Indian Wells, We’ve Been Waiting For You

Main court action at Indian Wells, with a packed stadium

Hi loves,

So I have a confession to make. I wrote this post before Indian Wells began, but life got in the way and I never posted it…oops. So even though we are nearly a week into Indian Wells now, I promise I did not cheat and wait for any results before I wrote this. ANYWAY, here you go, please enjoy.

Indian Wells is here, and I am in desperate need of some good storylines.

For some reason this year, I have had some serious tennis blues since the Australian Open finished just over a month ago. I can’t pinpoint exactly why that is, but I think it’s because the ‘favourites’ at tournaments have been dramatically underperforming. Now don’t get me wrong, I love an outsider and an underdog - seeing players like Clara Tauson and Amanda Anisimova making moves, and the latter winning the biggest title of the year in the Qatar WTA1000 event does make me excited for some potential new challengers for the top titles and some consistent rivalries. However (and prepare for me to be a bit of a grump here), there has been a distinct lack of any outstanding matches and WOW moments. We won’t dwell on specifics (because who wants to dwell on specifics when they’re dull?), but I wanted to get that off my chest. Onto more positive and exciting things…

Indian Wells is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. Aside from the slams and the grass court season (I am a Brit after all) this is the tournament I look forward to the most. Sun, stars, and high expectations are almost a given for this 10 days of tennis and I for one cannot wait to see what is in store.

For me there is no other place to start this one. I am without a doubt most excited to see Joao Fonseca back on a big stage and a hard court after his unbelievable performances at the AO, in both his straight sets win against Andrey Rublev and his 5-set thriller loss to Lorenzo Sonego. All of that and picking up his first ATP title in Buenos Aires means I expect the young Brazilian will be a regular character in this blog and I make no apology for that - he is something seriously special. Facing Jacob Fearnley in round one, with the winner to take on Jack Draper (another definite regular feature in the blog), gives his match an extra element of interest from a British perspective and I am looking forward to potentially seeing Fonseca play Draper - both big servers who have a certain ‘flourish’ on their best day. Stay tuned…

I think we are all curious about the state of the top end of the men's game following Jannik Sinner’s ban. I am not going to talk about the ban in this post, as we all know the ins-and-outs by now, but I may touch on it following his return in Rome (let’s see how that homecoming goes when the time comes). With Sinner still number 1, it's up to Zverev and Alcaraz to step up and try to take it from him. Now, I must admit I am much more of an Alcaraz fan than a Zverev fan - for reasons I shall not go into at present - but I will try to be as unbiased as possible. Bearing that in mind, Alcaraz has been having a much better time than Zverev the last few weeks so there is only so much ‘bigging up’ I can do for Zverev. The German chose the South American swing over the Middle Eastern swing, and I can only assume this was to try and capitalise on the lack of top players making that choice and close the gap by picking up as many points - and titles - as possible. Well, this didn’t quite go to plan, losing in two quarter-finals and a round of 16 (please note my prior grumpy mention of top players performing poorly, and we won’t even mention the huge amount of retirements in Acapulco). A first round match against Tallon Griekspoor could be just the match Zverev needs to get his head back in the game. As top seed he is in a great position to get through at least a few rounds, and quarterfinals should really be a bare minimum for him or he is losing valuable ranking points.

Onto Alcaraz, defending two-time champion. He is going for the three-peat and it feels like a seriously strong possibility he will do just that. It has been a talking point the last few days that the court surface has changed at Indian Wells, making it slightly quicker than previous years. As a beginner in my education on court speeds and the subtleties within the surfaces (I am learning though!), it makes me wonder if the surface change will make that much of a difference to Carlos, especially considering he is comfortable on hard courts as a whole. I defer to the Athletic’s article which explains this far better than I: “Last year’s champions, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, thrive on the slower, higher-bouncing surface, where the grittiness makes the conditions play distinctly differently from most other hard courts, even before accounting for surface speed.”. It appears a bit of a mystery as to whether Carlos will love or hate this new change, but honestly looking at his draw he is my pick for the title. Let’s see how well that prediction sounds in a week…

From the WTA side of things, Mirra Andreeva is who I most closely have my eye on. Making her top 10 debut at the age of just 17 after winning her maiden WTA1000 title in Dubai, she is proving age really is just a number. I remember seeing Andreeva for the first time at Wimbledon and, well, she struck me as a pretty immature 16-year-old, if I may be blunt. Her pure talent and clean ball-striking has always been evident, but if you saw her eventual loss against Madison Keys at Wimbledon 2023 I am sure you will also remember the tears, protests and point penalty leading to match point. A tough scene for the 16-year-old. Fast-forward to the present day, she is a different player and person. Her composure, focus and passion is clear to see, and I think most of the credit needs to go to her coach Conchita Martinez. As a young woman it feels imperative Mirra has a strong female leader around her to help her grow as a person and woman, not just as a tennis player, and she definitely has this with Conchita. If you have seen the WTA social media videos of the two of them you will know how sweet and fun their relationship feels, and I don’t feel like you can separate this from her recent success - they have come hand in hand. Kudos to them both, and long may it continue.

It would feel wrong for me not to mention Emma Raducanu. If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times; I will support Emma to the ends of the earth. The struggles she has been through since her big US Open triumph in 2021 have been well documented, but perhaps not as prominently in the last few weeks. The horror she experienced in Dubai with a man exhibiting ‘fixated behaviour’ approaching her and following her is absolutely terrifying. Her openness in discussing the matter is brave and mature beyond her years. But no matter how hard she or anyone around her may try, she cannot leave this off the court completely, because fans and the media do not forget. At 21 years old, this would be a lot to go through for anyone, let alone in the public eye. Of course there are arguments which may mention mental strength and the like, but that is a debate for another time. Her first round match against Moyuka Uchijima is an interesting prospect. Admittedly, Uchijima is not a player I know much about and I was shocked to see her as high as 53 in the world. On her day, Raducanu can beat anybody - especially when playing her front foot, powerful, attacking tennis. But Indian Wells can bring tricky conditions with heat or wind, and if the latter is an issue then I would worry about her serve potentially letting her down. Taking into account everything, my prediction is for Emma to win her round one match in three sets but fall to Gauff in round two. Will I be right? Only time will tell. 

Final note from me to Indian Wells directly; I beg you, please bring the drama and the entertainment. No pressure, but we need it right now.

Until next time, keep serving! 

E x

Sources: The Athletic ‘Tennis court surfaces and speed: How Indian Wells fits in with the ATP and WTA tours’ by Matthew Flutterman and Charlie Eccleshare