The term ‘blockbuster’ is scattered with free abandon in sports journalism, but on this occasion, the night schedule at the BNP Paribas Open deserved the word.
The Indian Wells Tennis Garden is special, make no mistake. The setting, the scale, the colour, the mood among players and fans have combined to make it both the ATP and WTA Tournament of the Year at their respective elite levels.
This year, though, the tournament was special for two particular reasons: the return to competition of two former No1s, two former Major champions, two former Indian Wells champions, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.
Neither woman played in the desert last year. Azarenka was still on maternity leave, returned for just two events on grass, and was then forced off the tour as she faced a custody battle for her son.
And last year, Williams withdrew after having won her 23rd Major in Australia while almost two months pregnant. She went on to have her daughter in September, but subsequently had life-threatening complications.
Both were thus unseeded—Azarenka playing courtesy of a wild card, Williams playing under the Special Ranking provision of the WTA which does not apply to seedings.
There were, no doubt, some tense moments for the other 94 women when the draw was made, and it was No53 Zarina Diyas and No70 Heather Watson who drew Williams and Azarenka respectively.
In fairness, Watson may have been more upbeat than many: In the third round during Azarenka’s fleeting return to the tour at Wimbledon, she took the Belarusian to three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4—though that is the only set the Briton has managed to win in five meetings.
The prospects were just as tough for Diyas: Williams beat her in 54 minutes when they met in Indian Wells three years ago, 6-2, 6-0.
So could either prevent a first win for these two long-absent stars?
First to try was Diyas, and despite a closely fought opening set, 7-5, in which Williams did not break until the 11th game, and two exchanges of break in the second, she lost in just over an hour and half, 6-3.
There are, perhaps, worse ways to exit one of the four Premier Mandatory tournaments of the year, in the 16,000-capacity centre court of Indian Wells, to a 23-time Major champion who received a standing ovation just for walking out under the stars. And this time, she did give the greatest player of her generation a tough work-out. But Diyas may still curse the luck of the draw.
And what of Watson, who led out a dancing, twirling, beaming Azarenka for the final match of the night, a match that had even drawn the Federer family to the box seats?
The Briton held court for even longer against her illustrious, 20-title-winning opponent, an hour and three-quarters, broke twice in the first set to pull back a 5-1 deficit, and had no fewer than eight break chances in the second set. But she was time and again let down by her unforced errors, 38 of them, and the result was the same: straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Of course, both wins were significant after so long out of competition. But they were about more than that for a pair of women who must have had doubts through those absent months about whether they would make it back at all, so big were the challenges. No wonder, then, that they were so emotional in talking to the media.
First Williams:
“I’ve got a little way to go, but I’ll get there. It’s a journey for me. I’m not going to get there instantly… Right now, for this particular tournament, I’m really just trying to take it easy and not put too much stress or expectation on myself. This is one of the few times I’ve been able to do that.”
She was moved, too, by the enthusiastic welcome she got from the crowd. Indian Wells, after all, is a tournament where she chose not to play for 13 years after she and sister Venus were booed following the withdrawal of the elder Williams from their scheduled semi-final.
“I usually don’t smile when I walk out. I always try to look down and be really focused. I couldn’t help but smile… For me, it’s a real joy to be out here. Sometimes I think about those moments I was in the hospital and just not really realising how serious it was until later, and being able to come through that makes me feel that, whether I win or lose, there’s so much more to my life.”
It is too soon to contemplate Williams making it all the way to the final here, though she remains firm in her conviction that she has more big wins to come. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told WTAtennis.com that she aimed to win the other three Majors again: The French and US Opens, and Wimbledon.
For one thing, there is the rest of this Major-size draw, where seven matches face each unseeded player. Next up is No29 seed Kiki Bertens, who was edged by Williams at the 2016 French Open, 7-6(7), 6-4, but who was racing up the ranks from outside 100 that summer, and went on to win two titles last year.
Beyond that, though, is what Williams herself has called her toughest opponent, sister Venus, assuming the oldest woman in the draw beats the highest-ranked non-seed in the draw, Sorana Cirstea. And a meeting between the sisters would be just the latest in a remarkable 28-match rivalry.
Their very first meeting was scheduled to be that semi-final in Indian Wells in 2001, making this their first ever contest here since putting together a tally of 30 Major singles titles, 14 Major doubles titles, and four Olympic golds. Their last match? The final in Australia last year, which took Serena to her 23rd title.
Azarenka, who had, it should be stressed, played only five matches since going on maternity leave in May 2016, was pragmatic about her return.
“A week ago, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be here, but today I won my first match in however long, so I’ll take it…
“Probably the hardest thing to do was to lower my expectations today, and just to go out there and try to enjoy the moment, and, for once, be nice to yourself on the court. Don’t beat yourself up too much if you’re not doing what you think you can do. It was definitely a battle in my head to make that work.”
The competition gets much tougher as Azarenka faces her first seed, the US Open champion, no less, No13 seed Sloane Stephens.
The Belarusian has won all three previous encounters, all at the Australian Open, and each victory conceding just five games to the American. This time, though, Azarenka has the added challenge of playing a partisan crowd that will surely get behind their own Major champion.
That, though, is unlikely to faze Indian Wells ‘defending’ champion: Azarenka has not played in the desert since winning the title in 2016. Not only that, she beat Williams in the final, and went on to claim the ‘sunshine double’ by winning in Miami too. And memories like that can only galvanize a great champion.