The first ATP-WTA 1000 double header of the season, the Indian Wells Open, is around the corner and we give you all the ins and outs of the tournament.

When does the 2023 Indian Wells Open take place?

The first leg of this year’s Sunshine Double, the Indian Wells Open – which also goes by its sponsor name the BNP Paribas Open, runs from March 6 until March 19..

It is a joint ATP-WTA 1000 tournament and outside of the four Grand Slams, it is the only event on both calendars that run over two weeks.

The qualifiers will take place on March 6 and 7 and the main draw events will run from March 8-19.

Where does the Indian Wells Open take place?

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which is situated in near Palm Springs in California, has been hosting the unofficial fifth Grand Slam since 1986.

The “Tennis Paradise” received an upgrade just over 20 years ago as $77 million was spent to revamp the place with construction finishing in March 2000.

Tennis Garden has 29 tennis courts with the main attraction the 16,100-seater Stadium 1 – the second largest tennis-only stadium in the world after Arthur Ashe Stadium – while Stadium 2 can hold up to 8,000 people.

About the defending champions…

It was a fairytale for Taylor Fritz and California last year as the California-born Fritz became the first American to win the Indian Wells Open since Andre Agassi in 2001, defeating Rafael Nadal in the final as he ended the Spaniard’s 20-match unbeaten start to the 2022 season.

Iga Swiatek was in a dominant mood in 2022 as she became the first Pole to win the Indian Wells Open – defeating Maria Sakkari in straight sets in the final.

It was Swiatek’s second consecutive title on the WTA Tour and she would win another four titles before she was finally beaten.

It was double delight for the United States on the men’s side as Americans John Isner and Jack Sock won the doubles while China’s Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan were crowned women’s doubles champions.

What about the seeds for this year’s event?

Novak Djokovic was initially the top seed, but Carlos Alcaraz was bumped up after the Serbian’s withdrawal and the Spaniard is followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Hubert Hurkacz and Cameron Norrie.

Dan Evans is second-highest seeded British player at No 25 while Jack Draper and Andy Murray are unseeded.

Defending champion leads the way on the WTA side and she is followed by Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Daria Kasatkina, Elena Rybakina and Belinda Bencic.

Emma Raducanu is the only British woman in the draw with Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart taking part in qualifiers.

Who will miss the 2023 edition?

Rafael Nadal, who finished runner-up last year, Australian Nick Kyrgios, Marin Cilic and Sebastian Korda are some of the big names on the ATP side that will be missing while former world No 2 Anett Kontaveit – who has struggled with form recently – will be absent on the WTA side.

Djokovic, meanwhile, withdrew from the tournament on Sunday with reports suggesting that his application for a special exemption to enter the United States failed.

Meanwhile, Alcaraz has been struggling with a hamstring injury and their doubts over his participation after he withdrew from the Acapulco event last week.

Speaking of the draw…

Both the ATP and WTA main draws are scheduled for 15:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on March 6.

Which TV channels will broadcast the tournament?

Amazon Prime will once again broadcast the ATP and WTA main draw events in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland with coverage set to start 20:00 daily.

Eurosport covers mainland Europe with a few exceptions those exceptions include Germany and Italy with Sky and Tennis Channel and Supertennis among the channels to broadcast the tournament.

Tennis Channel / TC Plus are your go-to hosts if you are in the United States with Canada covered by TSN and DAZN.

If you live in Australia then beInNSPORTS will be your channel of choice, SuperSport covers sub-Saharan Africa and ESPN International provides coverage for Latin America.

What about the prize money?

The total prize pool for this year’s BNP Paribas Open is $17,600,000 (roughly £14,624,010), up 5.7% from the 2022 tally. This year’s men’s and women’s singles winners will each walk away with a $1,262,220 (about £105,000).

The article 2023 Indian Wells Open: Dates, will Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz play, draw, TV channels, prize money appeared first on Tennis365.com.