His work all but complete, James Ward retired from his dead singles rubber during first-round Davis Cup action on Sunday. Why? He had to catch his flight to Los Angeles to arrive at the Indian Wells Masters in time for qualifying on Tuesday.
Ward, whose 6-7(4), 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(3), 15-13 upset of John Isner propelled Great Britain to a win over the United States in Glasgow, Scotland, retired after taking the first set from Donald Young. The world No. 8 will contest his first qualies match at the BNP Paribas Open against Mitchell Krueger of the United States.
“The mental resilience he showed today is as good as I’ve seen from any of the players,” British captain Leon Smith said of Ward. “I can’t speak highly enough of what he’s put himself through out there.”
Could the grueling effort cost Ward in Indian Wells? Only time will tell, but it certainly is not ideal preparation. He–and many others–will be making a quick transition from a fast indoor hard court to the hot, dry, and often blustery conditions in the California desert.
Borna Coric, the top seed in qualifying, faces a similar task. The 18-year-old Croat also played a five-setter last Friday. Unlike Ward, though, Coric will have to mentally bounce back from a brutal loss. He led Serbia’s Viktor Troicki by two sets only to fall 4-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 as the Serbs ultimately cruised to a 3-0 victory.
Coric will kick off his Indian Wells campaign against Ukrainian wild card Artem Smirnov.
Other players making the move straight from Davis Cup to the BNP Paribas Open are Japan’s Go Soeda, Poland’s Lukasz Kubot, Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke, and Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Soeda lost the decisive fifth rubber to Vasek Pospisil in the host Canadians’ 3-2 triumph.
quick trip for Soeda though 🙂