Indian Wells Open

The Indian Wells Open is an ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California on hard courts, played in March. Men and women compete at the same venue in the same fortnight, which is unusual outside the majors and makes it one of the few events where you can watch both tours in a single day. The main singles draw holds 96 players.

Indian Wells is played in the Californian desert, and the conditions are the story. Dry air takes pace off the ball and the cool desert evenings make it heavier still, which produces one of the slowest hard courts anywhere on the calendar.

The practical effect is that rallies stretch out and the surface behaves a little like clay. Players who defend well and construct points travel further here than their ranking suggests, while big servers who expect free points find themselves playing another two shots every time.

It is also a fortnight rather than a week, which is unusual outside the majors: the draw is larger, the top seeds get an opening bye, and there are rest days between rounds. The extra recovery favours older players who cannot back up matches day after day.

Larry Ellison bought the tournament in 2009 and rebuilt the site around it. Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden seats 16,100, behind only Arthur Ashe among tennis venues, and the grounds stay open enough that spectators watch practice sessions as easily as matches.

Entry lists, the order of play and ticketing are on the official Indian Wells Open site.

One date to check against other calendars: ours is the first day of the main draw, not the first day of qualifying a week before it.

The Indian Wells Open main draw holds 96 players in single elimination, 7 rounds to the title and 95 matches in all, with the top 32 seeds held out of the first round so their route is one match shorter. Reading a bracket before it is played is a guide of its own.

The Indian Wells Open draw with every score is on its own page and updates while the tournament is being played.

Jannik Sinner won the men's title in 2026, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final by 7-6, 7-6. They were ranked 1 in the world at the time of writing.

Aryna Sabalenka won the women's title in 2026, beating Elena Rybakina in the final by 3-6, 6-3, 7-6. World number 2 on the list current when this page was built.

8 of the 8 quarter-finalists in the men's draw were seeded, which is close to what the seedings predicted. Jannik Sinner took the Indian Wells Open title from the number 2 seeding, and the final went 2 sets.

8 of the 8 quarter-finalists in the women's draw were seeded, which is close to what the seedings predicted. Aryna Sabalenka took the Indian Wells Open title from the number 1 seeding, and the final went 3 sets.

Rights to the Indian Wells Open are sold country by country, so the answer depends entirely on where you are sitting. There is no free-to-air option for this event in the major markets, which is normal below Grand Slam level.

The Indian Wells Open is played in Indian Wells, California, and matches follow the local schedule, so check the order of play against your own time zone before committing an evening to it.

Indian Wells runs for two weeks with rest days, so the load is lighter than a Grand Slam and the schedule is easier to follow. Stadium 1 gets full coverage and several of the outer stadiums are streamed, which is unusually generous for a tournament at this level. The desert time zone is the problem for everyone else: play starts at 11am Pacific, which is 7pm in London and 4am in Sydney.

Working out which subscription is worth it takes a season view: the guide has one.