Indian Wells Open: Event hopes to attract likes of Alcaraz-Raducanu, Ruud-Swiatek with record prize pool
The Indian Wells Open is the latest tournament hoping to lure big-name singles players to sign up for the mixed doubles after announcing a record prize pool for this year’s event.
Following the success of the revamped mixed doubles tournament during fan week at the 2025 US Open where a record $1 million was awarded to the winning team, the Indian Wells Open has now followed suit by offering big money.
Last year, the purse for the mixed event at Tennis Paradise was $370,000, but that figure has surged to $1m with organisers hoping the big increase will result in singles players entering the tournament, resulting in an increase in fan engagement during the second week of the competition.
Unlike the US Open, where the mixed doubles took place before the start of the singles campaign, the mixed event in Indian Wells will get underway on March 10 – six days after the first matches in the singles main draw.
“Part of our strategy is to have more tennis, because as we know, as we go into the second week, we start losing [players],” chief marketing officer Philippe Dore told Front Office Sports.
Mixed doubles tournaments usually only attract doubles specialists, but the US Open’s innovative format resulted in sign-ups from several big names last year with Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu teaming up along with Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek.
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Jack Draper and Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz and Elena Rybakina, Holger Rune and Amanda Anisimova, and Frances Tiafoe and Madison were some of the other famous pairings.
Ruud and Swiatek went on to reach the final, but they were beaten by doubles specialists and defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
There is no doubt that the Indian Wells Open organisers hope that some of those teams will enter, but players might be hesitant due to the fact that it runs during the second week of the tournament, when many will be eager for some extra rest if they made the business end of the singles competition.
Of course, the official mixed doubles tournament is not to be confused with the Eisenhower Cup, a one-day exhibition event that takes place before the start of the singles tournament on March 3.
The prize purse is $200k and the line-up will include Ruud and Swiatek, Fritz and Rybakina, Andrey Rublev and Anisimova, Tommy Paul and Pegula, and Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva.
That leads to further complications as it is difficult to see the likes of Ruud, Swiatek, Fritz, Rybakina, Medvedev and Pegula playing an exhibition event, the singles main draw and the mixed doubles.