The competition will get serious on Wednesday, March 7, as the last-minute qualifiers to the 2018 BNP Paribas Open join the seeded players in both the men’s and women’s draws—with the goal of becoming the tourney champ, when play concludes Sunday, March 18.
Over the next two weeks, fans will flock to the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden for match play. This year, the tourney’s “Full Bloom” marketing campaign is calling attention to “the world-class tennis players (who) participate in this event woven into the natural beauty of the desert landscape.”
The BNP Paribas Open has been voted the Tournament of the Year by both the women’s and men’s tours for the fourth consecutive year—and organizers are not resting on their laurels. Among the vibrant flowers and majestic palms added to the already impressive grounds, fans will be able to enjoy more concession options, including temporary desert outlets of famed eateries like Spago and high-end sushi franchise Nobu—as well as a newly added local roadshow from desert favorite Wally’s Desert Turtle, among other options.
Then there’s the amazing tennis, witnessed in an environment that brings fans closer to the players than most tournaments will allow. The field of top WTA female pros includes top 2018 performers Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki and Angelique Kerber, as well as perennial favorite Serena Williams, who is returning to the tournament after taking last year off due to the birth of her first child.
On the ATP side of the draw, top pros including former tourney champions Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic will join upstarts like Denis Shapovalov, Dominic Thiem and Mischa Zverev to battle through the desert’s warm days and long nights.
Here’s a brief gallery of snapshots from the first, free-admission days of this year’s event, which included the annual Kids’ Day event, player practice sessions and qualifying-round matches, which took place last weekend.
