Week 10 - ATP Masters 1000 - Indian Wells, CA, USA (Hard)

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Week 10 - ATP Masters 1000 - Indian Wells, CA, USA (Hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Andy bags the first-set tie-break by 7-5.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Phew, that was tense!

RJA · Hall of fame

Really good first set of tennis from both players.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

And a really crappy 2nd set so far by Andy.

Not over yet though. Just held for 2 - 4*

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Andy loses the second set 3-6 - that one break at the start of the set was the problem, he just couldn't recover it.

So into a decider. I need matchsticks for my eyelids, please.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Second set down the pan by 3-6. disbelief

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

And now a break down in the decider, 1-2*. This is most unlike Andy - masses of unforced errors.

RJA · Hall of fame

And he just wasted a great opportunity to break straight back.

RJA · Hall of fame

Absolutely woeful 3rd set.

The only saving grace is that he has avoided the brutal beating that he would probably have taken at Novak's hands in the SF.

indiana · Tennis legend

I must admit I never had any great expectations for Indian Wells, with Andy having not played a single tournament since the Aussie Open.

A big further fitness block may pay off longterm, but that and practice seemed to me never likely to breed success at IW. I expected inconsistency and less than well grooved tennis, and that has evidently been on display in earlier rounds and found out when meeting a really good standard opponent.

I'd still be pretty optmistic about the year ahead, just wasn't expecting too much here.

Hey, better than the last two years !

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I did watch the match to the end, but couldn't post. For the second time this week, although the livestream was playing ok, I suddenly couldn't get any other website. Once the match was over I switched off and made for my warm bed!

I just couldn't understand the very high number of unforced errors. Yes, he was playing aggressively, but still: most unlike him.

Hoping for better results in Miami, his home from home.

RJA · Hall of fame

I sort of agree with Indiana's post but the cumulative effect of pretty much every tournament since the US Open is starting to seriously erode my optimism.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I feel pretty good about it (not about the loss to Delpo - or indeed the fashion of it), he's done so much better than in previous years, and although I feel the his scheduling could be improved we're not talking dejectedly about a first round loss again.

indiana · Tennis legend

Re Andy's scheduling, I was initially kind of : what the heck, surely Andy has to play between the Aussie Open and Indian Wells, preferably reasonably close to Indian Wells.

I've revised that a bit, partly because I presume Andy and his team have some clue what they are doing !

I still think the gap in tournament play was pretty unhelpful for Indian Wells by itself. But Andy has supposedly been hard ar work. If so he has done a heck of a lot of fitness work ( and presumably practice ) since the end of last season, emerging only for the Aussie Open and warm-up tournament.

He has also largely shortened his real season to 8 months, starting here. It will be interesting to see how he is going at the end of the season this year, having undoubtably tailed off last season after his US Open triumph.