JonH comes home wrote:

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the addict wrote:

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Watching Petra on Sky right now (one set all). It seems that all the graphics around the court are in a narrow font. Not a problem for me watching on TV though.

And as usual the stands are almost empty (more understandable today with the seeds getting a bye I suppose).

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 Its weird as they say the event attracts 400.000 plus spectators, the biggest outside the slams, and yet the outside courts always seem empty to me. 

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 Petra was on Stadium 1. I think all the spectators were on Stadium 4 where Tristan Boyer was playing. (Who - never heard of him, US wildcard ranked 117)

Helen40 wrote:

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Coup Droit wrote:

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Helen40 wrote:

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Var wrote:

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Lambda wrote:

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Blue_Belle wrote:

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Sonay gets a LL spot! (Who withdrew?)

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Sloane Stephens

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 Pleased for Sonay. Fought hard in that last qualifying match. 

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 Me too, been rooting for her for years, hoping that she'll get that breakthough.

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 Me too. She was always the slightly awkward outsider, when the youngsters gathered together at junior and early stage adult tournies. You sort of felt for her - she seemed to see the world (and her tennis) slightly differently - it attracted me to her, and her game

Of course, you coudl say she's already got that breakthrough, Helen - after all, she's about WR 80 now - it's a great achievement (but, yes, let's hope she's on the way up even more)

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 It is a great achievement, but I've always felt that she's not achieved her potential, so I guess a breakthrough to realise that.

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 And her FQR conqueror Ngounoue gave Azarenka a pretty good run for her money last night, only lost 6-4 7-6 (9-7).

the addict wrote:

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Emma follows Jake on Stadium 1 today. Sonay is 3rd on Stadium 7
Play starts at 7pm

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 Thanks

Coup Droit wrote:

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Katie played some sort of Tiebreak Tens event at Indian Wells yesterday, no?

Sorry if this has been mentioned before

This is separate from the actual mixed doubles next week?

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 Yes, it was an exhibition event for charity. Rybakina and Fritz won, but Katie and Alex lost in the first round to last year's winners Navarro and Shelton.

Report is here

There's an increasing number of these slightly random exhibition events popping up around the fringes of big tournaments like Tiebreak Tens, with a bit of tinkering with the format from one year to the next. I keep seeing social media adverts for something called Ultimate Tennis Showdown or UTS as well.

I guess it's all part of the drive from the big tournaments to maximise revenue by extending the event as much as possible, and creating new days where tickets can be sold.

Coup Droit wrote:

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Katie played some sort of Tiebreak Tens event at Indian Wells yesterday, no?

Sorry if this has been mentioned before

This is separate from the actual mixed doubles next week?

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 Is there an actual mixed doubles next week? I didnt think IW has a mixed doubles tournie, it was just this exho? 

The US Open is also planning something like this, where it (in their case) has a mixed doubles event pre the US Open itself and that is over shortened entry list and format (cant recall but dont think it is tie break tens, more likely two sets and an MTB?. But the point being, dropping the old style mixed format that ran alongside the main events, as happens in the other sliams.