Chapter 1053 Desert Oasis
Indian Wells, a small town located near the border of California and Arizona, is surrounded by the center of the desert, blooming proudly like a rose.
For a very long time, the desert climate made it sparsely populated. Obviously, few people were willing to live in an isolated wilderness.
But later, as one of the most developed tennis regions in North America, people in California discovered that Indian Wells was particularly suitable for tennis.
With less precipitation, more sunshine, dry environment and open landform, it is like a paradise. Located in the center of the desert, it is a real oasis.
Therefore, in 1987, the former American Airlines Tennis Series officially moved to Indian Wells. This event was first established in 1974. For reference, the ATP was established in 1973. From this, we can see the long history of the event and its status in the industry.
In 1990, ATP established the Champions Series for the first time. As the highest-level tour after the Grand Slam, Indian Wells was one of the first members of the series and has never left the ranks, maintaining the top level of hosting for thirty years.
Things don't end here.
Later, exactly ten years later, a valley less than thirty minutes from Indian Wells hosted the first music festival.
Coachella Music Festival.
Soon, Coachella evolved into the largest and most advanced music festival in North America. This made it impossible for this secluded town to hide any longer. Crowds of people flocked to this oasis. In just ten years, the permanent population increased more than tenfold, and the town became bustling and noisy.
Today, Indian Wells has been fully developed. In addition to the annual tennis tournaments and music festivals, it has also developed desert adventure tourism routes. Tourists from all over the world come here all year round to experience the unique charm of the desert.
The Indian Wells Tennis Open has made a great contribution.
Indian Wells has always called itself a "tennis paradise", welcoming players and tennis enthusiasts from all over the world with open arms.
Players who have actually played in Indian Wells may have a lot of questions in their mind: Heaven?
Where is heaven?
This oasis, located in the middle of the vast desert, on the one hand, means bright sunshine, pleasant climate, and a relaxed and happy mood, bringing a completely different experience.
But on the other hand, this also means strong gusts of wind, which often play the role of troublemakers, disrupting the progress of the competition, and are more serious than in Dubai and Doha.
Countless classic emoticons were born on this court, and even professional players were stunned.
For example, when you are standing at the baseline and hitting the ball, your feet are in place and the racket is about to touch the ball, but the tennis ball is blown backwards towards the net, so that you hurriedly catch up and end up missing the ball.
For example, if the ball hit near the sideline is extremely out of bounds, you still follow up with your feet immediately to make sure the ball goes out of bounds, but you end up watching the strong wind blow the tennis ball back into bounds, and then you start again to try to hit the ball but unfortunately miss it.
For example, the swing of the racket is completed and the hitting point is clearly found, but the swing ends up missing the ball. You are looking for the tennis ball with a puzzled look in your head, strongly suspecting that you are blind and did not see the ball.
Among them, the most classic scene should come from the confrontation between two American players in 2022.
Christopher Eubanks vs. Maxime Cressy, in Cressy's fourth service game of the second set.
Cressey served normally, but when he tossed the ball, the wind direction affected it, and the hitting point was obviously deviated, missing the sweet spot, and the racket head hit the tennis ball.
No matter how you look at it, these are anti-aircraft guns flying directly towards the audience stands, and even Cressy himself is ready for a second shot.
However, I didn't expect that the strong wind would actually blow the tennis ball back. Not only did it successfully enter the serving area, but it also stuck to the net to create a small ball effect. The most incredible thing was that there was side spin and back spin.
Eubanks panicked and rushed forward to try to receive the ball, but one deviation after another left him helpless and had to watch the tennis ball form an ace.
This was probably the weirdest ace ever, and both players and the audience were stunned.
It is conceivable that every ATP and WTA player should have something to say about this venue, and everyone has experienced their own unique moment here.
Gale is definitely not boring.
Therefore, this place should not be called "Tennis Paradise" but "Strong Wind Tennis".
If we have to pick a "tennis paradise", it is obviously Miami, with its four seasons of spring and blue sea and sky. Although it is also often affected by the strong winds on the Caribbean coast, compared to Indian Wells, Miami, which is chosen by countless people as a holiday destination, is obviously more like a paradise.
So, what happened? To understand the matter, we must trace back to history.
In the 1990s, the Miami Open was undoubtedly the most watched event of the year, because the event was founded in the 1960s. In terms of history, scale, participating lineup, event organization, vacation and leisure, etc., this event easily stood out and was loved by players.
Since 2001, ATP has voted for the best tour of the year and classified it according to the level of the event. In the Masters category, Monte Carlo stood out in the first year, but in the next five years, Miami won five consecutive championships, which also established the event's position in the industry.
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The title of "Fifth Grand Slam" spread like wildfire.
However, Indian Wells, another member of the "Sunshine Double", expressed dissatisfaction and even strong protest, believing that Miami is not worth it.
To outsiders, to the ATP and to the players, the two events are a package schedule, and the name of the "Sunshine Double" has become popular; but for the two events, their internal competition cannot be ignored. After all, they are two unrelated separate events.
In 2000, Indian Wells spent $74 million to build the new Indian Wells Tennis Garden and fully upgraded its facilities.
However, the ATP encountered the setback of bankruptcy of its general sponsor. The ATP had originally promised that after the sponsorship funds were in place, they would be distributed to various events in the form of subsidies to encourage them to update stadiums and related equipment. But now this subsidy is gone, and Indian Wells is in trouble.
The Indian Wells tournament director took the initiative and brought in a title sponsor in 2002 to save the day. From then on, the tournament was called the Pacific Life Insurance Cup. After the contract expired in 2008, the title sponsor was changed and the tournament has been sponsored by BNP Paribas until now.
Therefore, the Indian Wells Open is actually the BNP Paribas Open.
Now, Indian Wells and Miami are the only two "top" events throughout the year: the men's and women's main draws both have 128 draws, which are comparable to Grand Slams. The only difference is that the top 32 seeds have a bye in the first round.
This also means that the status of the "Sunshine Double Crown" is indeed different.
However, the development of the two events showed completely different curves, and even gradually widened the gap. Indian Wells sounded the clarion call for counterattack.
(End of this chapter)