BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open - The "Baby Slams"
For years, “March Madness” for the WTA Tour and ATP World Tour has meant the month-long swing between the sunny hard courts in Indian Wells, California in early March followed by the heat and humidity in Key Biscayne, Florida at the end of March. These tournaments
face increased competition from new combined men’s and women’s events in Europe and Asia, but their placement on the tennis calendar a month after the Australian Open and about six weeks before the French Open position these events as critical for players to establish their games and rankings before the spring Slam season.
Both tournaments have expanded to at least 10 ten days of main draw matches. In addition, both tournaments have developed their events into much more than simply top tier tennis events with all sorts of promotional events and activities both on-site for kids and families, as well as in the surrounding city. They are "happenings” much more than simply tennis tournaments and that helps the profile of the tournaments. There has also historically been friendly competition between the events in terms of which is truly the “fifth Grand Slam.” The women’s event at the Sony Ericsson Open has historically been stronger both because it has been a top tier event on the WTA calendar (while Indian Wells was not), but also because both Serena Williams and Venus Williams have skipped the Indian Wells tournament for many years because of a racially-charged incident several years ago. In the end, the two tournaments continue to raise the bar for each other, as well as all tournaments around the world in terms of how to put on a world class tennis tournament. Let’s play on…
Both tournaments have expanded to at least 10 ten days of main draw matches. In addition, both tournaments have developed their events into much more than simply top tier tennis events with all sorts of promotional events and activities both on-site for kids and families, as well as in the surrounding city. They are "happenings” much more than simply tennis tournaments and that helps the profile of the tournaments. There has also historically been friendly competition between the events in terms of which is truly the “fifth Grand Slam.” The women’s event at the Sony Ericsson Open has historically been stronger both because it has been a top tier event on the WTA calendar (while Indian Wells was not), but also because both Serena Williams and Venus Williams have skipped the Indian Wells tournament for many years because of a racially-charged incident several years ago. In the end, the two tournaments continue to raise the bar for each other, as well as all tournaments around the world in terms of how to put on a world class tennis tournament. Let’s play on…
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