Intro
The Indian Wells Masters, formally known as the BNP Paribas Open, is one of the biggest tournaments on the tennis calendar aside from the four Majors. The event has always attracted some of the biggest names on the tour and has delivered some mouth watering clashes. It’s classified as an ATP Masters 1000 and a WTA 1000 event respectively. It’s also one of the few joint ATP and WTA events on the tour. The tournament was founded in 1974 and quickly became one of the biggest attractions on the tennis circuit. The current owner of the tournament is Larry Ellison, the co-founder of the technology giant Oracle. Former World No. Tommy Haas is the current tournament director.
History
The inaugural edition of the Indian Wells Masters took place in 1974, with John Newcombe winning the tournament by beating Arthur Ashe in the final. The women’s tournaments were introduced to the event in 1989 and Manuela Maleeva won the inaugural by defeating Jenny Byrne in the final.
Over the years, several tennis greats have won the prestigious tournament in California, with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic both holding the record for the most number of men’s singles titles at five. Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Mary Joe Fernandez and Daniela Hantuchova have won the women’s singles event twice each.
Past champions at the Indian Wells Masters include Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Martina Hingis and Monica Seles.
Venue and Dates
The first couple of editions of the tournament were hosted in Arizona. Since 1976, the tournament has been held in California. Even within the Golden State, the tournament moved around for a bit in the beginning. It was held in Rancho Mirage from 1976-80 and in La Quinta from 1981-86. Since 1987, the tournament has been held in Indian Wells. The venue is the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which was built in 2000. There are 29 tennis courts in the complex. The main stadium has the capacity to host 16,000 spectators and is the second largest tennis specific stadium in the world. Stadium 2 has a capacity of 8,000.
It’s one of the few tournaments other than the Grand Slams where the main draw proceedings extend beyond a week. The 2023 edition of the tournament is set to take place from March 8-19, 2023.
Prize Money
| Round | R128 | R64 | R32 | R16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Runner-up | Winner |
| Prize Money | $18,660 | $30,885 | $55,770 | $96,955 | $184,465 | $352,635 | $662,360 | $1,262,220 |
Past Champions
Men’s singles- Taylor Fritz
Women’s singles- Iga Swiatek
Men’s doubles- John Isner and Jack Sock
Women’s doubles- Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan
Players to watch out for
Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Carlos Alcaraz are some of the players to watch out for at the 2023 Indian Wells Masters
