Five former champions are set to make their returns to Indian Wells. Along with two-time champion Swiatek (2022, 2024), Rybakina (2023), Badosa (2021), Victoria Azarenka (2012, 2016) and Naomi Osaka (2018) have entered. Swiatek and Azarenka have a chance to become the first three-time women’s champion at the tournament. Swiatek could become the first back-to-back champion since the tournament expanded to a 96-player field in 2004. Martina Navratilova is the only woman to go back-to-back, which she did in 1990 and 1991.
Indian Wells is set to be Keys’ first WTA 1000 appearance since becoming a Grand Slam champion. The Australian Open winner skipped the Middle East swing due to the right leg injury she sustained during her victorious Melbourne fortnight.
The BNP Paribas Open is the third WTA 1000 event of the season and is held in the California desert at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Coming off the heels of back-to-back WTA 1000s in the Middle East, the two-week tournament kicks off the “Sunshine Double”, as the WTA and ATP Tours go coast-to-coast from California to the Miami Open to close out the spring hard-court season. Indian Wells is the first combined WTA 1000/ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season.
