Indian Wells Open

Location

Indian Wells lies in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs area), about 125 mi east of downtown Los Angeles.

The tournament is played in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden (built in 2000) which has 29 tennis courts, including the 16,100-seat main stadium, which is the second largest tennis-specific stadium in the world. After the 2013 BNP Paribas Open, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden started an expansion and upgrade of its facilities that includes a new 8,000 seat Stadium 2. The revamping of the tennis center also included a "Pro Purple" interior court color created specifically for the ATP Masters Series and first used at Indian Wells, citing the purple color being 180 degrees and exactly opposite the yellow of the ball.

History

The tournament was founded by former tennis pros Charlie Pasarell and Raymond Moore. It has been known by a number of names, and accepted numerous corporate sponsorships, throughout its existence. The French multinational banking group BNP Paribas has held the naming rights since 2009.

Originally the women's tournament was held a week before the men's event. In 1996, the championship became one of the few fully combined events on both the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association tours.

The Indian Wells Open has become one of the largest events on both the men's and women's tours. In 2004, the tournament expanded to a multi-week 96-player field. Winning the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open back to back has been colloquially termed the Sunshine Double. Dubbed the "Grand Slam of the West", it is the most-attended tennis tournament in the world other than the four Majors, with over 450,000 visitors during the 2015 event.

In 2009, the tournament and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden were sold to Larry Ellison.

On March 8, 2020, the tournament was postponed, and later canceled, to halt the potential spread of COVID-19.

A new category, mixed doubles, was introduced in 2024, with Storm Hunter and Matthew Ebden claiming the title in its very first edition.

Williams sisters boycott

Venus and Serena Williams refused to play the Indian Wells tournament from 2001 to 2014 despite threats of financial sanctions and ranking point penalties. The two were scheduled to play in the 2001 semifinal but Venus withdrew due to an injury. Amid speculation of match fixing, the crowd for the final loudly booed Serena when she came out to play the final and continued to boo her intermittently through the entire match, even to the point of cheering unforced errors and double faults. Williams won the tournament and was subsequently booed during the awards ceremony. Nine days later, while attending the Ericsson Open, Richard Williams, Serena and Venus's father, stated racial slurs were directed at him while in the stands at Indian Wells. He said that while he and Venus were taking their seats for the final, multiple fans used the racial slur and one spoke of skinning him alive. When asked about her father's allegations, Venus said "I heard what he heard." Indian Wells tournament director Charlie Pasarell said he was humiliated by the crowd's reaction, adding, "I was cringing when all that stuff was going on. It was unfair for the crowd to do that."

After a phone call from Larry Ellison (the multi-billionaire founder of Oracle, tennis enthusiast and most recent owner of the tournament), Serena Williams returned to Indian Wells in 2015, ending her 14-year boycott of the event. Venus Williams ended her boycott by competing in Indian Wells the next year.

Eisenhower Cup

The Eisenhower Cup is an exhibition mixed doubles tournament played the day before the start of the main draw. Teams consist of one ATP player partnered with one WTA player. Matches are played in the style of a 10pt tiebreaker, also known as Tie Break Tens. There have been 3 winning teams since the start of the mixed doubles format for the competition: Taylor Fritz/Aryna Sabalenka, Ben Shelton/Emma Navarro, and Taylor Fritz/Elena Rybakina. The 2025 prize money was $200,000, split between the two winners. The event had previously been played as a men's singles event in 2019, where Milos Raonic defeated Stan Wawrinka, and as a women's singles event in 2022 where Amanda Anisimova defeated Maria Sakkari. Other past participants include Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Iga Swiatek, and Jessica Pegula.

Past finals

Men's singles

Women's singles

Men's doubles

Women's doubles

Mixed doubles

Records

Men's singles

Women's singles

Sunshine double

Notes

References

References

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