Week #10-11 preview: Indian Wells

Indian Wells (USA), Premier, $4,500,000
One of the new features of the 2009 WTA Tour calendar is that the 4 biggest Premier events (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing) are mandatory for all the players. Therefore, every healthy player should play here. Nevertheless, the Williams sisters, who alleged racist treatment some years ago, will miss the tournament once again. And Russian Maria Sharapova, still not completely recovered from her shoulder injury, will play only in the doubles draw. The fight for the title will be a matter of Russians and Serbians, with Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva and Ana Ivanovic as the top favourites. The tournament could be also very special for Safina, as she could reach WTA #1 if she gets to the final rounds.