At Indian Wells, no travel tales or injuries, just fine tennis

INDIAN WELLS — Nobody showed up with a new diamond as big as a Wilson tennis ball, as did Aryna Sabalenka a few days ago. Nor did anyone arrive after crossing hundreds of miles of sand and wasteland, as did Daniil Medvedev. Nor did anyone withdraw with an injury, as did Coco Gauff two days ago.

So the start of the second week of the PNB Paribas Open tournament at Indian Wells was limited to such pedestrian material as backhands, forehands, and double faults. 

Yes, Novak Djokovic, at 38, battling Father Time as well as his opponents, top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, Jessica Pegula, and Medvedev, won their matches as expected. But as we were reminded of the events of the previous week, social, political, and medical, the tennis tour is so much more than merely hitting a ball over the net.  

Medvedev, 30, who won the 2021 US Open and has two victories here at Indian Wells, had perhaps the most unusual and harrowing adventure. He won the Dubai Duty-Free Open two weeks ago, and because of the conflict in the Middle East could not fly out of the country.  

So he rode 7 hours from Dubai to Oman and then flew to Istanbul and then to California. Not exactly a joyful road trip.

Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov traveled with Medvedev and made it out of the UAE on a flight to Istanbul.

“So here I had three days, which is not bad (before he had a match). It’s somewhere the limit, because a 12-hour time difference with Dubai and our travel was tougher than just a direct flight from Dubai to Los Angeles.” 

Djokovic also covered a lot of territory, but the circumstances were different. He lost to Alcaraz the final day of the Australian Open, then took time off until Indian Wells, where he’s had great success in the past. With five titles at Indian Wells, tying him with the now-retired Roger Federer.

Novak—or “Nole,” as he’s known among the tennis intelligentsia—struggled at times against Aleksandar Kovacevic, eventually winning 6–4, 1–6, 6–4.

“I mean, I wasn’t maybe feeling my rhythm on that return very well today, but he was just making my life very difficult, returning the serve. He was just acing me all over, getting a lot of free points. Couldn’t really serve at all. That’s what I told him at the net. He had a tremendous serving display today.”

Pegula was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, winner over one-time French Open Champion, Jelena  Ostapenko.

“Yeah, playing Jelena is always really tough, can be very frustrating with the way she’s able to hit winners and take time away,” said Pegula. “Yeah, it can be really hard. So luckily I was able to just hold onto my serve there in the second set and find chances to break, but yeah, it was really tough.”

Gauff was struggling Sunday with a sore left arm. She retired while trailing Alexandra Eala 6-2, 2-0. She described the sensation as feeling “like a firework was going off inside of my arm.”

It’s always something in tennis, where players like Medvedev, who are unable to fly, never stop hitting shots or hitting the road.