Not-So-Latergram From SoCal

 

I waited nine months or so to post our Monte Carlo Masters 1000 photos "to the grid" on Instagram, so vowed I wouldn't do the same with Indian Wells. Although I've already shared a number of pictures from our memorable trip this month to Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park and Los Angeles on my blog, you can see the fruits of my labor -- all eight posts(!) -- BELOW.

Austin Powers

I met Tracy Austin in 1981 at the Wells Fargo event in Rancho Bernardo -- on my family's first jaunt to Southern California -- when I was 14 and didn't own a camera yet.

I was hoping to run into her yesterday -- she was in town receiving the Tennis Mom of the Year award -- but no such luck. I did, however, get to see her fabulous mosaic at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and threw my back out in her honor while taking these pictures! 

Read HERE.

Postcard From Indian Wells

UPDATE: Woke to realize this never posted — I am guessing this blog-by-email technique doesn't like photo-intensive posts — but I will add images as technology permits!

Just back to the hotel from spending the day in/at Indian Wells and am too tired to write much more than to say we had a swell time — and to share a few photos before I turn in for the night, including sex bomb Valentin Vacherot, who came up short against cutie Casper Ruud, and Djokopas, the doubles team we didn't know we needed!

Tomorrow is Joshua Tree en route to L.A., where I am looking forward to catching up with more friends and some R&R by the pool. xo

My two husbands! 

Go West

 

Just a reminder that I’m heading to the West Coast today. In the past, this would have meant the occasional “emergency” blog post from the road. Sadly, the app that once made this possible has gone the way of, well, the personal weblog itself, which means my days of remote blogging appear to be over.

I’m still trying to figure out a workaround, though I suspect the modern solution is something called social media(!).

The trip itself should be worth it. We’re heading to Indian Wells for the first time -- a pilgrimage for tennis fans -- and returning to Los Angeles for the first time in ages, even though it used to be an annual ritual for me. 

If you’re curious how it all unfolds, you can follow along on Instagram, where I will presumably be posting pictures of palm trees, tennis courts and whatever -- or whomever -- else happens to catch my eye, like my friend Greg already is: 

Postcard From Indian Wells

 

Do my friends love me or what?

Greg in Hollywood writes:

I'm at Indian Wells and Jack Draper says hello! 

He was practicing with some equally hot dude, [Benjamin] Bonzi. 

The Brit's shirt comes off BELOW

Desert Climate

No Indian Wells predictions from me this year -- it's Novak's first since 2019(!) -- but there definitely seem to be a number of players capable of winning. 

The Athletic has an interesting article about Carlos -- that wisely points out that he's won two majors and been ranked No. 1 by 20 so will probably be just fine -- examining the quasi slump he's in, having not won a tournament in eight months after winning a lot of them before then.

P.S. 

P.S. Just in time for your trip to the Coachella Valley, check out the latest episode of the Ball Boys podcast -- "Net Flicks, and Chill" -- HERE. 

Indian Wells Canceled Because of Coronavirus Outbreak

Wow, this is really something. In probably the biggest tennis news in ages, Indian Wells -- tennis's biggest non-Slam event -- has been canceled over coronavirus concerns. Although it technically affects everyone equally, players who did well last year will be taking huge hits to their rankings with no way to defend points. What makes this whole thing so frightening is that our "president" continues to treat the outbreak like a PR crisis rather than a public-health crisis -- and constantly gets in the way of people who can actually help. I guess the only positive about this is that the tournament's owner, Oracle CEO and Trump supporter Larry  Ellison, will take a huge financial hit. 

Tournament director Tommy Haas issued a statement saying: "No one wanted this tournament to happen more than me. To all the fans, players, and everyone involved with the tournament, please know how disappointed we are that it will not take place. At the end of the day, health and safety was our top priority."

Another bummer: Top men were planning to play doubles with fun partners! 

Weekend Tennis Roundup

I must say, my faith in the next generation of tennis players -- male and female -- has been greatly tested lately. So I can't think of a better way to shut me up than to have Dominic Thiem and Bianca Andreescu win the year's first major non-major -- and to do it by beating veteran greats Roger Federer and Angie Kerber in thrilling three-set finals. 

With Federer it's less of a no-win situation for NextGen players than a must-win situation: If you lose to him, you can't even beat an aging legend. But even if you beat him, it feels like, "Well, of course you should be able to beat him now." Thiem held his nerve and beat him -- and that's what matters.

A view to a thrill ...

Thiem's first Masters 1000 title ... 

And I see Roger has been taking a tip from Novak Djokovic and being a better loser lately.

The 25-year-old Austrian rises to his highest ranking to date.

Oh, Vienna!

The 18-year-old Romanian-Canadian started the year ranked 178. Today she rose to 24. I was out celebrating St. Patrick's Day so didn't see much of the match. But Damian said Kerber fought back admirably only to suck some more -- so didn't really deserve to win. Good for Bianca for also holding her nerve.

In doubles: surprise finalists Nikola Mektic and Horacio Zeballos capped off an incredible week of upsets with a 4-6, 6-4 10-3 victory over tournament No. 6 seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo. 

Obviously the other big news from the fortnight was the incredible run of Belinda Bencic -- could she finally be here for good? -- and Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams both pulling out with ailments. Of course it's impossible to write either of them off. While it is worth noting that Williams has not won a tournament since returning from childbirth and that she will be turning 38 this year, if anyone can pull off the hitherto impossible it is Serena. Also nice to see Karen Khachanov has snipped his losing streak and looked pretty impressive before coming up short versus Nadal. And a decent run from Garbine Muguruza, who made the most of Williams's withdrawal before getting blown out by Andreescu. Lastly, disappointing to see Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens and Simona Halep all continue to underperform. 

When Nadal broke the crowd's collective heart by pulling out against Federer, they were treated to a Djokovic/Peter Sampras vs. Tommy Haas/John McEnroe doubles exhibition ... with Jon Lovitz in the umpire's chair!

Looks like fun!

Djokovic seems to have caught a case of what Serena Williams has had for ages, commonly known as "Now I only care about the majors" syndrome. (He lost to Kohlschreiber in the third round of singles but did make the real doubles semis with Fabio Fognini.) 

Other cuteness from around the compound: 

New drawing from my favourite artist 😍😊 pic.twitter.com/g5Vzvq3UyG

— borna coric (@borna_coric) March 17, 2019

Forver, Lulu ...

And from the ATP Challenger circuit -- boy did I miss an opportunity by not being home in that other desert this week! The draw was stacked with stacked men -- David Goffin, John Millman and Matt Ebden to name a few. But it was Italian heartthrob Matteo Berrettini who picked up the crown, saving one match point en route to defeating Mikhail Kukushkin in a nearly three-hour thriller, 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(2) at the Phoenix Country Club. 

Neal Skupski and Jamie Murray brought a little glamour to the Valley of the Sun ...

Marcos Baghdatis won the title in Shenzhen, beating Stefano Napolitano 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in Sunday's final. 

Top seed Ricardas Berankis is a force on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2019. The 28-year-old did not drop a set in clinching a pair of titles, following his convincing performance in Rennes, France, with an equally dominant showing in Drummondville. The 28-year-old Lithuanian capped his campaign in Canada with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Yannick Maden on Sunday, claiming his 11th Challenger title in impressive fashion.

Cooking With Coric

Everyone who's anyone is in Indian Wells this week -- and Borna sure knows where THE BEEF is.

With such mastery of the barbecue grill, I'm starting to think he could be straight -- which is a shame since THIS ONE looks like he could use some company.

Weekend Tennis Roundup

What an incredibly fun tournament Indian Wells turned out to be! Not only did Juan Martin del Potro bring Roger Federer's reign of geriatric terror to a thrilling end -- each man having match point before the Argentine finally blew the GOAT out in third-set tiebreak -- we had some breakout performances that I think actually portend more success.

First and foremost, Naomi Osaka played flawlessly to win her first WTA title -- and a premier mandatory at that! (Damian and I expected big things from her after seeing how well she played against Venus Williams last year at Wimbledon.) The young Haitian-Japanese embarrassed "World No. 1" Simona Halep 3 and 0 in the semis (and what a sight it was to watch!), after having dismissed Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwańska and Karolína Plíšková all in straight sets. (Osaka was fifth of my list of black women I thought might win the title, after Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens!)

And while she defeated Daria Kasatkina rather handily in the final, the 20-year-old Russian also had an incredible run to the final, beating two current Slam titlists -- Sloane Stephens and Caroline Wozniacki -- plus two former Slam champs -- Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams -- the latter in a nail-biter semifinal showdown. Osaka and Kasatkina have such interesting games -- the former with her power and newly cultivated precision and the latter with her Radwańska-esque touch and finesse. If these two wind up being the future of women's tennis, definitely sign me up for another 20 years of fandom. (Osaka's "embarrassing" speech after the match reminded me that she's just a kid, just as Kasatkina's tears did.)

In addition to del Potro's seesaw victory over Federer -- Roger is surprisingly now 1-7 in tournament-deciding tiebreaks, and have you ever noticed how differently he plays against someone who has beaten him before? -- Indian Wells was also a coming-out party of sorts of Borna Coric. 

Not only was he two games from beating Federer, the Croatian twerking champ held his nerve to beat U.S. Open runner-up Kevin Anderson in a third-set tiebreak in the semis. He also defeated steady Spaniards Roberto Bautista Agut and Albert Ramos Viñolas as well as American hope Taylor Fritz en route to his first Masters 1000 semifinal. (Did you get a load of Fritz's department-store heiress mom's face in the crowd? She'd have smiled for her son's success if she'd been able too.) 

I noticed this beast in Borna's box -- and can only hope he's in it elsewhere, too. 

Chung Hyeon continued to play impressively, setting up a quarterfinal showdown with Roger Federer, against whom he had to retire at the Aussie Open because of severe blistering. Although the South Korean came up short again, it was obvious he has what it takes to go to the next level, assuming he improves his serve a bit. 

 It was also great to see oft-injured Milos Raonic back in the mix of things, getting all the way to the semifinals with the help of a friendly draw. 

While the desert proved to be rather cool this fortnight, tournament director Tommy Haas had me hot and bothered throughout -- first wearing tight jeans and a black dress shirt for his retirement ceremony ...

... and later in tight microfiber polo shirt during the singles trophy presentations (see above with the ladies' finalists) and then this sweater number while handing out the women's doubles trophy. 

There were a couple of tennis legends in the stands, too.

Pete Sampras and Rod Laver stopped by to take in some of the action. They say Indian Wells is the best tournament in the U.S. -- other than the Open -- and I believe it. Will definitely be trying to go next year ... again!

And now we're off to Miami, where Kyle Edmund headed early after his first-round loss in Indian Wells to Israel's Dudi Sela. If this Instagram story is any indication, he'll definitely be getting a better result!