The BNP Paribas Open, held in Indian Wells, California, celebrated the end of the Indian Wells Masters by looking toward 2024 with the announcement of the tournament dates for next year.
“That’s a wrap on 2023! Save the date for next year: March 4 to 17, 2024,” organizers announced in a March 20 tweet.
The BNP Paribas Open is one of the biggest tennis tournaments on the pro tennis tour, aside from the four-grand slam events -- the Australian, French and U.S. Opens, along with Wimbledon -- and it set single-day attendance records on March 11 with 61,000 fans visiting the grounds. This year's event was the first tournament since 2019 to be held without attendance restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sportcal.
The total attendance of the two-week tournament was 441,983, according to the Desert Sun. That represents a significant increase over 2022, while still falling short of the the 2019 number of 475,372 attendees.
"We couldn’t be more excited to see fans coming out to Tennis Paradise in record-setting numbers so far this year," chief marketing officer Philippe Dore told the Desert Sun. “It’s been a great first week with fans enjoying incredible tennis, beautiful weather and all of the amazing amenities here at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden."
According to a study reported by the Desert Sun, the 2022 BNP Paribas Open had a total economic impact of $500 million on the Coachella Valley economy, which is more than the $400 million estimate in a similar study in 2017.
The men's singles champion was 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, and the women's singles champion was 23-year-old Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, both of whom are first-time champions.
The BNP Paribas Open will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024, making next year’s event even more memorable.
This was the first year the BNP Paribas Open had a mixed-doubles tournament. As evidence of the event's range of talent, no men’s singles player has repeated as champion since Novak Djokovic in 2016, and no women’s player has repeated since Martina Navratilova in 1991.