No Three-peat for Alcaraz at BNP; Draper stopped that

INDIAN WELLS — That thought of Carlos Alcaraz and his three-peat at the BNP Paribas Open was knocked into the desert halfway to Death Valley by a guy named Jack Draper, who made sure Saturday that the result of the men’s final would be a “One-peat.” 

On a Saturday when the weather in this resort area finally met expectations, with temperatures reaching the low 70s, Stadium One at Indian Wells Tennis Garden was packed. The winners of the two men’s semifinals likely felt the energy. Draper, a 23-year-old whose mother was a competitor in England, began his tennis journey by hitting balls against the walls of their home club. He defeated Alcaraz 6-1, 0-6, 6-4.

In Sunday’s final Draper will be up against Holger Rune of Denmark, who took care of Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-4. 

The ladies also will have their last match on Sunday, World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will face wunderkind Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old from Russia. They advanced Friday night, Sabalenka crushing Madison Keys of the U.S. 6-0, 6-1, and Andreeva winning over two-time BNP champion, Iga Swiatek, 7-6,1-6, 6-3.

Maybe nothing should be a surprise in sports, especially in tennis, but Keys winning only one game against Sabalenka was a real stunner. The 11th game, in particular, stood out. Keys, 34, the American, had defeated Sabalenka just seven weeks ago in the Australian Open final, securing Madison’s first major victory. Sabalenka called Saturday’s match "revenge," while others described it as a "bagel, breadstick" finish.

Alcarez has won four major titles, including two Wimbledons, and Draper none, but Alcarez was properly weary of his opponent. Alcaraz said of Draper, “I think he’s ambitious, and he always goes for it. That makes him a really tough opponent.”

How tough was evident in the final score. “I mean, this one hurts”, said Alcaraz. “I don’t want to lose any match, but I think this one was even more special to me. It was difficult today, a lot of nerves in the match.”

When asked what he could have done better, Alcaraz reflected, “Just playing my style and stepping onto the court with fewer nerves. I think that was the big difference.”

You might think that a man who has won Wimbledon twice, along with titles at Roland Garros and the U.S. Open, would be less nervous—even at an event known as the "Fifth Major." But internal pressure is always a factor when competing at the highest level. 

When the opportunity arrives, how does the athlete respond? Draper showed us. 

“Yeah, I feel incredible obviously to beat Carlos in this sort of stage in the tournament on that court,” said Draper. “You know, I have watched the top players in the world play on that court for many, many years now, and it feels amazing, honestly, both those things.”

Rune, who has reached the quarterfinals in three Grand Slam tournaments, is one of those players whose name always seems to pop up and cause you to ask,  “Who’s that?” But to followers of the sport, he’s more than just a name. His win on Saturday over Medvedev, a two-time BNP Paribas Open runner-up, was particularly impressive.

“I feel like I’m very clear in my mindset,” said Rune. “Also (Sunday) I have to go for it. It’s not going to be handed to me. It’s a lot of work.”

Nothing is handed to you in sports. As Rune said you have to go get it.

Will there be an Alcaraz three-peat at Indian Wells?

INDIAN WELLS — It was Pat Riley, a successful but hardly humble individual, who created and copyrighted the term “three-peat” back in 1988 after he coached the Los Angeles Lakers to two consecutive NBA titles.

The phrase became both iconic and generic and because Riley never won more than two in a row, perhaps ironic.  

We’ve heard it this week during the BNP Paribas Open in discussions and praise of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. True, for Riley—who will turn 80 in a few days—the game was and is basketball, while for the 21-year-old Alcaraz, it is tennis. But victory is what links the two and every other great competitor.

Whether Alcaraz, number 3 in the rankings, accurately can be called great at this stage in what appears destined to be a tremendous career is a matter of judgment. Yet, as he is set to play against Jack Draper in Saturday’s BNP semi-finals, a three-peat at Indian Wells is quite real.

Not only has Alcaraz won at Indian Wells the past two years, but he has also taken 16 straight matches here. The last one was Thursday night in the quarter-finals, where he battled through cold, windy conditions and a slow start to defeat Argentina’s Fernando Cerúndolo 6-3, 7-6 (4).  

Alcaraz long has been touted as the heir apparent to stars such as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Carlos already has four major championships, a line-up that includes Wimbledon twice, Roland Garros, and a US Open. Although in recent months Jannik Sinner had taken control and risen to the top of the rankings, he is absent from Indian Wells, serving a three-month suspension for violating the Tour’s drug standards.

Alcaraz, as virtually every player on either the men's or women’s tour, appreciates the program and facilities at Indian Wells—and not only because he has done so well here. “I think tennis is a lonely sport,” said Alcaraz. “I’m lucky enough to bring my family with me to tournaments. So sometimes when you have or you feel peaceful in the place you're going, you feel great. That’s this case here. I feel peace. So I just feel great that way with the people that I have around. That’s why it makes this place really beautiful to me, I think that’s why I show my best tennis here.”

Success comes from listening to knowledgeable advisors and, even when things go wrong—as they do for even the best—continuing to believe in yourself.

“Tennis is about not having a great day every day,” said Alcaraz. “So you have to play your best that day.”   

Alcaraz has played his best often enough to have a chance at his own three-peat. Isn’t that the way it’s done, Pat Riley?

Bit of a stunner, Coco defeated by new mom, Bencic, at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS — And for the celebration of her 21st birthday, Coco Gauff will have a glass of well, whatever one selects, when she doesn’t feel like celebrating. Which after being eliminated in her third match of the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday, Gauff does not. 

That she lost to a wildcard, albeit in Belinda Bencic, a wildcard who before taking a maternity leave was ranked as high as fourth, undoubtedly makes the defeat even more distasteful.  Indeed we’ve mentioned this numerous times, every one of the players on either the women’s or men’s tennis tours is superior and is good enough (or bad enough) to win or lose any time out.  Still, Coco’s 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat was a bit of a stunner. 

Playing the first match at Indian Wells on a 70-degree morning—yes, beautiful weather, but rain is forecast for Thursday—Gauff fulfilled the expectations and started well enough, then the serve problems on which she has spent many practice sessions trying to correct showed up again. 

The other American female star, Madison Keys, who at age 30 last month earned an Australian Open victory, fared better Wednesday in the BNP. Keys, in a reverse of Gauff’s fortunes, came back to beat Donna Vekic, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. 

The men’s matches were scheduled for nighttime at Indian Wells—where fans come as much for the sunshine as for the stars—though that’s not necessarily prime time. It didn’t matter much. Regardless of time, Carlos Alcaraz, ranked No. 3, and the BNP Paribas defending champion, defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-1.

Jim Mora Sr., when coaching in the NFL, famously said when asked about which team would win, “You don’t know, you can’t know, you never will know.” In tennis, we do know that two months ago, Coco Gauff defeated Bencic in three sets at the Australian Open. At the time, Bencic had only recently returned to competition after several months away. 

You assumed by now that Bencic would have improved, and she had. You also assumed Gauff, outranked by only two women, would win once more. Back to Mr. Mora, you don’t know.

“Here,” said Gauff, “ I mean, I lost 6-4 in the fourth round against a tough opponent who’s coming off a 500 win. Obviously, I wanted to do better, want to have better results, but it’s not something I can crush myself on.” 

Gauff was asked about her birthday, which of course always falls during the tournament. “I  really don’t care, I guess, when my birthday is, but I am excited, and obviously I would have loved to be out here [Thursday]. But I’m going to try to either get home tonight or tomorrow just to celebrate with my family.”

Bencic, 28, gave birth to a daughter, Bella, in April 2024. But that has not diminished her desire to be one of the globe’s best in tennis.

“Obviously, I like the work I have put in,” she said. “Yes, for sure, like we were able to do a clean start. It's not easy after maternity leave, you know, to do all the work again. I didn’t have a baby to improve my career. I had a baby because we felt like that’s our purpose in life. That’s what we want. That came at the right time of our lives.”

What would Bud Collins have nicknamed winning Swiatek?

INDIAN WELLS — Iga Swiatek doesn’t need much on the court these days — my goodness she recorded a bagel in her semifinal — other than one of those colorful nicknames invented by the late, great Bud Collins.

He labeled Steffi Graf  “Fraulein Forehand,”  Venus and Serena Williams “Sisters Sledge Hammer. He might have anointed Swiatek the “Polish Rifle,” except that was used for the NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, who is American.

Swiatek truly is Polish, born in Warsaw, and without question right now the best women’s tennis player in creation.

She turned the final of the BNP Paribas Open into a quick romp Sunday, defeating bewildered Maria Sakkari, 6-4,6-0. 

The match lasted only 1 hour and 8 minutes. Sometimes it seems to take that long to open a new can of tennis balls.

“Sorry I couldn’t put on a better fight,” said Sakkari, who two nights earlier defeated Coco Gauff in a semifinal.

Two years ago, at the same place, Indian Wells Tennis Garden — when you spend millions to build a sports complex among sand dunes and cacti — it was virtually the same. Swiatek defeated Sakkari 6-4, 6-1. 

In the rankings, she means, a place to which she seems intent — and content — never returning. In her week and a half of competition at Indian Wells, the 22-year-old Swiatek lost only 21 games in six matches. 

“She’s aggressive but she’s solid,” Sakkari said, summarizing Swiatek’s incredibly effective tennis.

It’s too early in a career that could last another 15 years or so to predict how Swiatek someday may be judged against the greats, Margaret  Court, Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Graf, but among the current females, she’s exactly where the number indicates, first.

It would have been interesting to see what would have been, had Gauff defeated Sakkari, but perhaps the best thing about tennis at any level is the actual playing not the promising. When the opportunity presents itself how do you respond

Swiatek’s response across the net is quite apparent and resourceful. She handled herself beautifully. Same thing after the tournament.

“I’m really proud of myself and super happy,” was her comment after literally lifting the crystal championship trophy. “Even though this tournament looked like the scores, maybe I had everything under control. It wasn't from the beginning to the end. I felt really good on the last two matches. Big amount of confidence.”

And for the bettors who followed the advice of Zachary Cohen in one of the tennis publications to parlay Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Daniil Medved, 7-6, 6-1. Big money. 

Wonder if Cohen has a decent backhand?

At Indian Wells, Mother Nature rains, Carlos Alcaraz reigns to find a way to hang on

To the match. Not an umbrella.

He had taken a 6-1 lead in the first set of the BNP Paribas semifinal. He had won 19 straight matches and in the process a Grand Slam, the Australian. His opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, said of Sinner, “He’s the best player in the world right now.  

Right, and it doesn’t rain in the Coachella Valley in springtime. Sinner lost, or rather, Alcaraz won 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. He will play another former champion, Dan Medvedev, who in the semi defeated the American Tommy Paul, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2.

“I tried to play obviously good tennis, which I have done,” said  Sinner, “especially the first set. Then I made a couple of mistakes. You know the momentum has changed. He raised his level.”

Which since Alcaraz is No. 2 in the world and Sinner No. 3, it isn’t quite like having to leap the Empire State Building. It was just that Sinner had flown in the first set, verifying the betting line making him such a solid favorite the tennis folk concluded it was a given.

 “Who’s going to stop Jannik?” questioned somebody. Well, good old Mother Nature — he had a 2-1 lead in the first set when the weather intervened, play being delayed more than two hours. And eventually, Alcaraz, who won the BNP a year ago.

“Obviously a tough one to swallow,” said Sinner, previously unbeaten in 2024.

The thinking in men’s tennis has been Alcaraz, the Spaniard, eventually would replace Novak Djokovic, the game’s best. Someday at least. At the moment, Djokovic remains first, and even though he’s 36 and the two heir apparents are in their early 20s, the change could be in the distance.   

Alcaraz had an impressive start, but in the last few months he has slipped. And  Sinner has surged. Then came the Saturday meeting, proof that all the speculation might mean nothing.

“Well, I’m really happy to classify (qualify) for another final,” said Alcaraz. “It means a lot to me to play at such a great level and be able to play another final.”

In the post-match interview, Alcaraz was reminded Thursday he had to flee when a hive of bees swarmed in while Carlos was playing.

 “On Thursday,” he was told, “you had the bees and then you had the rain delay today. You came from down a set. Kind of a wild 48 hours.”

At Indian Wells, bees, a bad toe, and another Sinner victory

INDIAN WELLS — Quarter-final Thursday, as the round is known at the BNP Paribas, turned out to be the afternoon Carlos Alcaraz had to worry more about back-biting (from insects) than backhands. The round “The Woz” could no longer go toe-to-toe with her comeback dream.

The round Jannik Sinner (16-0) remained undefeated, Tommy Paul remained on track and the world’s second-ranked male, Carlos Alcaraz, managed to survive, unlike top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who three days earlier was upset and then subsequently decided to pull out of next week’s event at Miami.

And for the round, the temperature, here often in the 80s and usually in the 70s, was no higher than that mid-60s, not that the weather seemed to matter to the boisterous fans packed in the 16,200-seat main stadium.

If it’s too cold to go to the pool, go to the courts — especially with the cast of those entered. Not that the stories all dealt with the actual tasks of cracking serves and hitting returns.

Three games into the Alcaraz-Alexander Zverev match, eventually won by Alcaraz, 6-3, 6-1, a swarm of bees arrived (OK, toss in buzz lines) and the two contestants ran for safety. Officials called an apiarist (a beekeeper) who collected the swarm.

“I'm glad I'm not there anymore… That's crazy. There was nothing like 30 minutes ago. I would run away," said Iga Świątek, watching from the interview room after her 6-4, 6-1 over The Woz, Caroline Wozniacki.

Wozniacki, once No. 1 before she married former Warriors center David Lee and gave birth to two children, is coming back from retirement. She injured a big toe a few days ago in a win over Angelique Kerber, and when the pain grew so severe, she called a stop against Świątek.

Sinner is the Italian from the Dolomite region of the Alps where they speak as much German — if not more — than Italian. But whatever language he employs his racquets pay attention.

He was a 6-3, 6-3, winner over Jiri Lehecka, and after taking his first Grand Slam, the Australian  Open, he had the rest of the pros in awe. He has great speed and beautiful consistent groundstrokes. And even more notably, he has the confidence that is a byproduct of success. Or the reason for the success.

And yes, the former teen, Coco Gauff, now age 20, also won, 6-4, 6-3 over Yue Yuan.

“It wasn’t the best serving,” concedes Gauff, “but the groundstrokes worked. I just try and take the positives.”