The exits of Zverev and Tsitsipas means Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who is seeded 21st, is the top seed left in the final four. –Firstpost 16 October 16, 2021

Tennis paradise at Indian Wells 

By Roger Childs

Indian Wells is located 200 km east of Los Angeles in the desert lands of Southern California. The massive, attractively laid out Tennis Garden and the BNP Parabas tournament is owned by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and it is here that the 2021 ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) 1000 tournament is reaching the finals. 

In the women’s section twelfth seed Ons Jabeur from Tunisia will play Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, seeded 27, while in the men’s tournament the finalists will be decided tonight.

The Indian Wells tournament is very efficiently organized, however there is a very relaxed atmosphere. The spectators are always enthusiastic and enjoy dancing and chanting to music during the breaks. The camera work is excellent and no-one in the crowd is safe!  If they appear on the big screen they wave and smile. 

The ball kids are attractively dressed and on one day the teenagers were replaced by 60+ men! The participants play hard, but get into the relaxed mood. A nice recent touch was when men’s semi-finalist, Grigor Dimitrov, extracted a ball caught under a bar for one of the ball girls. 

Lower seeds make the men’s semi-finals

There have been plenty of upsets in the men’s draw and an early casualty was top seed and US Open winner Danill Medvedev who was beaten by 23rd seed Grogor Dimitrov 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the fourth round. Then number two and three seeds Alexander Zverev and Stephanos Tsitsipas, were beaten in three sets in the quarter finals. 

High quality tennis and entertainment have featured throughout, and the rise of youngsters like Briton Cameron Norrie and local Californian Taylor Fritz has to be good for the game. So in tonight’s men’s semi-finals there is not one of the top 20 seeds!

  • Cameron Norrie (21) plays Gregor Dimitrov (23)
  • Taylor Fritz (31) plays Nikoloz Basilashvili (29)

It’s very hard to predict winners in the finals because there have so many upsets along the way. 

One certainty is that there will be first time winners in this year’s men’s and women’s tournaments and they will each receive 1000 ranking points.