SPORTS
March 26, 2013 | Bill Dwyre
The biggest grand slam of Rod Laver's life had nothing to do with major tennis tournaments. He met Mary Shelby Peterson at the Jack Kramer Tennis Club. Then, in 1966, at a church in San Rafael, he changed that to Mary Shelby Laver. Game, set, match. They left the marriage ceremony by walking under an arch of tennis rackets formed by, among others, tennis greats Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Mal Anderson and Barry MacKay. When Mary died Nov. 12 at their home in Carlsbad, they had had 46 years of marriage and Laver had a hole in his heart the size of a tennis ball.
SPORTS
March 17, 2013 | Bill Dwyre
On a hot summer-like Sunday afternoon, in a stadium that rises out of the Southern California desert like a huge misplaced castle, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal slid onto his back and into the bright lights of his sport once again. It was match point of the men's final in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The clock showed that he had been out there 21/2 hours. A crowd of 16,741 squeezed into this 16,100-seat spectator mansion had waited for this moment. Winning this tournament is always a huge deal, but they all knew that, for Nadal, this would be even bigger.
SPORTS
March 16, 2013 | By Bill Dwyre
It is no small task to steal the thunder from the current comeback kid of tennis, Rafael Nadal. But that's exactly what a 6-foot-6 rocket launcher from Argentina did Saturday in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Argentina has had a great week. A new pope and now this. Juan Martin del Potro won one of those matches that goes beyond compelling to spellbinding. When he beat Novak Djokovic in the late afternoon men's semifinal, he did so in one of those tennis faceoffs that becomes edge-of-your-seat on every point.
SPORTS
March 15, 2013 | Bill Dwyre
Caroline Wozniacki made it back to the BNP Paribas Open women's final at Indian Wells on Friday night, fighting her way through a 2-hour 28-minute marathon that was mostly distinguishable by moonballs and service breaks. Eighth-seeded Wozniacki of Denmark beat fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. In the deciding set, there were seven service breaks, and Wozniacki held on despite giving up leads of 4-1 and 5-3. There were 14 service breaks in the match. Wozniacki, a former No. 1 player who took the BNP Paribas Open title in 2011, will play the winner of the late match between Russian players Maria Kirilenko and Maria Sharapova.
SPORTS
March 14, 2013 | Bill Dwyre
On a long day of tennis in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, fifth-seeded former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic was among the casualties in matches that finished during daylight hours. She lost in a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to Maria Kirilenko of Russia. Kirilenko, seeded 15th and getting closer to a top-10 ranking, defeated No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in her previous match and said afterward, "I can compete, and as you can see, I can beat them.
SPORTS
March 14, 2013 | Bill Dwyre
On the day after its longest day, the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament at Indian Wells had the longest lull in the action Thursday. Two women's stars, No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, and No. 7 Samantha Stosur, pulled out of separate quarterfinals and the day session at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was over in the main stadium by late afternoon. That included a fill-in doubles match. Wednesday's day session ran so late on the Stadium Court that it pushed the eventual finish of the night matches to 1:50 a.m. Azarenka defaulted because of a right ankle injury that she said she had been nursing for a while and hoped to be able to keep healthy enough to defend her title here.