Posted by Stephen Tignor, TENNIS.com
The tennis season isn't just long, it's long in a strange way. It begins in grand style, with a January trip Down Under that culminates at the Australian Open. And then, well, nothing much happens for a month and a half. The Aussie Open is a sort of glorified false start, a tournament on an island.
If you accept that metaphor, then Indian Wells, the dual-gender event taking place for the next week and half, is when the pros hit mainland. There are precious few breaks from here until the U.S. Open, especially with the Olympics dumped into the middle of the summer.
So now is the perfect time for a do-over for the players who haven't gotten it in gear yet in 2008. Let's take a look at five prime candidates for turnarounds in the desert.
1. David Nalbandian: Last fall the ambivalent Argentine didn't just beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in back-to-back Masters events, he made them look second-rate. But expectations seem to send chills up Nalbandian's spine, and he managed just six games against Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round at the Aussie Open in January. Since then, he's gotten his act together on clay, winning in Buenos Aires and reaching the final in Acapulco. But only at a Masters event like Indian Wells can he begin to erase the ugly memories of Melbourne. You'd think the slow California hard courts would help, but he's never been past the fourth round there.
2. Andy Murray: Murray's in the same boat as Nalbandian -- bad Aussie Open (he lost in the opening round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), decent recovery since (he won the event in Marseille). But he's still adjusting to his new post-Gilbert coaching situation, and it's been awhile since he competed well on a big stage. This is an important event if the Scot wants to build on his exceptional 2007 season.
3. Lucie Safarova: Last year at this time Safarova was near the top tier of young WTA hopefuls, along with Ana Ivanovic, Nicole Vaidisova, and Anna Chakvetadze. Well, Ivanovic and Chakvetadze are now No. 2 and No. 6, respectively, while Safarova, who has suffered injuries, finds herself at No. 38 after a first-round loss in Melbourne. But she still hits a big ball and she has a favorable draw in Indian Wells.
4. Igor Andreev: The Russian has one of the most lethal weapons in tennis in his hook forehand, but he's never found a way to use it to lift his game anywhere near its potential. His record in 2008 is just 6-7, but he beat Andy Roddick in Indian Wells a few years ago and is beyond due to go deep at a Masters tournament.
5. Nicole Vaidisova: She was going to be the next Sharapova, but her thunder was stolen by not only Ivanovic, but the smaller and less powerful Chakvetadze. The Czech 6-footer has faded from a career-high of No. 7 last May to No. 14 today, and her putative rival, Ivanovic, rolled her 6-4, 6-0 in Dubai earlier this month. Time is hardly running out for the teenager, but these early years are often the best of a WTA star's life.
