Tennis lights up Californian desert
View(s):Indiana-Wells the first of the ATP-1000 series of 2015 was held in Coachella Valley in California. Coachella valley boasts of having 254 days of sunshine a year. The event ‘Indiana-Wells’ has the reputation of being best attended spectator event outside the four Grand-Slam events, attracting big time sponsors. The event this year which concluded on the 22th of March surpassed its previous records. The slack professional March calendar permitted ten days for the event to light up the Californian desert.
Indiana-Wells 2015 doled out ten million as prize money in a well sponsored event. This in turn lined up the best of women and men Tennis players into its draw. The event surpassed all expectations in spectator attendance and media coverage.
New aura started 40 years ago
The game of Tennis has thrilled four generations with its refined European attributes. In the last two decades the vibes have changed and the game is sporting great deal of ‘gusto’ producing dynamic moves, colour, power, hot shots and the ‘play of the day’ to thrill the audience. The live commentary and the match-statistics stay in the media for many weeks after the event.
Indiana-Wells Tennis tournament is forty years old this year. The first event was won by American legend Jimmy Connors in 1976. In 1989 the ladies event came to being and Manuela Maleeva won the title. Since then winners list in singles and doubles is as good as ‘who is who’ in Tennis. The desert sun has become an attraction in the wintering months. This All-American road show has been putting up new thrillers every 
year. This year they added the ‘Tennis-Garden’ into their tournament theme. It started as a humble backyard event in 1976. Now it stands only second to the four grand slams. Most of the participants this year were not born, when the event started.
Good courts but questionable Tennis balls
Indiana wells surface is a product of much research. This year, players praised it for the comfort and consistency it provided. However, players were not happy about the Tennis balls used. A good tournament Tennis ball, when pressed should have a slight ‘give-in’ even when it is new. The pressurized ball used in this year’s event was described as ‘stones’ by players. In big events ball changes are very frequent; every 9 games or so. Of recent, tennis balls are taken out of the pressurized cans a week to ten days before use to soften them. The guts in the custom built racket of the professionals should be able to grab the ball to induce spin or to change the pace for tactics. The Tennis balls used in this year’s Indiana-Wells did not live up to the expectations.
Who complained about it? Most of them did and this includes Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and from the women, some big names joined the chorus. Tennis Balls are mass produced now. The known brand names of the tennis ball industry are European and American. However, the production of these has moved to Asian production power houses mainly in China, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines and of recent in Malaysia. They are standardised for quality. What happened at Indiana-Wells this year will be interesting for an in depth study.
Djokovic and Halep take titles
Roger Federer reached the finals again and lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets. Djokovic is fast catching up on Federer to even the score. To date Federer has won 53% of the matches in their numerous encounters. Indiana-Wells final was a thriller. Federer won the hearts of the crowd keeping the challenge to the last shot. After the second set which Federer won, the match was in favour of him. The match went to Djokovic after the fourth game of the final set. The men’s finals stood up well to match the reputation of the event. In fact, men’s matches produced a few upsets. Milos Raonic of Canada took Rafael Nadal out. Englishman Andy Murray reached the semi-finals with a strong game-plan not seen from him before.
The women’s title went to Romania’s Simona Halep. She beat 30 year old veteran Jelena Jankovic who seems to be in her second spring. In the final’s most of the match was in Jankovic’s favour. Jankovic let it slip in the second set where she was leading 5-4. In the critical third set at 3-all, it was Halep who came up with a winning game. The event became open when top seed Serena Williams withdrew from the event with a knee injury in the semi-finals. It gave Halep a free passage into the finals.
Old known players take the doubles
Former world’s number one Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and India’s Sania Mirza joined to win the women’s doubles. They have been working together for a while. They had their moments of anxiety right through the event. Their maturity carried them through. Mirza will go down in history as one the most accomplished doubles players in the world.
European season’s curtain raiser
In the annual calendar Indiana-Wells signals the opening of the big summer Tennis season. The next few tournaments Miami-USA, Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid are the curtain raisers which will lead to the two European Grand slams; the French-Open and Wimbledon. The European season is the toughest in the tennis Calendar and it will keep the professionals on their toes, test their game strengths, surviving instincts, character and the physical endurance to the utmost.
- George Paldano, former international player; Accredited Coach of Germany, ITF and USPTR; National, Davis Cup and Federation Cup Coach–gptennis.ceylon@gmail.com -