The tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California (USA) set an attendance record with 504,268 spectators who attended the matches, the tournament organizers announced. The previous record for total attendance was 493,440 spectators, recorded in 2024.
The tournament in the California desert is popular with fans who gather every March at the palm-fringed tennis complex in Indian Wells, as well as among tennis players, who point to it as their favorite event of the ATP Masters 1000 series and WTA 1000 in each of the last 10 years.
French bank BNP Paribas announced late last week that it had renewed its general sponsorship of the tournament until 2029.
The tournament is known as the unofficial fifth Grand Slam tournament, and this year’s singles titles were won by Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva and British tennis talent Jack Draper.
Founded in 1974, the tournament and the facility were transformed after they were purchased in 2009 by American billionaire and tennis enthusiast Larry Ellison for 100 million USD.
Since then, Ellison has poured tens of millions of dollars into the tournament, dubbed “Tennis Paradise”.
