A Celebration of Hot Tennis Part 2: An American Tale

Song: "Let it wash all over me; Let it wash all over me" Turn the Water On [The Afghan Wings]

Thursday, March 12, 2009. The tournament is not really underway. Many of the top players have first round byes, and are seen on the practice courts.

Staying hydrated is the theme of the day. Even the announcers remind the fans to 'stay hydrated'. For players, a little water dispenser was located right there on the court.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Rafael Nadal.

Song: "She's got legs! She knows how to use them..." Legs [ZZ Top]

March 12, 2009. Temperatures reached 93 degrees F (30 C) by mid-afternoon. In the desert climate of the Coachella Valley, humidity is not a factor - meaning that the energy flux from the Sun burns into your skin and is not mitigated much by atmospheric scattering.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Elena Dementieva.

Song: "It’s poetry in motion ..." She Blinded me with Science [Melissa Lefton]

Did you know that the actinic flux of sunlight is actually measured to be brighter in Southern California than at higher latitudes?

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Elena Dementieva.

Song: "Breathe; Breathe with me; Breathe the pressure; Come play my game I'll test ya." Breathe [Prodigy]

The air quality is of a much higher fidelity in the Coachella Valley than that closer to the Los Angeles Basin. In general, the Carbon Dioxide index is very low.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Elena Dementieva.

Song: "A lotta guys try to catch her; But she leads them on a wild goose chase now; (you drive like an ace now, you drive like an ace)" Fun Fun Fun [Beach Boys]

Elena Dementieva would not make it past the second round at Indian Wells, but would challenge Serena Williams to the fullest at the Ladies Semi-final at Wimbledon, in one of the finest semi-finals ever played there.

(The Williams sisters do not play the Indian Wells tournament).

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Elena Dementieva.

Song: "I'm too cool to swim, or dance. I don't even sweat." Aqua Boogie [Parliament]

Friday, March 13, 2009. Roger is looking pretty comfortable in this shot. He's not wearing a sleeveless shirt, at least.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Roger Federer.

Song: "Distant lover; So many miles away ..." Distant Lover [Marvin Gaye]

When I was a girl, and this song would come on the radio, the screams of the women in the audience would drown out the words. It was a marvelous punctuation for the song!

One of the wonders of Indian Wells is that fans can get closer to the players than at just about any other tournament. On this occasion, watching Roger practice and being elbowed aside by fans eager to get ever closer to him, I was reminded of the concert version of this classic song.

Roger worked in an atmosphere as silent as a library - but you could still hear the song.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Roger Federer.

Song: "Chain, chain, chain; chain, chain, chain. Chain, chain, chaaaain. Chain of fools" Chain of Fools [Aretha Franklin]

Saturday, March 14, 2009. Rafa is on court practicing, and I'm watching through a chain link fence. The closest I could get.

Nonetheless, I love this shot of Rafa against the wall.

It was probably hotter for him out there than for me standing just a few feet away (on the grass). Did you know temperature can be increased by the reflection of energy off of a surface? The flux of sunlight bouncing off the plexiform surface used at Indian Wells can create on court temperatures quite a few degrees hotter than off court.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Rafael Nadal.

Song: "2000 Watts, 8 ohms, 200 volts, real strong; Too much of that, fuse blown; Be careful what you say, don't overload" 2000 Watts [Michael Jackson]

A Watt (multiplied by time) is a unit of energy.

The energetic style of play employed by Rafael Nadal on court can be thrilling. Rafa would win Indian Wells. But starting in Miami, where Rafa lost to Juan Martin Del Potro citing 'personal' issues in a match Rafa called an 'Amazing Disaster', Rafa's form would look a little off to long-time observers of his, and his (otherwise brilliant) clay court season would culminate in knee injuries that would cause him not to be able to defend his 2008 Wimbledon title.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Rafael Nadal.

Song: "You got me workin' up a sweat..." Workin' up a Sweat. [Alice Cooper]

It can get awfully sweaty out there. The average body looses 100 ml of water per hour under these conditions. Evaporating water will cool the surface (skin) from which it is evaporating. For comfort, the clothes have to be porous enough to allow for water and/or perspiration vapor transmission.

Or you could just wear a normal cotton T and let it dry off in the Sun!

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Rafael Nadal .

Song: "She looks pretty ... It's hotter than July" Master Blaster [Stevie Wonder]

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Dinara Safina.

Song: "She's a modern lady, she can fight it out man to man" She Blows Hot and Cold [Queen]

Saturday, March 14, 2009. Inside the show court, it is a little cooler in the shade.

Dinara looked good at IW in 2009. She would win the match here. But when the clay and grass court majors came along, she would turn in a lackluster performance, particularly when she won just a single game in her semi-final with Venus Williams at Wimbledon.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Dinara Safina.

Song: "Come on let's sweat, baby" (Everybody Dance Now) [C&C Music Factory]

Saturday, March 14, 2009. The outer courts showed no mercy! The driving disco beat of this song was like the driving Sun beating down; it was hot, hot, hot.

And Tommy showed little mercy to his opponents - particularly during the grass court season, where he won his first grass court tournament at Halle, in Germany.

Picture by Claudia Alexander shows Tommy Haas playing one of the smaller courts at Indian Wells, 2009.

Song: "...there's a place in the sun; Where there's hope for ev'ryone" A Place in the Sun [Stevie Wonder]

I'm going to mix in some shots from the 2008 Indian Wells tournament. I went to the tournament on as many days as I could, but couldn't take everything in. My friends Bruce and Marie were able to attend when I did not last year.

Anna Ivanovic was ranked #1 for a time in 2008. At the 2009 IW tournament, she lost in the 4th round. Here's the player who was beaten by Anna in the 3rd round.

Picture by Bruce Heimbach shows Flavia Pennetta at Indian Wells, 2008.

Song: "L'amour est enfant de bohíme, Il n'a jamais, jamais connu de loi ..." Habanera, from 'Carmen' [Bizet]

The mercurial Novak Djokovic has been known to have hot streaks. Last year, Novak won IW. The 2009 Indian Wells tournament was not to be so hot.

But man! Novak caught fire in the 2009 clay court season, burning up the terre battue, and winning his own home tournament in Belgrade. He played exquisite, brilliant tennis.

Like the funny looking, red, bell-shaped peppers known as 'habaneras', the song that leads off this slide is dedicated to Novak! (He looks so much more relaxed this time last year!)

Picture by Bruce Heimbach shows Novak Djokovic at practice, Indian Wells, 2008.

Song: " ... Coolin' by day, then at night working up a sweat; C'mon girls, let's go show the guys that we know; How to become number one in a hot body show ..." Push It [Salt N Pepa]

Picture by Bruce Heimbach shows Novak Djokovic and Tommy Haas at Indian Wells, 2008.

Song: "Winning Streak, I'm on a roll, I"m on a roll; oh, oh, oh; We all experience the agony of defeat ... but don't you know that the agony makes every victory so sweet!" Winning Streak [Pieces of a Dream]

Andy Roddick experienced modest victory at Indian Wells, meeting Andy Murray in the semi-final. Roddick's game would continue to catch fire, peaking just in time to give us a thrilling 2009 Wimbledon final - a final that lasted through 15 games in the final set!

Picture by Bruce Heimbach shows Andy Roddick playing Indian Wells, 2008.

Song: "Summer soft .... Wakes you up with a kiss to start the morning off ... And she's gone; Summer's gone; Taking with her summer's play" Summer Soft [Stevie Wonder]

In the 2009 tournament, Maria Sharapova played doubles trying to rehabilitate her arm after shoulder surgery. She lost in the first round. But her campaign to return to the top tier of the WTA got a major boost, and she would get into the second week of the French Open, if not Wimbledon.

Picture by Bruce Heimbach shows Maria Sharapova at practice, Indian Wells, 2008.

We sure hope you enjoyed this look back on one of the Master's 1000 Series tournaments of spring 2009 in beautiful Indian Wells!

The playlist is provided below in case you'd like to think about Hot Tennis while listening to your iPod. LOL.

Picture by Claudia Alexander.