2005 Pacific Life Open News
By Alix Ramsay |  March 14, 2005

You know you are in trouble in the desert when the mountains disappear. It takes a lot to hide a peak the size of those framing the Coachella Valley. The panic sets in when the snowy bits in the distance fade from view and by the time the foothills are looking hazy, it is time to run for cover.

Every once in a while, usually around the time the Pacific Life Open comes to town, the wind whips up, collects as much of the desert sand as it can carry and then dumps it over the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The air is filled with fine dust and sand, the wind gusts and swirls blowing everything from tennis balls to little old ladies into the next county and everybody is decidedly grumpy.

But while the sensible people stay indoors, the players are bundled out to face the elements - and they do not like it. Suddenly their carefully prepared game plan is blown out of the window - along with anything that is nailed down - and every match becomes a lottery. That which left the racket a winner is caught by the breeze and wafted into the cheap seats. It does little for the temper and less for the title hopes.

Lindsay Davenport was almost overwhelmed by the sandstorm and Meghann Shaughnessy as she stumbled into the fourth round 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Shaughnessy was only a minor irritant in her unhappy afternoon, though, as it was the sand that was driving her nuts.

"It was the worst I've been in," she said. "I've never held up for like 45 seconds just praying for like one second of a reprieve. It was bad. At the end it was almost unplayable really. I think the last two or three games that we played were some of the windiest I've tried to play in.

"There's actually no strategy that you can really enforce because you just have to try and keep the balls in and play the wind a little bit. It's too bad. But, you know, hopefully it calms down here sooner or later and we get some better conditions to compete in."

She is hoping against hope that the weather improves before she has to take on Viktoriya Kutuzova. And if you are wondering who Kutuzova, you are not alone. Davenport has never heard of her. The 16 year old wildcard from the Ukraine, she with a world ranking of 473, beat Amy Frazier 6-3, 6-3.

But while Davenport fretted and flapped through the conditions, the new, serene Mary Pierce was not troubled at all. These days nothing touches out Mary as she has finally got used to living with herself. After a lifetime of battling nerves, lack of confidence and a wish to be accepted, Pierce has settled into her own skin and is enjoying her tennis more than ever. She beat the up and coming Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 and now takes on Nadia Petrova.

Part of her new found tranquillity she attributes to her faith. "I know why I'm here and what I have to do," she said. The rest of it comes with age and Pierce is enjoying being 30. After all she has been through, she has at last decided to draw on those experiences and use them to her advantage.

Not even playing a girl half her age could spoil Pierce's day. Remembering how lacking in confidence she had been at that age, she assumed her Czech foe would be feeling likewise and, therefore, Pierce automatically put herself in the driver's seat. This psychology lark is easy when you know how.

So great is her feeling of ease and happiness that she has even patched things up with her father, Jim, and now talks warmly of the importance of a close-knit family.

"I have such a great family," she said, glossing over the years when she was estranged from Jim and he was banned by the WTA Tour from attending her matches. "I was talking to my dad last night," she went on, "and he was really saying that my grandma, she hasn't seen me play, she lives in North Carolina, she really wants me to win. She wanted me to play well today. I kind of probably would dedicate today's match to her. So, yeah, I mean, family, it's so strong. It's such a motivating thing, and it's a very important thing."

Pierce's career may be drawing to a close and she may appear to be ever so slightly batty, but it's hard to think of a nicer person playing on the tour. And it is good to see Mary at peace rather than in pieces as in her younger days.

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