Indian Wells, Uh BNP Paribas Open 2012

by Savannah

Main draw play gets underway today. Are you ready for some TENNIS?! Well slow your roll and curb your excitement. There will be no live tennis until Saturday, March 10. Live streams? Whut's that? The cameras will not go on until Saturday and that means all of us who enjoy watching tournament play - especially major tournament play - from Day 1, are shit out of luck. That big upset that absolutely NO ONE saw coming? Well if you had been able to see Player X from day one you would've strongly suspected he or she had a chance to surprise a favorite.

The demi-suits (Thanks Mozzie from 'White Collar') and the Suits at ESPN, Tennis Channel (I still can't see it by the way. Hugs and kisses Dolan family) don't think you, the tennis fan, deserve to see early round play. It's like the US media outlets deciding not to show the NFL or MLB wild card games picking up coverage when Game 3 is underway. It would never happen and I'm waiting for a rationale for this nonsense.

Of course the folks in Miami get away with the same crap. These are the same people who whine about the coverage provided by bloggers, credentialed or not. They're there, feet on the ground, and act as the shock troops for the average tennis fan.

And yes I know I'm beating the same dead horse that gets hauled out of the barn every year at this time. It's still something that I think needs to be critiqued. It's sheer stupidity to not allow coverage because of the decisions at ESPN and TC.

Anyway here are the men's and women's singles draws. Make of them what you will.

Men's Main Draw

[1] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB/ BYE

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

BACHINGER, Matthias GER vs KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER

BYE/[29] ANDERSON, Kevin RSA

[18] MAYER, Florian GER/BYE

HAASE, Robin NED vs ANDUJAR, Pablo ESP

RAMOS, Albert ESP vs WC LEVINE, Jesse USA

BYE/[16] GASQUET, Richard FRA

[12]ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP/BYE

QUALIFIER vs WC QUERREY, Sam USA

GIRALDO, Santiago COL vs WC SOCK, Jack USA

BYE/[17] NISHIKORI, Kei JPN

[30] RODDICK, Andy USA/BYE

KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO vs KUBOT, Lukasz POL

BOGOMOLOV JR., Alex RUS vs STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy UKR

BYE/[7]BERDYCH, Tomas CZE

[4]MURRAY, Andy GBR/BYE

GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP vs MACHADO, Rui POR

HARRISON, Ryan USA vs CIPOLLA, Flavio ITA

[25] TROICKI, Viktor SRB/BYE

[23] WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI/BYE

QUALIFIER vs WC GINEPRI, Robby USA

QUALIFIER vs SELA, Dudi ISR

[13] SIMON, Gilles FRA/BYE

[11] ISNER, John USA/BYE

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

QUALIFIER vs MAHUT, Nicolas FRA

BYE/[22] ARG MONACO, Juan

[32] BENNETEAU, Julien FRA/BYE

QUALIFIER vs KUNITSYN, Igor RUS

SEPPI, Andreas ITA vs ROCHUS, Olivier BEL

BYE/[8] FISH, Mardy USA

Bottom Half

[5] FERRER, David ESP/BYE

DODIG, Ivan CRO vs DIMITROV, Grigor BUL

LU, Yen-Hsun TPE vs ISTOMIN, Denis UZB

BYE/[31] CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG

[19]VERDASCO, Fernando ESP/BYE

STEBE, Cedrik-Marcel GER vs SWEETING, Ryan USA

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

BYE/[9] DEL POTRO, Juan Martin ARG



[14] MONFILS, Gael FRA/BYE

DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs QUALIFIER

ROSOL, Lukas CZE vs BELLUCCI, Thomaz BRA

BYE/[20]MELZER, Jurgen AUT

[27]RAONIC, Milos CAN/BYE

BERLOCQ, Carlos ARG vs PAIRE, Benoit FRA

TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS vs WC KUDLA, Denis USA

BYE/[3]FEDERER, Roger SUI

[6]TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA/BYE

LLODRA, Michael FRA vs GULBIS, Ernests LAT

MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs QUALIFIER

[28] STEPANEK, Radek CZE/BYE

[24] CILIC, Marin CRO/BYE 106

STARACE, Potito ITA vs NALBANDIAN, David ARG

TOMIC, Bernard AUS vs MULLER, Gilles LUX

BYE/[10]TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB

[15] LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP/BYE

CHARDY, Jeremy FRA vs BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP

YOUNG, Donald USA vs DARCIS, Steve BEL

[21] DOLGOPOLOV, Alexandr UKR/BYE

[26] GRANOLLERS, Marcel ESP/BYE

NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN vs HAAS, Tommy GER

FALLA, Alejandro COL vs MAYER, Leonardo ARG

[2] NADAL, Rafael ESP/BYE

Women's Main Draw

Top Half

[1] AZARENKA, Victoria/BYE

WC CRAYBAS, Jill vs BARTHEL, Mona

KEOTHAVONG, Anne vs BACSINSZKY, Timea

[25]KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana/ BYE

[24] MEDINA GARRIGUES, Anabel/BYE

QUALIFIER vs WC MIRZA, Sania

BALTACHA, Elena vs RUS, Arantxa

[14] GOERGES, Julia/BYE

[12] JANKOVIC, Jelena/BYE

WC HAMPTON, Jamie vs HERCOG, Polona

GAJDOSOVA, Jarmila vs WC VANDEWEGHE, Coco

[22] WICKMAYER, Yanina/BYE

[27] PENNETTA, Flavia/BYE

PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana vs SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla

CIRSTEA, Sorana vs BENESOVA, Iveta

[5]RADWANSKA, Agnieszka POL/BYE

[3] KVITOVA, Petra/BYE

MORITA, Ayumi vs ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA, Barbora

QUALIFIER vs VESNINA, Elena

[32] MCHALE, Christina/BYE

[18] KERBER, Angelique/BYE

WC STEPHENS, Sloane vs QUALIFIER

KING, Vania vs ERRANI, Sara

[13] PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia/BYE

[9] ZVONAREVA, Vera/BYE

DATE-KRUMM, Kimiko vs PARMENTIER, Pauline

POUS-TIO, Laura vs ZAKOPALOVA, Klara

[19] HANTUCHOVA, Daniela/BYE

[31]ZHENG, Jie/BYE

RADWANSKA, Urszula vs QUALIFIER

ERAKOVIC, Marina vs VOSKOBOEVA, Galina

[8] LI, Na/BYE

Bottom Half

[7] BARTOLI, Marion FRA/BYE

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

JOHANSSON, Mathilde FRA vs SCHEEPERS, Chanelle RSA

[29] KANEPI, Kaia EST/BYE

[23] SAFAROVA, Lucie CZE/BYE

PASZEK, Tamira AUT vs YAKIMOVA, Anastasiya BLR

QUALIFIER vs PEER, Shahar ISR

[10] SCHIAVONE, Francesca ITA/BYE

[15] IVANOVIC, Ana SRB/BYE

QUALIFIER vs LARSSON, Johanna SWE

PERVAK, Ksenia KAZ vs QUALIFIER

[17]PENG, Shuai CHN/BYE

[26] NICULESCU, Monica ROU/BYE

QUALIFIER vs ARVIDSSON, Sofia SWE

MAKAROVA, Ekaterina RUS vs MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie USA

[4] WOZNIACKI, Caroline DEN/BYE

[6] STOSUR, Samantha/BYE

FALCONI, Irina 99 vs WC DULGHERU, Alexandra

DAVIS, Lauren vs WC MARTIC, Petra

[30] PETROVA, Nadia/BYE

[20] KIRILENKO, Maria/BYE

BEGU, Irina-Camelia vs HRADECKA, Lucie

MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, Maria Jose vs DOMINGUEZ LINO, Lourdes

[11] LISICKI, Sabine/BYE

[16] CIBULKOVA, Dominika/BYE

RYBARIKOVA, Magdalena vs QUALIFIER

BRIANTI, Alberta vs SOLER-ESPINOSA, Silvia

BYE/[21] VINCI, Roberta

[28] CETKOVSKA, Petra/BYE

HALEP, Simona vs QUALIFIER

DULKO, Gisela vs DOKIC, Jelena

[2] SHARAPOVA, Maria/BYE

So Who Get's Tested The Most?

by Savannah

On Sunday @Tehaspe started posting ITF information about who was drug tested in and out of competition on Twitter. Out of competition means that they showed up at your abode at some ungodly hour and asked you to pee in a cup or whatever they ask you to do in this circumstance. The information is quite interesting.

For example in 2010 neither Caroline Wozniacki, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray or Li Na were tested out of competition. Interesting no? While both Venus Williams and Serena Williams were tested in competition in 2010 neither was tested out of competition.

Both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils were tested out of competition as was Richard Gasquet.

David Ferrer and Juan-Carlos Ferrero were tested more often out of competition than Fernando Verdasco. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic who were all tested at the same rate.

Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska were also tested out of competition.

To see all of the PDF's please go HERE. I couldn't open the PDF's in Safari but I could in Firefox.

For those who have trouble loading the PDF @Tehaspe has uploaded the 2010 list here.

It's an interesting read.

Weekend Winners

Hsieh Su-Wei is the first Asian to win the title in Malaysia. I saw her play two or three years ago and thought she had a nice game that could take her places. Instead she's been on the Challenger circuit. Kuala Lumpur was plagued by rain and players ended up playing two matches on finals day.

Doubles winners in Kuala Lumpur were Chang Kai-Chen (R) and Chuang Chia-Jung (L) of Taiwan.


Sara Errani, one of the smallest WTA players, had a great time in Acapulco. She defeated countrywoman Flavia Pennetta who has won Acapulco before.

Errani, not satisfied with winning the singles crown turned around and with Roberta Vinci won the doubles title. Congratulations Sara!

Fernando Verdasco, who played the men's singles final joined with David Marrero to win the men's doubles in Acapulco.

David Ferrer won the men's singles title defeating Fernando Verdasco.

In Dubai Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were the last team standing in the doubles competition.

Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray to take the singles title in Dubai.


Delray Beach saw South Africa's Kevin Anderson win it all. He defeated top seeded John Isner on his way to the championship.

Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins won the doubles.