The Indian Wells Masters is one tournament on the ATP calendar I've consistently enjoyed over the last couple of years. Not only is the tournament well attended but it also arrives on the cusp of spring just when everything is about to look up in the Northern Hemisphere. I still remember the humdinger of a final from last year and was particularly disappointed that the defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro was unable to defend his title this year because of a nagging knee injury.
The Draw
This year though the deck was firmly stacked in favor of the number one seed Novak Djokovic who was in imperious form leading up to the tournament. Novak led the upper half of the draw and was ably supported by mercurially talented players such as Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Nick Kyrgios and Milos Raonic. Stefanos Tsitsipas who ousted Novak at the Toronto Masters and Federer at the Australian Open looked set to be dark horse of the tournament and the only possible stumbling block for Novak before the finals.
The bottom half featured all time greats Federer, Nadal along with power punchers such as Marin Cilic, John Isner, Karen Khachanov, and Stan Wawrinka. Contenders Kei Nishikori and Denis Shapovalov rounded out the bottom half. If Federer and Nadal were lucky to get through this minefield of a draw, they would then have to face each other for a place in the finals. Surely it's Djokovic this time around too!
The Early Casualties
Before the dust on the courts settled Tsitsipas fell to Felix Auger Aliassime, Kyrgios who had promised a lot during his Acapulco run fell to Kohlschreiber (this is not the last time you will hear this name) and last year's standout young performer Coric was wiped out by his fellow countryman Ivo Karlovic. With Tsitsipas' and Kyrgios' exit Djokovic's path to the final (Kyrgios and Djokovic were supposed to meet each other in the third round) seemed a mere formality.
A titanic upset
Novak Djokovic doesn't have off days. Where others struggle, Novak sails through with ease. But on March 11th against Philipp Kohlschreiber those theories were turned on their head. We will never quite know what affected Novak that day but his serve lacked sting, returns lacked accuracy, game lacked rhythm and his presence on the court seemed beset by a weight. Kohlschreiber for his part remained solid throughout and never let up the pressure. After an hour and a half of baffling tennis the number one favorite crashed out of the tournament. Such was the shock of this exit that the rout of the next gen superstar Alexander Zverev at the hands of Jan Lennard Struff almost went unnoticed.
The conquerors get conquered
Victory and Irony go hand in hand in sports. Giant Slayers Kohlschreiber and Struff found this truth the hard way when they themselves were swept aside by the power and precision of Gael Monfils and Milos Raonic respectively. Would this be Monfils' year of reckoning?
Two titans clash and injury makes it's debut
While the draw in the top half was being smashed to smithereens, the status quo was being strictly adhered to in the bottom half. Roger Federer weathered the brutal power of Stan Wawrinka with his sheer class. The Swiss icon had been displaying immaculate timing since his Dubai win and he looked rarely in trouble despite Wawarinka's shotmaking. Nadal, Khachanov and Isner all saw off their respective opponents while Cilic and Nishikori bade us goodbye. After conquering Kohlschreiber, Monfils could go no further as injury forced him to withdraw against Thiem.
Federer V/S Nadal?
At the quarterfinal stage of the tournament everyone was looking forward to a potential mouthwatering clash between Federer and Nadal in the semis.
Federer turned one half of that dream into reality by showing Nishikori's conqueror Hubert Hurkacz the door.
Nadal who was in charge of securing the other half of the dream match was squaring off against the double tough Karen Khachanov (who had taken out John Isner). Nadal started off badly by losing his serve but then recovered to break back and take the first set in the tiebreak. In the second, Nadal secured an early break and was well on his way to winning the match before injury struck. After a prolonged medical timeout to treat his knee, Nadal came back to finish the match even though Khachanov did everything possible to force a second tiebreak. So the match that everyone had been waiting for since the draw was announced finally became a reality. Surely the winner of that semifinal would go on to win the final too.
Injury strikes back while Thiem makes it count
I should have known that the tournament which made a mockery of so many predictions would throw a wrench in the Federer-Nadal match too. While I wasn't sure how well Nadal would fare against Federer after a physically draining quarterfinal, I was hoping that Nadal would still be able to compete. My worst fears came true as the injury sustained in the Khachanov match took Nadal out and sent Federer into the finals without him having to break a sweat.
Meanwhile big-serving Raonic took on the big-returning Thiem in the other semifinal. In the first two sets there were no breaks of serve. Raonic's star seemed firmly in ascendancy at the start of the third as he took the second set with his virtually impregnable serve. That's when Thiem did something which surprised a lot of onlookers. Thiem positioned himself several meters behind the baseline to counter Raonic's booming serves. Thiem's initial returns from that far behind the baseline went wide but he soon found his timing to score winners from both wings. Sensing that Thiem was able to counter his serves, Raonic pushed just a little too hard allowing his serve accuracy to drop. That was the very opening Thiem required to break Raonic and the solitary break of serve was enough for Thiem to push through to his maiden Masters Final on a hard court. But surely he couldn't go one step further. After all he was facing the five time champion Federer who was well rested and raring to go. Thiem's form before the tournament too didn't inspire much confidence. An upset wouldn't be such a great surprise considering how this tournament was going but will the time and form favour old glory?
What's the Thiem?
Simple, with his blunt brute forced aggression and his problem solving skills. Just as he found a way through Raonic's serve he also found a way around Federer's guile as he turned the drop shots from the legend into match winning volleys in the all important 11th game of the deciding set. No one could have predicted this result at the beginning of the tournament but no one was more deserving at the end. For his heart, fight and determination we have a deserving winner - Dominic Thiem. As for me I have another story from Indian Wells' rich history to share with all of you.
Until Next Time,
Your Sports Raconteur,
J.J. Chaitanya
PS: I heard that the women's section had a great set of matches too with a surprise winner in Bianca Andreescu. I was too caught up with the action in the men's section to give the women their due. Next time will take care not to miss out on great performances from both the sections of the draw.
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| The magnificence of Indian Wells (Courtesy: Tennis Tours) |
This year though the deck was firmly stacked in favor of the number one seed Novak Djokovic who was in imperious form leading up to the tournament. Novak led the upper half of the draw and was ably supported by mercurially talented players such as Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Nick Kyrgios and Milos Raonic. Stefanos Tsitsipas who ousted Novak at the Toronto Masters and Federer at the Australian Open looked set to be dark horse of the tournament and the only possible stumbling block for Novak before the finals.
The bottom half featured all time greats Federer, Nadal along with power punchers such as Marin Cilic, John Isner, Karen Khachanov, and Stan Wawrinka. Contenders Kei Nishikori and Denis Shapovalov rounded out the bottom half. If Federer and Nadal were lucky to get through this minefield of a draw, they would then have to face each other for a place in the finals. Surely it's Djokovic this time around too!
The Early Casualties
Before the dust on the courts settled Tsitsipas fell to Felix Auger Aliassime, Kyrgios who had promised a lot during his Acapulco run fell to Kohlschreiber (this is not the last time you will hear this name) and last year's standout young performer Coric was wiped out by his fellow countryman Ivo Karlovic. With Tsitsipas' and Kyrgios' exit Djokovic's path to the final (Kyrgios and Djokovic were supposed to meet each other in the third round) seemed a mere formality.
A titanic upset
Novak Djokovic doesn't have off days. Where others struggle, Novak sails through with ease. But on March 11th against Philipp Kohlschreiber those theories were turned on their head. We will never quite know what affected Novak that day but his serve lacked sting, returns lacked accuracy, game lacked rhythm and his presence on the court seemed beset by a weight. Kohlschreiber for his part remained solid throughout and never let up the pressure. After an hour and a half of baffling tennis the number one favorite crashed out of the tournament. Such was the shock of this exit that the rout of the next gen superstar Alexander Zverev at the hands of Jan Lennard Struff almost went unnoticed.
 |
| No quite like Novak! (Courtesy: BBC) |
The conquerors get conquered
Victory and Irony go hand in hand in sports. Giant Slayers Kohlschreiber and Struff found this truth the hard way when they themselves were swept aside by the power and precision of Gael Monfils and Milos Raonic respectively. Would this be Monfils' year of reckoning?
Two titans clash and injury makes it's debut
While the draw in the top half was being smashed to smithereens, the status quo was being strictly adhered to in the bottom half. Roger Federer weathered the brutal power of Stan Wawrinka with his sheer class. The Swiss icon had been displaying immaculate timing since his Dubai win and he looked rarely in trouble despite Wawarinka's shotmaking. Nadal, Khachanov and Isner all saw off their respective opponents while Cilic and Nishikori bade us goodbye. After conquering Kohlschreiber, Monfils could go no further as injury forced him to withdraw against Thiem.
Federer V/S Nadal?
At the quarterfinal stage of the tournament everyone was looking forward to a potential mouthwatering clash between Federer and Nadal in the semis.
Federer turned one half of that dream into reality by showing Nishikori's conqueror Hubert Hurkacz the door.
Nadal who was in charge of securing the other half of the dream match was squaring off against the double tough Karen Khachanov (who had taken out John Isner). Nadal started off badly by losing his serve but then recovered to break back and take the first set in the tiebreak. In the second, Nadal secured an early break and was well on his way to winning the match before injury struck. After a prolonged medical timeout to treat his knee, Nadal came back to finish the match even though Khachanov did everything possible to force a second tiebreak. So the match that everyone had been waiting for since the draw was announced finally became a reality. Surely the winner of that semifinal would go on to win the final too.
 |
| Nadal's injury timeout (Courtesy: The National Herald) |
Injury strikes back while Thiem makes it count
I should have known that the tournament which made a mockery of so many predictions would throw a wrench in the Federer-Nadal match too. While I wasn't sure how well Nadal would fare against Federer after a physically draining quarterfinal, I was hoping that Nadal would still be able to compete. My worst fears came true as the injury sustained in the Khachanov match took Nadal out and sent Federer into the finals without him having to break a sweat.
Meanwhile big-serving Raonic took on the big-returning Thiem in the other semifinal. In the first two sets there were no breaks of serve. Raonic's star seemed firmly in ascendancy at the start of the third as he took the second set with his virtually impregnable serve. That's when Thiem did something which surprised a lot of onlookers. Thiem positioned himself several meters behind the baseline to counter Raonic's booming serves. Thiem's initial returns from that far behind the baseline went wide but he soon found his timing to score winners from both wings. Sensing that Thiem was able to counter his serves, Raonic pushed just a little too hard allowing his serve accuracy to drop. That was the very opening Thiem required to break Raonic and the solitary break of serve was enough for Thiem to push through to his maiden Masters Final on a hard court. But surely he couldn't go one step further. After all he was facing the five time champion Federer who was well rested and raring to go. Thiem's form before the tournament too didn't inspire much confidence. An upset wouldn't be such a great surprise considering how this tournament was going but will the time and form favour old glory?
 |
| Lunging to return Raonic's serve (Courtesy: Tennis Now) |
What's the Thiem?
- You don't start serving to Federer and go 0-40 down in your very first service game.
- You don't break Federer and then hand him back the initiative by losing your serve.
- You don't lose the first set and then expect to win a final against the great man as Federer had won the last 20 tournaments in which he had won the first set.
- You don't go 0-30 down while serving second in the deciding set.
- But despite all the numbers pointing to the contrary, Thiem still managed to win. How did he do it?
Simple, with his blunt brute forced aggression and his problem solving skills. Just as he found a way through Raonic's serve he also found a way around Federer's guile as he turned the drop shots from the legend into match winning volleys in the all important 11th game of the deciding set. No one could have predicted this result at the beginning of the tournament but no one was more deserving at the end. For his heart, fight and determination we have a deserving winner - Dominic Thiem. As for me I have another story from Indian Wells' rich history to share with all of you.
 |
| The champ and the legend (Courtesy: Sky Sports) |
Until Next Time,
Your Sports Raconteur,
J.J. Chaitanya
PS: I heard that the women's section had a great set of matches too with a surprise winner in Bianca Andreescu. I was too caught up with the action in the men's section to give the women their due. Next time will take care not to miss out on great performances from both the sections of the draw.
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