From Seoul, South Korea, March 2018

Indian Wells Masters (BNP Paribas Open), California

The tournament at Indian Wells is the first Premier Mandatory tournament of the WTA year.The other 4 Premier Mandatory tournaments are Miami Open, Madrid Open and Beijing Open. The facilities in this at Indian Wells are considered to be at least as good as those from the four Grand Slam tournaments, if not better. For long time, the BNP Paribas tour insisted for this tournament to be transformed in a fifth Grand Slam.

The huge central court can host 16,100 spectators, and the second biggest court has 8,000 seats. 29 courts are to be used, and the entire complex has almost 220,000 m².

128 players will enter competition, with 32 favorites entering from the second round.

The 32 favorites are as follows:

(in paranthesis - when a certain player left the competion;

no paranthesis - player still in competition at the date this article was published)

Point system:

Winner - 1000

Runner up - 650

Semifinalists - 390

Quarterfinalists - 215

Round of 16 - 120

Round of 32 - 65

Round of 64 - 35

Round of 128 - 10

History:  Williams Sisters' Controversy

<Serena Williams after winning at Indian Wells in 2001>

Venus and Serena Williams, two very successful American players, refused to play the Indian Wells tournament from 2001 to 2014 despite threats of financial sanctions and rating point penalties. 

The two were scheduled to play in the 2001 semi-final but Venus withdrew  due to an injury. Amid speculation of match fixing, the crowd for the final loudly booed Serena Williams when she came out to play the final and continued to booher intermittently through the entire match, even to the point of cheering unforced errors 

and double faults.

Williams won the tournament and was subsequently booed during the awards ceremony. The following month at the Ericsson Open, Richard Williams, Serena and Venus's father, claimed racial slurswere directed at him while in the stands. Neither Venus nor Serena played the tournament until 2015, when Serena Williams played in the tournament, ending her 14-year boycott of the event. Venus Williams ended her boycott by competing in 2016.

(wikipedia.org)

GALLERY OF THE CHAMPIONS:

2017 winner: Elena Vesnina, Russia

2016 winner: Victoria Azarenka, Belarus

2015 winner: Simona Halep, Romania

2014 winner: Flavia Penetta, Italy

2013 winner: Maria Sharapova, Russia 

wtatennis.com

wikipedia.org

From Seoul, South Korea, March 2018

안녕 folks! 한국어 실수 무시하시고 보시기 바랍니다^^ 외국인입니다^^

SNS도 합니다! 팔로우해주세요~

페북 ID: @외국인 한국에서: Living Next Level

인스타 ID: @mewanderer99

이름:  로쉐 마제  / ROCHE MAZET

정류: 카베르네 소비뇽 레드

원산지: 프랑스

제조년: 2016

용량: 750 ml

알코올: 12.5%

구매 장소: 이마트

가격: 11800 원

Rating ★★★☆☆

한국에서 프랑스의 No1 와인으로 알려줘 있어요.

좋아하는 맛보다 조금 달아요.

아주 달지 않아서 괜찮아요.

알코올 양이 많지 아나서 그런지 하나도 어지럽지 않았어요 ㅎㅎㅎ

From Seoul, South Korea, March 2018

1. Acapulco Open, Mexico

FINALISTS:

Stefanie Voegele amazingly defeated the en-titre US Open champion Sloane Stehens in three sets in the quarterfinals, and gave 2017 Mexican Open winner a hard time in this year's final. Voegele won the first set, 7-5, lost the second set in tiebreak, 6(2)-7(7),  and lost the third set to Tsurenko, 2-6.

WINNER:

Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine

2017 winner:

Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine

2. Indian Wells Oracle Challenger Series, California

 The Oracle Challenger Series was created to offer American tennis players more opportunities and builds on Oracle’s commitment to help support U.S. tennis for men and women at both the collegiate and professional level. 

 The Series will feature equal prize money in a groundbreaking tournament format that combines the ATP Challenger Tour and WTA 125K Series. Beyond expanding the number of chances to compete, the Series offers an unmatched potential prize of wild cards for top American finishers into the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open, which is widely considered the top combined ATP World Tour and WTA professional tennis tournament in the world.

WINNER:

Sara Errani, Italy

wtatennis.com

http://oraclechallengerseries.com/