By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Photo credit: Matthew Calvis
Carlos Alcaraz plays for a rare Indian Wells three-peat next month.
Five-time BNP Paribas Open champion Novak Djokovic will try to snap the Spaniard’s desert reign.
More: Sinner and Cahill to Part After 2025
The BNP Paribas Open issued its 2025 entry list today and Djokovic, who suffered a muscle tear in his left hamstring that forced him to retire from last month’s Australian Open semifinals, is among the champions on it.
Two-time defending champion Alcaraz rides a 12-match Indian Wells winning streak into the desert as he plays to become the first man since Djokovic in 2016 to three-peat.
Reigning women’s champion Iga Swiatek is playing for history.
Two-time champion Swiatek is bidding to become the first woman to win three Indian Wells singles championships.
The 2025 BNP Paribas Open will be held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden March 2-16th.
World No.1 players and three-time Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner will top their respective draws as both hope to capture a first-career title in Palm Springs.
Sabalenka reached the final in 2023 and will be looking for her first title of the 2025 season after falling to Madison Keys in a thrilling Australian Open final. Sabalenka and Taylor Fritz won the Eisenhower Cup mixed doubles title played before the Indian Wells main draw last year.
Sinner, empowered by successfully defending his Australian Open title last month, has reached back-to-back Indian Wells semifinals – falling to Alcaraz both times.
Overall, Alcaraz is 16-2 lifetime in Tennis Paradise beating back Alexander Zverev, a sudden swarm of bees, Sinner and Daniil Medvedev in claiming the 2024 championship.
Olympic teammates Coco Gauff and former Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz lead the charge of American contenders. The 2025 Australian Open finalist Alexander Zverev, three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud, two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini, and 2023 BNP Paribas Open champion Elena Rybakina complete the list of Top 5 players set to compete in the desert.
The 2025 Australian Open Champion Madison Keys, 2024 US Open finalist Jessica Pegula and 2024 US Open semifinalist Emma Navarro round out the list of Top 10 players looking to break the American WTA drought in the desert.
No American woman has lifted the BNP Paribas Open singles title since Serena Williams in 2001. Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport was runner-up three years in a row (2003 to 2005) and Serena fell to Victoria Azarenka in the 2016 final. The 2019 champion Bianca Andreescu is the last North American woman to win Indian Wells.
Since Other top American women set to vie for the crown include World No. 12 Danielle Collins, former NCAA National Champion Peyton Stearns, and Amanda Anisimova.
On the American men’s side, newly-minted Top 10 player Tommy Paul (World No. 9) will look to build off a career-best Indian Wells showing last year, where he reached the semifinal.
Former US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton will make his third appearance in the desert fresh off a run to the Australian Open semifinal, with Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda completing the list of Top 25-ranked American ATP players coming to Tennis Paradise.
Former Top 50 American players Reilly Opelka and Jenson Brooksby will also compete in Indian Wells for the first time since the 2022 BNP Paribas Open as both players make comebacks from multi-year Tour absences. 2025 Australian Open semifinalist and World No. 10 Paula Badosa highlights a strong crew of former BNP Paribas Open winners looking to reclaim championship glory at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The 2021 champion Badosa will be joined by other past Indian Wells titleholders including Naomi Osaka (2018), Victoria Azarenka (2012, 2016), and Cameron Norrie (2021).
