In addition to the four Grand Slam tournaments, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells is colloquially regarded as the “fifth Grand Slam Tournament of the year”. No other tournament fascinates the tennis world so much outside the majors. Be it the impressive facility, the cosmopolitan flair or the attractive field of participants – Indian Wells is a place where every tennis professional in the world likes to serve. SPOX introduces the major tournament in California, gives you the most important information and tells you where you can see the tournament live.
The BNP Paribas Open 2018 in Indian Wells will take place from 5. till 18. March in Indian Wells, California. The games are played on the grounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens. The Center Court, the so-called Stadium 1, is the second largest tennis arena in the world with a capacity of 16,000 seats and 44 luxury boxes.
The first round of the WTA Tournament started on the 7th day. March, the first round of the ATP Tournament starts one day later on the 8th. March.
The special thing about Indian Wells is that this tournament is held as a combined event, where both the ladies and the men play at the same time. The WTA tournament will be broadcasted by the DAZN streaming service. Meanwhile, the ATP competition can only be seen on the pay-TV channel Sky.
In addition, SPOX presents at least one men’s match every day in the live ticker. The game begins with the match between Maximilian Marterer from Germany against the Croatian service monster Ivo Karlovic (Thursday, 9.30 pm).
Both the women’s and men’s tournaments belong to the highest category below the Grand Slams. The WTA is a Premier Mandatory Event, the men’s event is part of the ATP Masters 1000 Series and opens the series as the first such tournament of the year.
Both series bring the winner resp. the winner receives 1000 points for the world ranking list. For comparison: Grand Slam tournament victories are worth 2000 points each.
In the BNP Paribas Open, as in the four Grand Slam tournaments, the prize money in the men’s and women’s competitions is identical.
In addition, the tournament’s promoters are awarding a $1 million bonus if a woman or man manages to be successful in both singles and doubles.
The best-known names in the men’s competition are primarily defending champions Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, both of whom have won the tournament five times. Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev from Germany are also among the top stars in the competition. Dominic Thiem from Austria is also one of the closer favourites.
Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, has been struggling for weeks with an injury on the right hip. The injury had already forced him to retire at the Australian Open earlier this year.
In the women’s category, the entire world elite is at the start. These include world number one Simona Halep, Australian Open Champion Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza, who also lead the seed list in this order. Angelique Kerber, who is also one of the favourites, is in position 10.
A special highlight is the comeback of Serena Williams, who will return to the big stage of the tennis world for the first time since her baby break.
Everyone in the tennis world knows Indian Wells for their outstanding tennis tournament, which has been voted the best tournament in its category several times.
But Indian Wells is actually a small town in Riverside County in the Coachella Valley. The closest known place nearby is the famous Palm Springs, popular with the super-rich as a weekend domicile. To Indian Wells it is about 27 minutes by car (16.6 miles) in northwest direction.
According to a census from 2013, the village does not count more than 5000 inhabitants and has only existed since 1967. At its foundation on 14. July 1967 Indian Wells became even the 400th Indian Wells. City of California, 16. in Riverside County. Since then the city has grown through resort hotels, golf courses and luxury housing estates.
Tommy Haas, a former world-class player, has been the tournament director of Indian Wells since June 2016. Haas, who has been living in the United States with his family for many years, succeeded Raymond Moore, who had to resign due to questionable remarks. Moore had criticized the WTA and tennis players themselves in an interview and said:”If I were a player, I would kneel down every day and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they wore this sport.”
This caused heavy criticism and Moore finally resigned due to public pressure. Haas took over and managed to bring the sporty back to the fore.
Haas won 15 ATP tournaments in his career and was even number 2 in the world in May 2002. He earned $13.6 million in his career, which has not yet officially ended, but was repeatedly thrown back by numerous injuries.
Although he is still officially active, Haas last coached Lucas Pouille at the Australian Open 2018 in Melbourne.