Flying high in Indian Wells, champs slump in Miami
MIAMI (Reuters) - Flushed by Indian Wells glory, Serb tennis champions Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic tasted early defeat in Miami before aiming a swipe at the sport's schedule.
Back-to-back Pacific Life Open and Sony Ericsson Open titles proved too tough for the pair to pull off with Djokovic falling in the first round to a qualifier and Ivanovic losing in round three on Sunday.
The second seed was sent packing by former world number one Lindsay Davenport and immediately lamented the scheduling.
"It's important to make smart scheduling and not play too many tournaments in a row, because you can't keep the level through many weeks," said Ivanovic, explaining her lethargic play.
"That's something I'm experiencing for one of the first times. Definitely I (will) learn from this, and it was a good achievement (to win Indian Wells) still."
The third-seeded Djokovic, 2007 champion in Miami, fared worse than Ivanovic in being upset by qualifier Kevin Anderson of South Africa in his opening match.
He too was not overly impressed by the scheduling but was resigned to it.
"VERY TOUGH"
"Now if I start talking about the calendar, it's going to take a while," the Australian Open champion said.
"This is just part of the sport, and we have to deal with it the way it is. They don't intend to change the schedule soon, so it's all the same for everybody."
Pacific Life Open finalist Mardy Fish also showed wear and tear in Miami, losing to Arnaud Clement of France in straight sets in the first round.
Davenport, who is making her first trip to Miami in five years, won the Indian Wells title in 1997 and 2000 with her best result here being a finalist in 2000.
"It's very tough to play Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back, doing well in Indian Wells," said Davenport, offering up an excuse for Ivanovic.
"You can see on the men's side with Fish and Djokovic. I was trying to take advantage of that, obviously."
The task of wining both in Indian Wells and Miami in the same year is not impossible, however, as a number of players have shown enough muscle and energy to perform that feat since the tournaments started butting directly up against each other in 1989.
In the men's game, six players have accomplished winning both tournaments in the same year since 1989 -- Jim Courier in 1991, Michael Chang in 1992, Pete Sampras in 1994, Marcelo Rios in 1998, Andre Agassi in 2001, and Roger Federer in 2005 and 2006.
Two women have also been successful winning back-to-back titles at Indian Wells and Miami -- Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996 and Kim Clijsters in 2005.
(Editing by Ossian Shine)
