RICKY DIMON’S OBSERVATIONS : QUICK TURNAROUNDS AFTER DAVIS CUP COULD BE THE STORY OF INDIAN WELLS QUALIFYING

Written by: Staff on 9th March 2015

RICKY DIMON'S OBSERVATIONS : QUICK TURNAROUNDS AFTER DAVIS CUP COULD BE THE STORY OF INDIAN WELLS QUALIFYING

epa04226437 James Ward of Britain returns to Tommy Robredo of Spain during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2014. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

His work all but complete, James Ward retired from his dead singles rubber during first-round Davis Cup action on Sunday. Why? He had to catch his flight to Los Angeles to arrive at the Indian Wells Masters in time for qualifying on Tuesday.

Ward, whose 6-7(4), 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3), 15-13 upset of John Isner propelled Great Britain to a win over the United States in Glasgow, Scotland, retired after taking the first set from Donald Young. The world No. 8 will contest his first qualies match at the BNP Paribas Open against Mitchell Krueger of the United States.

“The mental resilience he showed today is as good as I’ve seen from any of the players,” British captain Leon Smith said of Ward. “I can’t speak highly enough of what he’s put himself through out there.”

Could the grueling effort cost Ward in Indian Wells? Only time will tell, but it certainly is not ideal preparation. He–and many others–will be making a quick transition from a fast indoor hard court to the hot, dry, and often blustery conditions in the California desert.

Borna Coric, the top seed in qualifying, faces a similar task. The 18-year-old Croat also played a five-setter last Friday. Unlike Ward, though, Coric will have to mentally bounce back from a brutal loss. He led Serbia’s Viktor Troicki by two sets only to fall 4-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 as the Serbs ultimately cruised to a 3-0 victory.

Borna Coric of Croatia returns the ball to Viktor Troicki of Serbia during their singles match of the Davis Cup World Group first round tie between Serbia and Croatia in Kraljevo, Serbia, 06 March 2015. EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC

Coric will kick off his Indian Wells campaign against Ukrainian wild card Artem Smirnov.

Other players making the move straight from Davis Cup to the BNP Paribas Open are Japan’s Go Soeda, Poland’s Lukasz Kubot, Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke, and Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Soeda lost the decisive fifth rubber to Vasek Pospisil in the host Canadians’ 3-2 triumph.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: BNP Paribas Open, Davis Cup, Indian Wells Tennis, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis News

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

March 9, 2015 at 10:40 pm

-@Dimonator’s OBSERVATIONS: QUICK TURNAROUNDS AFTER @DavisCup COULD BE THE STORY OF #IndianWells QUALIFYING- http://t.co/bD4VHkRy0b #tennis
dusanVemic says:

March 10, 2015 at 3:39 am

RT @10sBalls_com: -@Dimonator’s OBSERVATIONS: QUICK TURNAROUNDS AFTER @DavisCup COULD BE THE STORY OF #IndianWells QUALIFYING- http://t.co/…