It’s that time of year again, when we can put aside the nagging injuries, the ugly politics, the federation feuds, and the unanswerable coaching questions that have tormented and distracted us for the last month. Fortunately, all of them tend to dry up and blow away when the pros start swinging racquets in Southern California. It will be nice to watch them do that again.
I’ll be watching, starting tomorrow, from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Contrary to all signs from the economy, the tournament secured title sponsorship late last year from a bank, BNP Paribas. Call it a small oasis of good news in the desert. It remains a favorite tennis destination of mine. I’m looking forward, first of all, to driving a car, a first-class luxury for someone from New York, even if it's nothing better than a Ford Focus (a machine). Better yet, I’ve got a stack of recently burned John Coltrane CDs to listen to while I’m driving around. A favorite memory from IW the last couple years is hearing Thelonious Monk’s Town Hall Concert while coming back from the site at night. The record feels like the sonic equivalent of warm air in winter.
For now, see my men’s preview here, and women’s preview here. I’m already sort of regretting picking Dinara Safina to win the whole thing. I guess I hadn’t realized how poorly she’s played since the Aussie Open. But she remains the first seed, and this tournament will hold a clue as to how this eternal runner-up handles being at the very top of a big-tournament draw. I don’t feel too bad about my men’s pick, even if I did, as we say in the sportswriting business, go chalk: I’ve got Rafael Nadal. Who are you picking?
Beyond that, I also have a post up at ESPN.com on the BNP’s unfortunate status as the place where we get to glimpse what women’s tennis would be like without the Williams sisters. On the whole, it’s a minus—no starpower during one of the sport’s best-attended events—with a few pluses thrown in on the side—a better chance to get to engage with the tour’s other personalities and playing styles. I’m looking forward to doing that myself.