While the world has not woken this week to the sound of tennis balls being struck, the international sporting calendar remains very much alive. From Formula 1’s season-opening Grand Prix in Australia to the start of the American swing of the tennis tour in California, sport continues its rhythm despite a turbulent global backdrop. Today marks the beginning of the so-called “fifth Grand Slam”: the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Below, we highlight three things you cannot miss as the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open gets underway in the Golden State.
Set within California’s Coachella Valley, Indian Wells has long been a coveted stop for players and spectators alike. Walking through the sweeping walkways of the 29-court complex known as the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, visitors are immediately struck by the proximity of the Santa Rosa Mountains, whose desert ridges frame the venue in spectacular fashion. It is here that the tournament has earned its enduring nickname: Tennis Paradise. Few arenas in modern sport offer such a striking outdoor setting.
Players themselves are often the first to praise it. American Tommy Paul once described Indian Wells as “the best place to play tennis”, while Rafael Nadal has repeatedly called the tournament “the best two weeks of the year”. The atmosphere plays its part: a knowledgeable and respectful crowd, immaculate facilities and near-perfect desert weather, with temperatures expected to reach around 30°C today. Together, these elements create one of the most distinctive and beloved stops on the professional circuit.
This year, however, the Californian desert has brought more than just sunshine for world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. During her time in Indian Wells, the Belarusian confirmed her engagement to Brazilian entrepreneur Georgios Frangulis, the businessman behind the global expansion of the Oakberry brand. The proposal followed a playful moment during the Australian Open trophy ceremony earlier this season, when Sabalenka jokingly applied pressure on Frangulis in front of the cameras. In California, he finally conceded.
Why do they call it the ‘fifth Grand Slam’?
When the Indian Wells Tennis Garden opened in March 2000, the ambition was unmistakable: to build a venue capable of standing alongside the sport’s most prestigious arenas, including the four Grand Slams themselves. Today, the complex boasts the second-largest outdoor tennis stadium in the world, an octagonal show court that seats more than 16,000 spectators, second only to the 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open.
While Indian Wells cannot yet rival the historical weight of the Grand Slam tournaments – each of which traces its roots back more than a century – the Californian event has steadily established itself among the elite stops on the professional circuit. Attendance figures underline that ascent. Last year alone, more than half a million spectators passed through the gates of the Tennis Garden, making it one of the most visited tournaments in the sport.
Much of that rise can be attributed to the vision – and the considerable resources – of the man behind its modern transformation. Larry Ellison, the software billionaire, co-founder of Oracle, and lifelong tennis enthusiast, purchased the tournament for $100 million in 2009.
Since then, Ellison has invested a comparable sum into expanding and refining the venue, helping elevate Indian Wells into what many players and observers now regard as the sport’s unofficial “fifth Grand Slam.” Without that sustained investment and meticulous attention to detail from one of the twenty-first century’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Indian Wells might never have reached its current stature: a 54-acre tennis sanctuary in the Californian desert bringing together the best tennis athletes and experience for fans.
Although Indian Wells is strategically positioned on the American swing – immediately preceding the Miami Open and forming the celebrated “Sunshine Double” – the tournament’s history has not been without controversy. Most notably, the Williams sisters boycotted the event for 14 years following a deeply contentious episode in 2001.
That year, Venus Williams was scheduled to face her sister Serena in the semi-finals, but withdrew shortly before the match citing injury. The decision ignited a storm of speculation. Persistent rumours had circulated that their father, Richard Williams, orchestrated the outcomes of matches between the two sisters. As the situation unfolded, sections of the crowd reacted angrily, directing boos and, according to the Williams family, racial abuse towards Richard Williams from the stands.
Serena faced the same hostility days later during the final, where she defeated Kim Clijsters amid a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere. The experience left a lasting mark on the family, prompting both sisters to stay away from the tournament for more than a decade. The impasse was eventually broken after Larry Ellison acquired the event in 2009.
Determined to repair relations, the Oracle co-founder personally reached out to Serena Williams in an effort to bring her back to the desert. The details of that conversation have never been publicly disclosed, yet its outcome was clear. In 2015, Serena returned to Stadium 1 to a standing ovation, closing one of the most painful chapters in the tournament’s history. Her sister Venus would later follow, continuing to compete at Indian Wells until today, as she will play her 10th appearance at the Tennis Garden for what might be her last appearance at 45 years old. She is proof that the Williams sisters and Indian Wells have since turned the page on one of the darkest episodes in American tennis.
The Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open runs until Sunday, 15 March. Expect a near-flawless Carlos Alcaraz and a laser-focused Aryna Sabalenka as both look to reinforce their dominance at the top of the game.
