ATP M1000 WTA 1000 BNP Paribas Open 3/8 - 3/19 2023

[JazzNU]

Great win for Sakkari, she's having a great week. Interesting that Kvitova has never reached the SF here in her career. I'd have thought maybe the desert conditions in the Spring might be one of the best places in the US for her to play.

Petra's never done all that well in Indian Wells, relatively speaking- just her second QF. She was on Team Medvedev this year about not liking the slow IW courts. Never done that well at Miami either- one QF. And, the US Open- two QF's. Seemingly being a shyer person- I don't think she much cares for the big US tournaments. Too noisy, her asthma can act up, etc. AND, of course- we'll never know what might have happened, if that monster had never attacked her in her own apartment. I believe she still has no feeling in, maybe, two of her fingers, if I am remembering this correctly. Plus, she's a tour grandma now. So, this tournament was a pretty great one for her.

Many asthma sufferers do better in desert conditions, especially when it's not 100 degrees, hence my comment.

[nelslus]

Great win for Sakkari, she's having a great week. Interesting that Kvitova has never reached the SF here in her career. I'd have thought maybe the desert conditions in the Spring might be one of the best places in the US for her to play.

Petra's never done all that well in Indian Wells, relatively speaking- just her second QF. She was on Team Medvedev this year about not liking the slow IW courts. Never done that well at Miami either- one QF. And, the US Open- two QF's. Seemingly being a shyer person- I don't think she much cares for the big US tournaments. Too noisy, her asthma can act up, etc. AND, of course- we'll never know what might have happened, if that monster had never attacked her in her own apartment. I believe she still has no feeling in, maybe, two of her fingers, if I am remembering this correctly. Plus, she's a tour grandma now. So, this tournament was a pretty great one for her.

Many asthma sufferers do better in desert conditions, especially when it's not 100 degrees, hence my comment.

I meant that asthma is an issue for her in general with some US tournaments- especially the US Open- and, of course, many other tournaments. I meant to just list some of what I feel are issues for her not doing well at the big US tournaments. The attack being, of course, the biggest issue. It continues to kill me that two of my all-time favorites have had to deal with these horrendous attacks.

[ti-amie]

Muchova is serving to force a TB vs Rybakina in the first set.

[ponchi101]

Elena- Iga tomorrow. That should be the good one to see.

[JazzNU]

BTW, yet another default. Bencic & Teichmann have apparently dropped out of the doubles. No specific snark meant against either player- could be injuries, illnesses, etc. But, this is, indeed, a significant issue.

FYI

[nelslus]

BTW, yet another default. Bencic & Teichmann have apparently dropped out of the doubles. No specific snark meant against either player- could be injuries, illnesses, etc. But, this is, indeed, a significant issue.

FYI

Ugghhhh. Sorry to hear about this, of course.

[ti-amie]

Friday, March 17, 2023 Day 12

STADIUM 1 Starts At 11:00 Am

(1) Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova VS Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara
Followed By
Beatriz Haddad Maia/Laura Siegemund VS Miyu Kato/Aldila Sutjiadi
Not Before 3:00 PM
(7) Maria Sakkari VS (2) Aryna Sabalenka
Not Before 6:00 PM
(1) Iga Swiatek VS (10) Elena Rybakina
Not Before 8:00 Pm
John Isner/Jack Sock VS Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden

STADIUM 2 Not Before 6:00 Pm

Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski Or Jamie Murray/Michael Venus VS Santiago Gonzalez/Edouard Roger-Vasselin Or Lloyd Glasspool/ Harri Heliovaara

[ashkor87]

Am impressed with Sinner..great win over Fritz..would not have expected it...he is progressing...

[Jeff from TX]

Am impressed with Sinner..great win over Fritz..would not have expected it...he is progressing...

I'm not really surprised, given the court speed

Just a little levity, but I do appreciate your comments.

[ashkor87]

I play with a guy regularly who is better than me at everything except serve..he can never beat me so I am not sure breaking it down is useful.

I think we have to visualise how the point would unfold .
On a slow court, Rybakina serves, first serve, not more than 1 ace per game max, ball comes back, rally begins .Swiatek drives her from corner to corner, wins most of the points. If second serve, Swiatek just kills it right away. When Swiatek serves, Rybakina hammers the ball deep and hard, but Swiatek gets many back, court slows it down..overall Swiatek wins the match
On a fast court, Rybakina serves .if she gets a high percentage of first served, Swiatek will be on her back foot, unable to swing away, Rybakina comes up and whacks a winner. When Swiatek serves, Rybakina hammers the ball back, Swiatek pushed back, same story..Rybakina wins .

No point matching forehand with forehand and so on...the progression point by point is what we have to think of

[ashkor87]

Saw a bit of Aoyama and Shibahara..Aoyama's interceptions are uncanny..how does she know when to go across? Wish I could learn how to do it, half the time I get passed down the line which I just vacated!!

[ashkor87]

Sinner had a comment similar to Cirstea's..his coach has taught him to look beyond his own game, at what his opponent is doing.
Cahill..

[3mlm]

What are you basing this on?

IW is higher from the sea level. Balls are flying a bit faster and it may give an impression that Miami is slower (also humidity may slightly slow down the balls).

Interestingly, I find two elevations for IW. One claims 27 meters OSL. The other shows it at around 841 meters. But most claim the lower figure.

Altitude in Indian Wells depends on where you are. The city limits extend from the lower area near the freeway (I10) up to about 600-700 meters altitude into the mountains. The tournament venue appears to be just a little higher than the lowest areas. I think the 27 meters refers to the lower area where most residences, businesses and resorts are.

The 841 meters probably refers to the unincorporated area called Indian Wells in Kern County California which is at 841 meters elevation.

[ponchi101]

I play with a guy regularly who is better than me at everything except serve..he can never beat me so I am not sure breaking it down is useful.

I think we have to visualise how the point would unfold .
On a slow court, Rybakina serves, first serve, not more than 1 ace per game max, ball comes back, rally begins .Swiatek drives her from corner to corner, wins most of the points. If second serve, Swiatek just kills it right away. When Swiatek serves, Rybakina hammers the ball deep and hard, but Swiatek gets many back, court slows it down..overall Swiatek wins the match
On a fast court, Rybakina serves .if she gets a high percentage of first served, Swiatek will be on her back foot, unable to swing away, Rybakina comes up and whacks a winner. When Swiatek serves, Rybakina hammers the ball back, Swiatek pushed back, same story..Rybakina wins .

No point matching forehand with forehand and so on...the progression point by point is what we have to think of

I think you are selling Rybakina's strokes short. You don't get to the final of the Aussie open with no strokes; Elena's BH is a solid stroke, and her FH can travel.
Yes, we agree. You have to give the percentages to Iga, but Cirstea's match (yesterday) was a good indication. Iga can be beat. You have to play very well, but she can be beat.
Or maybe I am just a bigger fan of Rybakina that you are

[mick1303]

AND the Aussie was still on grass in 1985.

I think Novak would have won some Wimbledon titles regardless. Rafa would, for sure, have struggled. I do agree that Roger could have gotten double digit Wimbledon titles. In any era, Rafa was gonna win 20 Roland Garros titles. But, hey- all three got ridiculous careers out of today's court speeds.

Disagree about "any era". Without synthetic strings and without over-sized racketheads Rafa's game would suffer the most. I actually think that Borg would win against Nadal more often than lose if they were meeting back then.

Borg's one of my all-time favorites. So, I'm all for you being right about this. (IF, sadly, I'd also disagree in this case. But, again, I'd rather agree with you.)

In the mythical Borg-Nadal matchup I was liking Borg chances because I was sure that Borg's cardio would be superior to anyone (including even Nadal). The matchup itself is mythical because it is hard (impossible) to find fair conditions with regard to equipment. Nadal will win with a modern rackets/strings. Borg will win if they both play with the wooden rackets. So even if you have time machine and bring young Borg to the present, or put prime Nadal to the 70s (w/o his rackets) - you still out of luck determining who was better. Also I have a feeling that playing with heavier racket with much smaller frame surface requires better hand-eye coordination. Which is also advantage to Borg. Advantage to Nadal that he was able to preserve his dominance on clay over his contemporaries for much longer time than Borg.