Sights & Sounds From Indian Wells Week One
By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 8, 2026
Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open
INDIAN WELLS—Visiting Tennis Paradise is an inspiring, informative and often intoxicating experience.
Here’s a brief recap of some of the matches, moments, magic and mania that caught our eyes during week one of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Alcaraz Entertains—On and Off Court
The world No. 1 was fired up for his Tennis Paradise return—and it showed.
Carlos Alcaraz dismantled Grigor Dimitrov, who toppled him at the 2024 Miami Open moving the Spaniard to remark “he gave me a lesson.”
Lesson learned.
Alcaraz not only brings pyro-technic shotmaking that overshadows even the fireworks before night matches—he’s an athlete determined to deliver entertainment value to fans.
During practice sessions, Alcaraz has repeatedly engaged with fans, taking selfies and signing autographs. Another cool move we’ve seen him make: At the end of practice, a team member will hand Alcaraz a few tennis balls. He signs each ball and when he walks over to interact with fans, he hands kids the pre-signed balls.
Very thoughtful and believe it or not, I saw Alcaraz do this prior to his first Wimbledon final vs. Novak Djokovic when he pre-signed balls then walked alone from the practice court to the locker room handing out the balls to kids who stopped him for selfies at SW19.
Talking to one of the security guards on site, he told me Alcaraz is his favorite player for his swashbuckling style—and his passion. The security guard said after Alcaraz’s loss to Jack Draper last year, he spotted the Spaniard sitting all alone on the curb outside of the practice courts and as he got closer he realized Alcaraz was crying.
“That shows how much he cares,” the guard told me.
Dimitrov Hits High Notes
Great to see Grigor Dimitrov healthy, back in action—and allied with two former standouts, Xavier Malisse and David Nalbandian, in his coaching box.
The man nicknamed Super G avenged his Acapulco loss to Terence Atmane in his opener whipping the low slice to challenge the big-hitting Frenchman’s western grip forehand. It was a lethal antidote as Dimitrov drew some shanked forehands in the end of a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 triumph.
Afterward, Dimitrov did something we’ve rarely seen in Stadium 1. He hit all four of the autographed souvenir tennis balls into four different sections of the upper level. It’s hard enough to do it once—we saw defending-champion Jack Draper do it in Stadium 2 after beating Roberto Bautista Agut—but Dimitrov did it on every ball without even really winding up and whacking it. It shows how explosive the former world No. 3 can be.
Eala Mania
Alexandra Eala and Dayana Yastremska treated fans to a high-velocity, crackling clash on Stadium 5.
This was an electric US Open-atmosphere match that spanned two hours, 47 minutes and saw Eala edge Yastremska 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.
Filipino fans were waving flags, stomping their feet on the metallic stands and chanting “Let’s Go Alex!” throughout in a sing-song tribute to the first player from the Philippines to play the BNP Pariabs Open main draw.
Credit Yastremska, who could be a volatile competitor in hear early days on Tour, for fighting so hard. Eala Mania, sometimes reminiscent of the fan fervor the young Rafa and young Guga evoked in passionate crowds, is real—and we’ve seen it fire up fans all over the globe.
Four double faults in the final game—and Eala’s unrelenting knack for the bold return strike down the line—ultimately sealed Yastremska’s fate.
As the crowd was going crazy between points, Eala often goes to the back wall to engage in her pre-point routine of shadow swings before coming back to fire for real.
Eala, who made a memorable Miami Open semifinal run last year as a 140th-ranked wild card and toppled Clara Tauson in her US Open opener last August, is a crowd-pleasing player because she’s a fearless shotmaker and Filipina trailblazer.
“It means the world to have this community behind me in such a prestigious tournament,” Eala said. “For them to make the effort to stay up late and stay in the cold and cheer me on, so it really added to the feelings and the emotions after the match, yeah.”
If the 31st-seeded Eala can either beef up her serve—or learn to whip the extreme lefty slider slice out wide on the deuce side—she will eventually be a big-time player.
After such a hard-core battle, it was a beautiful embrace by both women at night and as Yastremeska walked off, Hall of Famer Pam Shriver, sitting in her box, gave her another hug.
Can Eala embrace the challenge of facing Coco Gauff tonight on Stadium 1 just weeks after the reigning Roland Garros champion crushed the 20-year-old 6-0, 6-2 in the Dubai quarterfinals?
Two-time Grand Slam champion Gauff retired for just the second time in her career with a left arm injury after Eala took the first set tonight.
Gauff’s retirement sends Eala into the Indian Wells fourth round against hard-hitting Linda Noskova.
In her post-match presser, we asked Eala how that magical Miami run has helped her in her Indian Wells debut. Eala said Miami was the spark that lit her fire.
“I think that Miami run was really big. It was my biggest result, and I think that that was kind of the spark that lit the fire,” Eala said. “I learned so much from that week, and I’ll always remember it as that.
“But there are so many things that have happened in between then and now that have added to how I have grown as a player and as a person, and I think one of the biggest things is maturity, experience, being able to surround myself consistently with this high of a level of tennis players, and this high of a level of competition pushes me to be better. So I’m trying to find my limits and go past that, yeah.”
Stadium 2 Shift
Walking behind a couple up the Stadium 2 steps to watch Sloane Stephens vs. Camila Osorio, I saw them examine a lengthy, winding queue cautiously then heard them ask a security guard: “Is this the line for Stadium 2 seating?”
“No, it’s the line for Nobu,” the guard replied of the famed restaurant inside of Stadium 2.
The tournament previously permitted fans holding grounds passes to sit in the upper bowl of Stadium 2. Now, it’s ticket seated only, which meant some sparse crowds for major champions like Stephens and Naomi Osaka in openers.
While you can understand the tournament desire to tap that ticketing revenue stream, still I miss the more raucous atmosphere when it was open seating in the upper level.
Still, it’s more intimate than Stadium 1. Sitting above Osaka’s coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, was informative to see he often uses hand gestures rather than verbal cues when coaching.
For instance, when he wanted the four-time Slam champion to snap her serve, he mimed the motion of reaching up for a serve and exaggerated the snap at the top of the toss. In coaching her to alter her return position against a left-handed opponent on the ad side he pointed to “move left” before shoving the air with his palms in a “move forward” gesture.
Venus Presses Mute, Still Makes Noise
The good news: Venus Williams, like fellow legends Althea Gibson and Pancho Gonzalez before her, continues to show the world tennis truly is a lifetime sport.
Yes, you can dwell on the fact her three-set loss to Diane Parry in her opener was her eighth straight singles defeat since she beat Peyton Stearns in her Washington, DC comeback. Yes, you can focus on the fact she lacks the explosiveness that made her a five-time Wimbledon champion and a four-time gold-medal champion. Yes, you can spotlight the fact that if she doesn’t win in straight-sets, three-set victories appear to be a bridge too far.
Personally, I try to appreciate the fact that at 45, Venus is living proof tennis is truly a lifetime sport—and that devoted players never really stop trying to unlock efforts to improve. If you think that’s spin and hyperbole and you’re one of the skeptics saying “She’s taking a wild card from someone who could really use it”, two responses:
- Why does nearly every other leading American sport like football, baseball, basketball embrace and honor their champions whereas tennis sometimes seems to cannibalize champs and send them packing? If it is a lifetime sport, then celebrate those champions who really live it and prove it.
- If you’re a middle aged [read: old dude] like me, please go out and try to play vs. a good college player in the Palm Springs heat and wind. We had the opportunity to do that with photographer friend Rob Stone and two college players and quite candidly got smoked much of the time. Not that I’m comparing my meager rec level to future Hall of Famer Venus, my point is the age gap alone makes it a massive challenge.
So full credit to Venus for fighting so fiercely for so long.
At the same time, she shut down the press as oppressively as the days she used to bang rib-rocking 120 mph serves into the body answering back-to-back questions with one word: No.
In an almost comical approach, she preceded both answers with a dramatic pause as if contemplating a real answer before pressing mute with: No.
Look, Venus has devoted a lifetime to the sport and has earned the right to do it her way—as she’s always done it—but honestly if she answered questions by performing charades, answered in the form of a question like on Jeopardy, answered in full emoji form—I mean anything would be better than nothing.
Obviously, the legacy of champions is written by on court-performances NOT press-conference performances. Still, contrast that with Novak Djokovic who gives thorough answers in both English and Serbian—basically conducting two pressers each time—or Roger Federer, who would often do triple pressers replying in English, French and Swiss-German or Taylor Townsend, whose on-court interviews are more expansive than many players’ pressers and you understand some champions understand doing press, while sometimes annoying, is part of the job and others simply don’t.
Mental Masters
When Daniil Medvedev was asked to assess his Tennis IQ by Tennis Now’s Chris Oddo, the former world No. 1 gave a nuanced response revealing his introspection.
Dubai champion Medvedev then cited two players he asserts score highly on a Tennis IQ exam: Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic and Meddy Bear nemesis Learner Tien, who has scored AO victories over the Russian.
“Novak, he probably has a very high tennis IQ, but is it the highest in the history of tennis, or is he mentally the strongest in the history of tennis, or is it both?” Medvedev said. “It’s very tough to say.”
In a “if you can’t beat him, join him” move Medvedev is playing doubles with Tien in Indian Wells.
“At the same time, I do consider myself mentally strong, as well, so I think who else maybe I can put, let’s say from young guys, Learner, for sure,” Medvedev said. “Yeah, I played him four times now, and in a way every match was different, but the way he, yeah, he manages to control the court, to control the point to his favor is really impressive. We’re playing doubles tomorrow, but I really like his game and kind of hoping he can do well in his career.”
Tightening Up
Getting tight in tennis isn’t typically a positive, unless you’re Jessica Pegula, who problem-solved on tghe job.
After dropping the opening set to dangerous Donna Vekic, Pegula confessed thoughts of an early exit haunted her head.
I was thinking, wow, this would not be great if I lose. I was like, well, maybe I can get out of the sponsor thing I have to do tomorrow,” Pegula shared after her three-set comeback win. “My brain is kind of going, and I think I’ve played so many matches and had some really good three-set matches lately where I also was like pretty comfortable knowing that I could turn it around.”
The former US Open finalist turned tight to turn the match around.
“I think I kind of flipped the switch pretty quickly. I switched, like the ball is kind of flying on me, so I switched to a tighter racquet,” Pegula said. “That kind of gave me a little bit more freedom to feel like I could go for my shots, and I think that kind of helped.”
Pumpkin Patch
In the latter stages of Alex Michelsen’s pulsating 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(6) win over Frenchman Ugo Humbert on Saturday night, Stadium 5 fans were totally engaged.
“Let’s Go Alex!” chants combated “Let’s Go Ugo!” choruses with a spontaneous “USA! USA!” roar erupting as the match escalated into the third-set tiebreaker.
Then, one guy seated behind the chair umpire’s seat, started a solitary “Let’s Go Pumpkin” chant—presumably a tribute Michelsen’s neon-orange adidas shirt. Though that chant didn’t catch on, full credit to this fan for continuing his solo “Let’s Go Pumpkin” urging.
The third-set tiebreaker showed why Michelsen is both a fun watch and a player with a future. Despite missing several first serves, double-faulting back the mini break—and flat-lining a couple shots into net, the lanky SoCal native never lost his aggressive edge.
Twice, Michelsen made slick stab volleys when he needed them most helping him prevail ina two hour, 46-minute thriller that was one of the best matches of the tournament.
The match showed both why Michelsen’s game is a work in progress—for a guy 6’4” you’d expect his first serve to get bigger or at least higher percentage and you’d like to see him take the net out of play and not flat line shots at critical stages—and why his potential ceiling is high.
A feisty competitor, Michelsen shows the fire and amped his aggression in those critical moments and that will only help his growth. Michelsen will meet seventh-seeded former champion Taylor Fritz for a place in the round of 16.
Food for Thought
If you’re visiting the BNP Paribas Open and can’t crack the code for Nobu, no worries.
We’ve visited several of the top food court options—excluding burgers and hot dog specialists—and here are three suggestions:
John’s
The Mahi Pita is delicious and fresh. A wide selection of sandwiches and salads and one of the fastest crews we’ve encountered, whose attention to detail was appreciated.
Chef Tanya’s Kitchen
Ideal for vegetarians and vegans. Fantastic salads and the Big Mama’s Burrito con Escabeche was arguably the biggest bang for the buck of any food vendor we visited in week one.
The staff was super helpful as well, including the counter guy, who detected my bleary-eyed squinting struggling to see the menu affixed to the back wall kindly pointing out “Don’t squint—there’s a menu right behind you.” Well played, sir.
Beecher’s Hand Made Cheese
Sometimes, even during a Masters 1000 tournament, you need an infusion of self-indulgence to keep the internal engine humming.
Beecher’s, which bills itself as “the world’s best Mac & Cheese”, is a prime-time spot to fill comfort-food cravings. We’ve tried both the regular Mac & Cheese and Salmon Mac & Cheese, both were good, as was the near frisbee-sized $6 chocolate chip cookie.
We’ve only seen Beecher’s on the 400-level of Stadium 1 so it requires some hunting, but the long line we encountered twice—one beer-guzzling guy walking by remarked “Who the hell stands in line for Mac & Cheese?” (Answer: at least 20 of my fellow tennis fans, sir)—and the fact they ran out of Mac & Cheese on Saturday night during the early stages of the Jessica Pegula vs. Donna Vekic match are a testament to the place’s popularity.
For souvenir hunters, the lululemon store, right across from the main BNP Paribas Open souvenir store, has drawn long lines several times we’ve been in that area.
Lululemon replaced Fila as BNP Paribas Open apparel sponsor and seems to be a huge hit with fans. First time we walked by the store, the line was so long I thought maybe brand ambassadors Frances Tiafoe and Leylah Fernandez were doing a joint autograph signing. That wasn’t the case.
Solinco’s booth has also been a big draw with fans. Mackenzie McDonald did an autograph signing there drawing good fan support. Solinco, a popular string among pros, has also launched their own tennis balls. We hit with them on Thursday and quite enjoyed the Solinco balls though the gritty Indian Wells courts can scar and fluff balls up after a while.
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