Indian Wells 2014 - 8 March

Some very good matches to look forward to today.

(Stadium 1 and 2 Schedules only. Full Schedule - http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/404/op.pdf)

STADIUM 1 Start 11:00 am

[1] Na Li (CHN) v Jie Zheng (CHN)

Not Before 12:30 pm
Lukas Rosol (CZE) v [5] Andy Murray (GBR)

[Q] Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) v [7] Roger Federer (SUI)

Not Before 4:00 pm
[4] Maria Sharapova (RUS)
v
Julia Goerges (GER)

Not Before 7:00 pm
[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) v Radek Stepanek (CZE)

Not Before 8:30 pm
Ajla Tomljanovic (CRO) v [17] Sloane Stephens (USA)


STADIUM 2 Start 11:00 am
[11] Tommy Haas (GER) v Jeremy Chardy (FRA)

[17] Kevin Anderson (RSA) v Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)

Francesca Schiavone (ITA) v [16] Samantha Stosur (AUS)

[3] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) v Ivo Karlovic (CRO)

Not Before 5:00 pm

Santiago Giraldo (COL) v [19] Kei Nishikori (JPN)

[1] Bob Bryan (USA) Mike Bryan (USA) v Scott Lipsky (USA) Florian Mayer (GER)

My personal favorite for the day is Hewitt v Anderson (will he get 600 career wins today?).

Enjoy!

can't wait, should be some good matches and plenty of opportunity to trade in play

fancy Tomljanovic to give Stephens a game

Rightjugeiam wrote:fancy Tomljanovic to give Stephens a game

I have watched more Stephens, than Tomljanovic. She has been around since 2009+.

Falla v Janowicz to a third set TB. Falla playing nicely.

JJ had MP at 4-5 30-40 and blew it. Serves a DF at MP and Falla wins. What a shame to lose like this!

Good to see Janowitz losing, arrogant, crap behaviour.

Murray broken, Rosol 4:3.

I don't mind JJ losing - not a huge fan of his - neither the game nor the man.

what is up with Murray? same old weaknesses

Andy hit one winner in the first set.

will be outside the top 10 before long, got 1000 to defend at Miami and 2000 at Wimbledon

Murray becoming like Fed, needs to lose the first set to wake up.

Andy broken again.

Murray in big trouble.

He really needs to work a lot less on fitness and more on his tennis. He is getting killed out there and his serve is powderpuff!

it's a lot like how he played when without a coach for 2 years

never resolved his issues

Murray breaks back. Time to up your levels Andy.

Murray breaks , needs to consolidate

raise your game son

managed to serve it out, still not clinical enough, sloppy DF, ALLOWED 15-30

Certainly isn't anywhere near his best just now. A break early in the third set for him though and now looking in control of the match.

thing is it is all in his head

if he changes his mental state he can easily change his performance, just this is his default mental setting

Agreed. The mental department is the weakest part of Andy's game at times. If his mental application is off it takes a fair few percent off the rest of his game.

Is it me or does he seem a little slower reacting to shots?

That was more like it from Andy and now has the double break.

Andy in better shape now.  His game is more solid than early on, and Rosol's is less so.

could be, he is far from his peak level when winning the titles in 2012/13

Rosol seems to have given up, just punching.

Rightjugeiam wrote:could be, he is far from his peak level when winning the titles in 2012/13

My worry within Murray is motivation. He strived for so long for a slam and finally got it but then had the motivation to win Wimbledon and did that. Now what is the goal? I say this as since Wimbledon Andy has come out on a couple of occasions and said odd stuff like he doesn't care too much if he never reaches No.1 it is slams that drives him on. I am not sure I agree with that ethic.

lots of good matches to follow, tennis all night if you want

yey

Cilic/Delpo beating Nestor/Zimonjic, amazing!! 4:3 up a break.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Rightjugeiam wrote:could be, he is far from his peak level when winning the titles in 2012/13

My worry within Murray is motivation. He strived for so long for a slam and finally got it but then had the motivation to win Wimbledon and did that. Now what is the goal? I say this as since Wimbledon Andy has come out on a couple of occasions and said odd stuff like he doesn't care too much if he never reaches No.1 it is slams that drives him on. I am not sure I agree with that ethic.

you make an excellent point

winning Wimbledon was historic and in order to challenge that achievement he would have to do something extraordinary like the calendar slam

and really that is not realistic so, where, indeed, does he find the motivation? he's hardly likely to challenge for GOAT status and if #1 ranking doesn't float his boat, then what?

he has all the money he will ever need...

Fed a break up.

The bounce on this court seems even more absurd than ever.

still, a good match

It still amazes me how bad Federer is these days.

Anyone know what the record for aces in two sets is? Raonic must be closing in on it.

I'm rooting for Garbi Muguruza... come on lovely     

Incredible match between Nadal and Stepanek. Radek gave as good as he got. But he lost a game in the third set when he was up 0-40 on Nadal's serve. It is so hard to pt that out of your mind regardless of the level of tennis that you play. Late in the first set he had triple break point and losing that game is just such a burden mentally. Tennis is such a mental game.

Very disappointed for the way JJ played, this high bouncing court never suits him but he needs to beat Falla, which suits his game even less.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Rightjugeiam wrote:could be, he is far from his peak level when winning the titles in 2012/13

My worry within Murray is motivation. He strived for so long for a slam and finally got it but then had the motivation to win Wimbledon and did that. Now what is the goal? I say this as since Wimbledon Andy has come out on a couple of occasions and said odd stuff like he doesn't care too much if he never reaches No.1 it is slams that drives him on. I am not sure I agree with that ethic.

Lets not kid ourselves Murray wants to be number #1. If you are good enough to become number 2 or 3 in anything in the world you want to be the absolute best. If you are the second best cookie maker, or stockbroker or whatever you want to be number 1 no matter how accomplished and comfortable #2 or #3 is. I think Murray will get the number #1 eventually despite a slow recovery from injury.

socal1976 wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Rightjugeiam wrote:could be, he is far from his peak level when winning the titles in 2012/13

My worry within Murray is motivation. He strived for so long for a slam and finally got it but then had the motivation to win Wimbledon and did that. Now what is the goal? I say this as since Wimbledon Andy has come out on a couple of occasions and said odd stuff like he doesn't care too much if he never reaches No.1 it is slams that drives him on. I am not sure I agree with that ethic.

Lets not kid ourselves Murray wants to be number #1. If you are good enough to become number 2 or 3 in anything in the world you want to be the absolute best. If you are  the second best cookie maker, or stockbroker or whatever you want to be number 1 no matter how accomplished and comfortable #2 or #3 is. I think Murray will get the number #1 eventually despite a slow recovery from injury.

He wants to be No.1 but is it a fire that truly burns greatly like it does in say Federer, Nadal and Djokovic? I say this because there has been a couple of occasions where he has said slams are his No.1 aim and he'd sooner win more slams than never be No.1. Odd thing to say don't you think? He should be setting goals of both - more slam wins and to get to No.1.

socal1976 wrote:

Lets not kid ourselves Murray wants to be number #1.

I agree with that. Tennis players as a class are hypercompetitive. Their whole lives are structured around working out how to beat their peers. Making it to number 1 validates the whole process. I think a comment like "I'm only in it for the slams" is the equivalent of saying "just one day at a time". If he gets the results he wants then the ranking will come.

Turron wrote:

socal1976 wrote:

Lets not kid ourselves Murray wants to be number #1.

I agree with that.  Tennis players as a class are hypercompetitive.  Their whole lives are structured around working out how to beat their peers.  Making it to number 1 validates the whole process.  I think a comment like "I'm only in it for the slams" is the equivalent of saying "just one day at a time".  If he gets the results he wants then the ranking will come.

Not strictly true.

To reach No.1 in the rankings you need a strong set of results in other events as well as in the slams. Slam wins alone won't take you there especially as in Murray's case I can never see him winning the French Open.

After watching Dubai, Murray v Rosol and Federer v Mathieu was Water Aerobics at IW.

@LK.. quite agree, more Tennis, less fitness. A tank spends lot more energy in locomotion, than a rabbit. Look at Djokovic.

Stepanek played very well despite the sandpit court.

@SoCal. . very disappointed with JJ. The racquet abuse makes it worse. He can be the next Soderling, but needs his Magnus, in more sense than one.

@BB.. at least Federer is making an attempt at DC with some Doubles practice. Allowing Mathieu back was very uncharacteristic, almost Djockovic-esque.

LF: it was surprising to see Fed let Mathieu back, but did he not do the same against Andy at AO? Hopefully not a trend.

Rafa was quite poor last night. Stepanek did well to keep it close but he was helped by Rafa's uncharestically shaky play. Rafa made plenty of double faults and he dumped many easy balls into the net.

James Ward in as a lucky loser in place of Del Potro.

Born Slippy wrote:James Ward in as a lucky loser in place of Del Potro.

That's a big bonus for him (again). Didn't that happen for him a tournament or two ago?

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Turron wrote:

socal1976 wrote:

Lets not kid ourselves Murray wants to be number #1.

I agree with that.  Tennis players as a class are hypercompetitive.  Their whole lives are structured around working out how to beat their peers.  Making it to number 1 validates the whole process.  I think a comment like "I'm only in it for the slams" is the equivalent of saying "just one day at a time".  If he gets the results he wants then the ranking will come.

Not strictly true.

To reach No.1 in the rankings you need a strong set of results in other events as well as in the slams. Slam wins alone won't take you there especially as in Murray's case I can never see him winning the French Open.

I agree here with Turron, Andy wouldn't have reached the point he has if he didn't have burning desire to be the best. Yes slams are the final goal of every player, but the idea that they don't care about the number 1 ranking for me just doesn't make sense. Who doesn't want to be the best at a skill they have been honing since childhood. A lot of players have reached #1 ranking while stinking on clay, Murray isn't any worse than Roddick or Sampras on the clay. Sure it makes it much tougher for Murray to do it and he will have to improve on that surface to get there. I think Murray is smart about his comments regarding the number 1. If he makes a big deal about it in the media than he piles pressure on himself. Just like he would downplay winning slams before he actually did it. He would say things like I can have a great life and career without winning slams etc., but when he would lose a final everyone could see how much it meant to him. Maybe he doesn't want the number 1 as much as he wants to pile up slams but those two things are correlated and Murray would love to be the best player in the world.

laverfan wrote:After watching Dubai, Murray v Rosol and Federer v Mathieu was Water Aerobics at IW.

@LK.. quite agree, more Tennis, less fitness. A tank spends lot more energy in locomotion, than a rabbit. Look at Djokovic.

Stepanek played very well despite the sandpit court.

@SoCal. . very disappointed with JJ. The racquet abuse makes it worse. He can be the next Soderling, but needs his Magnus, in more sense than one.

@BB.. at least Federer is making an attempt at DC with some Doubles practice. Allowing Mathieu back was very uncharacteristic, almost Djockovic-esque.

I agree Lf, this surface was never going to favor JJ because of how flat he hits the ball and this court is harder to hit through than most hardcourts. Since that run at wimbeldon he has failed to kick on from there. Sometimes he needs to not flatten every single shot out, at times when you are pulled wide you have to play a more defensive shot that gives you time to get back to the middle of the court. He seems to have just a plan A in hitting hard and harder. He has to work in a few slices and a few moonballs at the right time when hitting flat pace at your point sets him up perfectly to whip the ball for a winner in the open court.

socal1976 wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:

Turron wrote:

socal1976 wrote:

Lets not kid ourselves Murray wants to be number #1.

I agree with that.  Tennis players as a class are hypercompetitive.  Their whole lives are structured around working out how to beat their peers.  Making it to number 1 validates the whole process.  I think a comment like "I'm only in it for the slams" is the equivalent of saying "just one day at a time".  If he gets the results he wants then the ranking will come.

Not strictly true.

To reach No.1 in the rankings you need a strong set of results in other events as well as in the slams. Slam wins alone won't take you there especially as in Murray's case I can never see him winning the French Open.

I agree here with Turron, Andy wouldn't have reached the point he has if he didn't have burning desire to be the best. Yes slams are the final goal of every player, but the idea that they don't care about the number 1 ranking for me just doesn't make sense. Who doesn't want to be the best at a skill they have been honing since childhood. A lot of players have reached #1 ranking while stinking on clay, Murray isn't any worse than Roddick or Sampras on the clay. Sure it makes it much tougher for Murray to do it and he will have to improve on that surface to get there. I think Murray is smart about his comments regarding the number 1. If he makes a big deal about it in the media than he piles pressure on himself. Just like he would downplay winning slams before he actually did it. He would say things like I can have a great life and career without winning slams etc., but when he would lose a final everyone could see how much it meant to him. Maybe he doesn't want the number 1 as much as he wants to pile up slams but those two things are correlated and Murray would love to be the best player in the world.

People are motivated by different goals and for different reasons. I can never recall Roger, Rafa or Novak saying they want slam wins more than getting to No.1  which Andy has indicated towards on more than one occasion since he won Wimbledon. Perhaps it is because Andy strived for so long for that elusive slam win and the pressure in the UK was always about that elusive slam win and would he ever get it? Perhaps channeling all his efforts in that direction for so long has meant rankings paled into insignificance somewhat. It would explain why he can lose focus much more regularly in lesser competitions than in slams which in turn will forever ruin any hopes he has of getting to No.1. For Andy he needs 100% focus and motivation and it is something he has always had problems tying that all together.

Bautista-Agut playing some great stuff against Berdych. Level at one set all he is a break up in the deciding set. Great power hitting. Berdych needs to turn this around and fast.

Berdych breaks back to level at 4-4 in the deciding side.