Hey there! Well, everything was going fine; I got in a around 11 AM, met Steggy at the car rental counter, we checked into the hotel and made out to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden - only to discover that Steggy had left her AC power adapter at home and had, like, 23 minutes of battery life left on her very slick midget computer (it's about the size of the top of a shoebox). So she's careening around somewhere out there trying to find a suitable replacement. This is interesting, because she's never set foot in Palm Springs before, but she's nothing if not a hard-charging gal.
A quick note to all our friends: if you are here at Indian Wells, I've selected a gathering place to convene. There's a beautiful, hand-painted statue of a Desert Bighorn Sheep directly in front of, and across a small piece of lawn from, the main, illuminated scoreboard and Jumbotron on the East, outside wall of the stadium. I suggest those who are interested in meeting up go there when convenient on even hours: that is, you can check at 10 AM, 12 noon, 2 PM, 4 PM etc., through the day and evening.
As we don't yet have a secret Tribal handshake, try randomly flashing the two-finger Peace sign and see if anyone bites! Steggy or I will try to swing by there on even hours when we can, but we're busy working and you're busy wolfing down the tennis so it will all be-catch-as-catch-can, unless you email us (see addresses at previous post).
The Desert Bighorn is an iconic desert creature, and the Coachella Valley communities have adopted it as a local symbol (Bob Hope is gone, right?). This is a bittersweet saga, because rampant development and habitat degradation in places like Palm Springs have helped drive this delicate, almost frail-looking animal to the brink of extinction, but this isn't the time and place. . . so the sight of these acrylic statues all around the valley is a bittersweet experience at best. You seem them here and there, often in appropriately unlikely places, like the Roy Rogers airport. Encountering one, I feel like I am being judged by the most severe authority of all, a ghost.
While trying to find a suitable meeting point, I noticed that attendance at this event is way up - in fact, occasional contributer and poster, Matt Van Tuinen, the chief press officer here, told me that today was a sellout. It should be a rockin' week, at least on the men's side.
The only thing I'll get to see tonight is the Andy Roddick v. Feliciano Lopez match, which is first on in the evening session. I'll probably post something on it later. Rafael Nadal just got done waxing Arnaud Clement. As Steve Tignor of The Wrap fame said: Clement is the perfect opponent for Nadal. Rafael can make him jump to hit the ball. He's just a little guy.
You can use the comments to post requests for stories you'd like to see us do or players you'd like to hear a little about. I can't promise anything, but 456,987 sets of eyes is better than two, right? - Or, in this case, four. I will be posting full-bore (not sure that's a good word choice) tomorrow, and will have a big piece on the WTA Roadmap on Monday. Right now, mass panic has erupted and everyone has fled the stadium - Svetlana Kuznetsova, in da house!