This prestigious tournament has been in Indian Wells since 1987, having begun as a non-tour event in Tucson, Arizona in 1974. It has an unusual format, with 96 players in a 128-player grid. To make this work the top 32 seeds have a first-round bye, and the tournament runs for 12 days. The tourney likes to call itself the Fifth Grand Slam, played in Tennis Paradise.
A new event this year was the Eisenhower Cup - a mixed doubles exhibition held on March 7, just prior to the first day of main draw action. It featured 8 teams playing Tie Break Tens for a winner-take-all prize of $200,000. The last team standing was Aryna Sabalenka/Taylor Fritz who defeated the formidable pair Iga Swiatek/Hubert Hurkacz.
It is certainly popular with both players and fans. Indian Wells has been voted the best Masters tourney by the players several times, including in 2022. It is the most-attended tournament outside of the 4 Majors, and has the 2nd largest tennis stadium with more than 16,000 seats. Along with the Miami Open, Indian Wells is known as the Sunshine Double.
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| The Eisenhower Cup Mixed Doubles Contestants (teams l-r: Wawrinka/Bencic, Tsitsipas/Sakkari, Badosa/Norrie, Fernandez/FAA, Świątek/Hurkacz, Jabeur/Ruud, Pegula/Paul, Sabalenka/Fritz |
A new event this year was the Eisenhower Cup - a mixed doubles exhibition held on March 7, just prior to the first day of main draw action. It featured 8 teams playing Tie Break Tens for a winner-take-all prize of $200,000. The last team standing was Aryna Sabalenka/Taylor Fritz who defeated the formidable pair Iga Swiatek/Hubert Hurkacz.
So, let's play ball👇
BNP Paribas Open, WTA 1000, ATP 1000
Indian Wells Tennis Garden
Indian Wells, USA
March 8 - 19, 2023
Surface: Hard
Draws: Singles 96, Doubles 32
WTA
This is the 34th edition.
Most titles: Several players have won the tourney twice, the most recent was Victoria Azarenka in 2016.
Defending champion: Iga Swiatek who defeated Maria Sakkari.
Top 20 seeds (out of 32): Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Daria Kasatkina, Belinda Bencic, Elena Rybakina, Veronika Kudermetova, Liudmila Samsonova, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Madison Keys, Magda Linette
Wildcards: Americans Sofia Kenin, Ann Li, Elizabeth Mandlik, Emma Navarro, Peyton Stearns, Katie Volynets, plus Dayana Yastremska
Protected ranking: Karolina Muchova, Evgeniya Rodina, Marketa Vondrousova
Withdrawals: Ana Bogdan, Jacqueline Cristian, Anett Kontaveit, Camila Osorio, Zheng Qinwen
ATP
The men’s main draw starts a day after the women’s, on March 9, and this is the 46th edition for the men. There was considerable attention on Novak Djokovic being unable to take part because of his unvaccinated status. In Seinfeld terms, the US Gov't basically told him "No Soup for you"!
Most titles: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer with 5 each. Federer was the oldest winner at age 35 in 2017.
Defending champion: Taylor Fritz who defeated Rafael Nadal. This was a theme of Netflix's Break Point episode 3 focusing on Taylor’s ankle injury and his determination to play regardless.
Top 20 seeds (of 32): Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz, Cameron Norrie, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov, Frances Tiafoe, Pablo Carreno Busta, Alex de Minaur, Tommy Paul, Borna Coric, Lorenzo Musetti, Matteo Berrettini
Wildcards: Americans Brandon Holt, Alex Kovacevic, Jack Sock, plus Dominic Thiem, Wu Yibing
Protected ranking: Gael Monfils, Guido Pella, Stan Wawrinka
Withdrawals: There were 12 withdrawals, mainly because of injury. The large number of injuries, especially so early in the season, has to be a concern for tennis. Withdrawals included Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, David Goffin, Sebastian Korda, Nick Kyrgios, Rafael Nadal.
Thank you to special content provider - Shirley Hartt!
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