Statisfaction: Indian Wells-Miami Doubles and More

Did you know that Yannick Noah ended Ivan Lendl's 44-match winning streak at Indian Wells in 1982? This and more in our Indian Wells timeline...

By Chris Oddo

(March 7, 2013) -- Indian Wells has gotten so big so fast it actually feels like a Grand Slam these days.

While the event doesn't have the history of the U.S. Open--it was born in 1976; the U.S. Open was born in 1881--Indian Wells does have momentum on it's side. The tournament has been trending up in a big way since Larry Ellison joined the fold in 2009. There is Hawk-Eye on every court, there are singles stars playing in the doubles draw on a regular basis, and there is a new 7,000 capacity stadium that will be ready for the consistently increasing crowds--which could reach 400,000 this year for the first time--in 2014.

But before Larry Ellison took the event over in late 2009, there was plenty of history already associated with Indian Wells. Let's look at some of the fine history that Ellison inherited:

1. Back-to-Back Winners

The first back-to-back title winner at Indian Wells was Roscoe Tanner, and he's the only back-to-back winner to win the event at multiple sites (once at Palm Springs and once at Rancho Mirage). After switching sites three times in an eight year span, the tournament finally moved to Indian Wells from La Quinta in 1987. It was then that Boris Becker won his first of two titles in 1987. The very next year he won again to become the second player to do the trick.

Four other male players, and one other female, have won the event back-to-back. Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer.

Here's a look at when they did it and who they did it to:

Year	Player	Opponent in F	Scoreline
1978	Roscoe Tanner	Ramirez	6-1, 7-6
1979	Roscoe Tanner	Gottfried	6-4, 6-2
1987	Boris Becker	Edberg	6-4, 6-4, 7-5
1988	Boris Becker	Sanchez	7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
1990	Navratilova	Sukova	6-2, 5-7, 6-1
1991	Navratilova	Seles	6-2, 7-6(6)
1994	Sampras	Korda	4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
1995	Sampras	Agassi	7-5, 6-3, 7-5
1996	Chang	Haarhuis	7-5, 6-1, 6-1
1997	Chang	Uhilrach	4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
2002	Hewitt	Henman	6-1, 6-2
2003	Hewitt	Kuerten	6-1, 6-1
2004	Federer	Henman	6-3, 6-3
2005	Federer	Hewitt	6-2, 6-4, 6-4
2006	Federer	Blake	7-5, 6-3, 6-0

Notice that no female other than Martina Navratilova has gone back-to-back to win a second title. Also note that Serena Williams might have done so in 2002 had she played.

But that's another story for another time.

Indian Wells, the Place

After sprouting roots as an ATP fundraiser in Tuscon, Arizona, the tournament moved to Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs in 1976. Here's where it has gone from there:

1976-1978 Palm Springs
1979-1980 Rancho Mirage
1981-1986 La Quinta
1987-???? Indian Wells

The Indian Wells-Miami Double: No Easy Task

Only seven men and two women have completed the challenging IW-Miami double, and only one player has done a double in back-to-back years (his name: Federer). Besides Federer, the only other player to do it twice was Steffi Graf.

Indian Wells-Miami Doubles:

	IW		Miami
Year	Player	Opponent	Player	Opponent
1991	Courier	Forget	Courier	Wheaton
1992	Chang	Chesnokov	Chang	Mancini
1994	Graf	Coetzer	Graf	Zvereva
1994	Sampras	Korda	Sampras	Agassi
1996	Graf	Martinez	Graf	Rubin
1998	Rios	Rusedski	Rios	Agassi
2001	Agassi	Sampras	Agassi	Gambill
2005	Federer	Hewitt	Federer	Nadal
2005	Clijsters	Davenport	Clijsters	Davenport
2006	Federer	Blake	Federer	Ljubicic
2011	Djokovic	Nadal	Djokovic	Nadal

Timeline: Tracking the History

A lot of stuff has happened since Indian Wells was born in 1976. Here's some of it:

1976 Indian Wells begins, as American Airlines Tennis Games, In Palm Springs.

1979 Tournament Renamed Volvo Tennis Games.

1980 Rain cancels semis and beyond. Jimmy Connors, Brian Teacher, Peter Fleming and Gene Mayer reach semis but never complete tournament. Rumors of move to Florida surface.

1981 Charlie Pasarell engineers move from Palm Springs to La Quinta in Rancho Mirage

1982 Ivan Lendl's 44-match winning streak ends at the hands of Yannick Noah in the final.

1984 Jimmy Connors wins 3rd title.

1985 Tournament renamed Pilot Pen Classic.

1987 Tournament moves to Indian Wells for good.

1988 Newsweek takes over sponsorship. Hingis wins title as 17-year-old, youngest ever.

1989 Women's tournament debuts on the week prior to the Men's event.

1994 Prize money tops 2 million for the first time, Sampras and Graf win titles.

1996 Men's and Women's events officially combined for the first time.

2000 16,100-seat Stadium opens.

2001 200,000 attend for the first time. The infamous Williams Sisters incident occurs.

2004 Roger Federer wins first of three consecutive titles, becoming the only player in history to do so.

2007 Tournament attracts 300,000-plus fans for the first time ever.

2009 Rafael Nadal defeats Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 in one of the windiest finals ever. Vera Zvonareva defeats Ana Ivanovic 7-6(5), 6-2 in another one of the the windiest finals ever.

Larry Ellison buys tournament later in the year.

2011 Novak Djokovic wins his second Indian Wells title, defeating Rafael Nadal in what would be the first of seven straight victories over the Spaniard.

2013 ?????

(Photo Credit: BNP Paribas)