Indian Wells - Ground Pass On-Site wrap up

We’re wrapping up our time at Tennis Paradise! Recorded on-site at Indian Wells, this episode of Ground Pass On-Site is all about what it’s really like to experience the BNP Paribas Open from the grounds. We break down the best (and worst) parts of being at the tournament, share tips and tricks for anyone planning to attend next year, and try to define what makes Indian Wells Tennis Paradise. Plus, we’re joined by special guests Will Boucek, Vansh, and Brian Bradley for their insights and takeaways from the tournament. Don’t miss this mid-way look at Indian Wells 2025!

TRANSCRIPT

Anastasia (00:00)

Welcome everyone to another episode of Groundpass. This is going to be a mini pod. am on location in Indian Wells. Wow. It is awesome. I found a quiet corner that I could talk and record this episode of the pod that is going to be out on Monday. So if you're watching this, I'm recording this on Sunday, which is the 9th. So Sunday the 9th. This will be out on Monday the 10th.

It is also my last day here on the grounds of Indian Wells and I'm so excited to be recording live or I mean not live because you're not getting this as I speak but just being able to be here on the grounds and recording this episode because this episode is going to be all about my experience here at Indian Wells, my tips and tricks for you for coming next year. I have a few also tackling the word

Tennis Paradise. What is it really? We keep saying it. What does it mean? I was able to talk to a couple of people about what Tennis Paradise means to them. And I think by the end of this, I'm going to be able to define it for myself. stay tuned. If you haven't already, please subscribe to this podcast. If you're watching it on YouTube, like, subscribe, do all the things. It really helps out the channel and also getting this in front of more people. And hopefully...

these tips and tricks will be super helpful for people who are coming here next year. Because Indian Wells is a very special tournament. It should be on everyone. If you're a tennis fan, I think Indian Wells should be a destination for you no matter what. So I have my notes here. Let's get into it. This won't be too long. Right now, when I'm talking to you, it's 11 o'clock. So play has just started. Like the players are about to arrive on court and start warming up and stuff for the day.

That's where we're at in our day. So we'll make this quick so I can go cover the tennis and watch some tennis myself as it is my last day here on the grounds. You might not know this, but I was not sure I was going to make it to Indian Wells this year. I came last year for the first time. It was an awesome experience. But when I was planning out the tournaments I wanted to go to this year, Indian Wells was...

in there but it was not a sure thing and I made a very last minute decision to come and I'm very happy I did. think coming here for the second year in a row might almost confirm that Indian Wells is just going to be a constant destination for me. It is a really great spot to not only watch tennis and experience tennis but as a

tennis podcast, it's a great place to, it's a great place to connect with people. I have met so many other journalists, creators in the tennis space, a lot of brands are activating here. So it's just the place to be, almost like Grand Slams, if you notice, during, just before Grand Slam, all of a sudden, all the new brands are coming out with new ads and the players are...

Debuting new outfits and things like that. Indian Wells is very similar to that and I think that's really why they call it the fifth slam. It does feel like a mini slam in a way. mean the grounds are smaller obviously than say the US Open and the US Open really is my only reference. I don't know how these...

compared to the other Grand Slams, but there is a feeling here of it being a mini slam. All the top players are here. All the brands are out here activating. you, top journalists and content creators are here on the ground. So think as Groundpass grows in this space, and this is a little bit behind the scenes here, but as Groundpass grows in this space, think...

it's important to be at these tournaments and cover the sport and then be able to bring you guys more insights into these tournaments and tips and tricks of how to come and what the best deals are and things like that. So I think it really is important that we're present at events like this. And that's why in the end I finally decided it was worth it. It was worth it to come out here and experience it and bring that story to you. I said a little bit that.

that's a little bit behind the scenes. If you are subscribed to our sub stack, you would have been seeing me doing this and talking a little bit more in depth about the behind the scenes of the media process and just what it is like being on the grounds covering a tennis event. I think if that's of any interest to you, definitely subscribe to our sub stack. I kind of have a very honest, you know, just talk and chat.

every day that I'm on the grounds about like what it was like, what I'm doing, what I'm seeing. And I think that's very insightful if that's your thing. I think I'm a huge fan of behind the scenes of anything. So it was what I thought I wanted our substack to cover. And it's been really great kind of breaking all of that down. So again, whenever we're on site, that's what we're going to be doing, sort of giving you a behind the scenes peek of.

what it's like covering a tournament. Looking back at my notes here, know, quick highlights, let's see, quick highlights of the tournament. I think in general, this is a buzzing place. You know, I think the only day that it was maybe super quiet was actually weirdly day one of the main draw, which was Wednesday. Qualifying was buzzing here. Like, I was...

pleasantly surprised because I arrived here last week Sunday, so I've been here a full week. So was here for all of qualifying and then the start of the main draw and it was buzzing here for qualifying and I think to it just shows what a great experience Qualifying can be the qualifying tournament of these big two-week events Entry into the tournament was $10 for those three days of qualifying

and you got to experience everything that Indian Wells has to offer. So there wasn't any sort short-changing. And here's the thing, most of the top players were already here practicing. I think the only person who really wasn't here for qualifying was Carlos Alcaraz. He was doing an exhibition in Puerto Rico, so I can't even remember exactly what day he landed here, but he definitely wasn't here for the early days, but everyone else was here. Like all the other big players were here and practicing, you know, so if you came for qualifying...

You got to see the big players practicing even though it wasn't a match. And then you also got to watch some great tennis, only for $10. I think it's a ticket that can't be beat. In the US Open, obviously the US Open beats it because it's free at the US Open, but this is a close second. I think more and more tournaments are gonna make a bigger deal, I think, of the qualifying rounds. I really do hope they keep it at a very low entry level for ground passers, because I think it's a great...

great way for new fans to come into the sport when there is a low barrier to entry and you're still getting the high quality tennis and the experience of it. I think that's awesome. Mostly the big tournaments can do it. I understand the smaller tournaments maybe can't take that load of making their qualifying bigger events. But maybe there's a way they can do it because I think it really does help the product a lot and the fans here definitely enjoyed it. So yes, like

first three days of qualifying was bumper. And then that middle Wednesday was kind of, you know, it kind of died down a little bit. But then from Thursday on, it just upward trajectory in number of fans, the activities going on around. There's like a main stage here where very shortly they're going to start playing like music and stuff. So I'm going to get this wrapped up before that starts because it's right over there to the side. But

Yeah, the grounds have really been buzzing. think yesterday, which was Saturday, was the most packed it's been. There were lines on every single court. Every single court had a line. And here's something the tournament's doing, actually, that I loved and I didn't realize they were doing it. So I was here last year, and typically the grounds open an hour before play starts. Last year during the middle weekend, because of the amount of people coming, it got like...

People were stuck in traffic to park and then trying to get onto the grounds and unfortunately some people missed matches because of that because they were arriving maybe right at that hour or an hour before the play started. So this year, they're opening this middle weekend, the grounds are opened two hours before play starts and that's why you can see behind me it's been a bit crowded.

maybe if people were just coming in now. I think it was so smart because it just helps funnel people through quicker, especially a day like yesterday where there were lines on every court. so you could just tell the amount of people who were actually here on the ground. yeah, have the vibes of this tournament are fantastic. The weather has been okay for a New Yorker.

Yes, it was chilly, but for me, that was just a spring chill, if you know what I mean. So it was warm and sunny during the day, and then at night, it dipped down a little bit, so maybe you could wear a cute little cardigan or jacket. And what I've realized is that's not everyone's bag. You had players and tights and, you know, fans coming in and puffer jackets and hats. I saw gloves.

The moment I saw gloves, was like, we're not in New York anymore because that weather was not glove weather in my humble opinion. But yes, it did dip down during the night over the last couple of days. This is the warmest day I've had here today. It's the warmest day for sure. I had my cardigan on when I first came in and I was like, ooh, I need to take this off. It's gonna be pretty warm today. So I think the temperatures will still dip down a little bit at night and I think it's something you should just be prepared for to be, to, to.

when you're coming out here. Don't come out in just your short shorts. You'll be cold. What else has... Two players. How has the actual tennis been? I think I've just given you the sort of the general vibes of the tournament, but how has the tennis been? The tennis has been fun. The tennis has been really fun. Qualifying was exciting. I think the most exciting qualifying sort of run was Colton Smith. Colton...

plays for Arizona is his university and he's a college player coming up through the rankings. He won the Cleveland Challenger which was in the end of January. It was kind of like post-Australian open time. So he won that Challenger, came in here, went through qualifying, got to the second round. Like he had a really good run here. He was a good story coming out of Indian Wells and he's someone I will definitely be following in the future.

and just see how he goes throughout the year. Really great kid too, got to interview him in the press, which was really funny. He had only started drinking coffee three weeks ago, which I thought was hilarious. He's coached.

was there in the interview and he was like, yeah, he's only been drinking coffee for three weeks. And he, now that he's playing on tour a lot more, he says he needs it. And, you know, I hope he gets a good coffee education and we get him some good coffee. So he enjoys the experience of getting into coffee, because not all coffee is good coffee, in my humble opinion. What else? A lot of upsets, a lot of seeds going out. Starting with, you know, Caspar Roode out of the tournament.

Alexander Zverev, the number one seed out Novak Djokovic out of the tournament. It was a bit of a bloodbath in the seeded department. They're all headed out and, you know, it's always interesting, I think, post-Australian open, how people handle that transition. You know, we've had the tournaments in the Middle East, but it seems, and also the Golden Swing, for example, but it seems like

Indian Wells is really kind of, okay, we're back after the Australian Open vibes. So it's interesting to see what the top players do. it's been off and on. know, some of them are on. Madison Keys did not lose a step. She hasn't played since the Australian Open, won her first match back 6-3, 6-love against Anastasia Pervopova. So she's just cruising through.

another person I asked about coffee. In fact, I will insert her answer here about her coffee love. would say she is someone who, if you follow her on Instagram, you see she's always posting an espresso that she just made or anything like that. So when she was in pre-tournament press, I asked her about what, how she likes to make her coffee, what sort of different ways, and she had a very, very awesome answer. So I will leave that here.

Slightly stepping away from the tennis, I noticed that you are a big coffee person and you have a great espresso machine. Do you have a ritual that you do? And other than espresso, do you have any other ways of brewing coffee that you love?

Guest 2 (14:01)

My husband and I are avid coffee drinkers and it's kind of when we're at home it's definitely just kind of our routine to start the day and I always really enjoy it especially on a weekend when I'm not rushing out of the house to go to practice to actually kind of go through the steps and enjoy it. But no we have basically every way of brewing coffee so we could open a small coffee shop out of our kitchen.

have the pour-over, the Hario pour-over, we have multiple mocha pots, we have French press, we've got it all. So if you're ever in the area and you need a cup of coffee, can come to our store.

Anastasia (14:46)

But yeah, back to the tennis, think some players, Carlos Alcaraz did fine in his first round match. So some players have definitely, you know, they're keeping the momentum going and then others is a bit of a stop start. I think, for example, Alexander Zverev after the Australian Open, it's kind of been fascinating watching his progression because he hasn't had any. And Alexander Zverev is someone who people always talk about, you know, it's like, does he have the

mentality to win. How come he always gets to the final rounds of, you know, ground slams and he just can't get over the line? Is it all in his head? It must be all in his head. And it's something that I haven't really bought into per se, but.

This lately, this post-Austrian swing, he hasn't been injured. I think maybe there are reports that he might have been sick in al Capoco, but otherwise it's actually been fascinating just to see him crash out tournament after tournament. And I think I'm learning a lot too that the mental side of tennis can be so much stronger.

than almost the strokes themselves, you know what I mean? It's not all about forehands and backhands. Sometimes it's all up in here. But yeah, so that's been the tournament. The tennis has been great. I've been watching a lot of doubles. In fact, my first day, Wednesday, was it Wednesday? Maybe it was Thursday, but I think it was Wednesday, yeah.

I can't remember the day now, it's okay, but I do remember...

Starting and ending a day with doubles the women's doubles started first men's doubles are starting today Sunday so Yeah, it's been the doubles has been really great. Just following it around and people love it here, by the way You know, I'm gonna keep shouting it from the rooftops Riley Opelka But people have loved loved the doubles here the crowd the the courts are always packed and that's great and so this is all

Also interesting about two-week events, so this is a two-week event. The first week, I mean, it was back-to-back matches on all of the outside courts. It was super busy. could, you were just really exciting. As we approach this second week here, most of the singles players are gonna be playing on Stadium 1, 2, and 3, you know, Stadium 4 if they need to, but...

Speaker 1 (17:07)

She's going from court to court to court.

Anastasia (17:22)

doubles as taking over all of the other smaller outside courts. And that's what it's there for at these two-week events, is to fill out the outside courts over the two-week period. Because imagine if it was only singles. What would ground passers be doing? know, what would they be watching? I have to also point out this is an awesome tournament for ground passes. Awesome tournament for ground passes. It gets you access to every single stadium except for Stadium 1.

And there's a big screen, I can't really, it's kind of on this side, I don't know if you can see it behind me here, but this big screen shows all of the matches and stuff. Mostly Stadium 1 will be in the big center, and so if you're a ground passer, if you really want to watch Carlos Alcaraz, who will always play on Stadium 1, you can sit out there and watch him. But for example, Cocoa Golf was playing in Stadium 2 yesterday, and a ground passer can go in there and watch that. Taylor Fritz was playing in Stadium 2. Tommy Paul today is starting in Stadium 2, so...

This tournament for Groundpass, it's definitely, definitely worth it. So that's been the grounds, the tournament. It's been really great. For me, I think I've really enjoyed my time here. I'll back.

I've not had a bad time at Indian Walls ever. I've been tired. Covering a tournament is tired. Subscribe to our sub stack to find out how tired I was. It's definitely tiring, but I've not not enjoyed myself. So I thoroughly enjoyed this this this tournament. And if you see me looking down here, I just have my notes so I know what I am talking about. But yeah, it's been really great. I've also met some really fun people here. Again, meeting

Trying to get a vibe of, know, I know I enjoy this tournament. What do other people think? What is their version of tennis paradise? I met up with one of my friends, speaking of doubles, Will Buchik, who sat down with me and I asked him what he thought tennis paradise meant and why Indian Wells is known as tennis paradise. So I'll insert our little chat in here now. Hi Will. Hey. Nice to see you in California. You too. Tennis paradise.

So the reason I'm doing this is for our first episode, pre-Indian Wells, we were talking about tennis paradise. Like, why is it this place that people just love, players love it, fans love it, we all call it tennis paradise. And I can't define it, but even when I got here, I was just happier. All of a sudden. But for you, what does Indian Wells mean to you? And is it tennis paradise? What do you think about that phrase?

Guest 1 (19:58)

Yeah.

It is, it's a very good fit here. Today's not representative of that. Unfortunately, as I'm here in like four layers in my puffy jacket, I've been going... I am, I'm from Texas. I'm from New York. I've been going to this tournament. This is my...

Anastasia (20:20)

You're colder than I am.

Guest 1 (20:28)

fifth year in a row, think. And this is definitely the coldest day I've ever had. So out of probably, I don't know, 40 days or so, this is the coldest. So it's never been like, like this is very.

Anastasia (20:40)

That's so interesting because I was here for qualifying and it was colder. It was pretty brutal.

Guest 1 (20:44)

Really?

So like, yeah, so I think that kind of shows you a counter example, I guess, of what it means. Because it's never like this. Yeah. Like, so the weather is typically excellent. It's sunny. It rains maybe like one day out of the two week tournament. Right. At best. And it's like one afternoon for a couple hours. It's nothing bad. So it doesn't rain a lot.

And if you are just obsessed with tennis like we are, it's second to none. Like the practice courts, like we're here on the practice courts right now. The fan access in the practice courts is better than anywhere in the world or anywhere I've been anyways. The match courts in all the stadiums are like pretty good size.

Anastasia (21:39)

A little bit on the practice court, because I noticed something the other day, and I wonder if you agree. Are the crowd at Indian Wells, are they more tennis savvy? Because the other day, I was at practice, packed. Like it was packed, and people still respected the like, keep quiet, really get up in between points. Like it was weird, because I was like, wait, it's just a practice.

Speaker 1 (21:52)

point.

Guest 1 (22:02)

Yeah, yeah. So I think the answer to that is yes, and I've got a theory on it. So people will...

go to the US Open from New York for just like a day. Right. Right. You won't come here for a day. Like nobody, like few people live here and the people who do play tennis and golf all the time. Like play tennis. There's tennis, there's golf, there's hiking, and then there's restaurants that close at 8 p.m. Like that's it. That's it. Like there's nothing else to do. Yeah. So it's like you have to be obsessed with tennis or golf or I guess hiking.

And that like, else she's like, there's no reason to come here. So like, I think you have to be super into it.

Anastasia (22:41)

Okay,

okay. That's what I thought because it was quite fascinating that there was that level of...

Guest 1 (22:47)

I'll come up there in a second. Yeah, yeah, that's good.

Anastasia (22:52)

But yeah, okay great, so I had the same.

Guest 1 (22:56)

I think

so. That's my theory. don't, I don't, it makes sense to me. Like, I went to the US Open the last, you know, three or four years and I had some friends living in New York who just like came for a day. You know, and they're like not tennis people, but they like, they'll go, they'll have a drink, they'll watch a few matches. Here, there's not that. Like, everybody's obsessed with tennis.

Anastasia (23:16)

Cool. I can't talk to you ever without mentioning doubles. So, how's the double scene? What's happening at the doubles tournament here?

Guest 1 (23:24)

This is probably

the best doubles tournament in the world. Probably, I think so.

Anastasia (23:28)

in the world.

Guest 1 (23:34)

You get more singles players playing, which is a lot of fun. Like there's this big doubles debate going on and like, I don't hate singles. I'm not in a fight with singles players. I just want doubles to, like, I'm not trying to take some of the pizza pie from singles. I'm trying to grow the pie for everyone. Including like mainly doubles. Like that's my focus, right? So you get a lot of the singles players playing because it's a quicker format. They're not having to play best of five in the singles. And you still have like the days off in between.

Anastasia (23:50)

everybody.

Guest 1 (24:04)

singles matches which is a lot of fun. And then the tennis, like everybody's here, like we just talked about everybody who is here all the fans are like very tennis savvy. And they seem to, tennis savvy people seem to gravitate towards doubles I think. today was the first day of doubles as the women's double started today, the men's doesn't start till Sunday. And I couldn't get into any of the matches basically without my like...

Anastasia (24:31)

It was packed.

Guest 1 (24:32)

my credential. Like if I was just had a grounds pass, like I wouldn't have found a seat on every single one of them. And it's always like that, like every year this tournament, especially like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, like you can't get into a lot of the doubles matches. It's very, very popular here.

Anastasia (24:53)

Yeah,

awesome. Well, thank you for chatting with me letting me know what tennis paradise means to you while we continue to watch this highly entertaining doubles.

Guest 1 (25:03)

Yeah, doubles partnership here. Yeah. So you'll see a lot of them practice with like teams like we just did with Jamie Murray and a couple other guys. But this is one team practicing on one court and they're going cross court. So you'll see both doubles. There's a lot, a lot you can learn. Yeah.

Anastasia (25:22)

specific

triangle as I would call it

Guest 1 (25:26)

Yep, so you can see he's feeding from the middle of the court and then moving forward. So he's working on his first volley here and then he's coming in. So they're specifically working on that first volley. So feed, ground stroke, first volley and then the second volley. But they'll never play more than like one or two.

Anastasia (25:40)

Thanks.

Speaker 1 (25:40)

Nice.

Guest 1 (25:49)

like they're not going to get into an extended rally because it's a waste of time. You're trying to end the point and you're getting to the net like that.

Anastasia (25:56)

That's

another thing I've seen in in-game well. Because like you said the practices are so accessible you get to watch these players and I've been seeing a lot of drills and I don't know exactly what all of them are and what they're doing.

Guest 1 (26:10)

Yeah, you

can learn so much. you just the way to look at it is like Watch the drill they're doing and ask yourself Like how does this

help in a real match situation, right? And it's like, okay, well he's hitting a volley from like around the service line. he probably serves in volleys. So he's probably working on that first volley, you know? Like if you asked him that, maybe he'd say something different, but I mean, that makes sense to me. I think that's what he's doing.

Anastasia (26:42)

Yeah,

okay. Well, thank you. Thanks. Well, let's probably see you at another tournament somewhere. Yeah, we'll keep talking about

Guest 1 (26:45)

This was a lot of fun.

I'll

be in New York, we'll do it again.

Anastasia (26:50)

Yes, obviously. It's always great catching up with Will. I learned so much about the doubles game, catching up with him. He's responsible for getting me way into doubles and realizing exactly what I was missing. think doubles, I've always watched doubles here and there, but never made a concerted effort to kind of follow the players and see who they all were. But yeah, I've...

you started following.

Speaker 1 (27:22)

Hi.

Anastasia (27:25)

But, You throwing it at me? Aww.

but it's been really great, you know, following the players more, getting to know them better. That's how you understand the game more. But yes, Will, I think, had some great points about why Indian Wells is known as tennis paradise. So let's wrap this up by talking about my tips and tricks for going, what's it going on?

Speaker 1 (28:00)

Thank

Anastasia (28:02)

So let's finish up by talking about my tips and tricks for coming to Indian Wells next year. Because this year is done already. By the time you listen to this, we'll be going into the second week and tickets will be mostly for stadium and stadium one and stadium two. But what happens when you want to come here next year? Here are my tips and tricks. I wrote them all down so we can chat.

Number one, get tickets early. Get your tickets early. Ground passes sell out at this tournament and when they do, they go on resale for a lot, a lot of money. the moment you know, I mean you know now, if you know now, hey, next year I'm coming to Indian Wells. What you should do is go to the Indian Wells website and sign up for their newsletter. I know you don't want to sign up for yet another email. I get it. Do our substack definitely, but also.

Put your email in there and what happens is you get updates every time the tickets are about to go on sale. I mean, they announced, I think I got an email from BMP Powerbite Open. I think it was in fall, like after the US Open was the first email I got about tickets and like really early, early tickets. So yeah, I would definitely look and they don't put them all out at the same time. I know I think they start trying to sell their packages

and then they move on to other levels of tickets. So definitely pay attention, go to their website, definitely starting in January, looking for when general admission ground passes are coming up, and then just get your tickets right away. The first week will sell out super quickly, especially the middle weekend. So that will be their middle weekend. It's busiest time. It's gonna get crowded. It is gonna get crowded and...

That, it's a tough one because I don't mind crowds. I think they're fine for me. But getting to and from courts, especially yesterday for example, can be a lot. It is a lot of people. My tip for that really will be coming early, getting to the spots that you want to, maybe make a schedule for yourself. You know, maybe, I'm going to be on court two to start the day and then I'm gonna move to court four for the afternoon, you know, or for the night sessions.

Make a plan, stick to it, and there's always gonna be a match that's gonna call your name, you you hear something's going into the third set and you wanna run over, but guess what? So is everybody. So be strategic, but definitely make a plan. Don't just sort of wing it because you could be waiting in lines, not actually watching any tennis really.

arrive early. Like I said earlier, they do open the gates in the middle of weekends two hours before. Just come early. I would come early for sure. There is stuff to do on the grounds. Players are already practicing. When I got here, there were players practicing. They have this sort of Indian Wells, I think, created this, but they have this green lawn area where the players can ride bikes and do their warmups before they practice. I think in most tournaments, this is inside of a gym somewhere. In Indian Wells, it's outside here in the sun. And I think

a lot of the players love it because it's gorgeous weather here. It's just fun. Who doesn't want to warm up outside in the sun? So that's also a place where you can just watch and see the players and things like that. But yeah, come early, I would say. Where? Okay. Also, this is also just with the planning of the trip to come here.

Plan early. Do everything early. Get your plane tickets early, get your hotel tickets.

All the hotels sell out here over the middle weekend, by the way, because Indian Wells is a tournament where, so it's in Palm Springs in the Coachella Valley area. This area has seasons. So for example, when the Coachella Music Festival is happening, they'll get a spike in the population during Indian Wells, they'll get a spike in the population. Otherwise, there's not much happening here throughout the time. It's a lot of retired people who live here.

I think a lot of people who actually come to the tournament don't all live here. They're either coming from Los Angeles area or somewhere else in California. They're coming from out of state. They're coming from out of the country. So what that means though is every single hotel books up really quickly. Airbnbs book up really quickly. So just make a plan for yourself. When I was booking my Airbnbs...

You know, I did it early enough when I was still thinking of maybe coming. I just booked them because I was like, I could cancel, get a full refund. So I just booked. Didn't even know if I was actually going to make it because I knew I could get a full refund if I did it. And that saved me because if I was going to do it last minute, like when I decided, finally decided I was going to come.

I would have been paying premium prices and maybe not even had a place to stay, really. That was in an area that I wanted to go to. And to that point, too, I would say get a car.

Ubers here, they are around, but everything is just marked up a little bit. would, if I was coming here and you can drive, I would rent a car for sure. It makes it getting around super easy and it also means that you could probably book a hotel maybe 30 minutes away and not right outside the grounds where all the hotels are pretty marked up.

But those, I would say, are my main tips for coming here travel-wise. If for a full breakdown of our tips for coming to Indian Wells, I would go back two episodes ago where we had a guide to Indian Wells and Miami Open. Listen to that. That will also help out in the planning process as well. I have one last clip of someone, Coach B.

Coach B on Instagram. By the way, I'll leave Will's information below and also Coach B's, but I love Coach B. He's fun. He's a character. He's a coach, so he coaches tennis in the LA area. And I've known him for, wow, a year now. I met him for the first time in person here at Indian Wells last year. I asked him what he thought tennis paradise meant to him. He was here the other night watching Alicia Keys.

Alicia Parks and I got to sit down with him for a little bit and just ask him what he thought tennis paradise means to him so I'll insert that little clip here too. Like the US Open!

But I'm so glad we get to do it again. I'm in your neck of the woods.

Guest 2 (35:05)

I know.

Guest 1 (35:05)

I'm really living for it heavily. I love when any of us are near any woods.

Anastasia (35:10)

I

like the photo that you posted. was cute. That's cute. That was a cute photo. Okay, so welcome. This episode is going to air this Monday and today is what Thursday. So we're on the second day of the main draw here at Indian Wells. We're at Indian Wells. It's nighttime. I landed here and I immediately became at least 10 % happier.

Guest 1 (35:35)

brother.

Guest 2 (35:36)

That's what it does to you.

Anastasia (35:37)

And I'm trying to figure that out in our preview episode.

When we talked about our preview of Indian Wells, like going to Indian Wells and all of this stuff, I was kind of like, it's tennis paradise, you're just happier there, all this stuff. And I got here and it worked. And I'm trying to find out why. Why is Indian Wells tennis paradise? By the way, we are also watching looking at the big screen. So there's a lot of tennis happening here that we're paying attention to. But yeah, like why is it, why is the tennis paradise? At least why is the tennis paradise for you?

Speaker 1 (35:59)

world.

Guest 2 (36:10)

Well, I hate to bring out a generic word, vibes. And we're going to start with that word. You know, it's vague, but let's really carve this out. Yeah. The vibes are really calming. Very like low stress, believe it or not, although the players are stressed. But everybody's here kind of going at a good pace. Yeah. And as of now, Thursday, the crowds are OK. You know, the big matches have to wait a little bit. But that's the fun of it. Like people are really rooting.

for the doubles and the singles. Like I've never seen people line up for doubles like this.

Anastasia (36:45)

Today, every

single doubles court was packed Riley O'Pelka, but anyway.

Guest 2 (36:53)

I already

tagged him in a post. I tagged him in a story today. I will be gagged if you saw it, but I was just saying this is the I have to be whole. had to. I couldn't sit in the stadium in a station. I had to be on another stadium looking over the top of the.

Anastasia (37:04)

you

Yeah, yeah, and here's the thing, you know, I mean we're deviating a little bit but hello, that's what we do. I just feel like if you're gonna put yourself out there and say things like he did about doubles you have to be able to back it up and you know take the consequences whatever they may be because today if you're just looking at today which was day two of the main draw so we're not even deep in there we're looking at first round doubles matches first round

Guest 1 (37:11)

We'll it.

Anastasia (37:34)

down.

Guest 2 (37:35)

Right.

Packed. Yep. Packed.

Anastasia (37:38)

Singles?

Not so much. But it's not... I don't like that comparison. It's not either or. I was talking to Will Buchak today who... He covers a lot of doubles and he said that exact thing. It's not competition. Why can we not all do this together? Like, you know what I mean? But anyway, that was a brief...

Guest 2 (37:57)

No, and I'll go back to when I was saying about the vibes. there's a special kind of excitement here and like to be frank, know, there's a contingency of the more, you know, I don't have any of my grandparents left. So it's kind of nice to see a lot of like older people who are just like fans all their lives and just get to really see that because Wayne Palm Springs, you know, people are chilling. Yeah. So the clientele that come here are just, you know, they just want to find that happiness and find that excitement.

Anastasia (38:20)

Right.

Yeah.

Guest 2 (38:27)

It's nice to see people asking me questions and who's playing and stuff. I think it's cute. It's just a different age range that you would normally get.

Guest 1 (38:33)

and it's nice to see.

Anastasia (38:37)

Right,

right. I've seen, you're right. It's like, you know, definitely you get a lot of older folks here. We're in Palm Springs and all that, but you still get a bunch of kids. Like I just walked through a bunch of kids getting to you here and it's like they're all like talking and like, you know, doing whatever. What do kids TikTok? don't know.

Guest 2 (38:54)

Whatever.

Anastasia (38:55)

Whatever

kids are doing. Not too many. No, but it's a very great group of different age ranges. But don't you think also, feel like here, people just get the tennis more? Like almost as a different level of... Because you've been at the US Open and I feel like sometimes, know, Will said this actually and I completely agree, but sometimes at the US Open, people are there to be in New York.

and it's more of just like, let's go to the tennis. While here it's, we love tennis, let's go watch it.

Guest 2 (39:27)

Right, no, 100%. And there's a little bit of a lessened value towards the glitz and the glamour part. It's more of the comfort over the glitz and the glam. And they do everything correct. They have the big courts, but otherwise it kind of feels like you're just in your backyard, but it's very big and the energy and you've done well with your life. It's very that kind of calm.

Anastasia (39:35)

.

Guest 1 (39:52)

And...

Guest 2 (39:54)

That's

what I love and of course I can't talk about this form without talking about the views. I mean that's like, it's like AI but reality, the Lord.

Anastasia (40:03)

It's real! Every time I just look and see those mountains, I'm just like...

Guest 2 (40:09)

And then with the project, it's just the aesthetic. It's just... So there's so many factors too. It's brilliant.

Anastasia (40:11)

Yeah.

Yeah,

there was a lot there that makes this tennis paradise and I love that. love that. Maybe there isn't one thing. You know, I'm looking for that one magic thing, but maybe there isn't. Maybe it's just the amalgamation of everything makes it tennis paradise.

Guest 2 (40:32)

And you're gonna

get a lot of people saying views and when I first thought I was like, views are gonna be a thing that you could do through the edit. Views are immaculate.

Anastasia (40:39)

Peace.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have too much fun. You know, you make tennis paradise. There we go.

Guest 1 (40:47)

For real.

We're sorry.

Guest 2 (40:56)

that and

like you said there's many factors to it. I love it. It's a candy store of matches.

Guest 1 (40:58)

it.

Anastasia (41:01)

Yeah. Okay.

Well, thank you. Thank you for letting me know why Indian Wells is tennis paradise for you.

Guest 1 (41:07)

Absolutely, I love sitting down with ground pass. Yay!

Anastasia (41:11)

Vanch, welcome. Hello. You're on ground pass, Vanch, now. Like right now, you're on ground pass.

Guest 2 (41:17)

I'm honored

to be on the show for the first time. Thank you, Anastasia. It took so long, but I'm here.

Anastasia (41:22)

I'm sorry,

I'm sorry. Okay, so we're here at Tennis Paradise and I'm asking a bunch of people what that word means. What does tennis paradise mean to you or in general?

Guest 2 (41:34)

Yeah, I mean it's a great question because mean Indian Bowls is such a great way for the tennis community to get together at the same time in March. mean, you've got such a gorgeous setting.

Fans are hungry after the Australian Open. You know, there's plenty of tennis in February, but nothing quite like this where all the top players get together for two weeks. You've got amazing practice facilities. You've got the beautiful mountains in the backdrop. You're in the Palm Springs desert. You can play plenty of golf. You know, there's great resorts. There's just great facilities for the players as well, for the fans. And everyone just comes together and they just enjoy two weeks of sunshine. It's wonderful.

Anastasia (42:09)

I couldn't have

said it better. Have you golfed yet?

Guest 2 (42:12)

I haven't been golfing

on these courses, but I've seen plenty of people do it and obviously the players love it and it's a great pastime for them. Just a nice chill, relaxed vibe.

Anastasia (42:19)

Yeah, yeah.

So if someone wanted to come to Indian Wells, would you suggest that they do? Like what would your recommendation be?

Guest 2 (42:31)

I

would say definitely come for the early few days of the tournament, know, especially the qualifying field here is always very strong. You get to see some new names, young stars, players having their breakout moment and it means so much for them to qualify for their first ATP 1000 of the year. Yeah. So it's just, you know, I recommend those for the first few days. The middle weekend is always packed. It's great. I like how the second round and the third round, you get a little bit of both on each day. And yeah, definitely get a grounds pass if you can, but book them early because, you know, getting tickets is definitely a

Anastasia (42:53)

Yeah.

Guest 2 (43:01)

and you don't want to be stuck in a position where you either wake up.

Anastasia (43:03)

Yeah. Yeah,

because you were telling me just really quick before we're finished, you were telling me how like just a few years ago you could just wake up and get tickets that morning, but not anymore.

Guest 2 (43:12)

Yeah, not anymore.

mean, it's just a lot harder now. have people trying to resell them and make some extra profit. You've got some extra days in the tournament added now as well. yeah, mean, the tournament is going to try their best to get everything sold. But it's become such a big event. I was just telling you before we recorded this, it feels like the second US Open.

Anastasia (43:17)

Yeah.

Yes, fifth slam, it's real. Well, thank you Vanch for coming on to Groundpass. We love having you and we'll have you back for a full one, like for a full episode. Bye. Okay, so we're coming to about the half hour mark here and I'm still gonna insert clips and everything so I will call it for this mini pod here. What does Tara, I guess I should say what tennis paradise means to me. I think...

Guest 2 (43:41)

I love that, yeah, my pleasure, anytime.

Anastasia (44:02)

Indian Wells has created a space that not only can you enjoy and appreciate the tennis, you can do it in a beautiful location that's very accessible. You just have to look and try. It is accessible. know we kind of see the headline prices, know, resale tickets for $300 and, but...

$10, qualifying, you get to experience the grounds, players practicing. All the practice courts are very accessible, close to each other. They're the best practice courts for seeing your favorite player that I think I've been at anyway. And I hear from a lot of, because I haven't been to a lot of tournaments, but I actually was talking to a couple of coaches and fans, and apparently these are some of the best in the world.

I think they have created a space to enjoy the tennis, enjoy yourself, and just experience the game in accessible way. And I think that is why it is tennis paradise. If you love tennis, this is where you come. This is your Mecca.

I feel like that's why I'm gonna keep coming because it's such a great great event. So Gonna wrap it up there. That's it for me, you know What's coming up? What is coming up? So this episode would be out on Monday and then Nick and I will be back the following week to kind of debrief Indian Wells and preview the Miami Open which would Kind of be in its first week. No. Yes, it'll be qualifying. think will be done

for the Miami Open by the time Nick and I come back. So we'll preview the Miami Open. We will do a review of Indian Wells and how it was here.

you know, we have, I hope you've been liking our Meet the Professionals. The last week's episode was with Calvin Betten, who I finally got to meet here in person. He coaches Henry Patton and Harry Heliovera, who are the current Wimbledon doubles male champions. And also they just won the Australian Open. So really a great team to watch.

You can always, you can find that on our podcast feeds, on our YouTube channel. That was really great. We have already recorded the April edition of that. Really, really excited for that one. Let's just say I cried. Or I was so close to tears. I was trying not to embarrass myself in front of our guests, so I did not cry. But it was such an inspiring conversation.

And I'm really excited to share that with you, but we're hoping we will be able to bring you meet the professionals once a month. I'm really excited for that. You we're just going to keep recording them, bring them to you once a month, bring you the voices and the professionals that are not on court. So not the tennis players, everyone else around them, because I think it's really interesting to hear what they have to say about the sport too. And it sort of increases your appreciation for the sport. If you're liking what we're doing,

here, like, subscribe, share it with friends. It really, really does help. And thank you. Like, leave a comment, you know, those reviews on the reviews on Spotify, the reviews on Apple podcasts, all of it really, really helps. I enjoy reading your emails every time we get an email from a listener.

I shed a little bit of a tear, I'm not gonna lie. I'm one of those people where I'm like, someone's listening, I'm not just talking to myself. So yes, your supporting us helps me be able to come and cover these tournaments and we're gonna get Nick to a tournament soon. Don't you worry, because we want his version of all of these as well. So I will see you all.

Soonish, soonish, yes. You can always find me online on social media where I will be sharing the tennis with you daily. Hope to see you all soon. Bye.