Congratulations to Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep who took the men's and women's titles at Indian Wells, one of tennis' biggest events outside the majors and the year-end championships.
Both finals were three-set affairs. The men's championship match featured another battle between the world #1 Djokovic and #2 Roger Federer. Federer had been getting the better of Djokovic recently, winning 3 of their last 4 matches. Despite this, Novak repeated his achievement last year as he emerged victorious against Roger. On the women's side, Simona Halep overcame injury, personal tragedy, and a resurgent Jelena Jankovic to win. Halep's cousin committed suicide last week and she struggled through the grief while also battling a blister on her foot. Former #1 Jankovic was in fact up a set and a break and she served for the match at 5-4 in the 2nd set before Halep mounted her comeback. This is Simona's third title in 2015, the most of any player so far (granted of course we are only 3 months into the year and there's a whole lot more tennis to play).
The story of the tournament, however, is Serena Williams' first appearance in the draw since 2001, ending her 14-year boycott of the tournament. That year, Venus withdrew from her semifinal match against Serena at the last minute, and both Williams sisters were booed in the final with Serena playing and Venus watching in the stands. (Read more about this controversy here.) This year, it was Serena's turn to withdraw from her semifinal match against Simona Halep, but her departure from the tournament was met with supportive cheers from the crowd.
Rafa Nadal is still slowly working his way back into top form, making it to the quarterfinals before losing a very tough and close three-set match against world #6 Milos Raonic. The clay court season starts next month and hopefully Rafa can return to his winning ways by then.
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