4 days in the desert

I was in Indian Wells this year shooting for Tennis Panorama. (Thanks, Karen!) Four days in the desert with the two loves of my life, photography and tennis, I had a grand time. Obvs.

Laura Robson vs Sofia Arvidsson was the first match I went to. Laura ran across my frame and I caught this shot 3 minutes in. Not bad. Laura had a pretty good start, too, until…

Oh, well, next time.

Unhappy Pico. Maybe it was because the Argentine fans were on the wrong side of the court.

Rafa is totes judging.

It was great to see Petko back on a tennis court!

You know who else was great to see?

Clueless Pablo is the best Pablo, K?

YOU’RE WELCOME.

BYE.

Okay, Ivo, let’s refocus.

I’m pretty happy about this shot.

Rafa is late.

Masha showing off her shirt that says eternity, time with a circle and a line.
Is that, like, Geometry or what?!

ANYWAY. Some sort of Geometry obviously went into the making of this.

Totes.

Nole being Nole rolling around the grass for no reason.

Sveta being Sveta.

Benoit! Fans!

Petra’s not happy.

Muzz was not happy here either but he was using #sarcasmfont.

GUISE, WHY YOU ALL MAD?

Night time closing in during Masha’s match. She’s ready to sleep.

Rafa under the watchful eye of Mr. Ellison.

Empty practice courts at 11:00PM.

And that’s all I got from IW. I am quite pleased about how Finals Sunday unfolded in the desert. Let’s do it again next year!

Keep up, would you?

The first day of a slam. It’s all so exciting and you make plans that it’s going to be such a fun and relaxed day of tennis-watching. Two hours go by and suddenly everything is happening at the same time, you can’t keep up and it is now super stressful. We fumble with our keyboards trying to flip streams because Twitter said a good match is going on at Court 18. What if it ends up becoming an epic? No one wants to miss out on an epic. *fumble* *fumble* *bufferiiiiiiing…* “Goddamnit!” Also, World No. 547 is leading the 12th seed over on MCA. “Wait, he was but not anymore? Is my stream delayed?” No. 22 is getting routined over at 4. Your sometimes favorite is in a deciding set against some dangerous floater. There’s an upset alert on Hise… RaaaaaaaaaahIlovetennis!

I tried to absorb as much as I could on Day 1 of the Australian Open. I tried so hard that my brain was starting to tap out before the day session ended then nodded off 2 games into the Hewitt-Tipsarvic match. WEAK. In no particular order, here’s what I remember most about the first day:

• You don’t engage in a long rally with a “rusty” Maria Sharapova because she’ll come alive.
• Venus Williams is looking sharp early on and is on course to meet Sharapova in the 3rd round.
• Sam Stosur won her first match of the year! Phew.
• Agree with Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic is still good at tennis.
• Patrick McEnroe’s seemingly ridiculous prediction almost came true. That’s what you get for laughing, tennis world. And me, too.
• Grigor Dimitrov flames out to veteran, Julian Benneteau. Kid still has a lot of work to do on the tennis court. *winkyfaceemoji*
• What happened, Juan Monaco? And who is Andrey Kuznetsov?
• Sad we won’t be seeing more of Mona Barthel’s wide array of outfits.
• Ana Ivanovic scored a good win over Melinda Czink.
• Yung-Jan Chan def Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. Yeeeaaaap, this is Dani’s life these days.

I’m sure I’m forgetting a few notable matches/results because I don’t think this is even 1/4 of the Day 1 happenings. Aaah! Let’s do it again!

Image © Getty Images

Weekend Warriors

Polona Hercog successfully defended her title in Bastad after she defeated Mathilde Johansson in the final 0-6, 6-4, 7-5. Going into the tournament, Polona hadn’t won a match in almost 3 months, her last win came at Estoril last April. A nagging back injury had been bothering her for most of the year but she appears to have turned the corner in Switzerland. Hercog notched good wins over Julia Goerges and Mona Barthel en route to her second career WTA title.

Dominika Cibulkova defeated her good friend Marion Bartoli 6-1, 7-5 in the Carlsbad final to win her 2nd WTA career title. She, of course, did not drop a set en route to the title.

Whenever Pome plays, it is never not mentioned how amazing it is that, at her size, she can hit the cover off a ball. She’s been on Tour for 7 years now yet we all still get shocked at the sight of her pouncing on a ball. So, I have concluded that it will forever be a phenomenon.

Thomaz Bellucci upset world No. 8 and top seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-2 in the Gstaad final to win his 3rd career ATP title. It’s a (good) surprise to see Bella beat a top guy in a final. We all know he can do it on a more regular basis but he’s completely oblivious of that fact. Perhaps this can be the start of… errr, I should know better than to finish this statement.

Bella won his first ever career title at the same tournament 3 years ago when he didn’t have a headband tan line. That was a good look.

After a whole week of hard work in Hamburg, Pico was awarded a few bottles of Coronas to celebrate. Tennis: Doing it right since 2010.

In the most physically unattractive final ever, Juan Monaco defeated Tommy Haas 7-5, 6-4 to claim his 3rd ATP title of the year. Pico moves into the Top 10 for the first time in his career with this win.

Andy Roddick says to his fellow Weekend Warriorees: Put all your titles together and it still won’t equal half of how many I got. (I totally made this up.)

Andy won his 32nd ATP career title after he defeated Gilles Muller 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the Atlanta final. Following a terrible start that included a shoulder injury scare, Andy hung tough (as per) and fought his way through the second set to win it in a tiebreak. He then cruised in the deciding set as his opponent went away completely.

Ahem. No one steals a person’s mojo twi… oh.

Images © AP, Getty

“Want to walk around?”

I’m sure there’s a purpose for this… drill? But Mono being tied to the fence by her father in practice is a mildly disturbing sight.

Pico hitting with his doubles partner Kei. After practice, Kei was hounded for autographs. He looked shocked but tried to sign for every single fan.

.

How do you feel about drawing Vika once again?

Put a shirt on, Feli. This is not a very good look for you.

You know, two good lookin’ guys just chillin’.

Aaaaaaaand awkward.

I know, Benny, me too. Me too.

Andy made a rare appearance at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden practice courts.

Checkin’

First, Pico was checking out the crowd. “Heyyyy, ladies.” Then he moved on to better things.

We see you checkin’, Pico.

The most wonderful time of the year

As you all probably already know because I’ve said it so much on Twitter, The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is my favorite time of the year. I started going there in 2008 and every year I find something new to love about it. (Awesome job, IW peeps!) This year was extra special. Not only was I able to hang out with the coolest people on earth and Tennis Twitterland (you know them; Tracey, C-Note, donkeygrooming, bellyflopz, Lexi and James), I also got to shoot the tournament for Tennis View Magazine. Me armed with a photo pass and allowed to run around the tournament to take photos from the best possible angles? HOLY CRAPALOOZA.

First order of business when I got there.

Oh, hey, I know you.

I thought it’d be weird/creepy if I just stood there shooting Maria while she practiced for an hour even though I was with the crowd so I moved around the practice courts.

Shirtless boys time. Yes.

Pico is not real life.

Spent most of my first day roaming around the grounds trying to feel my way around and also getting familiar with the pit. And spying on the other photogs because their photos look so much better than mine. Eff. Why. Ugh.

Hey, Rafa, can you hold that pose the..? No? Oh, shit. Why is it so bright and why can’t I use diffusers?

Rafa was a lot of fun to shoot. He has a face for everything. I mean, everything. It’s so awesome! I’m gonna need to find a way to sit him for a portrait and then burst shoot it. 100 different portraits in 5 minutes, guaranteed. Again, so awesome. More Rafa at the Tennis View Facebook.

Wanted to see Bernard Tomic in real life. He was… chatty. But more importantly, I think I saw Max Eisenbud (Masha’s agent) sitting there with Bernie’s team and cheering him on. I’m gonna guess chatty is with IMG? Does this mean I have to like him now?

Ended my first day on a pleasant note. Nole and Pico playing doubles against each other!

Huh… hadn’t realized I shot Pico and Nole so much that day. I’m sure it has nothing to do with their hotness.

More later!

Australian Open 2011: Day 3 wrap

I try not to get too (drunkenly) attached to matches because  they usually end up in heartbreaks and me cursing the sport for life. But I couldn’t help it last night, can we ever help it? Thankfully, it didn’t end up in heartbreaks (unless your name is Janko Tipsarevic) but I still cursed the sport for a little bit.

It all started with Fernando Verdasco and Janko Tipsarevic‘s match. Janko was rolling through the first two sets and Fer couldn’t be bothered to be competitive. Ugh. But he then somehow stole that third set which led to this. The fourth set came along and it looked like Janko was going to win it. After all that hard work and vamos-ing, this? Vamos-ing from Fer, me and other friends in their couches. Boo. Janko served for the match twice and held match points but somehow couldn’t convert. That one forehand passing shot winner from Fer- it’s somehow etched in my brain that he hit it from way up in the air- which saved a match point was the death of Janko’s tennis brain. They played a breaker to decide the fourth and Janko won no points. Neither did he win a single game in the fifth set. A total collapse from him but way to stay in the match for Fer.

ESPN2 forced me to watch Venus Williams and Sandra Zahlavova. I’d comment on the shrieking but I have no right. I’d comment on the outfit but I feel bad now. Vee pulled a muscle (psoas?) mid way through the first set tiebreak and lost that breaker. She had to limp off the court afterwards to get it treated and taped. It was kind of a long delay which gave Zahlavovaaaaah a lot to think about. Will her opponent retire? Can she even move? I’m sure Zahlavovaaaaah didn’t get the memo that Vee has never retired in a Grand Slam match before. Vee came back to play on, of course, and it looked like Zahlavovaaaaah didn’t know what hit her in that second set. A bagel is what I saw. The third set was competitive again with Vee just edging it out on one champion’s leg late in the set.

Despite winning in straight sets, my girl was in a lot of trouble in her match against Virginie Razzano. I was a lot of beers in while watching this so I think that made it seem a little bit more dramatic than it actually was. Top that with nerves and anxiety and suddenly the earth is shaking. I checked the news this morning and no earthquake hit Los Angeles around midnight. Anyway! As Maria Sharapova does, she somehow dug herself out of a 0-3, 0-40 hole early in the first set. She had two chances to serve out the first, one with a 40-15 lead but failed. Thankfully, she won the breaker and eventually the match.

Notable Day 3 results:

Roger Federer [2] def Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3
Fernando Verdasco [9] def Janko Tipsarevic 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(0), 6-0
Novak Djokovic [3] def Ivan Dodig 7-5, 6-7(8), 6-0, 6-2
Tommy Robredo def Mardy Fish [16] 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
Robin Haase def Juan Monaco [26] 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Viktor Troicki [29] def Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3

Venus Williams [4] def Sandra Zahlavova 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-4
Maria Sharapova [14] def Virginie Razzano 7-6(3), 6-3
Francesca Schiavone [6] def Rebecca Marino 6-3, 5-7, 9-7
Vesna Manasieva def Marion Bartoli [15] 3-6, 6-3, 6-0
Anastasija Sevastova def Yanina Wickmayer [21] 6-4, 6-2

Complete Day 3 results here.

Image via Australian Open / © Ben Solomon