SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HOUSTON AND INDIAN WELLS—-Flying to Indian Wells is a tricky situation, something that I recently had an opportunity to discover when I booked my airline ticket. If you’ve not had the experience of traveling to this remote location close to the Mojave Desert, you should try it sometime—especially during the annual tennis tournament each year.
Ordinarily, the extent of my do-it-yourself travel agent experience involves visiting continental.com, typing in a few dates, making a few clicks, and voila! A ticket in five minutes flat. It’s worked in the past, so why shouldn’t history repeat itself. Silly me.
My shock started when I came up with a blank screen after entering Palm Springs, CA as my final destination. Convinced that it was an internet server glitch, I called Continental and was politely informed that the carrier no longer flew to PSP. What, no Continental? No OnePass miles? No contribution to the salaries of my Houstonian friends who make their living as pilots?
After I recovered from my surprise, I girded my loins for the battle and dove into the world of Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, Hotwire, Kayak and nearly every other flight search engine known to woman. After days of deliberation, searching at random times during the day (even at 1:00am one morning), I finally managed to avoid a flight that would have routed me on a zigzag, aerial version of around the USA in 14 hours and settled on a flight with Southwest Airlines. Maybe I’m over particular, but I really did not want to venture to Atlanta on my way to a week in California. A layover in Albuquerque I can handle. A trip within a stone’s throw of the Atlantic Ocean along the way to the Pacific, I cannot.
God apparently has a sense of humor as I had previously vowed to never take a seat on that airline after a particularly eventful flight almost a decade ago. But after all, beggars—and last minute flight takers—are not exactly choosers.
So here I sit, sipping apple juice and watching everyone eat their granola bars as though it is their last meal for a week. Still, I shouldn’t complain—free luggage is worth a breakfast three fourths smaller than a candy bar and a sippie cup sized Coke any day of the week.
The skies are clear ahead, but the same can’t be said of the women’s draw in Indian Wells. A desert storm has blown several top players, including No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic, No. 3 Elena Dementieva and No. 1 doubles players Cara Black and Liezel Huber toward an early trip to Miami, and who is to say who the next casualty will be on Monday?
As I head into the tournament, a few things have crossed my mind as potential storylines.
Can Ana Ivanovic’s new coach reignite her tennis passion?
I miss the fist pump. I miss the Ana that rocketed her way to stardom and the French Open title. I’ve yet to see her play on television this week, so I’m looking forward to getting my first look at her game since she hired her new coach. From all accounts, the partnership appears to be working successfully, and just in the nick of time as she attempts to defend her first big title.
What happened to Jelena?
Have you taken a good look at Jelena Jankovic lately? The Jelena who reached the final at the US Open and won three back to back titles last fall is missing in action. Part of the problem, at least according to Jelena, is that she is trying to get accustomed to her new body—the fitter, bigger, and muscular 2.0 version. Paula Vergara, who has done a fabulous job covering the tournament the opening week, attended her press conference the other night and told me that it sadly ended in tears for Jelena.
Can Dinara capitalize on a clear draw?
The draw has been blasted open for top seed Dinara Safina, giving her a prime opportunity to win her first big title. Apart from Serena Williams, Dinara has been the hottest player for months and personally, I love her chances of giving Ivanovic a battle in Paris.
Needless to say, there will be lots to think—and write—about over the next week at Indian Wells. Keep your eye on the home page for new posts, plus if you use Twitter, check out OTB’s feed. I’ll be using it for live updates over the following days, so plan to stick with On the Baseline through the women’s final. Also, if any of you are attending the tournament, let me know! I’d love to say hello!
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 BNP Paribas Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
I had a friend who lived out in the sticks near Lancaster CA, maybe about 100 miles north of Palm Springs. She used to always romance me with stories of her “daddy gopher snake” and the wilderness life.
Even though UK is a relatively small country, I have the same hassles travelling as I live in the farthest flung county on this Island. Always quite arduous travelling to London and England, but rewarding too.
Hope you take in some great tennis Aaress. Now gonna check out this twitter thing to follow the progress of yourself and Paula! Safe trip!
I heard that Etcheberry bulked up Jelena which is not always a good thing when your game depends on movement. The same thing happened to Henin who bulked up, thought it lead to more injuries and less movement and so stopped that regimen and got back to her all court movement and game. I hope Jelena pulls back a little on the muscle. She was strong enough. She needs to continue her movement and defense.