Tennis-prose.com correspondent Michael Onello attended day one of the 2026 BNP Paribas Open and said it was the first time in ten years that he did not have to wait on any lines to see any matches. Crowds are down this year so far early first week.
Lindsay Davenport defended the decision to give Venus Williams another wildcard because “tournaments have a lot of wildcards” to use and the veteran still loves the game and competing and seeing what she can get out of her game. Williams dropped to 0-5 on the year losing in three sets to Diane Parry. Williams described the windy conditions yesterday as “impossible” to play in. She also complained during the match that the water was not cold enough and demanded colder water.
Rising star Cristina Bucsa has no sponsors, no social media, just her dad as coach and she reads metaphysics. She followed up her Merida title with a 1R win 64 60 over Vidmanova.
Roland Garros girls’ singles champion Lilli Tagger won her first WTA 1000 match.
Indian Wells doubles pairings…Djokovic/Tsitsipas… Sinner/Opelka… Medvedev/Tien… Khachanov/Rublev… Rinderknech/Vacherot… Korda/Auger-Aliassime.
Practice court conversation overheard between Sabalenka and Rublev… – Sabalenka: “Just get a little trim. Get rid of all that negativity. You know hair holds onto energy, right?” – Rublev: “I’m super positive, what are you talking about?”
Our correspondent was at Tsitispas vs Shapovalov and he heard and saw Apostoulos Tsitsipas coaching Stefanos from the other end and he was chattering non stop, “yelling bravo after Shapo errors.” Umpire Mo Lahyani “looked directly at him and gave a soft warning which was not obeyed.”
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Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2026 at 9:50 am
2R showdowns…
Zverev-Berrettini
Monfils-Auger Aliassime
Shelton-Opelka
Fonseca-Khachanov
Rublev-Diallo
Paul-Bergs
Steve · March 6, 2026 at 10:21 am
Seeing glimpses of the monstrosity known as the MGM Slam has killed the vibes.I’m sure Fonseca needed matches but the whole event rubbed me the wrong way. Everyone that played it looked like a bunch of glib millionaires all while we Ameriacns have been sucked into a new war. The timing of it was just off and tone deaf.
Maybe this is part of the reason for shorter lines at Indian Wells so far.
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2026 at 12:23 pm
Steve, NO lines. IW has been very good so far from my vantage point in FL except for the Venus yawner. Borg, Rios, Federer, Chang, Seles, Capriati, Graf, Hingis, all knew when to get out but Venus does not. She’s just a punching bag now. I still remember Richard saying when they were teens they would be out of tennis doing other things by 30. Boy, was he wrong.
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2026 at 8:41 pm
Rakhimova had Gauff on the ropes up 52 in the second in control and then for the rest of the match she let Coco off the hook. She was afraid to beat the American hero. Fear of success. Rakhimova was a different player in finishing off Andreescu two nights ago. I would say Andreescu is close to playing top 20 tennis again based on the effort she showed vs Rakhimova… Tommy Haas wearing a wig?… Felix finished off Monfils, the greatest showman entertainer this century or beyond. Monfils got a huge ovation from the crowd as always no matter where he plays he’s the adopted adored hero. He’s Harlem Globetrotters, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, all in one. Very good win for Foe vs Brooksby.
Sam · March 9, 2026 at 4:16 am
Interesting that Djokovic is playing doubles with his “compatriot” Tsitsipas. 😏
Scoop Malinowski · March 9, 2026 at 8:42 am
Sam, My guess is Tsitsipas asked and Novak accepted )
Sam · March 19, 2026 at 4:53 am
Scoop, at least they made it past the first match, which was pretty impressive.