Match point

Chapter 1053 Desert Oasis
Indian Wells, a small town located near the border of California and Arizona, surrounded by the middle of the desert, blooms proudly like a rose.

For a long, long time, it was inaccessible because of the desert climate. Obviously, few people would like to live in a wilderness isolated from the world.

But later, as one of the most developed regions for tennis in North America, people in California discovered that Indian Wells was especially suitable for tennis.

With less precipitation and more sunshine, the dry environment and open landform are like a paradise, and it is a real oasis in the middle of the desert.

Therefore, in 1987, the former American Airlines Tennis Series officially moved to Indian Wells. It has a long history and a leading position in the industry.

In 1990, ATP established the Champions Series for the first time. As the highest-level professional tournament after the Grand Slam, Indian Wells was the first batch of members of the series, and has never left the ranks for 30 years. Maintain the highest level of hosting.

Things don't end here.

Later, a full ten years later, in a valley less than three and 10 minutes away from Indian Wells, the first music festival was held——

Coachella Music Festival.

Soon, Coachella evolved into the largest and most top-notch music event in North America, which also made this paradise town no longer hidden, and the bustling crowds flocked to this oasis. In just ten years, The resident population has more than doubled, and the noise is endless.

Today, Indian Wells has been fully developed. In addition to the annual tennis tournament and music festival, it has also developed a desert adventure tourism route. You can see tourists from all over the world come here throughout the year to experience the desert. unique charm.

The Indian Wells Tennis Open deserves the greatest credit.

Indian Wells has always called itself "Tennis Paradise" and welcomes players and tennis fans from all over the world with open arms.

Players who have actually played in Indian Wells may be full of question marks:
Heaven?

Where did heaven come from?

This oasis is located in the middle of the vast desert. On the one hand, this means that the sun is shining, the climate is pleasant, and the mind is refreshing, which brings a completely different experience.

But on the other hand, it also means gusty winds, and "gale" often plays the role of a troublemaker, interfering with the progress of the game, and it is more serious than Dubai and Doha.

In this stadium, countless classic emoticons were born, and even professional players were dumbfounded.

For example, standing on the bottom line to hit the ball, the feet are already in place, and the moment the racket is about to touch the ball, the tennis ball is blown backwards and flies back towards the net, so that the feet hurriedly catch up and miss the shot.

For example, when a ball near the sideline goes out of bounds, the footsteps follow up immediately to ensure that the ball is out of bounds. As a result, the strong wind blows the tennis ball back into bounds, and the second attempt to hit the ball is regrettably missed.

For example, the swing movement has been completed, and the hitting point has been clearly identified, but the result is that he swings directly, looking for the trace of the tennis ball with question marks all over his head, and strongly suspects that he is blind and did not see the ball.

Among them, the most classic scene should come from the confrontation between two American players in 2022.

Christopher-Eubanks against Maxime-Cressy, on Cressy's fourth serve of the second set.

Cressy served the ball normally, but when he threw the ball, he was affected by the wind direction, and the hitting point was obviously deviated. He missed the sweet spot and hit the tennis ball with the head of the racket.

No matter how you look at it, these are all anti-aircraft guns flying directly towards the audience stands, and even Cressy himself is ready for a second shot.

But I didn't expect that the strong wind would blow the tennis ball back, not only entering the teeing area smoothly, but also sticking to the net to create a small ball effect. The most unbelievable thing is that there are sidespin and backspin.

Eubanks panicked and rushed forward to try to catch the ball at the first moment, but one deviation after another, he was helpless and watched the tennis ball form an ace.

This should be the weirdest ACE ever, the two players and the audience were dumbfounded.

It is conceivable that every ATP and every WTA player should have something to say about this venue, and everyone has experienced their own unique moments here-

Gale is definitely not boring.

Therefore, this place should not be "Tennis Paradise", but "Big Wind Tennis".

If you have to choose a "tennis paradise", it is obvious that Miami, which is like spring all the year round and has blue sea and blue sky, is also often affected by strong winds on the Caribbean coast. Compared with Indian Wells, Miami, which is chosen by countless people as a resort, is obviously more It's like a paradise.

So, what's going on?
Things must go back to history.

In the 90s, the Miami Open was undoubtedly the most watched event of the year, because the event was established in the 60s. From the perspective of history, scale, lineup, event organization, vacation and leisure, etc., this event easily stands out. Loved by players.

Since 2001, the ATP voted for the best tour of the year every year, and classified it according to the level of the event. Among them, the Masters category was dominated by Monte Carlo in the first year, but in the next five years, Miami won five consecutive championships. The status of the competition in the industry.

The title of "Fifth Grand Slam" spread like wildfire.

However, Indian Wells, another member of the "Sunshine Double", expressed dissatisfaction, even outcry, that they believed that Miami was not worth it.

For outsiders, ATP, and players, the two events are a packaged schedule, and the title of "Sunshine Double Crown" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; but for the two events, their internal competition can never be ignored , at the end of the day, they are two separate events that are not related.

In 2000, Indian Wells spent 4 US dollars to build a brand new Indian Wells Tennis Garden with comprehensive equipment upgrades.

However, they encountered the twists and turns of the bankruptcy of the ATP general sponsor. Originally, ATP promised that after the sponsorship funds are in place, they will be distributed to various events in the form of subsidies to encourage them to update the stadium and related equipment, but now the subsidies are gone. So much so that Indian Wells was in trouble.

The Indian Wells event director took the initiative and got the title sponsorship in 2002. The event has been called the Pacific Life Insurance Cup since then; until the contract expired in 2008, and then changed the title sponsor, the event has been until Now BNP Paribas is naming it.

Therefore, the Indian Wells Open is actually the BNP Paribas Open.

Right now, Indian Wells and Miami are the only two "top" events throughout the year:
Both the men's and women's main matches are 120 eight draws, which is the benchmark for the Grand Slam. The only difference is that the top 32 seeds have a bye in the first round.

This also means that the status of the "Sunshine Double Crown" is indeed different.

However, the development of the two events showed completely different curves, and even slowly widened the gap. Indian Wells blew the counterattack horn.

(End of this chapter)