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Canadian tennis players can make another splash at the ‘fifth Slam’
The BNP Paribas Open — better known as Indian Wells for the California town in which it’s played — is a big deal in the tennis world. In terms of prize money, rankings points and just general prestige, the only events above it are the four Grand Slams and the season-ending tour finals. Like the Slams, Indian Wells features both a men’s and women’s tournament played at the same time on the same courts. So it can feel a bit like a major, and some fans even consider it “the fifth Slam.”
Normally, Indian Wells is played in March. But, after being cancelled in 2020, it was pushed back this year because of the pandemic. With the Slams having wrapped up a few weeks ago and the lucrative tour finals coming up next month, it’s a tough spot on the calendar — and the field reflects that. World No. 1s Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty are both skipping Indian Wells, while marquee names Naomi Osaka, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are taking time off for various reasons. Women’s No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka pulled out Saturday after testing positive for COVID-19.
However, Canada’s top two women’s and men’s singles players are all competing, and this is our last chance this year to see them all in one place. Here’s a look at what’s at stake for those four players when the main draws begin Wednesday:
Bianca Andreescu: It seems like a million years ago, but Andreesu’s big breakthrough actually happened the last time this event took place. She’d started making noise earlier in 2019 with some impressive runs at smaller tournaments that sent her shooting up the world rankings. But no one was prepared for what Andreescu did as an unseeded 18-year-old at Indian Wells, where she knocked off three top-20 players to capture her first WTA Tour title — and the most prestigious championship ever won by a Canadian singles tennis player (at the time). In retrospect, the full Andreescu experience was on display there as her tremendous blend of talent and fighting spirit pushed her through a painful final — and maybe past her physical limits. A bad shoulder forced her to quit midway through the next week’s tournament, which she probably shouldn’t have played, and two months later she couldn’t answer the bell for her second-round match at the French Open after re-aggravating the injury. A couple of months later, Andreescu roared back to win the Rogers Cup in Toronto and the U.S. Open, beating the great Serena Williams in both finals and becoming the first Canadian to win a singles Slam. Then a knee injury knocked Andreescu out of the WTA Finals in late October, and she hasn’t been the same since. Ranked fourth in the world when she hurt the knee, Andreescu is now down to 21st, with a record of 16-11 since the injury. Despite all that baggage and all the time that’s passed, she’s still the defending champ at Indian Wells. Maybe she can recapture some of that magic from 2019.
Leylah Fernandez: Tennis is cruel. Just look at the arcs of Andreescu and Fernandez. At this time just two years ago, the former was the undisputed queen of Canadian tennis. But she’s already been dethroned by Fernandez, who skyrocketed to stardom last month with her stunning, shades-of-Bianca run to the U.S. Open final as a 73rd-ranked teenager. Now up to 28th, Fernandez is still officially ranked seven spots below Andreescu, but she’s No. 1 in the hearts of most Canadian tennis fans. Indian Wells is Fernandez’s first appearance since the U.S. Open, and thus her first chance to answer the big question: is she here to stay, or a one-hit wonder?
Felix Auger-Aliassime: Currently, no Canadians are in qualifying position for the ATP or WTA Tour Finals, which are reserved for the top eight in a special rankings system. But, among singles players, Auger-Aliassime has the best chance to break in. He’s currently 10th in the points race, and we already know that one of the top eight (Nadal) is out. Given the way this season has gone with all the pandemic-related challenges, it feels like there’s a good chance at least one other guy bails before the Finals open on Nov. 14. Plus, Auger-Aliassime is coming off his own fantastic run at the U.S. Open, where he reached the semifinals before falling to world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. At No. 11, Felix is now Canada’s highest-ranked singles player. We’ll see if he can keep playing like it.
Denis Shapovalov: The world’s 15th-ranked men’s player is also not out of the running to make the Tour Finals. But, since reaching the semis at Wimbledon, where he lost to Djokovic, Shapovalov has a record of 3-6. After Indian Wells, there’s still one more Masters-level event for the men, in early November in Paris. But Shapo is running out of time to turn things around. Read more about the Canadians playing at Indian Wells here.
Quickly…
The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is back. Look, we all wish the Blue Jays had made the playoffs. But this is a pretty nice consolation prize. In the early-to-mid-2000s (back when the only people who would’ve cared about a Facebook outage were a few Harvard undergrads), the Yanks-Sox rivalry was the biggest thing in sports. It reached a fever pitch starting in 2003 when Aaron Boone (now the Yankees’ manager) extended Boston’s epic World Series title drought to 85 years with his walk-off homer in extra innings of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at the old Yankee Stadium. The next year, the Red Sox took revenge in the sweetest possible way, rallying from a three-games-to-none deficit to beat New York in the ALCS and then sweep St. Louis in the World Series, finally delivering a championship to sports’ most battered fanbase. Hard to top that, and these teams haven’t. Their rivalry has since gone dormant. But you can sense some of the old flames being rekindled for tonight’s one-game wild-card showdown at Fenway Park. The Yanks are favoured with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound, but the Sox have home-field advantage at their venerable old stadium and an excellent starter of their own in Nate Eovaldi. So maybe another memorable chapter will be written.
The National Women’s Soccer League’s players have agreed to return. The NWSL has been shut down since last week’s allegations that the coach of the North Carolina Courage had emotionally abused and sexually coerced players on his team. He was immediately fired, the league called off all of its matches last weekend, and commissioner Lisa Baird resigned. Today, the CEO of the Washington Spirit, Steve Baldwin, stepped down, saying he had “no doubt made some mistakes” after his team’s coach was also fired amid harassment allegations. Also today, the NWSL players’ association announced “we have made the decision to proceed with Wednesday night’s scheduled competition, but our demands will be forthcoming.” Read more about the latest developments in the NWSL here.
Coming up on CBC Sports
Beach volleyball — World Tour Finals: Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes must still be stinging from the Tokyo Olympics. The reigning world champs came in with high hopes for gold, but they left without a medal after a stunning upset in the quarter-finals. They’ll have a chance to end the season on a high note at the World Tour Finals, which begin Wednesday in Italy. You can watch all their matches as part of CBC Sports’ live streaming coverage of the women’s and men’s tournaments, starting Wednesday at 3:30 a.m. ET. Get more details and watch the streams here.
You’re up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.
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