Indian Wells Recap & Miami Picks

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

I always loved the month of March. I just had my birthday and the tennis is great in March, too. Acapulco is my favourite regular ATP clay court tournament and then of course it rolls into Indian Wells and Miami. In fact, all kinds of sport goes down in March, not just tennis. The ice hockey and basketball seasons are in full flow by then, too. Also, the transition from winter into spring makes this a great time of year. Anyway, since the new Pope got in, Delpo seems to have found some kind of divine inspiration. He beat Djokovic and Murray back to back. And, fine, Murray wasn't playing that well and Djoko did do a bit of a choke but he was striking the ball fantastically well. His forehand seems to be back and he has to be a contender to win at the French Open. I mean apart from Fedalovic, anyone can do well at the French. Except apparently Murray, who doesn't like clay at all. Anyway, I shall get on and do Indian Wells then do a quick draw preview for Miami.





*Wk.11 CHAMPIONS*
INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA USA
S: Rafael Nadal d. Juan Martin del Potro 4-6/6-3/6-4
D: Bryan/Bryan d. Huey/Janowicz


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Rafael Nadal, ESP
....Most everyone picked him to lose to the Goat in the quarters. He didn't, although he nearly lost to Gulbis. After edging the Latvian in three epic sets, he beat Fed comfortably 6-4, 6-2. He then put Berdych out in two tight sets before coming back from 4-6 0-2 to beat the Argentine. He has withdrawn from Miami, however. His knees seem to be holding up though. In other Nadal-related news, he is back up to number four but he may lose it this week. His forehand seemed back to it's best, but at 26 years old, how many comebacks does he have left? Another scary though is that with Rafa turning 27 in two months, Almagro turning 28 this year, Verdasco turing 29 last November and Ferrer turning 31 in two weeks Spanish Tennis might actually be in more trouble then people think. At the 2016 Miami Masters, what will the state of Spanish tennis be like? I think Ferrer and Verdasco will be retired or very close to it. I think that Almagro will be maybe 30 in the world at that point. And Nadal? At that stage he will be 29 years old. Still around? Probably. Still a factor? Possibly. Top five? Unlikely.
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RISER: Sam Querrey, USA
...The second best player with a Q in his name is now the American number one. I think he may be the 22nd or 21st different man to take the post since the rankings began. Never before has there been no American man in the top twenty. Sam beat Karlovic in two easy sets before edging Matosevic in an epic three-setter. His 6-0 7-6 defeat to Djokovic wasn't so positive, but the second set wasn't bad. I have always liked his game and this week he showed again just how good a player he is.
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SURPRISE: Kevin Anderson, RSA
...South Africans do cricket and they do rugby. They have had a lot of good tennis players, as well. Anderson continued this tradition in Indian Wells. They may have fallen on hard times but he is in the form of his life. He did well in Sydney this year and got to the fourth round of the Aussie where he lost to Berdych. He is now top thirty and has a very workable draw in Miami. If he can beat Zeballos, then he may play Tipsy, who is in awful form, then Simon, Hewitt or Mayer possibly in the fourth round. Another quarter is not impossible and is in fact likely.
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VETERAN: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA
...It seems like he has been around for ages. He edged Blake in a highly competitive, entertaining two setter. He dominated Fish in the two tie-breakers they played to win 7-6, 7-6. Raonic nearly had him but lost 4-6 7-5 6-4. However, when he got to the quarters to play Djoko he had nothing left and crumbled. He lost 3 and 1. He has been the French number one for some time now.
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COMEBACK: Ernests Gulbis, LAT
...The comeback continues. He beat Tipsy and in the process he lost just two games. Yes, two games. It was pretty brutal. Tipsarevic is seriously out of form and how he's still number nine is a mystery. Gulbis also beat Lopez. In the third round, Ernests beat Seppi in a tight three set contest. He really should have beaten Nadal but just couldn't quite get over the finish line. He lost heartbreakingly in the end 7-5 in the third.
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NEW FACE: Carlos Berlocq, ARG
...Never before here or at Miami has he made the fourth round. I don't think he's ever been to any 1000 level fourth round, either. A great fact though is this: At the 2006 Miami Masters he beat Donald Young 6-0, 6-0. In the second round he played Blake and lost 6-0, 6-0. Wow, Young must have been playing badly that day. Unfortunately, he picked up an injury and retired in the first round of Miami.
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DOWN: Doubles Seeds
...Every single one of the doubles seeds withdrew or got knocked out in the first round except the top two seeds. The second seeds however got crushed in their second round match. Even though they faced no seeds the Bryans were still pushed to three sets three times out of five matches. It was pretty disappointing to see. The Bryans have never won this event so it must have been quite a relief just to win it.
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1. IW 4th Rd - Federer d. Wawrinka
...6-3/6-7/7-5. At 6-3, 6-4 Fed should have just served it out but Vavsy caught fire and forced it to a tiebreaker, which he then won. After that, he got back in the match and with some help from the umpire nearly got the win. However, he lost in the end and Fed scraped through, but with much more effort than was expected.
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2. IW SF - Del Potro d. Djokovic
...4-6/6-4/6-4. What a way to end the Djoker's win streak. He came back from 0-3 in the third and even outlasted Djokovic on the baseline. It was an awesome match in every way. Delpo has a new slice on his backhand, or rather he has developed it so it really is excellent now. He really hurt Murray and Djokovic with it.
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3. IW 2nd Rd - Janowicz d. Nalbandian
...7-6/4-6/6-3. I didn't see this match myself. However I did read all about it and watched a couple of highlight reels. It was an amazing match for the sheer quality of play.
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WTA MIAMI
=QF=
Williams [1] d. [5] Li/Na
Williams [19] d. Petkovic
Sharapova [3] d. Kuznetsova
Kerber [6] d. [2] Azarenka
=SF=
Williams [1] d. [19] Williams
Sharapova [3] d. [6] Kerber
=FINAL=
Williams [1] d. [3] Sharapova

I don't know how fit Azarenka is. Sometimes she really is injured and sometimes her she has an ersatz injury, too. Apart from Serena, I think this tourney is pretty open. I really believe Venus can make some noise here and Petko has a good section, too. I'm probably wrong about everything, but hey ho. I'm forewarning you both my picks will be horribly wrong, most likely, but im trying my best...

ATP MIAMI
=QF=
Djokovc [1] d. [26] Anderson
Ferrer [3] d. [5] Del Potro
Berdych [4] d. [8] Gasquet
Murray [2] d. [6] Tsonga
=SF=
Djokovc [1] d. Ferrer [3]
Berdych [4] d. Murray [2]
=FINAL=
Djokovc [1] d. [4] Murray

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