Dawn to Dusk at the Tennis Garden In Indian Wells @ The BNP Paribas

Written by: Staff on 12th March 2014

Dawn to Dusk at the Tennis Garden In Indian Wells @ The BNP Paribas

epa04122298 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine reacts after defeating Fabio Fognini of Italy in their match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California USA, 12 March 2014. EPA/PAUL BUCK |

By Austin Karosi

It’s been exciting start of Week 2 at the BNP Paribas Open as play has heated and the matches been competitive and close. After day of physio and rehab for my hip on Monday, I met up with my mom and Terri Bowers to enjoy the night session featuring Rafa and Dogopolov, which kept us on the edge of our seats till the very end.

Dogopolov was serving for the match up a break in the third, before Rafa Being the Beast that he is, reeled off eight straight points to level match at 5-all. It then headed into a tiebreaker. After Rafa’s comeback, it was safe to assume that the match was his. But Dogopolov regrouped held his nerve and came up with some highlight tennis to work his way to match point where he went for the biggest serve of the night, an ace down the “T”.

As he walks to the net, Rafa challenges the serve and as if scripted Rafa wins the challenge, the call is overturned and the serve was out by a molecule.

Now having to walk back to the line and thinking the match was his and having a second serve, at that, the pressure was on Dogopolov to come up with the goods. You could see the flames in Rafa’s eyes as he was ready to bury the return into a corner. But Dogopolov help his ownand came up with the goods and was able to win the match pulling off the upset of the tournament.

In the on-court interview he was saying that he was so nervous that he hit the serve as hard as he possibly could so that it wouldn’t come back and he would have to play the point. So well done by him to handle the pressure after the challenge.

I remember playing for my first ATP point thinking the same thing starting off so tight and none of my groundstrokes working. So I made the decision that I was just going to serve as big as I could and hit haymaker returns so I wouldn’t have to get stuck in long rallies.

Not exactly high percentage play, but to my benefit it paid off that day.

We were on our way out of the stadium after the match and we stopped by the stairs and were looking down on the practice courts and we saw some eager fans who were looking to take their picture with a player.

Of course, my mom mentioned to the ladies that I have ATP points and the ladies said, “Well, that’s good enough for me. Can we take a photo with you?”

I was flattered as I took my photo with Helen and Sybil and we promised to meet at the exaction location and exact time as that moment to see where I had progressed in the world rankings.

So see you next year, Helen and Sybil.

Topics: 10sballs, Alexandr Dogopolov, Atp, austin karosi, BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, Rafael Nadal, Sports, Tennis, Tennis Garden, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

March 12, 2014 at 7:34 pm

Dawn to Dusk at the Tennis Garden In Indian Wells @ The BNP Paribas – http://t.co/c81qWW4B9I #IndianWells #BNPParibasOpen #Tennis #Garden