Indian Wells Event Finds Garden Spot

The star of the 2000 Indian Wells Tennis Masters Series has a high price tag and will hog the spotlight.

No, it’s not a player.

The diva is a stadium.

This year, the focus is on concrete and luxury suites. Sure, there will be concerns about the usual stuff--running forehand winners and running Davis Cup debates--but the spotlight of the tennis world the first few weeks of March will be on the new $75-million tennis facility on a 50-acre complex in Indian Wells.

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden rests a few forehands down the road--less than two miles away--from the former site, the Hyatt Grand Champions. There will be some similarities to the old event--as usual, a top-flight field. Like the Grand Slam events, men and women are playing, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

The women’s event, featuring 80 players, starts with first-round action on Friday. Qualifying is Wednesday and Thursday. Men’s qualifying is Saturday and Sunday, and first-round play begins March 13. The men’s draw has been increased to 64, up from 56.

As always, the final weekend will be hectic. The men’s semifinals and the women’s final are March 18, and the men’s final is March 19. Last year’s winners, Mark Philippoussis of Australia and Serena Williams are both scheduled to return. The 1999 event was highlighted by a new No. 1 on the men’s side, Carlos Moya of Spain, who lost to Philippoussis in the final, and an electric women’s final, as Williams defeated Steffi Graf in three sets.

Graf retired last year, and Moya has been hampered the last few months by a chronic back injury.

But he is scheduled to be at Indian Wells, as are most of the top male players, including Australian Open champion Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, Patrick Rafter of Australia and Marcelo Rios of Chile. Rafter, Rios and Sampras are coming off injuries.

As of now, two of the top 20 men won’t be playing at Indian Wells. Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, a quarterfinalist last year, is sidelined by surgery on his left knee on Jan. 31, and 1999 U.S. Open finalist Todd Martin is out with an injured left ankle.

All of the top women are expected to play, with the exception of Venus Williams and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain. Williams, who has been sidelined because of tendinitis in both wrists, was never scheduled to play singles, and Sanchez-Vicario withdrew a few days ago because of an injury.

Other withdrawals on the women’s side include Mary Joe Fernandez, Belgian teenager Justine Henin and Barbara Schwartz of Austria. The resurgent Jennifer Capriati replaced Sanchez-Vicario and organizers are still holding out hope that Venus Williams will accept a wild-card spot or play doubles with her sister, Serena.

FAST FACTS

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden is on Miles Avenue. The site has room for 7,000 parking spots, including 3,000 south of Miles Avenue. There is a parking tunnel running under Miles Avenue to the complex.

None of the sessions are sold out, but organizers said they already have sold more tickets than last year. Ticket prices range from $15-$60 and packages from $75-$500. Details: (800) 999-1585. Tickets are also available on the Internet at www.masters-series.com.

DAVIS CUP, PART III

Sampras has been busy, promoting the upcoming Davis Cup quarterfinal against the Czech Republic with a series of interviews as well as getting ready for his charity golf event today. He spoke about repairing his relationship with Davis Cup captain John McEnroe. (When Sampras pulled out of the Zimbabwe match because of a hip injury he felt his integrity was challenged by McEnroe.)

“It wasn’t the way we wanted to start off the year,” Sampras said. “I felt better after the call, when he finally called. I heard some things I needed to hear from him and I told him how I felt about it.”

Sampras reconfirmed he is on board for the rest of the year, having rearranged his schedule for Davis Cup. There is a possible semifinal match at either Spain or Russia in July shortly after Wimbledon, and Sampras said he will probably miss the Los Angeles event at UCLA.

“It’s not going to be easy, something has to suffer,” he said. “It’s probably my ranking. But I know that. I’m not going to play all of the Master Series events, but Davis Cup isn’t about your ranking. It’s about being part of the team, playing for your country.”

MAC MOMENTS

McEnroe, on a conference call to announce the participation of Agassi and Sampras in the Davis Cup, said the surface at the Great Western Forum against the Czech Republic in the Cup quarterfinals in April will not be lightning fast.

“A medium-slow hard-court surface,” he said. “I think it favors us a little. We’re in good shape either way. I think the other guys we’re playing against would prefer a faster court. We’re not going to play on a fast court that best suits them. It’s going to be a court where people can play some good tennis.”

He expects to see Jiri Novak and Slava Dosedel in the singles matches.

“Novak got to the round of 16 of the [U.S.] Open and Dosedel got to the quarters,” he said. “They’re dangerous. It’s like going into a game where you’re a two-touchdown favorite in the Super Bowl. If you slack off and don’t go in prepared, it could cost you. Andre and Pete, for starters, are professional enough to know that the reason they have sporting events is because you can’t assume the match is going to be over before it is played.”

Eventually, somehow, talk turned to McEnroe’s old rival, Ivan Lendl. McEnroe was asked what he liked the most and least about Lendl. He said he admired his work ethic.

“What I liked least about him, I’d probably say his sense of humor, because I don’t think he had one,” McEnroe said. “The good news was that I was ranked high enough where I didn’t have to laugh at his jokes. The guys that are ranked below, they have to sort of pretend like what he said was funny.”