Indian Wells Tennis Tournament

[+ WilliamM]

Congratulations to Taylor Fritz the first American champion at Indian Wells since Agassi.

Nadal was also injured, but he carried on!

[+ Charlie]

I was one of the handful of spectators who watched Taylor's teenage debut at Indian Wells in the qualifying round at the 2015 tournament.  I was with another tennis fanatic, and when we saw his name on the program, we asked one another, "Who is he?" Now everyone who follows tennis knows who he is.

[+ WilliamM]

How many tennis fans, who don't live in California know the male winner of Indian Wells in 2021?

I only know because it is my grandmother's maiden name.

[+ Charlie]

Indian Wells is one of the most important tennis tournaments in the world, one of the ten Masters 1000 series. Thousands of fans from around the world attend, and with a winner's prize of $1.242 million, there are few players who do not want to participate. Winning has a major effect on the champion's world ranking. I always knew who was the Indian Wells champion even when I lived in Philadelphia, where I watched it on TV.  The 2021 tournament, however, was an unusual outlier, because it was not held at its normal time of year and attendance was severely restricted because of COVID, so the fact that fewer tennis fans probably know Cam Norrie than most of the other winners is not surprising, since the final also was between two foreign players who were not very familiar to the general public, and who have not won any other major tournaments. Taylor Fritz is not only the highest ranked American tennis player, he also beat one of the most famous figures in tennis history (and a three time previous winner), so I imagine that plenty of those fans who live outside California will remember his name.

[+ WilliamM]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

Indian Wells is one of the most important tennis tournaments in the world, one of the ten Masters 1000 series. Thousands of fans from around the world attend, and with a winner's prize of $1.242 million, there are few players who do not want to participate. Winning has a major effect on the champion's world ranking. I always knew who was the Indian Wells champion even when I lived in Philadelphia, where I watched it on TV.  The 2021 tournament, however, was an unusual outlier, because it was not held at its normal time of year and attendance was severely restricted because of COVID, so the fact that fewer tennis fans probably know Cam Norrie than most of the other winners is not surprising, since the final also was between two foreign players who were not very familiar to the general public, and who have not won any other major tournaments. Taylor Fritz is not only the highest ranked American tennis player, he also beat one of the most famous figures in tennis history (and a three time previous winner), so I imagine that plenty of those fans who live outside California will remember his name.

I have attended the Challenger Tournament in Aptos, California in August several times.

Why:

preparation for the US Open

Close to San Francisco and, more important, the Pacific ocean

I was going to stop in Palm Springs in  August of 1969, after I was discharged from the Army, but it was good awful hot so drove on to Arizona.  

[BSR]

On 3/21/2022 at 11:35 AM, Charlie said:

I was one of the handful of spectators who watched Taylor's teenage debut at Indian Wells in the qualifying round at the 2015 tournament.  I was with another tennis fanatic, and when we saw his name on the program, we asked one another, "Who is he?" Now everyone who follows tennis knows who he is.

I remember watching the US Open boys final that year between Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.  While I usually don't bother with junior Slam finals (they're horribly unreliable predictors of future success), I tuned in to this one because it featured 2 Americans.  My reaction, as Roger Federer once famously said of a young upstart named Novak Djokovic, "Honestly, not crazy impressed." 

I have since changed my tune about Fritz.  While I can't imagine he'll contest Slam finals or come close to the #1 ranking (just too slow), I can see him as a consistent top 10 player (he's currently #13).  If he can get to the ball, as he often did on the slow-as-clay IW hardcourt, he can wallop the cover off the ball on both sides, plus he has a good serve.

If Fritz ever figures out the whole sliding thing, he could do really well during the clay season.  Since he has only 180 points on clay to defend from last year, the 2 months on terre battue are a great opportunity to move up the rankings.  Taylor has surrounded himself with a great coaching team.  Unfortunately, none of those guys (2 Americans and a South African) ever figured out how to move on clay either.