I like Roddick, but I had to smile at Ljubicic's win. He's gracious, intelligent, and witty in his way. And a pretty good tennis player, too.

First?

Well, I just might be the happiest fan this side of the Atlantic! Bravo, majstore!

when JJ won a 3 set battle earlier this tournament, I thought to myself, this will be what finally gets her back on track-I hope I'm right. Too bad for roddick.

I'm so glad for Ljubicic!

He so deserves this title!!

that'S amazing Ivan

I'm smiling. Congrats Ivan. First Croat win:) Firsts are always smile-worthy.

I'm not sure it's the first Croatian win. Goran Ivanesevic won alot of events. I'm assuming he won some Masters series tournaments. I don't know for sure but assume so.

Amazing. It really was a great week. I have to say, I'm glad to hear Ljubicic's name back in the mix, and I hope he has some success at the majors this year. Good for him! And who knows, maybe Jankovic will have a resurgence as well.

"Ljubicic's appreciation is a function of his age and his background, of course—he’s 31, and he knows all about not getting everything he wants"

That is so well written and about summarizes it all.

I am sincerely glad that Ivan won.
Congratulations to Jelena and Ivan.

can't believe roddick finally gets away from playing federer or nadal at the end of a tourny and he still loses. Tough loss big guy.

And also, perfect article title.

Cannot believe how much useless spin Roddick puts on the ball. His pseudo attacking game does not translate well to powerful ground strokes, thus allowing players to rally with him all day long.

Beatiful final paragraph, as always. Very inspiring.

well said. it was a very fitting end to a wild tournament. I am very happy for JJ and Ivan. One should get back on track and start dreaming about Grand Slams. The other is closing on a great career.

Didn't it seem like Luby played a lot of slow balls? I remember him as a solid striker of the ball.....seemed to me in both his semi and final that he purposely changed paces a lot....hit some really slow balalls, and even moon balls, then just stepped up with the big backhand once in a while......I think it made him more consistant. Many commentators talk about players who use spin, but it seems like a lot of guys are making their bones using change of pace as well.....Murray, and Djokovic being two others.

Bravo Jelena and Ivan! Happy for both of you.

@Tina
Za raliku od tebe mnogi Srbi ne mrze kao ti.

Poor Roddick. His ground game has no penetration, he merely stands there and rallies and generally just hopes the other guy misses.
And when he comes up against an opponent with a serve as good as his he's clueless.
Serve and volley on the first point of a tiebreak against a guy with the quality of Lujbicic's passing game?
Way to go Andy.
I know the surface at IW is slow but Lujbicic was able to hit some high quality winners and not just rally.
Roddick had a first rate forehand once, where is it?
It's been buried in an avalanche of topspin and caution.

Bravo Jelena i Ivane!!
Balkan Wells again.

Jelena, a confidence booster to get you back on the right track.
A convincing performance!

This has indeed been quite a surprise. I expected Roddick's serve to rescue him when it matters, but that was not the way the Tennis Gods planned it. This has been one of the most eventful tournaments.

I loved the last paragraph, it is truly heart-warming to look at it from your perspective.
Madhur
www.discusstennis.wordpress.com

I always feel compelled to point out when your writings have been less than desirable. For instance, when you constantly write about Sharapova even though she hasn't been much of a contender at a slam recently. But I will say this article is one of your best. Great comparison on monetary success vs the glory of tennis history. Please give us more articles like this Steve. Thanks.

Agree with Paul about Andy R - although not completely. There were some excellent rallies here where Andy used the spin to create severe angles and run Ljub about for some winners. But it is depressing to see someone so capable with his forehand retreat into a Murray-like backboard shell.

Unlike Murray, Andy HAS a great forehand, we saw it early in his career, we saw it at Wimbledon last year and we saw it bigtime in the 3rd and 4th sets of his loss to Marin Cilic when it was go big or go home time. Roddick's biggest weaknesses are his mediocre service return, where he primarily blocks the ball back, and his (quite) poor sense of anticipation, which shows up again in his serve return, but even more importantly, in his net game. His decisions about when to approach, what shot to come in behind and where the passing shot is going are easily the worst part of his game, and the bit Federer has ruthlessly exploited in the past.

Great win for Ljubicic though, esp to come through over Djok, Nadal AND Roddick, well deserved. And I was incredibly excited to see Jelena Jankovic showing winning form and playing so well - that's the form that took her to #1 in the world, and it's refreshing to see her so solid.

" wins here doesn’t win at Roland Garros or Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. In 2009, " and so it is a measure of Fed's greatness, in his heyday, that he did precisely what you state is not done: in 2004 he wins IW and Hamburg and Wimbledon and USO ... in 2005 he wins IW and Miami and Wimbledon and USO ... and in 2006 he wins IW and Miami and Wimbledon and USO

Bravo Ivan!!! We were rooting for you in our household and we are so pleased with your win. Well done. On the other hand, Jankovic and Wozniacki getting to the final is an indication of how weak the women's field actually is.

well said, tignor. they should get rid of bodo and have you write twice as much.

Congratulations Ivan and Jelena!

What a "Goranesque" win for Ivan today ! Just like Ivanisevic at Wimbledon, he finally wins his 4th Masters Series final upsetting one top seed after another.

Two years ago Darren Cahill suggested that Ivan's ranking went down after he got a lucrative contract to switch from Babolat to Head. His wife also had complications during her pregnancy, and Ivan admitted that it did affect his game and schedule. He fell as low as #75 last June, but has been climbing back steadily ever since winning Lyon last fall and finishing the year at #26. Ivan had already beaten other Top 10 players like Simon, DelPotro, Tsonga, and Verdasco on his way back last year, so the old man definitely belongs in the Top 20 where he should have always been the last couple years anyway...Welcome back Ivan !

PS:
To Sid Bachrach...Ivan is the first Croat to win at Indian Wells, but Ivanisevic has indeed won 2 Masters Series (Stockholm and Paris) before. It's an easy check for any player on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanisevic

Correction: Ivan finished 2009 as #24.

I wouldn't beat up on Andy Roddick too much for this match. He won exactly as many points as Ljubicic today: the only problem was that the Croat got to win the last point in each set. Just rearrange the point order and we're talking about Roddick's steel under pressure, new found fitness, and Ljubicic's inability to rise to the big occasion.

Nice writing, Steve. It was fun working with you this week.

What a great article. Thank you very much.

@larrleah
part of the reason a win here doesn't mean much at the GS, is the different format for the men (2/3 v. 3/5). Do you really think Nadal loses to Ljubi in best of 5? If so, watch the match again. Ljubi was out of gas at the end of that match already. He loses 1 and 0 in the 4th and 5th sets in a 3/5 format. That's why this doesn't translate to the GS. Furthermore, the mighty Fed hasn't been doing much at these Masters events over the past three years but, boy, he sure has got the GS thing down. He's lost to tons of people at ATP 1000 events who he's gone on to crush in GS (think Murray, '10 AO final). Nuff said. So Ljubi will celebrate his win here, which was awesome, but he understands, as well, what it all means and what it doesn't mean.

Steve, I always loved your predictions, because they are funny. Please, do not give up. We need more lough in this World. Kidding a little bit, of course, but you know how good you are at predictions. On the other side, you are very good journalist and tennis analyst. Go on! Regardless of that I believed that Ljubicic, after beating Djokovic, and Jankovic, after seeing her playing better and better, could win this tournament, everything was strangely unpredictable.

happy for you ljubicic, you're number one after seeing the final! and a croat as well=)

This is great sucess for Ljubicic, I am so glad that he won and I hope that he will be in such good form when we play against Serbia in Davis Cup.

Congratulations to both Ivan and Jelena... but before I start betting my money on JJ being back to previous form I'll wait to see what it translates for as to consistency,after all she won Cincy last year and went to sleep again for a while,I believe that more and more upcoming players will give her trouble because they have the same type of game as her,that is to say send the ball back to your opponent side of the court,that's no much for GRAND SLAM excellent results!!!
Good luck though and welcome back to the winner circle,hopefully you'll start smiling again!!!

Steve - Tremendous coverage of the tournament. One has to feel good for Jankovic and Ljubicic - two players that must have gone into the tournament not expecting what happened. Both are very hard workers - it is always good to see someone not at the top win one for a change. And thanks for the terrific blogs - you made the matches come alive. You have our permission to take a week off.

Ljubicic - A mediocre winner for one of the most mediocre Masters 1000 in history. If I was the Indian Wells' tournament director, I would be furious.
Jelena - She saved the credibility of the women's field at the very last minute. She also proved that Wozniacki is nothing more than a good top ten player.

"Bravo Ivan!!! We were rooting for you in our household and we are so pleased with your win. Well done. On the other hand, Jankovic and Wozniacki getting to the final is an indication of how weak the women's field actually is."

Elly,
Good for Ivan and Jelena to win the title. As far as how weak the WTA field, can we say the same thing about the ATP field despite the Top 4 playing? Also, Ivan was seeded 20 while both of the WTA finalists were seeded 2 and 6. Jelena was number 1 in 2008 and Caroline is making to finals consistently only to lose to former number 1 these days.

I do love Jelena ... amazing legs

How about a Bravo! for another (wonderful for us Rafa fans) surprise - Nadal and Marc Lopez winning the doubles.

"But hearing him talk so lovingly about that little shield was the best surprise of all this week."

AMEN!!!!!

Well done, Ljubi-I was very HAPPY 4 U!

I'm very happy for Ljubi, one of the players not Rafa whom I've always had a soft spot for. Steve, this tribute to him glows. I especially like the closing lines. Thank you.

From my living room seat, I'd say the best man won, hands down. I've always liked Ljubicic, but this week he showed some real class and a fighting spirit that quite frankly I wasn't certain he possessed. He's an intellignet, thoughtful person and a fine player, and I'm very happy that he came through. He was also extremely gracious to Roddick in his acceptance remarks. Very classy.

Very nice. I was happy for both winners. Ljubicic's serve obviously was working well, but I was struck by how hard he seemed to be hitting the ball, relying more on the brute strength of his arm than racket-head speed, or at least that's how it looked on television.

jojo, yes it did seem that Ljubicic was deliberately slowing things down, and it worked. In his match with Nadal he seemed to be forcing Nadal to play at his pace. Roddick, who normally seems a quick,impatient player, also seemed content to plod along a Ljubicic's stately pace.

Thanks Steve for your more regular than normal posting this past week, it really made IW from a distance much more fun than just reading match news. Keep up the good work and I hope you love your job!

a nice article that paid homage to a nice guy who won at last. It also cheerfully ignored that IW appears to the tournament none of the top players could be bothered winning. I got the feeling the elite regarded the tournament as one if they did ok that was fine but they sure as hell were not going to dig in deep to win. The same will probably go for Miami. These tournaments mean nothing to the top players. The weather is good, the money is fine but the real season starts on the clay. This part of the season is a bit like the post US Open and pre Masters part of the season, lesser players win because the top guys are taking it relatively easy. The only difference is that IW and Miami mean less than the Indoor season as the Indoor season can at least be regarded as some form of preparation for the Masters Finals (or whatever they are called these days). The organisers of Rotterdam, Dubai, IW and Miami can look forward to many years of sub par performances by the top players, as these tournaments in the grand scheme of things just do not matter.

>>> Posted by md
>>>These tournaments mean nothing to the top players.

Right! Even though Nadal hardly to beat another top player for almost a year, he is sure not interested to beat tier 2 player. Just bring him Federer, and he will show us !

Actually, this is perfect strategy. From now on, whenever I loose in my club, I just will tell that I am not motivated enough, unless I play Federer, or at least DelPo.
For anyone else, please, just don't bother ...

@md, understand your point, however, here are the former men/women winners in Miami over the last 10 years...all except 1 of the women was in the top 5 when they won. Even if you go back further, others like #1 Steffi Graff were consistant winners in Miami. Not sure about the other tournaments but easy to look up. Maybe going forward top players may not perform as well at IW, Miami and Dubai, but that has yet to be a reality in Miami.

2009 Andy Murray Viktoria Azarenka (played Serena in the final)
2008 Nikolay Davydenko Serena Williams
2007 Novak Djokovic Serena Williams
2006 Roger Federer Svetlana Kuznetsova
2005 Roger Federer Kim Clijsters
2004 Andy Roddick Serena Williams
2003 Andre Agassi Serena Williams
2002 Andre Agassi Serena Williams
2001 Andre Agassi Venus Williams
2000 Pete Sampras Martina Hingis
1999 Richard Krajicek Venus Williams

Hello everyone,

Like both the first poster and Slice-n-Dice have allready pointed out: Ljubicic is intelligent! Smarter then Roddick, imo.

And if you add Roddick's poor return and Ljubicic's serve (that I had initially picked as a model among all, last year), there you have it.

Steve - you often really do write superbly . Especially like the phrase, "intimidatingly competent" re Wozniacki. Apt, very perceptive and wonderfully expressed. And funny.

Andrew - yes, but it DIDN'T go the other way. You theory is just a bit in the 'if wishes were horse, etc...' I don't meant your personal wishes of course, just the overall sense of what you wrote. Very few matches turn on the zero number of points that separated Andy and Ivan yesterday, but many, many matches, especially when top players face each other, turn on very few points. That's the game. Winner takes all.

I think the poster who commented on Andy's overall tennis lack of anticipation made a very good point. Off court, Andy seems 'smarter than the average bear,' and funnier as well, but his ON court intelligence I often let's him down. He can be quite smart about using his serve, but the rest frequently eludes him.

Anyway, good for Ivan and JJ. JJ will probably add another wing to her house.

very good JJ.
go jj.....

The majesty of his measured strides, the cool remaining when misfiring, the calm confidence radiating out of his face - Ivan, the role model per excellence!
There is as much depth in him as height.

I was there too and thought the men's final was an excellent match from both sides. Ivan just played really cleanly, served big at the right time, upped his level in both tiebreaks and was really clocking his backhand down the line, both during the rallies and for outright winners. I'd forgotten just how good his backhand is...he doesn't hit it with the same velocity or flair as Gasquet, Fed, Haas, Gonzalez, etc., but it is a VERY pretty and cleanly hit shot.
Andy would have had an excellent chance had the match gone to three, but honestly, from the way Ivan was playing, I would have picked him even in three. And of course, both post-match speeches were excellent. It was clear just how much the win meant to Ivan, in particular - he just glowed and it was such a wonderful moment when he thanked his family.
It's funny...I've been to Indian Wells several times now and always enjoy it enormously. Yet, after Rafa lost we almost decided against driving down. I think it was a function of our incredulity over how crazy the draw had turned out. I mean, NO one predicted Roddick v. Ljubicic and Jankovic v. Wozniacki. (And as a huge Rafa fan, I really wanted to see him!) And yet, as soon as we got there, lulled into being by the mountains and the palm trees, I was reminded that every big tournament has a story and that the story can be written in the most unexpected of ways. You captured that beautifully, Steve.

Two points for me here:

1) I completely disagree with those saying the IW women's results show a lack of quality for the whole field. It's actually USO 09 and AO 10 which would show that point, IW 10 is a step in the right direction. The recent two grand slams featured two women just barely back from retirement mowing down the field, one winning it all and one losing in the final. That speaks poorly for the rest of the field. (Can you imagine this happening on the men's side? There is no man who could take a year completely off, come back, and advance past the 4th round.) However, IW 10 shows that it still takes time, and rightfully so, for players on the comeback trail to reach the top. And the presence of Jankovic and Wozniacki in the final is very good, showing that variety, craftiness, strategy, quickness, endurance, and mental toughness are indeed key factors in the women's game and that it's not all about mindlessly blasting every shot as hard as you can.

2) For all the talk of Nadal dropping to #4, he will reach #1 again this year by August or September. Some errant forehands against Ljubicic notwithstanding, his form was the best of the top 4 ranked players by far. Keep in mind that he has few points to defend at the French and none at Wimbledon. Federer will not be able to defend all his points.

Congratulations to J.J and Jlubici and to they clothing brand, is to much coincidence that they used the same brand of clothing...:)

Hi all.....enjoyed Steve's take on the finals. Pretty spot on....i think it's hard for any of us to disagree with his comments and his capturing the ultimate essence of this tournament experience.

As mentioned a couple of times here....Roddick's tennis IQ just neutralizes his natural physical weapons at times. It's hard to root against him b/c he's really a character and mostly seems to "get it". But he makes these finals sometimes and you just scratch your head wondering how he loses some of these matches against an opponent he may match up well with.

It will be interesting to see how both JJ and Wozz follow up this performance. The rest can't hurt Justine, Kim, and Vee (is Ree playing IW?). Caro is at a point where it seems difficult not to envision her at least making the QF of any tourney she enters. JJ I kind of feel the same way....unless she gets an unlucky draw.

Have a good day all!

You picked the wrong Croat for the men's win Steve. You were at least correct by nationality.

well of course GS are different from Masters, that's stating the obvious. Nor does it diminish the point made, that Fed, IN HIS HEYDAY, could win the sequence of tournaments that Steve suggested could not be done. And take a close look at the Nadal semifinal: Ljubicic not only outplayed Nadal but outtricked him on at least 2 points in the tie breaker.

Yay Lubi!!! By the way, do other fans spell his nickname with an "i" or a "y"? Lubi or not Luby...? That is the question.

@Darko - I was happy for both Jelena and Ivan, same as you. What's your problem?

Oh and congrats to you JJ as well. I wanna see you smiling while you are playing defense again. Oh and through in some splits as well. Steve calls you a drama queen but I think you are just crazy fun.

CaliforniaAce, your appreciation of the points situation is a little optimistic to say the least. Some points to consider:
1) Roger now 11,035 and Rafa 6,800
2) Rafa is defending 3,280 points on clay, Roger 3,810, so even if Rafa cleans up and ends with say 4,000 and Roger loses around 2,000 (about the worst-case scenario for Federer and best for Nadal), then the gap has only been closed by around 2,500 points.
3) Roger may not win Wimby either, but does anyone realistically think he won't make the final (losing 800), while the chances of Rafa making the final are rather less assured, I would have thought, but a semi seems safe (if the knees are still working), which still leaves Roger ahead.
4) Haven't factored in Miami or Halle (Roger) or Queens (Rafa), or what damage Nole (who is currently comfortably always on the opposite side of the draw from Roger) may do to Rafa's claycourt resurgence.

All in all, the sequence of events to get Rafa back to #1 seems to me deeply improbable.

Ljubicic's victory, in my eyes, made this tournament a little more special than it otherwise might have been. Much as I'm a fan of Fed and respect Rafa, another Masters shield for either wouldn't have seemed very career-altering. For a guy like Ljubucic ... well, that shield and that abstract trophy mean as much to him as a first Slam to a younger player, maybe even more given Ljubicic's advanced age.

The semi-ironic thing is it came at the expense of Roddick, who may not have many Masters shield victories left in his own bag, let alone another Slam title.

Anyway, surprising tournament to say the least, and going back to Tignor's March Madness allusion, if someone had asked me last week at what was more likely to happen -- Northern Iowa knocking off Kansas or Ivan Ljubicic winning IW -- I would've chosen Northern Iowa.

@Tina

Sorry, I tought you are someone else. My bad.

Nadal looked alot better to me in IW, much more aggression, closer to the baseline and FH working really well and a close loss to Ivan in three sets in SF.
All in all, this was best I have seen him play in last 6 or 8 months.

Ivan Ljubicic the "Kisser" (poljubac=kiss)

Congrats to Ivan and Jelena, respectively! Dunno about you guys, but i love JJ's physical fitness, and as Steve pointed out, she got her signature shot back - winner down the line with a backhand parallel ;) she looks good for the rest of the season... ;)

ok, Darko, nema problema. I support all Serb and Croat players.

Ronald - as long as you get the j in there (LJUB-) it hardly matters if you use an i or a y at the end. But to call him Lubby or Lubbi is sorta like calling someone named Janet "Jane".

Fed took a 'no show' at Washington last year, so he'll be able to pick up points in August, when Rafa typically starts showing some wear and tear. Rafa's climb to #1 will occur when Fed lightens his load, as a matter of course.
2010? nah.
I predict Fed will be off the pedestal, for good, the next time he steps down. That could be 3 more years, after he reaches 20 major wins. Hopefully he won't cry about it.

Steve - I have thought a lot about the whole 'to declare/to not declare an injury' without coming to much in the way of a conclusion. Other than working within the 'if you show up you are fit to play,' only, sort of flies in the face of reality. Sometimes. Of course, the record books will never show if a player was injured/ill; nor should they. But if one of the two players on court has an injury, not seeing it, not talking about it, in the day to day discourse about the game seems silly to me.

To avoid a Fedal war, let's use Davydenko as an example. Turns out the guy had been playing his way through several tournaments with a broken wrist. Not broken in the sense he had a bone breaking through skin, but broken nontheless. Do we ignore that in assessing his less than stellar results in the last few tourneys since the AO? Or do we simply factor that in as ONE aspect upon which a match might turn? Seems crazy to me not to do that latter.