Ouch! Dementieva is shooting herself in the foot with her two double faults serving to stay in the second set.

Have a great time, Jackie-Oh, Beth, Andrew, Vetmama etc.! I wish I were heading for the Beer Hunter myself!

Jackie, Rafadoc, Annie and other TWibe ladies,
Have fun at Indian Wells!

Just stepping by to wish the TW ladies a happy time at IW.
Right now, a couple of them must be quite worried, according to what the SB is showing of Gasquet's match.

Thanks for sharing that Shelley, good for you! Hopefully you can make a career in the business. What's better than getting paid to do something you love? Nothing... :-)

Great IW trip to all who made the event.

Jackie I'll def follow you to get the updates (and pics).

MA- how goes it?

Once again, Twibers have a great time at the tournament and please keep tournament reports coming :)

Is Andrew the only TW guy going to IW? Jajaja...we're a serious minority here.

Have fun y'all. Am especially excited for Annie as she's seeing her first live tennis, IIRC.

I won't be there tonight (nice evening with Sylvia planned), but I hope to be there tomorrow afternoon/early evening. So have a beer tonight for me, and I'll (insh'allah) be on site tomorrow.

Looking forward to the updates, Jackie. It's very grey here, so I shall enjoy the California sunshine vicariously...

Also, thank you for sharing Shelley's report. Wonderful work, Shelley!

Such a cool story, Shelly! Thanks for sharing.

All of you TWers going to IW, have a fantastic time!

It's the TW ladies, with Andrew as special guest, apparently, Pspace:)
Heck, not even Pete is going:)

Hi Jackie. Glad you arrived safe and sound and enjoying the tournament so far. 2 things stood out for me in this post: (1) The Army Navy Club actually exists (it was mentioned as the scene of a terrorist attack on NCIS) and (2) I found the game of tennis in about 1999 at the age of ** and I am totally obsessed. Even play the darned thing on consoles these days.

Hi to all who are lucky enough to be in IW right now. I bet Beth is sitting at the Gasquet match and stressing out!
I have two good friends on site right now and my son from LA arrives tomorrow so I will be getting my personal updates. Wish we had planned to be there.

To all those lucky enough to make it to IW, I envy you.

i'm reading through the latest entry thinking to myself-what the hail's gotten into Pete-I dont' ever remember him ever scribing a blog with a more manic undertone! Then I saw that it was Jackie after all and that's when it all fell into place. Cheers.

I'm with karin1492 - green with envy!! My favorite tournament of them all, and I'm only 3000 miles away, not 6000. If Beth is stressing over Gasquet half as much as she was stressing over packing, I will take an Ativan for her.

Diane, I trust you'll pass on any delightful tidbits?! :))

just a note, of course, delightful and tasty tidbits are my specialty!

Codge,
I am doing OK just listening to the match on radiotennis.com

Well, this was an auto-post so I'll have to check in later and see if the ladies have had a chance to take a break to let us in on the fun.

Enjoy ladies!!

HAH! I'll believe those updates when I see 'em. Good WiFi at the pool?

Andrew- I think you should get yourself a proper walking stick, (NOT a cane!), so you can herd minions, Spanish and other-wise, out of your way.

Ooohh... It just occurred to me - are Spanish minions of the Spanish onion family? Hmmm...paging Matt Z.

Sounds like Henin is having a bad start. 12 unforced errors in 2 games.

Thanks Jackie.I am sure all the ladies and Andrew will enjoy IW tournament.

Thanks Shelley for your insightful report.Good luck in the future.

I can't find a stream to save my life. Anybody got help?

The commentator on radiotennis.com is killing me :D
He's into it!

Shelley,
Great stuff . . . thanks for sharing with us! Congratulations on getting your foot in the door; hope it leads to even bigger and better things in the future!

Andrew and all the ladies of TW . . . hope you all have a blast in the desert! Behave yourselves (well, at least once and awhile!)

I see Justine lost. A lot of "experts" had picked her to win the tournament.

Kombo - AFAIK, there's no tv coverage until Hit for Haiti, hence no streams. MA's been making his match calls via radio (the sheer thought of which makes my head ache even more than it already does).

I am not surprised Sharapova is having trouble with Vera D.
Maria did not play well in the Memphis final, or Melbourne

Shelley, finally had a chance to read your write-up. Congrats on a successful entrée to a world you'd like to inhabit. :)) Network!! Friend of a friend of your Mom surely has more friends she could introduce you to just to chat. And when that perfect job comes up, you're on their list. Must think positively. Good luck!

CL - thank you for your very kind and flattering comments on my posts.

To be fair to the IW crew, I feel compelled to point out that if the pool at Memphis hadn't been under a tarp and an inch of frost, my reports probably would've been short and sporadic. And most people need more than 4 hours of sleep per night, which is what I averaged. *rueful smile*

[That said, I'm off to check Jackie's twitter feed in hope of vicarious sunshine and French-player-ogling...]

Hi Folks!

Rafadoc and I came back to the hotel to freshen up before going to the "Hit" as Jackie calls it. Boy is this a beautiful
spot. So guess who we saw upon arrival on site this morning? you guessed it. Rafa and his team sitting on the
lawn chilling in the sun so we were in heaven. Spent most of the day walking the practice courts.

MA: I stopped for a cig and start chatting with a photographer who was wearing a TalkaboutTennis cap. I asked him if he was involved with TAT and did he know Patrick aka Master Ace. He said "I own TAT and of course I know patrick! It was Kirk. Very nice guy.

Can't wait for the Beer Hunter later tonight but really excited about the exo which is sold out. Miss Jackie is being
lois lane for TW and went to Arod's and Rafa's presser and I think she's at Fed's at 5pst. She's so "cool" about the
whole thing. And I must say eating breakfast in the same dining room with Dr.Ivo, LaMonf, Gilles, Gasquet, Dokic, Chardy, Igor and Maria and JohnnyIz is almost surreal. Gotta go for now. Be back later. and now Rafadoc will
have a word.

Hi All Y'All. Wow...I am stunned at how close we get to the players here at IW. Unreal. I could have reached out and touched Rafa's FA today but I opted for a picture instead (I also thought security might have an issue with the whole touching thing). Heehee. As Annie said we hit the jackpot with seeing players at breakfast. I have never enjoyed a bagel more in my life. :) Looking forward to HFH. I was just talking to Annie about how much I love Martina and will love seeing her on court. And then of course seeing the guys will be awesome beyond belief.

Will check in later. Enjoy your Friday everyone. :)

Check back in later.

You two sound like you're in heaven! So happy for the both of you. ;))

Enjoy the Hit and the Beer Hunter and really glad you checked in; it's so nice to hear what's going on with the stars and their followers.

Hmm, wonder if Henin will be in the mood come the Hit for Haiti exo considering she just got unceremoniously dumped from the tournament.

Sharapova down 1-3 in the second set, I hope she will find a way to win.

Annie and rafadoc - thanks for the glimpses!

Jackie, your Tweet from two hours ago made me chuckle. ["At Justine/Gisela match. Slightly perplexed."

To any TWibe members in New York: I am now jealous of you as well, since you will be ~ 900 miles closer to Yannick Noah. (Just saw on tennis.com front page about the Haiti benefit he'll be singing at on 59th on Monday.)

Sharapova/Dushevina is a break-fest. But Dushevina has the advantage of serving first.

thanks for sharing that awesome development, Shelley.

Rafadoc, Annie and company, i am *dead* fr jealousy. :P

Dushevina is serving for the match and the second big upset of the day. But she'll probably get broken and then break to win the match.

anyone got a stream for Masha/Dushevina?

Annie/Rafadoc: thanks for the report!

Can you please ask other ladies if anyone attended Henin-Dulko match to share with us, unfortunate.

mina: there is no TV coverage until tonight's Hit for Haiti and then starting tomorrow regular matches - it is stupid, I know...

aaacck. i shoulda known... thanks Elena.

mina, no streams until tomorrow. :(

whew. one set all. C'mon Maria!!!

Mina I thought you were going to lunch?

r'doc, Annie, fabulosa! mil gracias.

AM, i'll leave in abt half an hour, just in time to miss Hit for Hait 2... btw i heard that Bondi Barbi and my Clakie broke up. aw sad face. well, not really but i offer the token sad face gesture anyway. :P

Annie and rafadoc: Great to hear that you are having fun ... try not to get arrested though!

Mina Too bad you cant cancel the lunch.Though at least you can tape it.That girl brought it on all by herself.She gets to keep the Aston Martin.I thought if you got your drivers licence you could have offered to drive it just to make sure the engine keeps running.

LOL AM, i got my license today. so yeah Clarkie can be my um, driving supervisor in that Aston :D

Vamos Rafadoc and Annie, have fun and brings good news!!!

"Nadal believes he can recapture domianance". And me too!!!

http://www.tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=4563&zoneid=4

Dominance, and not "domianance"

"MA: I stopped for a cig and start chatting with a photographer who was wearing a TalkaboutTennis cap. I asked him if he was involved with TAT and did he know Patrick aka Master Ace. He said "I own TAT and of course I know patrick! It was Kirk. Very nice guy."

Annie,
I "see" you met the man who runs TAT. At the moment, he is working on upgrading TAT by making a few changes. Glad that you and Rafadoc are having a blast with the Hit for Haiti coming up in approx 30 minutes. Justine said she will participate despite losing in 3 sets to Gisela.

Oh, btw, did Hart bring the proposed TW sign? I'm awaiting photographic evidence and credit! ;-)

Hehe, like Tim said, the writer of that article seems to be taking his cue from Djokovic circa RG '06.

Gimme a stream that's already up.

NP : espn360 is working for me.

VC, got the tip on the other thread, but thx.

Wow, Andre Agassi just let the world know what little class he really has on live international TV, ruining a charity night. Wow, Andre, what a joke you are.

has anybody seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LSekwhJfjM

btw 6:10-6:30, the audience perspective of Sampras blasting the serve at Agassi's head and Rog & Rafa's immediate reactions; I did not see this from TV and it's interesting that they both bent down immediately at the same time and went "oh boy...". Anyway must have been pretty awkward to having to deal with it at the charity event...

That Sampras blast seems pretty classless... took two to tango there I believe. I think Sampras cearly thought by the end that he had miscued with his long hug of Agassi at the night and then jumping (awkwardly..) in to say he loves Agassi in his comments at the end.

Go Wozniacki and Dulko!

It seems to me that both players could have taken a higher road last night but so can we all. Calling people 'classless' or a 'joke' isn't exactly classy, imo.
In the end, I still think some people are making too much out of the incident. While it seems to me there is some real tension between those two there is too much we don't know to really pass judgement on either... *shrugs*

In case Annie & Rafadoc check this thread at some today just wanted to say hi! I'm sure you and all others Twibers are having a grand time! Keep on enjoying!
I look forward to your detailed reports :)))

Tfactor

Agree - I just meant to point out it wasn't all Agassi...

Texastennis,

That's very true. Without having read the book myself, it seems that 'Open' has changed some people's opinions about Agassi for the worse (?)

Not sure if that was clear (I hardly slept so that may account for my not making too much sense) Mean to say Andre seems to be getting much more criticism following the publication of his book.

Anyway, in case anyone is interested and has access to ESPN deportes, they are replaying 'Hit for Haiti' right now. The ladies just concluded their match

Tfactor : Agree. Also, the "my rivalry is bigger than your rivalry" comments that came out in force yesterday were also a bit uncalled for.

VC,
Couldn't agree more. Different personalities, different dynamics.
I would think being from the same country alone adds something to the rivalry that Rafa & Roger will never experience.
Makes me think of Nalby and JMDP in that sense.

I'm not Master Ace :) but I'll try my hand at posting today's schedule (all times EST)

Stadium 1
2pm Delgado vs Verdasco
4pm Kuznetsova vs Suarez Navarro
6pm Zhalavova vs Clijsters
Scheuttler vs Nadal
10pm Svonareva vs Stephens
11.30pm Fish vs Djokovic

Things ar really quiet around here which I guess it's normal for a Saturday morning.

Anyway here is the schedule for other courts:

Stadium 2
2pm Azarenka vs Bammer
Davydenko vs Gulbis
Hutchings/Murray vs Blake/Roddick
Martic vs Jankovic
Isner vs Anderson
Chardy vs Querrey

Stadium 3
2pm Simon vs Dabul
Benneteau vs Ancic
Cilic vs Garcia Lopez
Hantuchova vs Vinci
Sevastova vs Ivanovic
Sibulkova vs Errani

Court 4
2pm Georges vs Wickmayer
Penneta vs Kvitova
Harrison vs Ljubicic
Mattek-Sands vs Peer
Koellerer vs Ferrero
Moya vs Belluci

Tfactor

Actually I think Open has changed more people's perspectives on Agassi for the better than changed for the worse, by far. (Take a look at the hundreds of reviews on Amazon.) But for a few people (who never liked him anyway) it confirmed their perceptions and you know strangely enough people who are that in to it are very likely to post emotionally on tennis message boards.

Texastennis,
That's interesting. The few people I've spoken to didn't seem to be too keen on some of the revelations about other players included in the book.
I own the book but haven't been able to make a decision on whether to read it or not (I was/am a big fan of Andre's)

Tfactor,
Well done as we should see some action starting at 2 PM on TV or streaming.

Thanks Master Ace :)

Here is the rest of the schedule (except for the last two courts where only doubles action will be played)

Court 5
2pm Cuevas vs Troicki
Damm/Stepanek vs Llodra/Ram
Pavlyuchenkova vs Sprem
Coin vs Stosur

Court 6
2pm Dulghero vs Martinez Sanchez
Kirilenko/Radwanska vs Dushevina/Rodionova
Berdych vs Serra
Monaco vs Fognini
Kohlschreiber vs Petzchner

thanks for the OOP, Tfactor. you (Master) Aced it hehe. it's very late here in Oz so i'm putting off watching my taped HfH 2. though i'm not even a bit surprised in seeing heated comments here re Andre/Pete

Oh, no...... just as I was getting excited about the comeback (again) of Ancic, now he's got to play Julien? I like Benneteau a lot, but man it would feel good if Mario could get past him.

Thanks Mina :))

Oh I really, really want Mario to do well! It's just so nice to see him back.

Thanks, Tfactor.

Davydenko vs Gulbis sounds interesting. A lot of good matches today. Plus, of course, Rafa will finally be back.

VAMOS!

And Nalby is back too! Hope to see him follow up the DC win with good play and going deep in this tournament.

OMG, total surprise on Juju, but she will be back with her best. It will be the battle of the Stella's with Caro and Kirilenko. Hopefully the better player will win, but that doesn't always happen. Go Caro, Scandinavia's#1!

hey twibers! we're having a tremendous time - am totes loving the desert, as usual. (hair straight, no wookiness atall, despite the heat!)

todays oop is just killing me. SO much goodness, and i just KNOW i'm going to miss people. am bailing on the center court, despite my lovely seats, to prowl the outer courts.

saw nalbie yesterday - he looked really good. bit of a bobble to get broken, but in general moving beautifully and just all his shots are clicking. he's also in great shape.

saw reeshard go down, very very close match. he and gruel were evenly matched, greul /gruel served quite well and his backhand was crazy - the way he was bending it was nuts. came down to a couple points.

saw a wee bit of elena (3rd set) she is sooooo fit it almost sent me straight off for an ice cream sundae in depression.

hit for haiti hilarious, andre like an 8 year old drunk on the success of his own funniness who just pushes that much too far.

feddy just so goofy and funny and not afaid to be silly, (his kids are going to LOVE playing with him. you know he's going to be sitting in a tiny chair, knees to his chin, drinking tea with his daughter's teddy bears in a couple years) rafa remains such a good sport to continue to do this type of event. its got to be so hard for him to play and follow the comments and yet he makes the best of it and seems to be enjoying himself out there. crowd completely into the event, good time had by all i think.

waiting for susan and tari, then going for breakfast. we need to get out there early and plan carefully, as its going to be a madhouse - place completely sold out....

later all - enjoy the tennis!

Thanks for the report JB. I totally get the hair thing living in a very humid enviroment.

Keep on enjoying everything and just think most of all would love to have your dilemma of choosing what to watch live :)

*sigh*
I meant to say 'most of US' not all

jb - I love when there's so many good matches, you don't even feel bad for skipping the center court. And my envy is only increasing with this hideous downpour back East.

It will be good to see Nadal play again....

Of course, the highlight will be the Swiss geezer tommorrow. Fed must be one of the 3 or 4 oldest guys in the draw.

jb: thanks so much for your report!

jb... enjoyed your blithe, sanguine perspective on the Sampras-Agassi affair that is causing so much sturm und drang elsewhere.

JB,
Thanks for the report from IW.

Hey jb, are you the first one up and about? Those lazy ladies still sleeping in. Tell them they wont get pictures of the players if they dont come down early to breakfast. Thanks for the updates guys this is so awesome. I have a question does Federer not eat in the main dining room of the hotel where he is staying at these events, or does he get room service all the time? I dont think I have ever read a report where people have seen him eating *wonders whether he is indeed an alien

Are we staying here for the matches?

I was on the other post

I have Kim and Ana on my tv screen

jb - Roger is just a big kid! I can so see him having great fun with his daughters in the picture you painted and agree with you about Rafa; he is a dear, sweet person and I loved when he told Agassi to slow down! ;)) Glad the crowd had fun.

I’m with tina here in the rain and the forceful wind but so glad the weather is good for you guys. Some really good matches so go and have fun! Hi to all the Twibers!!

I will wake up.Fox are replaying the Madison Square expo lol!

Boy, its a good thing the internets weren't so big in the days of Pete and Andre. The Samrpassi Wars would have made the Fedal fights seem like itty bitty skirmishes. Apparently we have to choose up sides between the 'Classless Jerk' and the "Witless Drone."
Personally, I blame the whole thing on Fed and Rafa. Soon as Andre said anything out of line, Fed should have cleaned his clock with a FH and then Rafa should have rifled off one of HIS killer FHs at Pete. That's what dubs in all about, right? Having your partner's back? Clearly, both Rafa and Fed let down the side.

Hey jb! Say a special hi to Tari for me.

JK - Kolya said some time around the AO that Fed just orders room service all the time.

Aussiemarg,
My guess is we will be here at the Deuce Club as the other thread is on the 12th page.

Nic, thanks for that. I guess he would get mobbed for autographs if he came down to breakfast, lunch and dinner with the wife and kids. Must be quite tedious though. I know when I go to hotels I always like to mix and mingle and meet folks

Yes, I think we should be here for match calls today as well. I thought tennis did not start until 2pm EST

Master Ace Thanks.

I have never seen Roger either at breakfast and I have stayed at the same hotel.I personally rather eat my breakfast in my room.

Hi everyone,

JB, I loved your report. Say hello to Tari from me (Marian). Have fun and check on Jeremy Chardy for me if you have time. It will be around 4 am my time. Just saying.

The whole Hit for Haiti exho has been uploaded on youtube. Weird camera angle in comparison with the TV-feed.

The amazing volleys from Roger are on the first part at 5:45.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BNPParibasOpen#p/u/5/cLvllw73vA4

Next door thread getting a bit out of hand what with all the racist stuff etc. I have to say that sports seems to perpetuate ill feelings amongst fans that you do not see elsewhere. It is like sports brings out the worst in people rather than the best. Fortunately this only seems to rear its ugly head at sports at the professional level. I know that there have been instances where it has reared its head at the amateur level (Olympics etc) but you would think that something as wonderful as people competing against each other in their various fields of endeavour and releasing all those pent up hormones would bring relief to fans, but quite contrarily all it does is evoke anger against other fans. Why is this?