March Mania Part I - 7 Points About Indian Wells

Featuring: The "Running Wounded" in the Top 10 +

1. The BNP Paribas Open at Larry Ellison's Indian Wells begins Wednesday, March 8 with the main draw matches. It will be carried both on ESPN (coverage begins Thursday) and Tennis Channel Plus (coverage begins Wednesday). The coverage for the WTA on both ESPN3 and Tennis Channel Plus is meager - not multiple court coverage - one court only. It is a Premier Mandatory 1000 event on the WTA Tour. I guess that means if you're invited you better go.

2. Ellison has raised the prize money for the tournament this year from approximately $7 million to $11 million. Last year the winners, both men and women, got $1,028,300 for singles and $336,920 for doubles. Depending on how the money is distributed, with a 57% increase in total prize money, this year we may see those figures most likely around $1.5 million and $525,000 respectively.

3. Update: Serena has to withdraw from both Indian Wells and Miami.  Angelique Kerber will regain the # 1 ranking.

4. Speaking of ranking points at Indian Wells this year, other than the points for the winner, the women get more ranking points for the other levels than the men. Don't ask me. I don't know why, but I'm fine with it..

5. In the last year Victoria Azarenka has gone from swinging a racket to strolling a baby. And last year she was swinging the racket quite well winning the "Sunshine Double" and zooming up the rankings chart. Since she will not be participating in March Mania this year, but coddling her little boy (who probably has his own racket by now), and going through the steps for her return to the tour, she'll be losing 2000 ranking points. She currently is ranked # 17 with 2131 ranking points. After Indian Wells she'll still be in the top 50. After Miami she'll be ranked # 311, tied with Caitlin Whoresky with 131 ranking points. There you go Caitlin, you've been mentioned in the same sentence with Victoria Azarenka.

6. Players receiving wildcards into the singles main draw at Indian Wells:

• Jennifer Brady
• Danielle Collins
• Kayla Day
• Irina Falconi
• Nicole Gibbs
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands
• Taylor Townsend
• Donna Vekic

   Before-Tournament Withdrawals:

• Victoria Azarenka - replaced by Vania King
• Alize Cornet - replaced by Heather Watson
• Anna-Lena Friedsam - replaced by Sorana Cirstea
• Karin Knapp - replaced by Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
• Petra Kvitova - replaced by Ajla Tomljanovic
• Sloane Stevens - replaced by Kurumi Nara
• Serena Williams 

7. Health of the Top Ten + going into Indian Wells: The "Running Wounded:" (numbers 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16) None has withdrawn as of now. Details:

• # 2 Angelique Kerber - Lost to Elina Svitolina in semis at Dubai. 6-3, 7-6. During the match she was obviously hampered by a right knee, possibly right hip, lower back problem. She's been one of the most durable players on tour and now with the withdrawal of Serena will regain her # 1 ranking.
• # 4 Simona Halep -  Simona has not played since St. Petersburg, January 30 where she withdrew because of tendinitis in her left knee before a quarterfinal match with Natalia Vikhlyantseva. She's been plagued lately by injuries and has not been able to get up a head of steam.
•  # 7 Garbine Muguruza - Down 4-1 to Kateryna Bondarenko during her first match in Dubai,  Muguruza had to retire because of a left foot achilles problem. (a possible contributing factor to the injury was playing 2 matches the same day in rain-drenched Doha) Hopefully the French Open champion can recover and go deep into the draw.
• # 8 Madison Keys - Keys has been recovering from wrist surgery and hasn't played since October 23, 2016 at the WTA Finals where she loss to Kerber, 6-3, 6-3. According to the Game Insight Group, Keys leads all women in forehand speed (81.3 mph) and backhand speed (74.6 mph). Let's hope that wrist surgery doesn't slow her down.
• # 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova - "Sveta" last played at St. Petersburg, January 30 in a 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 loss to Yulia Putinseva in a quarterfinal match. She withdrew from Qatar because of an abdominal injury. The veteran that she is she can probably get "match-ready" pretty readily.
• # 10 Elina Svitolina - Because of a low-leg injury, Elina withdrew from her second-round match with Nao Hibino in Malaysia where she was defending. She has been on a roll that might take her right to the top in this tournament.
• # 11 Johanna Konta - Her last tournament was the Australian Open where she lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-3. She withdrew from Dubai because of a foot injury. Konta, if healthy, would be an odds-on favorite to also go deep into the draw.
• Both # 16 Timea Bacsinszky (left thigh) and # 24 Carla Suarez Navarro (right shoulder) had to withdraw from Dubai.

So...there are some points on Indian Wells and the top players who will be competing that may lay some mental groundwork for your watching the tournament. In Part II of March Mania, I'll take a look at Miami. So go play now with the new draw after Serena's withdrawal and see how prescient you are.

Anyway, that's how I see it.