Before the start of the ‘BNP Paribas Open’ in Indian Wells, fans and insiders wondered a lot about the organizers’ choice to change the surface after 25 years.
The intention was to make the courts of the first Masters 1000 of the season – notoriously the slowest ever among hard court events – faster and more similar to those of the Miami Open and the US Open.
The tournament started a few days ago, but it is already fair to say that this goal has not been achieved. In the various press conferences before the start of the event, most ATP and WTA players had said that they had not noticed any particular differences compared to the past and Daniil Medvedev – finalist of the last two editions – had even said that the surface has become slower than in the past.
After his debut in California, the Russian ace confirmed that these courts are the slowest he has ever played on during his career.
A really slow surface
This statement of the former world number 1 also seems to be certified by some objective data.
Until last year, the ‘Indian Wells’ court peace index’ was 36.9. This meant that the surface was slower than that of Montreal, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris-Bercy, but perfectly in line with that of the Miami Open (although conditions are very different between California and Florida).
According to the latest data – following the change of surface – the current ‘court pace index’ of Indian Wells has dropped to 29.3 (a speed that makes these courts more similar to red clay than to other hard courts).
Indian Wells 🇺🇲: Court Conditions – Stadium 1: #BNPParibasOpen #IndianWells #ATP #tennis #ATP1000 #ATPMasters pic.twitter.com/EqrvF509oY
— ATP Tennis Stats; Snooker Stats (@ATP_Entry) March 7, 2025
On the latest edition of the show ‘Sans Filet’, top analyst Benoit Maylin harshly criticized the tournament organizers for this bizarre choice: “Indian Wells has always been a tournament with a very slow surface, but now the organizers have made it even slower. Almost all the surface changes in the last few years have contributed to slowing down the game and making it more boring, I don’t understand why.”
Tennis World USA