Coach's Corner
By Andy "Coach" Cotton, Fri., March 12, 1999
I've been a regular visitor at the Newsweek/Evert Cup, a tennis (tennis is good, don't stop reading!) tournament which began as a tiny, local affair and has turned into one of the game's Cadillac events. I love this event and look forward to it, but I've always had a feeling my annual foray to Indian Wells is one of my least-read columns. Here -- for everybody! -- are five reasons why a general grounds pass to a major tournament event can be an amusing and interesting way for even the most casual fan to while away a few vacation days:
1) The bizarre human circus on display at a tennis tournament is unique in the sporting experience. It's not common to go to a baseball game and see fans fully dressed (hat, eye-black, pants, high socks and cleats, ball and bat in hand), ready to play the game. Less common still, thousands of fully padded football fans ready to sack the quarterback. Yet at a tennis tournament it's quite normal to see lavishly decked out tennis aficionados fill the stands wearing their shorts, tennis shoes, and hats, and carrying racquet bags in the off chance Martina Hingis' doubles partner doesn't show up and they'll ask someone in the stands if they wouldn't mind filling in as a fourth. Ladies not ready to play a set feature a dress "style" most K-Mart shoppers wouldn't be caught dead in. Gold lamé is very popular and very enduring. Gold lamé covers hats of all persuasions -- baseball caps, visors, bush hats, whatever -- in a myriad of dizzying, disconnected patterns. The gold lamé theme is always carried out through the rest of the outfit: top, dress, socks, and often shoes. Expensive but tacky jewelry is a prerequisite. Huge diamonds glitter in the desert sun. One perfectly coiffed old gal was dressed as described earlier and, in addition, had 13 turquoise bracelets running the entire length of her sun-dried arm. I find a chair in the shade and spend hours watching this show. It never gets tiring.
2) You can't stand behind the batting cage and watch Tony Gwynn bat, sit courtside and watch Charles Barkley work on his post-up moves hours before the game, or watch Jerry Rice's personal kamikaze workouts. But casual tennis fans can, if they get up early, do just this. All the players practice publicly every day. I watched Martina Hingis, chaperoned only by her mom, jog, run, do agility drills, and jump rope for 45 straight minutes around the lush grass courts, never once stopping for air or water. To me this is very cool. By 7:45am Steffi Graf, already sweating through her dark blue Adidas cut-off shirt (very, very sexy) was working hard on her trademark nasty backhand slice. Never missing. Always clearing the net by no more than a few feet. The ball never bouncing higher than a prairie dog's snout. Steffi's court time was up at 8am. At 7:55, an impatient Monica Seles stood behind Steffi, bounce, bounce, bouncing tennis balls. I, along with a few other people, watched this from a few feet away.
3) There is no major sport in the world where the game's superstars are so totally accessible to the public. All the players -- all of them -- wander with no security to their practice courts or on their way to matches, excusing their way through the crowded grounds (they need the new stadium) like everyone else. I was shocked to literally bump into the clear crowd favorite Seles -- who was stabbed in the back by a lunatic a few years ago -- as she strolled down to her practice court. She, of all people, I thought, would have tons of security.
4) Want a free lesson from the best players in the world? Watch them practice. They do everything perfectly. In practice they do it all: forehand, slice backhands, volleys, over and over. Thinking about working on a drop volley? Watch Hingis work on hers.
5) Major tournaments are not exhibitions. This is serious stuff. Everyone's here. The top 30 men players and most of the women are playing. Where else can casual fans see, in person, all the best players compete in just a few days?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to recruit tennis converts. On the contrary, it's already too hard to get a court. But if someone you like is a tennis hacker and wants to try one of these things, go ahead, give it a try. The new Indian Wells stadium will be ready next spring. I know of a cheap gold lamé Internet site. Just let me know.
Talk to Coach on Sportsradio 1300AM, 3-4pm weekdays; or write to: [email protected]
