I am home from hot sunshine, palm trees and amazing live tennis to dreary clouds, rain, evergreen trees, and watching tennis like everyone else on a screen instead of the incredible experience live in the stadium. Almost immediately upon walking in the door I fired up my DVR to fast forward past early matches and get to the beginning of the one I had been thinking about all day - Federer/Wawrinka. Not knowing how his back would be, especially after not showing up for his practice the day before (more on that later), for a while it seemed like it was going to be a straightforward win. However, serving for the match Roger suddenly seemed to get tight and pretty much handed the game to Stan, who went on to take the second set. I really didn't know what was gong to happen after that; it really seemed like it could go either way, especially after Roger got frustrated with not being allowed to challenge one of his own serves that was out. Somehow he managed to hold it all together though, which Wawrinka didn't, ending the match with several errors and a break for 7-5 in the third for Fed.
It's hard to know how much his back issue was bothering Roger. His serving looked a lot more normal than it had the other night after the obvious injury. Surely it must have been a bit of a factor, however, and can't help but wonder, after three sets, how he will hold up for another match the very next day.
And what a match between Nadal and Gulbis. There was some amazing tennis going on there! I know everyone was wanting a Fed-Nadal quarter, which is what is going to happen, but I have to say I was cheering for Gulbis. What an incredible job he has done in the last few weeks. Hope he can keep it up. As for the Fed-Nadal match it's really difficult to know what to expect. I am certainly hoping for last year's semi rather than two years ago Miami, that's for sure!
Back to Federer's missed practice. I was very excited to watch one last practice, knowing I would be heading home the next day and it would be my last time to see him. I got to the practice court 45 minutes early and got the perfect seat. It would have been closer than I had ever been to him. All along, though, I couldn't help but wonder if he was actually going to show up, and as the minutes crept by I knew unfortunately it wasn't going to happen. Though I wasn't necessarily surprised, I certainly was very disappointed, as it would have been a tremendous last day for my 2013 Indian Wells experience. Even without that, however, it was a wonderful time and I got to have a lot of Federer highlights. I will try to post a few more pictures of my experience in the lull between Indian Wells and Miami, as I have quite a few more pictures I haven't put up. In the meantime, back to reality - work and trying to watch tennis in and around all the normal responsibilities of life.
The match of the tournament so far definitely has been the 5 hour nail biter between Djokovic and Wawrinka, not just because of its length and scoreline (which ended 12-10 in the 5th) but because of the high intensity in level of play for the full 5 hours. Stan started out on fire, breaking the #1's serve over and over again to win the first set 6-1 and start the second set also up a break. It looked like he could end up with a pretty quick two set lead before reality closed in, his level dropped a bit, and Novak upped his game. Though Djokovic went on to take the second set and then the third, the impressive part was that Stan kept fighting through the entire 5 hours, never giving into discouragement, and he continued to pressure Novak with sizzling winners firing from his racquet. It really looked like it could go either way through that long 5th set, but as in so many cases champions seem to have that tiny bit extra that pulls them through these pressurized moments. I was very disappointed for Wawrinka that after such a hard fought battle both physically and mentally, that he wasn't able to come away with what would have been a huge upset win against the three time Aussie champion. In spite of not earning the win, however, I believe he certainly earned much respect in the locker room for pushing Novak Djokovic to the brink of defeat in the Round of 16.
The only man left in the tournament who still hasn't lost his serve after four rounds is Roger Federer. It was agreed pretty much across the board that Roger had the most difficult draw of those favored to to be holding the trophy at the end of the fortnight. He put on another clinical display of great tennis in his fourth round match against Milos Raonic, a dangerous player who has taken a set off him at each of their prior three meetings. Not even facing a break point the whole match, he served great and and was once again able to keep his unforced error count extremely low. Interestingly, he has faced very different types of players in each of the rounds so far and has had the answers for every one. Obviously things can change a lot from one match to the next and he will undoubtedly have his hands full with Jo Wilfred Tsonga. Fed fans have to be pleased, though, with how sharp he looks so far, including his great movement around the court. With 35 consecutive quarterfinals in majors now, he continues to add to his impressive record that sets him so far apart from all others.
And finally, I'm glad that Roger is taking care of his back playing in the cool conditions. I loved his post match interview with Jim Courier where he claimed the undershirt was because he needed to take care of his big muscles underneath. And his comments about his skinny left arm being such a threat were hilarious. Great to see him so relaxed and enjoying himself.
