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With over $17 million in prize money up for grabs across the men’s ATP tournament, the women’s WTA competition and the doubles, this 2023 edition is set to be one of the best Indian Wells Masters of all time. 96 players compete in each of the singles tournaments with 32 competitors taking to the court in both doubles campaigns.
Last year saw American Taylor Fritz winning the men’s singles with Poland’s Iga Swiatek lifting the trophy in the women’s competition. Both will be back to defend their titles and Indian Wells odds do have them as one of the main favourites, so let’s start to get excited as we bring you this BNP Paribas Open preview.
Tournament History
Contents
The BNP Paribas Open has moved with the times and you can read all about the format of the men’s and women’s tournaments here.
Men’s Event History at Indian Wells
The 2023 Indian Wells Masters will be the 49th edition of the men’s tournament. As with much of men’s tennis, this tournament has been dominated by the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. From 2004 onwards, at least one of the trio made the final every season apart from 2010 and 2021!
However, this year’s event will see none of the three competing with Federer retired, Djokovic unable to enter the country and Nadal recovering from an injury. Australia’s John Newcombe was the first winner of the tournament in the inaugural event back in 1974 when he beat Arthur Ashe in straight sets. Newcombe’s compatriot John Alexander won the following year’s event, but apart from three titles (Mark Philippoussis once and Leyton Hewitt twice) in five years from 1999 – 2003, there have not been any other Australian winners.
Women’s Event History at Indian Wells
This will be the 34th edition of the women’s competition and, in all of those tournaments since 1979, no player has won the title more than twice. Eight of the first 13 Women’s BNP Paribas Opens were won by American players, but the hosts have not had a home-grown winner in the women’s game since 2001 when Serena Williams triumphed over Kim Clijsters.
However, part of this drought was due to both Williams sisters boycotting the event until 2015 when Serena returned. From 2017 onwards, we have seen different players every year in the final of the competition.
Latest Indian Wells 2023 News
As ever, there is plenty of news and noise around the players ahead of this tournament which is now firmly established as the most competitive on the circuit after the four Grand Slams. The withdrawal of Novak Djokovic has captured many of the headlines as has the investment of $150 million in the women’s tennis tour from CVC Capital Partners. The money is expected to be used to boost the commercial side of the game and to bring it to a wider global audience.
As well as the players who dominated men’s tennis from the early part of this century onwards, other big names such as Nick Kyrgios, Marin Cilic and Sebastian Korda will miss this tournament. However, Andy Murray, who withdrew from last month’s Dubai Tennis Championship with a recurring hip injury, is fit enough to compete.
In the women’s draw, the two biggest names absent are Estonia’s Anett Knotaveit and China’s Zheng Qinwen.
Top Players at BNP Paribas Open 2023
With the qualifying rounds set to conclude on Tuesday 7th March, we will know who has got through to the first round proper very soon. The best available players will be on show in both the men’s and women’s tournament and any tennis fan lucky enough to have tickets for any of the games is going to have a great time. All of the top 18 ranked players on the women’s tour are in the competition with the likes of Simona Halep and Emma Raducanu making up an excellent field of participants.
Schedule of the Tournament
With the women’s competition getting underway on March 8th and the men’s tournament beginning on March 9th, tennis supporters will not be short of top class action up until the end of the Indian Wells event on March 19th. Indian Wells draw is already completed, the Indian Wells schedule is out, so let’s check out some of the most interesting potential matchups and duels.
Men’s
When it comes to men’s even, the top seeded teenagers Carlos Alcaraz, the number one seed, and Holger Rune, the number seven seed, both find themselves in the top half of the draw. We await to see how the tournament plays out but all we do know is that they won’t meet Stefanos Tsitsipas until the final, if he gets that far.
Women’s
In the women’s draw, there is already plenty of coverage ahead of the first round clash between the 2021 US Open Champion Emma Raducanu and Danka Kovinic who defeated her in the second round of the same tournament 12 months later, but make sure to check who the top women’s seeds are at Indian Wells.
Prize money
As mentioned at the start of this Indian Wells Preview, there is plenty of prize money on offer in both the men’s and women’s draws. The total prize pool for the men’s tournaments is $8,800,000 with the winner of the singles being awarded $1,262,220. It’s certainly more profitable in the singles as the doubles winners must split a pot of $436,730.
And as it’s 2023, the figures are exactly the same in the women’s singles and the women’s doubles competitions!
Ranking points wise, the winners of the men’s and women’s singles will walk away with an additional 1000 points.
Where to Watch
You can often tell yourself that you are going to spend just a couple of minutes watching a tennis match but the clashes at the Indian Wells Masters will often leave you not wanting to leave your seat or to get on with that to-do list.
In the UK, you can follow every serve, volley and drop-shot on Amazon Prime Video. Whether watching in your front room or streaming on your mobile device, you won’t miss any of the action.
In the USA, the entire tournament will be shown on the Tennis Channel with beIN Sports covering the competition in Australia.
Alternatively, you can stream all games and playback other matches via TennisTV.com. Bet365.com will also have live coverage of Indian Wells for all customers.
So it’s almost time for the talking and the typing to stop. We wonder if Iga Swiatek will be able to defend her title and if Taylor Fritz, seeded fourth this year, will be able to hold on to his. If you want to check our opinion on this, take a look at our ATP Indian Wells predictions and our WTA Indian Wells predictions.
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