It’s time for the first half of the Sunshine Double when hundreds of tennis players meet in the desert for the combined ATP and WTA 1000 tournament at Indian Wells: The BNP Paribas Open.
The main draw kicks off on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, and will close with both the women’s and men’s singles final on Sunday, March 16, 2025, starting at 2:00 pm ET. Qualifying rounds begin on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Here’s a preview of this year’s BNP Paribas Open, with a look at some of the big questions and fine details so you can get the most out of the next two weeks of action from Indian Wells.
How to Watch Indian Wells
In the U.S., Tennis Channel, TC Plus, and T2 are the main avenues for catching matches throughout these two weeks of action from the desert. Tennis Channel will also host a program before live coverage begins each day.
Get the full rundown on how to catch the action from Tennis Watchers.
Three Big Questions
1) Is Indian Wells the place where the top ten players get it together? It’s been a messy year thus far for the top ten players in the world on both the ATP and the WTA tours. Poor play, bad losses, early exits, injuries (and...ahem...a doping case) have been the top storylines for the best players in the sport. Is Indian Wells, the tournament where players are historically the most pampered and relaxed, the turning point?
2) New surface, who dis? Indian Wells has changed surface providers from Plexipave to Laykold for the 2025 edition of the tournament, making it the same surface as the Miami Open and the U.S. Open. That could mean Indian Wells won’t be filled with the slow, high-bouncing points it normally is. But it’s hard to say just yet until we hear from more players about the conditions. We here at Court Theory HQ can think of a few top players who are particularly eager to find out. Okay, fine: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Daniil Medvedev, to name a few.
3) Where does Madison Keys stand? Madison Keys is (was?) the hottest player on tour in 2025 after winning Adelaide and the Australian Open. The proof is her spot atop the Race to the WTA Finals. But what’s her status now? We simply don’t know thanks to a lingering leg injury that kept her out of the Middle East swing and an unfortunate WTA rule that barred her return in Austin last week. All told, we haven’t seen her compete in nearly six weeks. Will she pick up right where she left off? Will she experience debilitating pressure? Will it take some matches to get going? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Draws
It’s rare that all the top 8 seeds make it to the quarterfinals of a 1000 tournament, but who knows? Maybe history will made this year. And if that happens, here are the projected quarterfinal match-ups based on seedings.
Women’s quarterfinals:
1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. 6 Jasmine Paolini
3 Coco Gauff vs. 5 Madison Keys
7 Elena Rybakina vs. 4 Jessica Pegula
8 Qinwen Zheng vs. 2 Iga Swiatek
Men’s quarterfinals:
1 Alexander Zverev vs. 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas
4 Casper Ruud vs. 5 Daniil Medvedev
7 Andrey Rublev vs. 3 Taylor Fritz
6 Novak Djokovic vs. 2 Carlos Alcaraz
🏆 Check out the full draws here.
Unfortunate First Rounds
Whether it’s fellow country people or fan favorites facing off, here are some first-round matches that we simply wish weren’t happening.
- Ashlyn Krueger vs. Katie Volynets
- Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Caty McNally
- Alycia Parks vs. Anna Kalinskaya
- Hailey Baptiste vs. Whitney Osuigwe
- Clervie Ngounoue vs. Vika Azarenka
- Yunchaokete Bu vs. Nishesh Basavareddy
- Jacob Fearnley vs. Joao Fonseca
- Mackenzie McDonald vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Who Got The Indian Wells Wild Cards?
Five men and eight women received wild cards into the BNP Paribas Open. A mix of big names and scrappy upstarts have made their way onto the lists.
Men’s Singles Wild Cards
Nishesh Basavareddy, Tristan Boyer, Joao Fonseca, Mackenzie McDonald, Reilly Opelka
Women’s Singles Wild Cards
Belinda Bencic, Caroline Dolehide, Iva Jovic, Petra Kvitova, Robin Montgomery, Alycia Parks, Bernarda Pera, Sloane Stephens
Read, Watch, Listen
A few things to get you in the mood:
- At The Athletic, Matt Futterman gets into the very difficult scenario of Ukrainian players coming to the U.S. for the Sunshine Double right after American President Donald Trump berated Ukrianian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.
- On Served, Andy Roddick previews Indian Wells and talks over the recent form of some of the top players as they head into the Sunshine Double.
- Tennis journalist Carole Bouchard takes a walk down Indian Wells memory lane. For those who have been there infrequently or not at all, this is a real treat with personal pictures and all.
Who to Follow
- For the style report and other interesting tidbits on the ground at Indian Wells, follow digital creator and tennis influencer Eliza Wastcoat on Instagram.
- For something a little different, follow Will Boucek on The Tennis Tribe Instagram account for his incredible insights on all things doubles.
- Start your day with Court Theory’s Indian Wells coverage by reading our morning cheat sheet, The Daily Theory. We can also chat about Indian Wells matches in real-time if you follow Court Theory on Bluesky.
