SOME THOUGHTS ON INDIAN WELLS TENNIS 2015

Written by: Lovey on 4th April 2015

Photo by Brett Connors photography. |

Federer at the BNP Paribas Open tennis in Indian Wells. Photo by Brett Connors photography.

Indian Wells 2015.

Maybe I should call it Indian Wells On Steroids in 2015. What a huge enormous site it has become. What a hot place. Hot. Hot. Hot. Not Australian Open hot….But hot and no flies like Oz.

Thoughts that can’t be overlooked :

There’s not enough drinking fountains or “watering holes ” . Unless you wanted alcohol . There was plenty of that. Hello. Who wants to drink champagne in the sun and heat of the Coachella Valley ? 20 bucks a flute. … Even our Global Chick wasn’t drinking “champers ‘ in the sun …Really …What a headache. We would love juice bars. Or date shakes. Or more healthy choices.

The media was treated especially cold. Yup. The media. The people you count on to share the experience. One of our writers worked from 11-11 Daily ( 12 Hour days ) and was excluded from the Lunchroom … and given $ 15 in the food court to buy a hot dog and Pepsi and stand in lines when they had deadlines to meet. 12 hour days for two weeks. No media gift. No media dinner. We just remember the good old days when media was treated like GOLD. Airfare paid. Hotels paid. Meals were buffets with a bounty of food. And drink. But that’s another story.

To some the two weeks flew by. To me it was all a crazy tornado with crazy twists and turns and rules. The rules had rules. But again that’s another story.

Global Chick finally left the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles and wrote some of her best stories yet. She did do a side trip to Joshua Tree , and who goes to see the San Andreas fault …?

Photo by Brett Connors photography.

Richard Evans was his usual charming witty self. He played in the ATP/media event and held his own with the puppies. Good on you Dear Richard. He is 10sBalls.com star ! One of the best tennis writers for 40 years !

Our EPA photographers sweltered in the heat and climbing up and down the staircases of all the stadiums lugging huge lenses and cameras and taking fantastic photos. Bravo European Press Agency !

Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open has become a March destination. It’s like the Kentucky Derby , the Super Bowl , the Indy 500. It’s the place to be. But at a huge expense. The price of the daily tickets have increased 75 percent under the leadership of Larry. Yikes even the one percenters are griping.

The best tennis of the fortnight was given to us by Roger Federer. The finals are today with Roger facing Novak Djokovic. There were some poorly timed last minute withdraws with injuries to Bernie Tomic and Nick Krygios and Serena Williams. Nick actually lost and injured his ankle towards the end of his match. Serena seemed slightly vague on her injury. But that’s Serena. Remember Wimbledon Dubs with big Sis Venus when bouncing a ball seemed difficult for her ?

Maria Sharapova played a great match against Azarenka and then couldn’t find her feel against Pennetta who for some reason was crying during the match. Never really explained it. Maria and her team U.N. Have regrouped and are ready for Miami.

Some of the old staffers there did the usual outstanding job. Mary , Adele , Gudrun … Almost 100 years of experience between the three of them. We applaud all the volunteers. Who donate their time for the Desert Charities.

We saw Charlie Pasarell whose dream this event was. We loved La Quinta. We loved the Hyatt Grand Champions. The tennis gardens ? We love court 2. And a new court 3 is on the way. ( @ ticket buyers expense )

We had a team of 8. We worked our butts off. Brett Connors was here shooting his magical photos. Alejandro was perfecting his tennis photography. Pancho the team leader who juggles with the best of them. Did an amazeballs job. What a great physio and facilitator. Global Chick and Southern Belle both typing away their observations on their keyboards . Me doing what I do best “schmoozing”.

Photo by Brett Connors photography.

Ricky Dimon was out in his favorite place to be the outside courts and GRANDSTAND. His trip was short but sweet.

We visted with old buddies like Martin ( Marty ) Mulligan from FILA. We visited with Roy Sakaguchi and his beautiful wife from NIKE. And Ryan Broccolo and his beautiful wife from ASICS. We spent time With our Parter K.T. Kim from SOLINCO who was running everywhere with Norman Tam trying to keep their players happy. We visited with team Sharapova including her super agent Max Eisenbud , coach Sven Groenveld , physio Yutaka , hitting Partner DiDi , and Jerome the man with the magic hands.

We missed Dear Max Mirnyi. First time in 18 years he didn’t make the doubles cut. But the good news is he is rested and ready for Miami where he did get in. We missed Xavier Malisse. It was the first year minus his presence as a player or last year as a coach. We did visit with Todd LARKHAM part of our old team. Great to see him coaching . As well as Jason Stoltenberg and Chris Johnstone.

G.O.A.T.S. Greatest of all times. Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram.

The highlight of Saturday was sitting next the THE Great One. Wayne Gretzky. He was there to cheer on Milos a fellow Canadian. Gwen Stefanie and coach Gavin Rossdale were there with their kids in tow to cheer on Roger Federer. It’s funny how close we are to HOLLYWOOD and how little star power is there unless they are guests of the players.

Is this event a huge success. Probably so. Is it great on all levels. ? Is it a user friendly event ?

P.S. Turns out there was a media dinner but it’s really snacks and drinks from 5-7. But no one was told about it. Was it just for the I.T.W.A. ( exclusive international writers )? Or was it an oversite on the part of Media Staff to get the word out ? Tourney staff ? The press corps was really upset that they had the reception and only a handful were invited … Very sad indeed how the press is treated. Not exactly fair. We all sweltered in the desert heat to pump out photos and stories for two weeks.

Editors Note : the hit and giggle with ATP dubs guys was also for IWTA only writers. We got asked the day of play. We were wearing flip flops and didn’t have rackets. We were then asked to “cover it ” for them. Give us a break. They needed “bodies ” not enough ITWA peeps around. That’s why we were asked last minute. How sad. No growth in our sport when it’s so old school “chummie” clickish. The most insulting part of the whole event was working media no longer allowed in what was a shared dining area of the media and the players. It’s worked well till this year when some media were “grandfathered ” so now media eats in the food court with all the stress of the day they now deserve their own lunchroom. Larry we need a media dining room or put us back in our old dining room.

Topics: BNP Paribas Open, Brett Connors, EPA, Federer, global chick, Indian Wells Tennis, Lovey's Lob, Pancho, Richard Evans, Ricky Dimon, Solinco, Tennis

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

Lovey's Recent Lobs

CHICAGO • LAVER CUP TENNIS • GOSSIP • PARTIES • GREAT CROWDS • WHERE’S MO?

Here we are in Chicago. What a great event. We've been to the WILSON factory daily. Love to see some of the great old frames we played with.

THE 2018 U.S. OPEN TENNIS • OSAKA BEATS SERENA WITH CHAIR UMPIRES HELP • AGAIN

This was a tennis tournament.... Like no other. This was a U.S. Open like no other.. Let's start with new logo. It's click art like ours? But we aren't the USTA.

TENNIS GOSSIP FROM THE 2018 U.S. OPEN • WTA | ATP • FEDERER HAS PLAYED 1,424 MATCHES WITHOUT A “RETIREMENT”

The only way to describe this U.S. open is soaking wet without raining... It's really hard to play tennis when your socks are soaking wet and you are "sloshing" in your shoes. Your shoes get really heavy when they get wet.

2018 U.S. OPEN TENNIS FROM 10SBALLS • KANEPI BEATS WTA | TOP SEED HALEP

What a start. First match in the new stadium and bye bye ladies number one seed and WTA World Number One. Simona Halep. Losing to Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

TENNIS PLAYERS GET MARRIED • GOSSIP • ATP | WTA • ARTEM SITAK AND JONATHAN ERLICH WIN NEWPORT • HAPPY BIRTHDAY SVEN GROENEVELD!

Wow. Where do we start. Forward. Backward. Sideways. I sound like a tennis player doing on court drills.

10sBalls_com says:

March 22, 2015 at 10:40 am

SOME THOUGHTS ON #IndianWells #TENNIS 2015- http://t.co/4SQbh2uWFR #BNPParibasOpen #BNPPO15 #JoshuaTree #tennisthoughts #bnp #bcp

10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.