyone going into Indian Wells. Federer has been recovering from an illness, and Nadal has been taking it easy since retiring against Murray in Australia with yet another knee injury. Both of those guys should be fairly rusty. Murray should be very fresh, making him a major contender for the title. Davydenko, one of the hottest players of the year, recently pulled out of Davis Cup with an injury. That makes it hard to say how he will be feeling next week, but if it is anywhere near 100% he is going to be a major threat to the rusty Federer and Nadal.
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My guess is that Andy Murray will be trying hard at Indian Wells. He skipped out on Davis Cup in order to prep for Indian Wells and something tells me that he takes the U.S. tournaments seriously. His best chance for winning a major may be at the U.S. Open on hard court. Cool blog! I write about tennis on Associated Content--just wrote about Davis Cup http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/573010/nancy_miller.html
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