2024 Indian Wells Open: Will Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal play? When is the draw?

Indian Wells Masters overview

The Indian Wells Open – often described as the fifth major in tennis – marks the first ATP-WTA 1000 double-header of the season and there will no doubt be a few interesting twists before and during the tournament.

When does the 2024 Indian Wells Open take place?

The Indian Wells Open – which is also known as the BNP Paribas Open due to its sponsorship agreement with the multinational bank – marks the first leg of the Sunshine Double on American soil with the Miami Open considered the second part of the famous swing.

This year’s tournament will run from March 6-17 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which organisers often describe as “Tennis Paradise”.

Both the men’s and women’s finals will be staged on Sunday, March 17.

The “Tennis Garden” has 29 courts with Stadium 1 – the second largest tennis-only stadium in the world after Arthur Ashe Stadium – able to hold 16,100 people – while Stadium 2 has an 8,000-seater capacity.

Who are the defending champions?

Carlos Alcaraz won his first title at Indian Wells last year when he defeated Daniil Medvedev 6–3, 6–2 in the final and with the win he returned to No 1 in the ATP Rankings.

On the women’s side, Elena Ryabakina won her maiden WTA 1000 title when she beat Aryna Sabalenka 7–6 (13–11), 6–4, having also taken out then defending champion and world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the semi-final.

Who will feature at this year’s tournament?

There were some big men’s names missing from the 2023 Indian Wells Open draw as five-time champion Novak Djokovic missed the event for the second consecutive year as he did not meet vaccination requirements to enter the United States.

Fellow great and three-time champion Rafael Nadal was also missing after he sustained a serious hip injury at the Australian Open.

But the good news is that both legends will compete at this year’s event and they have already made their way to “Tennis Paradise”.

READ MORE: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic enjoy mile-high reunion

However, there are one or two question marks over Nadal’s fitness as he hasn’t played since the first week of January after he picked up an injury at the Brisbane International.

There are also doubts over whether or not Carlos Alcaraz will be 100% as he rolled his ankle at the recent Rio Open, but he has been given the all-clear by doctors.

As for the rest of the line-up on the ATP side, the other usual suspects will all be there with Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev once again expected to challenge for the title.

On the women’s side, world No 1 Iga Swiatek will headline the field featuring Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Rybakina and Jessica Pegula.

Former world No 1s Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki will also feature after they were awarded wildcards while 2021 champion Paula Badosa as well as new moms Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber have used their protected ranking to enter.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova as well as Belinda Bencic will be absent as they are on maternity leave.

What about the seeds for this year’s event?

The full seeding list will only be confirmed after the rankings are updated on March 4, but the top four on the ATP side and the top 10 on the WTA side are already cast in stone.

Novak Djokovic leads the list in the men’s draw and he is followed by Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev with Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Holger Rune, Hubert Hurkacz, Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitispas likely to complete the top 10.

On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek is followed by Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova, Zheng Qinwen, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko.

Tell us more about the draw…

Both the ATP and WTA tournaments are 96-player singles events and the draw is scheduled to take place two days before the action kicks off.

As things stand, Monday March 4 at 15:00 local time (23:00 GMT) is set to be the moment when all is revealed.

What about the daily playing schedule?

Day sessions start at 19:00 UK time (11:00 local time), with night sessions kicking off at 02:00 (18:00 local time).

Which TV channels will broadcast the tournament?

The 2024 Indian Wells Open will be Sky Sports’ first joint-ATP-WTA 1000 event since they picked up the broadcasting rights again.

The action will be available on Sky Sports Tennis and Now TV and coverage usually starts at 8pm daily, but it is also dependent on the daily order of play.

Sky Deutschland has the rights for Germany, Eurosport will broadcast the tournament in France and Sky Italia will show it in Italy.

Eurosport will broadcast the tournament in mainland Europe – including France Germany and Italy with Sky and Tennis Channel and Supertennis among the channels to broadcast the tournament.

Tennis Channel / TC Plus has the rights in the United States, TSN covers Canada, beInNSPORTS will be your channel of choice in Australia, SuperSport covers sub-Saharan Africa and ESPN International provides coverage for Latin America.

What is the prize money for the 2024 Indian Wells Open?

There has been a $1.4m increase in the total prize money to take the overall tally to $19m (about £15m).

Those who exit early and the doubles players will earn more when compared to last year, but the winners’ cheques will drop as Alcaraz and Swiatek each received $1,262,220 in 2023, but this year the winners will get $1,100,000.

Singles

Doubles