ATP: In Indian Wells, winning is supposed to be twice as rewarding

Tommy Haas sets new incentives in Indian Wells: If a player succeeds in both the singles and doubles, an extra bonus will be paid.

The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells are used by the top players to return to the hard court season with a double bet. Nevertheless, in the history of the Californian desert tournament, it’s only been six times that a professional has won both the singles and the couples competition: Roscoe Tanner in 1978 (with the later tournament director Raymond Moore), Boris Becker in 1988 with Guy Forget, Jim Courier in 1991 with Javier Sanchez, Lindsay Davenport two times (1997 with Natasha Z

In 2018, there is now a new incentive to create the double in Indian Wells: Tournament boss Tommy Haas has announced a one million US dollar bonus,”We want to encourage several of the top individual players to compete in doubles at the BNP Paribas Open, and we are offering a million US dollar bonus as a significant incentive,” Haas said. We want to give the fans the best possible couples during our two weeks of tournament.”

It is unlikely that the bonus will be cracked on the men’s side. Of the current top ten players actually competing in Indian Wells, only Jack Sock is the double expert. In the women’s category, things could be a little different: Karolina Pliskova knows how to shine in the pairs competition, Venus Williams anyway. Of course, it is questionable whether these ladies actually call for doubles. One thing is certain: Elena Vesnina, who together with Ekaterina Makarova forms one of the strongest teams on the tennis scene. And: Vesnina will compete as defending champion in Indian Wells 2018.