Concerns Turn to Women’s Draw

Finally, financial news can be nudged into the background -- well, sort of -- now that survival of the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells has been assured in time for this year’s tennis tournament.

The near miss has dominated recent headlines and news stories.

“I can tell you that I’ve had maybe one of the toughest years I’ve ever had in my life, just the anxiety of not being able to know whether we’re going to be able to keep this event here,” said Charlie Pasarell, one of the event’s owners.

Pasarell was speaking during an official announcement last week of a new partnership group that had bought out IMG’s interest, helping keep the event in Southern California. The management firm, IMG, had owned 50% of the tournament, and Pasarell and his partner Raymond Moore the other half.

Before it came together, who had time to worry and wonder about things like a relatively weak women’s draw this year, especially if the event was to be moved in 2007?

Strength of field, however, has become a valid issue now that the moving vans won’t be heading out of Indian Wells. First-round, main-draw action opens for the women today at Indian Wells Tennis Garden without defending champion and top-ranked Kim Clijsters of Belgium or Australian Open champion and No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo of France.

By not playing, Clijsters, who continues to recover from an injured ankle, will lose the top spot to Mauresmo when the new rankings are released after Indian Wells.

The top eight-seeded players, in order, will be former champion Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, Lindsay Davenport, Russians Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina, Flavia Pennetta of Italy, Anna-Lena Groenfeld of Germany and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Montenegro.

Also skipping the tournament, besides Clijsters and Mauresmo, are four other members of the top 10 -- Mary Pierce of France, Nadia Petrova of Russia, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Venus Williams.

But the addition of one player helps camouflage some of the draw’s weaknesses. Martina Hingis of Switzerland received a wild card, and this will be the seventh tournament of her comeback.

Interest in Hingis from the media and tournament directors has been high since she announced she would be returning to the tour this year, playing an active schedule for the first time since feet and ankle problems forced her out of the game in late 2002.

She lost to Clijsters in three sets in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Here, Hingis has a bye in the first round and could play either a qualifier or Saori Obata of Japan in the second. If form holds, Hingis will play Davenport in the fourth round, one of the most intriguing early-round matches.

Davenport is in the same half of the draw as Sharapova and Myskina. Henin-Hardenne is in the other half, along with Dementieva.

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The men’s draw came out Tuesday, and one quirk was immediately obvious. Four top Americans landed in the same quarter -- Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, James Blake and Taylor Dent. It looked like an informal Davis Cup practice, with a lot more money and prestige on the line.

Top-seeded and defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland will play either Agustin Calleri of Argentina or Nicolas Massu of Chile in his opening match. Federer is in the same half of the draw as David Nalbandian of Argentina.

Second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain, who defeated Federer in the final at Dubai in three sets over the weekend, is in the same half as Agassi and Roddick and the same quarter as Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.