Ground Pass’ Guide to Indian Wells and Miami Open

The US Spring swing continues this week with the Austin Open, a WTA 250, but it’s all leading to the tentpole events of this period - The SunShine Double. Indian Wells and Miami Open are the highlights of US Spring Tennis season. Steeped in history and prestige its as close to the hype you will get in the US tennis calendar outside of the US Open. Indian Wells especially has over the years earned the moniker of The Fifth Grand Slam, in this episode we preview both tournaments and give you our guide to the events. When to go, what tickets to get and what you can or cannot bring.

TRANSCRIPT

Anastasia (00:00)

Okay, welcome back everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Groundpass. Nick, I think we fixed the sound. I think we fixed the sound.

Nick (00:11)

It sounds a lot better now. I apologize to anyone who's watching on YouTube, but...

Anastasia (00:13)

Yes it does.

well, why? Just because of the video?

Nick (00:22)

Yeah, the video was a little laggie

Anastasia (00:26)

So I think that's what it is. The video is better on Riverside, which was the platform we used before, but the audio is better on Zoom

Nick (00:38)

I'd rather it was this way around though. same, same. Yeah, we can sort out other things.

Anastasia (00:43)

Yeah, we got an email. I have to say, I mean, we got it. The episode must have been out for 30 minutes. I couldn't believe it. But we got an email from someone who thank you so much for checking in and letting us know. And she was like, this sound is so much better. And I was like, yes, yes, that is what I want to hear.

Nick (01:05)

you to emailing in, mean, like, not least, like, for the feedback, but also, like, thank you for letting us know that you listen to our podcast with like the minute it comes out, because I did not think people did that. So, yeah, like, it's really nice to know that people will listen to us.

Anastasia (01:25)

That is true. have I mean, I was shocked by how quickly the email came in. I was like, I just posted it just posted the episode. How did you listen already? But it is nice. It is nice.

Yeah. So, Nick, how was your how's your week? How are you doing?

Nick (01:39)

I'm doing all right. mean, I've just been bouncing from social event to social event. Well, yeah, my my I had a work party on Thursday. Well, yeah, we're not supposed to call it that. It was a work work event. Work event. Okay. Work event on Thursday. And then I also went to my friends revealing the gender of their baby on yesterday, which

Anastasia (01:44)

Look at you social butterfly.

Nick (02:05)

The highlight, of course, was the reveal, but only because my friend pulled the confetti cannon at the count of eight, not zero.

Anastasia (02:15)

think any of those things actually go to plan? Like there's always some sort of mishap or

Nick (02:22)

And I could see, like obviously I'm friends with both of them and I could see like my pregnant friend having to process at the same time, one, that the confetti cannon was going off and two, what the gender of her child was.

Anastasia (02:37)

my word. I get it. He was probably nervous and he was just like, time. man. Just before we came on, I was talking to Nick about my apartment woes because that's pretty much been my week. My week has been dealing with leaks and flooding and all the good things that come.

with living in an apartment. So nothing as fun as a work event. I know we have to keep it formal. It was a work event, not a party. An event. So I had boring cleanup painting to do and Nick was having fun, but there was a lot of time. It's coming. It's coming. I'm excited.

Nick (03:08)

But

It does look a bit dope.

Anastasia (03:28)

It's gonna, I'm, so because just long story short, I had some flooding in my storage unit. So I had to sort of clear everything out. They took out the ceiling, had to put the ceiling back in, all of that stuff. And I am putting, I've decided to make a space where I can work on ground pass because right now,

If you're watching this on YouTube, my kitchen is right there and my living room is right there. So it's been hard to kind of, you know, be in this space and not have distractions and stuff. So I'm hoping I can build out this space and, you know, it can become an office where I can go work and maybe do this zoom. I'm still trying to figure out the network.

issues and internet stuff. And we've just figured out the sound. So I don't want to jinx anything and like move my whole setup. But it's coming together great. It's something that I've decided to put on our substack because it is a little bit of a behind the scenes moment. And Nick, I don't know about you, but OK, growing up, you know how with movies they have like the behind the scenes?

where they'll show you their making of or whatever. I have always loved that. Like I would race to the end of the movie just so I could see the making of.

Nick (04:52)

yeah. I enjoy those kinds of stories, too. I like the human side of what it takes to create a story. yeah, I'm not surprised that you like that considering sort of thing, considering what you do as a job. True, true. Like that is clearly inspiration. But yeah, I am one of those people who will like if I watch Lord of the Rings with you, I'm going to be sharing all the behind the scenes stories.

Anastasia (05:14)

I

that part. Cause I want it was like, well, I was like, how did they make the Hobbit houses and things like that? So I love all of that stuff. So I'm going to kind of bring, hopefully bring that sort of vibe to our sub stack. So when I'm not at a tournament or an event giving you daily updates about the event, you will be hearing about my basement storage conversion to an office and all the woes that goes along with that. So,

Stay tuned, that will be coming to our sub stack. If you haven't subscribed already, you should. But yes, let's jump into our topic of today. Exactly. If you're not watching this on YouTube, you're missing all of Nick's visual cues

Nick (05:57)

I feel like watching on YouTube is gonna be very frustrating because sometimes it will make a visual joke or something or I'll do something to put Anastasia off. But also you'll see me like fidgeting a lot in the background. Like I can't keep still. Like I'll be moving and checking the laptop to see make sure I've got my notes right. I might be like fiddling with something on my desk or something like that. Like I really struggled to keep still when recording. And so

Like I do wonder what it's like watching me back on YouTube and I completely forget this goes out on video for on YouTube because it's just an like 45 minutes to an hour of Nick fidgeting and then occasionally saying something.

Anastasia (06:38)

man. And I'm usually the one who's like, I will just look at the camera and wait for him to. But then you get to you get to learn about our personalities. We're very different.

But yeah. So what are we talking about today? The U.S. spring swing continues trademarked. We're trademarking it. It's ours now. It continues and we're getting to sort of the the feature.

of the US Spring Swing, which is double feet. I see what you did there. The double feature, which is the sunshine double. So in this episode, we are going to be talking about 1000 level events, what they are, the backstories behind them, and the biggest feature of the US Spring Swing, which is the sunshine double, which is the combination of Indian Wells,

Nick (07:02)

picture.

Anastasia (07:29)

and the Miami Open. So that's what we're going to be talking about today, along with some tennis news we will keep till the end. There is a lot happening on tour and we will talk about some of our favorite moments that came out of this week. So Nick, what is a 1000 level

Nick (07:47)

what a 1000 event is, basically it's named after the number of points you get for winning the event, the points towards your ranking. So you would get 1000 points for winning it. And that is the next, the third highest points yield you can have from winning a tennis event. The only two events that you could win that would give you more ranking points as a player would be a Grand Slam, one of the four Grand Slams, or

and the end of season finals, which would kind of require you to kind of go on like mostly undefeated or like having lost the one match in the group stages. But that's what it is. And they kind of came about kind of historically because a little bit due to like tennis politics from the time tennis was really recently settled in its kind of format, it was very tumultuous and, you know,

the fact that the Grand Slams are run by a completely different organization to the rest of the tour. They wanted to have their own prestigious events where they could promote and guarantee the top players would be there. And now it's a way of having the top players committed to certain events where more than just before Grand Slams, because even if you look 40 years ago,

the top players only ever all committed to the same events at the slams. Like those were the only slams and even then that wasn't the guarantee. But you know, if you want to be absolutely sure you would see all of the big players in tennis, they would be at slams. And I think in terms of selling the product of tennis all year round, where it's not just like, you only watch one of four events to see the stars, you could see the stars throughout the year at these events. And so yeah, that's that's essentially what they are. It's mandatory for

all players above a certain ranking to play across the tour. And if you win one of these, it's kind of the next best thing almost. Or at least if you have one of these, you've had a pretty decent career, even if no one will remember you for necessarily, you know, winning a slam or getting to world number one or winning the of year finals or even the Olympics. It's kind of a

you get one of these, you take home a decent cash prize and recognition in the tennis community.

Anastasia (10:00)

Right, right. And you kind of brought something up there in terms of the Grand Slams and the tour being separate. Like, I think a lot of times people, it's hard for people, I think, to understand as well, but the Grand Slams, the four Grand Slams, are four different organizations and they are run separately from the tours, the ATP and the WTA. So these events are sort of the tours, Grand Slams. And to that note,

there's something that's been happening, Nick, over the last few years that is kind of, it's bringing a little bit of discussion, I think, debate as well, because tour level events are usually one week. And the 1000 level events were always usually one week. But as time has gone on, these tour level events at the 1000 level are now becoming two week events, which are something that was always sort of.

held for the Grand Slams, because those were like the big events and stuff. you will start finding out a lot of these events are now two weeks long. the tours can have kind of, they're trying to build up these events so that people pay attention to them more as well. But there's also, think, the good and the bad that goes along with that. I think, yes, it's more tennis, it's more time, people can enjoy it more.

But for the players, we were talking about earlier just before we started recording, tennis never stops. This doesn't really help that situation.

Nick (11:33)

It doesn't, although having said that, if you were to play, because there are, I didn't go into the details of how many of these events there are. there are 9, 1000 events on the ATP side. There are 10 on the WTA side. If you add in the WTA finals as well, that is 14 to 15 tournaments that the top players have to play. If you look at the requirements,

that they are required because like to maintain your ranking, have to play. Your ranking can't be more than a certain amount. You can't like after if you play more than like 18 or 19 tournaments, it doesn't count. So actually, they're getting pretty near their maximum. So, you know, in terms of like committing people to playing 14, 15 tournaments a year, that's probably not that bad. It's about when they're spaced out, I think is maybe mainly the problem, particularly when you get to the middle of the year.

and you have three Grand Slams in the space of four months. And that's maybe where some of the congestion could be. I think

There is such a thing as too much tennis. And I do think there is such a thing as stress on the players. no one really other than like sort of various opinion, like I know no player and no medical professional, which is the two people that I would take the most seriously have put forward a, ideally we shouldn't be playing more than this type of scenario or more than this level like, or more than this level of frequency.

And so until I see that, I'm kind of withholding judgment about what I think the best route should go. But yeah, do you want me to talk about more about the sort of individual 1000s then?

Anastasia (13:14)

Well, think we can kind of, know, as we go on throughout the year, we'll definitely, I think, touch on other 1000 level events because I think it's important to sort of, you know, we've talked about the general, so everyone now knows what a 1000 level event is, but they're all just so different. And you said, for example, the men have nine, the women have 10, but there's some of them that are joint. So there's some joint.

1000 level events, which by the way, the sunshine double, they are both joint 1000 level events. So talking about those varieties, like Monaco is something that the ATP only do. And then like Doha and Dubai is the stuff that only the WTA do. So it's definitely as we go through the year, it'd be nice to sort of touch on those individual events, but because, know, limited time on the podcast.

We would like to jump into the two events that are coming up this spring in March. So starting next month, the sunshine double. wanted to, so there is a guide that's online. It is written, it's a blog, it's a blog post written by PJ Simmons. He's a tennis player, recreational tennis player, fan of the sport.

And he wrote a blog called Road to 4.5 Tennis. Now, 4.5 Tennis, think maybe that's something we can also write in our notebooks to talk about later, but kind of the rankings that recreational players kind of have. In the US. In the US, yeah.

Nick (14:56)

It's a different thing over here.

Anastasia (14:58)

Yeah,

Nick (15:01)

Both, they both, I think they both get used like the system I have for when I'm playing, which is not the moment. Wet and cold and there's nowhere near me that has indoor tennis courts or floodlights. But yeah, the the system for like ranking amateur players and club players is a little bit different over here in the the LTA decides to adopt a completely different rating system.

compared to the 4.5. So like I've had conversations with American recreational players where we've had to kind of transliterate which rating we are.

Anastasia (15:33)

Yeah. Yeah. it's, huh? Yes, it's UTR. So UTR is the ranking system for recreational players in the States. And this blog was basically this PJ's way of documenting his road to 4.5, which is a level in that ranking system. But he also has a section of it called 10 tips.

Nick (15:36)

Is it UTR?

Anastasia (16:00)

for going to the US Open. I found it a few years ago when I was just looking for more information about going to the US Open because I'd always just gone willy nilly. Like I would pick one day and I'd go to the US Open and that was it. But I always love looking, like I'm a huge fan of, don't think, I don't know if you have Wirecutter in...

UK, but Wirecutter is kind of a review site where they review gadgets and like blenders and you know things.

Nick (16:33)

You might be asking the wrong man. It might exist in the UK, but I'm not a gadget man. But I love- I'm not Inspector Gadget. I'm sorry everyone.

Anastasia (16:42)

love it. It's about you catching. but I love reviews and like finding the best of something. So I stumbled on this blog looking for what were the best cheapest ways to go to the US open. That's literally what I was looking for. And this 10 tip guide is

In my opinion, the best out there that I've seen, I will link it below for people who want to go to the US Open. It is so well done. He talks about ticket prices. He talks about the sun, where it is on each court. He talks about like, hey, if you want to go see your favorite player, how do you do it? Really, really great tips and tricks. Nick, when I sent it to him, was like, we should have PJ on when we do our US Open review. And I'm going to try.

I'm going to see, I never even thought of that. Preview. Preview, yes, the preview, not review, preview. But I'm going to try and do it and see if we can get him on. Cause I just think he created such a great guide. What does that mean for the Sunshine Double? I have always wanted something like this for other tournaments because the moment I started going to tournaments, like last year was my first year ever going to Indian Wells. Never been.

Nick (17:32)

review.

Anastasia (17:57)

didn't really know what to expect, where I should buy tickets, when should I buy tickets, all of that stuff. And I was looking everywhere for guides and there was just nothing. was, you you would find random things here and there, but there really just wasn't a place I could go to for that. And I just thought, you know what, if it doesn't exist, we should do it. So here we are, here we are.

trying to give you a bit of a guide to Indian Wells and the Miami Open. Nick, do you want to tell everyone just a little bit about Indian Wells to start? Like, where is it? What is it?

Nick (18:37)

If you're asking me to tell them what it's like, Anastasia, I'm going to have to imagine it based on how you described it to me last year and sort of just wing it because I'm not going to, I've never been guys. I've never been to the US in my life. But sorry to sort of disappoint you. I'm still in my hobbit hole here in England. so in terms of Indian Wells, yeah, so where is it? It's in California.

sort of, probably not my exact geography of California, it's not great, it's not that far from Los Angeles, is it?

Anastasia (19:08)

No, and it's so funny you say that because I remember once I was listening back to some of our old episodes and I remember you making fun of me about like how Americans and you know, people from the UK discern distance to places where I'll be like, it's just a three hour drive. And Brits are like, no, we're not going.

Nick (19:32)

Way too much for me.

Anastasia (19:37)

It was really funny when it was actually our Miami open episode from last year, if anyone wants to go back and listen, but it was really funny because I was like, yeah, it's just a three hour drive. And you were like, yeah, no.

Nick (19:50)

drive more than an hour if I can help it. just, you know, we're teeny tiny place, little teeny tiny island in comparison. So yeah, it's in California. And obviously, it's like the first couple of weeks of March. It's kind of the long standing kind of fifth, it's called the fifth slam in some quarters.

There are some other people who will try and challenge that. think Rome is keen to get that title back because at one point in its lifetime, it was called that tangent. I remember reading, like, I've got a selection of like daily Telegraph articles from like reporting on Wimbledon's throughout the years. So like from the time. And there was a debate in there about like, oh, which one of Rod Laver's calendar grand slams was greater. And the person argued it was the 62 one because he also won the Italian Open that year.

But Indian Wells has kind of now moved into that sort of like, that's the next best thing to win. Certainly if you're a fan, like it's the, the, it's got this unique fan experience. It's definitely out there for like the hardcore tennis fans. It's called Tennis Paradise. And yeah, I suppose Desert in March is not as bad as it could be if you went during the summer.

although it's still pretty warm and it's still pretty cold. But yeah, it's got quite a few prestigious winners to it. But although right now it's currently being under the stranglehold of Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek who are both on title runs here.

Anastasia (21:15)

Yeah, I feel like it's it's kind of like the clay version of a hardcore tournament. I feel like that's that's what it seems like. But

Nick (21:24)

It's

all the sand getting mixed in, that's what it is. It may as well be.

Anastasia (21:27)

Exactly. So Indian Wells, so here's what to expect, know, just giving you the rundown cost of tickets now, you know, for ground pass. And a lot of people don't talk about this. And I think we always promote go to qualifying, go to the earlier days of the tournament, because first of all,

They're great players that you're still gonna see. And we hope that if you're listening to Player of the Fortnite, you will start hearing and learning about those names that you're gonna see in qualifying. But Indian Wells has a qualifying, it's the first three days. This year, it's gonna be from the 2nd of March, I'm looking at my calendar, from the 2nd of March to the 5th of March, depending on weather and all of that stuff. But it is $10.

So it's $10 to get a ground pass entry to go watch qualifying. So I would suggest it's a great opportunity to, if you're on a tight budget, but you still want to experience Indian Wells, see the grounds, see the players, because they're also going to be top players practicing during this time. Like most players get to Indian Wells at the beginning of the week and they're practicing, getting used to the environment. So that's the cost of tickets for qualifying.

Nick (22:47)

Can I throw something out there while you're talking about qualifying and talk about practice? This is just judging by sort of stuff that you've said on the podcast in the past. Is Indian Wells the best tournament out there for going to watch practice?

Anastasia (23:01)

Yes, I have to say yes. Yes, that is such a great point because I'm thinking about other tournaments I've been to and the practice courts that are at Indian Wells and Indian Wells is the most accessible, I think, in terms of practice courts. They have, I mean, they're almost, I think, 16 or so practice courts. There are a lot of practice courts and only two of them are there kind of

there's no court level. So two of them have, it's sort of almost like they're these stadium style seats and then you have to look down and you see the players playing. Only two of the courts are like that. And that's usually where, know, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, the big, big names practice because I think it also just helps protect them and things like that. But all of the other practice courts are ground level.

Like you're sitting at the same level watching the players. I saw Coco Gauff like practice practicing like right there. You can be front row. So I think they do have pretty great practice courts. If you want to see one of the big names practice and at least say that, you saw them. know, think practice courts in general. If you're a fan of Carlos Alcaraz

you know, Coco Gauff or whoever, those are great places where you can see them up close practicing. If you want to get an autograph or if you want to get a selfie and stuff like those are the places where you can get them because a lot of times those players play on stadium courts where the tickets are much pricier. Getting courtside is is expensive. It's really, really expensive. So I want to say if you want sort of up close to see them playing.

Definitely go to practice courts and Indian Wells is really good for it

Nick (24:51)

they tell you in advance who's playing as well, right? You can see like the person on this court at this time. you know, yeah, that's most up to date, know, best accessible. You can plan your day around going to see them, which is one of the things, you know, if you want to see your favorite players, know, Indian Wells is almost like a slam sized facility, right? Like there's plenty of courts out there that like gives a good chance that you can go and find and schedule a day around your favorite player. But,

the practice courts might be the best way. If you just want to see them and you're not bothered about seeing them competing, that's the place to go.

Anastasia (25:26)

Yeah, and I definitely again suggest going super early. Going throughout the week. So $10 is for qualifying the Monday after I think it's $30 and then the Tuesday is 40. then so you get where I'm going. It's like the ticket prices for day one, day two, day three, it builds. By the time you get to the middle weekend, the ticket prices for ground passes are $60 for the middle weekend.

But here's the thing, they're sold out already. They're already sold out. They're already sold out. I am so sorry. Guys, last year, middle weekend at Indian Wells was packed. I mean, was jam packed. It's sold out already. And they are resale tickets, and I looked it up. So for middle weekend,

Nick (26:01)

that already sold out.

Anastasia (26:22)

Face value, the tickets are $60. Right now they're reselling for over $200.

Nick (26:30)

Yikes, that's almost like a fourfold increase. Yeah. Yeah. So are there any stadium tickets still available? And by the way, if you are one of those lucky people who have a ground pass, whether it's for the middle weekend, which although I assume this ticket, this ground pass is still available during the week, where do those get you into? So I've got two questions for you there.

Anastasia (26:51)

So two questions, yes, there's still stadium tickets available, which is great. A lot of them though are resale as well at this point. And I will come to how to deal with resale tickets in a bit. So let's hold on to that thought. And then in terms of where tickets get you, it's a tiered system. So if you have a ground pass, well, let's start with the layout of Indian Wells. There are three stadium courts.

and then in total, there are nine courts. So three stadium courts and six outdoor courts. So if you have a ground pass, it gets you to the general admission area, which is in the 300 level of Stadium 2, also gets you into the general admission area of Stadium 3. So it's nice both of those two larger courts have general admission areas.

And then it gets you obviously to all the other outside courts so you can just, it's first come first serve.

Nick (27:50)

very similar to the US Open setup.

Anastasia (27:53)

Correct, correct, exactly. And then if you happen to get a stadium court ticket for stadium one, that gets you everything. For stadium two, it only gets you from stadium two down and then stadium three. For stadium three, you can go into the general admission of stadium two and then all the way down. So stadium one is the only court, kind of like Arthur Ashe, where it's all ticketed. There's no general admission into that spot. And that is where

Novak, Carlos, Coco, that's where they're gonna play.

Nick (28:27)

That's where they're to go play. OK, so that's something to kind of, yeah, think about, you your ground pass will get you pretty much everywhere except Stadium 1. unless you are a super fan of one of the big players, that you won't be disappointed by your options.

Anastasia (28:43)

And

here's a tip for if you are, you want to go see a big player, for example, but you're only on a ground pass. If they're playing doubles, they get put on the outside court. So last year, this was one of the most packed doubles. I mean, there was the entire stadium was packed. There were lines outside of it. But Jannik Sinner.

was playing doubles with Lorenzo Mus- no, Lorenzo Sonego. And they were put on Stadium 3, which has a lot of general admission. Like the reserve of Stadium 3 is like really small. I think it's only just one section. But it was completely packed because of course you have Jannik Sinner, who usually playing singles would only be put on Stadium 1. Here he is on Stadium 3 playing doubles. Same thing with Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula

were playing doubles and I think they put them on court for like you know to play doubles and I feel like that is a way you can get to watch your like the stars play if they're going to be on outside courts and things like that which I was actually very surprised Indian Wells has already started posting the doubles teams so you can go to their website and see who's playing who's like committed to playing doubles I think

Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul are gonna be playing together. So you can start seeing who you can expect.

Nick (30:10)

Does that mean Indian Wells is also the best tournament for rating doubles as well as being the best tournament for going to practice?

Anastasia (30:16)

I think so. think there's, I think what you will get from listening to this episode is Indian, I mean, Indian Wells is hard to beat. It is a lovely, the venue is lovely. It's so nice. There is a reason they call it tennis paradise. It's like you almost just go into this bubble where it's just happiness and joy in tennis.

And that's what's there.

Nick (30:45)

why I really want to go one day. That's my tennis bucket list. would, if I went to, I think, no, don't get me wrong, I would love to go to the other three Grand Slams. But I think in terms of like sheer enjoyment to go to a tournament for the vibe and the enjoyment of it, Indian Wells beats all of them.

Anastasia (31:00)

Yeah, it really does. let's start going into, so that's kind of the ticket thing that's happening right now because Indian Wells is such a big draw. kind of like the Grand Slams. And I think this is why it's at this point called the Fifth Slam. People travel for Indian Wells, like from out of the country. Like it is a big thing. That is why ground passes are already sold out for the weekend and the resale prices are.

are so high. My tip for resale prices, which is something that I actually got from PJ's blog. I read it there first and it was the first time I've ever done it. You know, yes, people have, you know, put up the resale price of this, ground pass and it's four times as much and stuff. If you are willing to just take a chance, which I'm sort of like, I encourage everyone to do. If you just show up,

after the gates have opened. So gates will open every, play usually starts around 11, so gates open an hour before at 10. Show up at 10, just wait, check the tickets. Nine out of 10, they've dropped the day of. So I always say, don't get resale tickets now. It's too early to get resale tickets, because you're gonna be paying a massive, massive premium. Wait till the day of.

Check it out, 100%, they will have dropped somewhat and then just watch it. And you can usually get a good deal. If not lower, I've been at the US Open ones where I got the ground passes for less because people couldn't offload the tickets they were trying to resell and then just drop the prices. So patience is great.

just wait it out and for the most part, usually do, the tickets usually do drop.

Nick (32:54)

I was gonna say that's, that does sound like your experience of getting US Open tickets. That's what you've told me you've done is you've hopped over to from your place to Queen's and got in there and waited for it. Wimbledon have a similar system. I'm not talking about the queue, I'm talking about like when you're on the ground, you can get in for Centre Court resale or Court 1 resale. And if you're going if you're patient, know, you actually have a pretty decent deal on them.

I don't know whether, I mean like are we seriously, Anastasia recommending that people get on a plane or start driving many many hours to California to roll the dice on jumping in that resale queue for Indian Wells?

Anastasia (33:34)

I mean, you only live once, you know, so why not? again, you know, if this is a big, big trip you're making, like if you're traveling from the UK, like you would have, you would have bought tickets already. So you'd be fine. You probably already have your ground passes and you're ready to go. This is for people who I think are local. If you're local to the area and you're just like, I'm just going to pop over for the tennis, I would say.

Hold out.

Nick (34:01)

So if you are willing to have a 3 hour drive

Anastasia (34:05)

If you're coming from LA in traffic, so it's actually four hours, just wing it.

Okay, so those are your tickets. That's ticket options for Indian Wells. What can you bring? this is actually something good to note because it's very different from the US Open and it's also very different from when I did my what's in my bag for tennis tournaments.

This is one of the very few tournaments that requires you have a clear bag. And when I say clear bag, I mean clear, like clear plastic bags. I've seen them online on Amazon. And actually when I went to the U.S., when I went to Indian Wells last year, there were people like selling them at the gate because a lot of people didn't know the rules. I always say, before you go to a tournament, check the tournament website, make sure you know what you can bring and what you can't bring.

And for Indian Wells, you need a clear bag

Nick (35:02)

And this is instead of a purse.

Anastasia (35:04)

Yes. Well, no. So you can bring a small, tiny purse. I think the dimensions they put on their website, but you know, like just a small kind of handheld clutch or maybe a small, tiny cross body you can bring in. But if you want to bring a water bottle, for example, or you have a baby and you need diapers and you need to bring like a diaper stuff or whatever.

you need to put it in a clear bag versus a backpack or a larger kind of tote bag. You cannot bring those in. It has to be this sort of clear bag situation.

Nick (35:43)

Interesting. You can tell that neither of us are parents.

Anastasia (35:45)

Yeah, I was like,

Nick (35:47)

Whatever you need. Usually we just hand the baby back when that situation is required.

Anastasia (35:52)

Exactly.

But yeah, so you you need the clear bag and stuff, but also some rules like, for example, at the US Open, you can bring in food, you cannot to Indian Wells. Bad, you cannot. So don't try and bring your sandwich.

Nick (36:06)

That's the first thing I've heard of that's a down mark for Indian women.

Anastasia (36:09)

Yes, I

have to say because

And I get it with them because unlike, well, the US Open has restaurants too. So no, this is actually just a down mark. the Indian Wells is set up for all day entertainment, I would say. So not only do they have the regular food stalls that any tournament would have, they have full on sit down restaurants and actually very fancy restaurants. They have a NoBu

at Indian Wells, for example. That's a very fancy Asian restaurant. so I think with them is no outside food, You also can't bring in any drinks, but you can bring in a water bottle. So you can't bring drinks in, but you can bring an empty water bottle. So that's the good part, because then at least you can avoid constantly buying water bottles. Because if we want to jump into

what it's like on the grounds in general. You mentioned, I love what you said in the beginning where it's like Indian Wells, get the sun, but because it's in the desert in March, it gets also really cold at night. So I always say bring a coat or jacket or whatever, but in the sun at Indian Wells during the day, it's hot. Like it can get really hot, you know? So I can imagine you wanting to have water.

with you all the time and if you're just buying water, that's an expense. It gets really expensive quickly. So I always say, bring water. Don't pay $12 for a water.

Nick (37:41)

So just to be clear, you're allowed to bring water bottles in but you can't bring food. Correct.

Anastasia (37:47)

You can bring in an empty water bottle that you can refill at the, they have like, you know, water fountains and things like that. So you can fill it in. So you can bring in the bottle, but you can't bring in.

Nick (37:57)

food. Interesting. Well, that's that that's an interesting idea. And you always have to be aware of the sun, like bring sunglasses, bring sunscreen, definitely as well. That's really, really important. So yeah, that's really good to know that and I guess that's gonna be important for planning your day is you're probably going to want to schedule in a lunch break at one of the stalls or restaurants or whatever, whatever your budget will allow for.

Anastasia (38:06)

the screen.

Nick (38:24)

The, I guess the only other thing that's like worth asking about is like, what's the crowd situation like? Do you have to like, obviously it sounds like if you go middle weekend, you might struggle a little bit more if you don't like crowds.

Anastasia (38:37)

Yeah, so if you don't like crowds, I would say middle weekend is tough. It's really, really tough. So I would try to stick to the first few days of tournament. The main draw of the tournament starts on Wednesday. So Wednesday, Thursday are great, but by Friday, it's getting packed. Saturday, Sunday is like super packed and then it kind of dies down again for that Monday. So that's how I would say to plan for the crowds. would also say,

If you want to see a certain player at a practice court or at one of the outside courts, plan, plan, plan, plan. Plan ahead, come early, get your bearings, know where all the courts are, because with the crowds and even on like a Thursday or anything like that,

It can get really difficult. remember two things happening last year that was, I was like, my goodness, wow, this is, this is intense. The gates open, you know, an hour before play starts, but the players start practicing super early, like even before the gates are open. So I remember last year, Carlos Alcaraz was playing on one of those like bigger practice courts and the gates opened and people

ran, I mean, full sprints once the gates opened to the court so they could just see him play, which, you know, props to him. He's super popular and people love to watch him and stuff. But I was, I was shocked. was like, my word. That is, that is a whole thing. So don't be surprised by that. People really get super intense when it comes to wanting to watch who their favorite players are and stuff. And

you know, especially early when the gates are opening, people are darting, you know, so don't try and show up, you know, he's practicing at 10. I'm going to show up at 1030. No, 1030. There's no seat. There's nowhere to sit. You can't get into the practice court. And they literally have guards at the practice court entrance. Like once it's full, they don't let people in anymore. So I will definitely take that into consideration. And then I remember last year to remember Gael Monfils made like a big run last year at Indian Wells. So

It's one of those things at tennis tournaments, which I kind of like, you know, his first match wasn't really that packed. You can find a seat, but the more he played, the better he did. And he was always on an outside court. He never played on one of the stadium courts. It just became must watch tennis and all of his matches after like the first round were packed. Like people would show up just to watch him. And you know, he's such a, he's an entertainer. He's a great vibe.

So if there are any matches like that on the outside courts, definitely plan ahead. Know where the court is. Show up. I always say show up kind of three games before you think the match before is going to end, just so that you can kind of scope out where you want to sit and then get ready to just camp out to watch who you want to watch. if you're with friends, bring someone with you so they can save you a seat and things like that.

those outside courts definitely get super packed. I think that's what I would say the two main things about Indian Wells. I have one more. Okay, before we move on to Miami, have one more.

So if you, I know we always say go ground pass, you know, but if you have the budget to get a stadium court ticket to stadium one, and I'm saying on the upper level, like the very top top, I would do it for a night session and go to the first match of a night session. And the reason I say this is because the sun is setting.

right about that time. And if you're at the very top of the stadium court, the mountains are in the background and the sun is setting and then the tennis is in front of you.

tennis paradise.

Nick (42:45)

go for the sunset and then the tennis.

Anastasia (42:47)

It's just so beautiful. I remember last year, what was it? It was Angie Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki were playing and the sun was setting and they were on court and the colors, I mean, it was purple and pink and the mountains and then they were on court. I mean, it was just, I was in tears. Like it was just beautiful. I was just like, this is so great. This is the best thing that could ever happen. So I highly, know, if that's something

you just want to experience, just get one. Maybe in the earlier part of the tournament where it's cheaper during the week.

Nick (43:23)

Yeah, because I appreciate you might not know this off the top of your head. What price are we talking about the stadium?

Anastasia (43:28)

So for stadium, actually I have it up here, cause I was like.

Nick (43:33)

Whilst you're looking it up, I also have another question whilst you're looking it up. People who might be more familiar with the US Open is aware when you say upper tier and you think of Arthur Ashe, like I'm not gonna see any tennis from there. What's the comparison like for Indian Wells?

Anastasia (43:47)

So Indian Wells is way better. There is nothing like Arthur. Arthur Ashe is like, it is so high up on the upper tier of Arthur Ashe. There's no other kind of explanation for it unless you see it in person where you're just like, my goodness, the tennis players are this big. Most people up there are watching it on the big screen, I have to say. Indian Wells is not bad. It's actually,

You get a good view of the players. Obviously you're not close to them, you know? But you get a good view of the players and I think it is just so beautiful up there. So tickets for the stadium up top in the early rounds start at $75. $75. So you're paying 15 more than a ground pass. Not bad.

Nick (44:32)

Okay.

Yeah, I'd say early rounds for Stadium that's actually a really, really good deal, especially in comparison to a lot of other big tennis tournaments. So worth considering as a one-off if you have the budget for it.

Anastasia (44:47)

if you have the budget for it and just to experience it. Typically I'm yeah, I'm just, I'm always, you know, go get a ground pass, see better tennis up close and personal on outside courts. But because of the location, it's quite beautiful. It really is.

Nick (45:06)

So I'm aware we've talked a lot and we've ended up probably spending a lot of this preview and this kind of guide on Indian Wells. So I think given that we're probably gonna go through the same kind of info for Miami. What would you say? Because I remember us talking about this last year after you did both tournaments and you saying that actually, although the vibes of the tournaments are very different,

structurally, they're very similar in terms of what you could bring, how you would plan your day for it. Maybe the, I don't know if the pricing's radically different, but certainly the way they maybe have their court set up might be very, very similar to Indian Wells as well. what would you say, if you were gonna do your, given everything we've just talked about for Indian Wells, what would you say are the key things that are different for Miami?

Anastasia (46:00)

say that's actually a really great way to put it because it is very similar. Bag policies, like all that stuff is very similar. The one thing I will say is the first day of qualifying in Miami is free. It's one of the only differences with Indian Wells. Indian Wells, pay all the time. For Miami, the very first day is free. I think it's kind of like their opening kind of fan day. And then also there are some qualifying matches going on as well.

There's that. And then the prices are similar across the board in terms of everything else. Another big difference I would say is there's more, I feel like at the Miami Open, there's more chances to see players play up close, like, you know,

bigger players, I would say, or more popular players because they only have one stadium court. They have one stadium court and then everything else is on the outside and mostly has some general admission. So I remember last year I saw Aryna Sabalenka and Paula Badosa play on their grandstand and that's like really up close and personal in the general admission area. So that's the one difference I will say with Miami Open. It's less.

Nick (47:18)

pass would let you pretty much everywhere accept the grant, the main stadium.

Anastasia (47:21)

Exactly correct. And I think Indian Wells, you do feel more closer to Grand Slam level. While at Miami, there's definitely you're like, oh, it's a 1000 level event. I feel it's closer to a 500 than it is to a Grand Slam in a way. it's a little bit more low key in a way.

Yeah, I'll definitely say that. The practice courts as well, not as great. Indian Wells, their practice courts are really great. Miami, it's okay. Most of them actually are blocked off completely, like players just play privately. And then the few that are, there's a big separation between the player and the fan.

Nick (48:07)

Sounds like Wimbledon. Yeah, OK. And so yeah, the bag policy is the same. Tickets are about the same sort of price. We've talked about access with it, like practice courts and whatnot. Again, yeah, maybe you're a bit more up close and personal, and that's kind of the feel of it. What would you say, again, you're saying like the 500 level. Is that because of the

resources are on site, we maybe don't have as many restaurants, it's all stalls. Is that what kind of what we're talking here?

Anastasia (48:35)

They actually, I do say the Miami Open of all the tournaments I've been to in person has the best food because I feel like what they do is, they do have a restaurant, they do have like some restaurant areas. In fact, kind of like the Miami Open, not Miami Open, the Australian Open, you know the Australian Open has those courts where there's like a bar, restaurant like above it and you can watch from there. The Miami Open has something very similar.

which I'm sure it's a great vibe. So you can like sit, eat, drink, and then watch the tennis like literally right across. But what I love about the Miami Open is that they take advantage of being in Miami. So Miami is a destination. Miami is a place people wanna go. But technically the stadium where the Miami Open is, which is actually in the, it's where the football team, Miami Dolphins play.

They kind of like build it out of that space.

Nick (49:37)

Which to me, it always looks so weird because you've got a stadium within a stadium kind of set up.

Anastasia (49:41)

Yeah, because a football stadium is massive. It's massive. you could never put a tennis court would look so puny in like that thing. So they have to put a stadium in a stadium and then they use the parking lot area to build out the outside courts and all of that stuff.

Nick (49:57)

used for the F1 track though, that's where they from Miami Grand Prix as well.

Anastasia (50:01)

It's all in one spot. It's the one place where the tennis and the F1 meet. And the NFL. Meet in the same location. But technically that area is in Fort Lauderdale. It's closer to Fort Lauderdale than it is to Miami. It's like a two hour drive with traffic from Miami downtown.

Nick (50:20)

Okay,

so we're in that three hour radius.

Anastasia (50:23)

Yes,

we are there. But what they do is a lot of their food stalls are basically restaurants that are in Miami. So you kind of get like a vibe of, that restaurant and you can try out different food. I actually, really liked that because I was sort of like, oh, you kind of get a taste of Miami. If you're just visiting and you've never been to Miami before and you can't really visit all of these restaurants and things like that, if you go to the Miami Open.

All the little stalls they have are basically baby versions of actual restaurants that exist. And you kind of get a taste of Miami, as they would say. So I like that a lot. I liked the food options at the Miami Open the best.

Nick (51:05)

Okay, so here we go. go to Miami for the food, apparently. That seems to be the main selling point with it. For the food. Yeah.

Anastasia (51:12)

Food and the vibes.

The Latin American crowd at the Miami Open cannot be beat.

Nick (51:19)

It's gold and swing, mini golden swing. Yeah. I actually have two more questions. OK. The first of which is whilst we're talking about kind of vibes and we're talking about crowds and they are going to be noisy, passionate American crowds as we alluded to. What's the crowd management situation like on site?

Anastasia (51:40)

much better. Weirdly, I feel like Miami Open is in a bigger space. Like I never, even in their middle weekend, I never felt a crowd. That's the one thing I'll give Miami Open. I never felt at any point like, wow, there too many people here. Cause I just felt like everything was so spread out in a way. Which was nice. Like I feel like with Indian Wells, all the courts are like next to each other.

and you just can pop from one to the other. So for accessibility and like maybe getting to a court quickly, it's easier to do. With the Miami Open, getting from like stadium three to like an outside court, there's a ways to go. It just seemed like a bigger area at the Miami Open that never really felt crowded.

Nick (52:33)

That makes sense. Better kind of, yeah, it's probably a less intense atmosphere then in some ways, a bit more spread out, a bit more room to breathe and better food. So in many ways it's kind of, although maybe it feels a bit more temporary, it doesn't have that prestige to it. It's a very well run tennis event. You can kind of, you can get up close to the players whilst playing, whilst they're playing and then in between matches.

you've got something to do, like you're not under any pressure, like you've got something to do in between. sounds like a decent day out anyways. Talking of a decent day out, again, does your, I had to ask you, does your resale hack work in terms of can you turn up and wait outside for resale or do they not do that in Miami?

Anastasia (53:22)

Do

they do that in Miami? But this is such a good question, Nick. Yay. It's harder to do in Miami. Now with Indian Wells, US Open, lot of, you you can kind of show up and there's a place to like hang out, wait and stuff. There's less commitment. I mean, it's never happened to me before in terms of like, I always really find a price that I can pay and then I go in. But for example, if

something happened and I was like, this is way too much. I could just leave. I could just go home and know, no, lost at Indian Wells, there's parking, there's, you at the Miami open, because it's so far out of the main city, there's nowhere to hang out. Like I don't know how else to describe it unless you've kind of been where it's like there's basically a highway and then there are all these different parking zone lots that you have to pay to get in.

or your ticket covers it, but you have to pay to get in there. So if you don't have a ticket, you can't get in. You have to pay to get in otherwise, which why would you do it if you're not gonna go? It's harder to do the waiting around thing, I think, at the Miami Open.

Nick (54:36)

But you can technically do it if you were committed enough.

Anastasia (54:38)

Exactly. If you're committed enough, can totally do it. But here's the thing with the Miami open, especially they just don't sell out as far as I'm aware. And this is a little bit of insider baseball or, however you want to call it. But I've read like all the rumors and the news things that the Miami open is looking to be sold at some point. And maybe that also has to do with the fact that I I've been now twice and it just doesn't really get crowded like

Indian Wells where it's super packed, but I've never been in a situation at the Miami Open where I'm sort of like, there are no kind of tickets at face value to be had.

Nick (55:16)

And that's interesting because that was my next question. was going, my last question in Miami is like, you know, compared to Indian Wells, where we are recording this like the week before it starts more or just over a week, I think, does it start on Tuesday?

Anastasia (55:28)

It starts on the second. So I think that's actually, well, I always count qualifying. So it starts on the second, which is the first day of qualifying on this.

Nick (55:38)

send it. You might want to go to qualify. So yeah, it starts exactly a week from when we're recording. So yeah, you are leaving it to the last minute if you're to try and get tickets. Miami, you have a little bit more time, you have three weeks, two, three weeks, the end of the tournament in a month, you've got a bit more time to plan. So I would have been shocked if Miami was already sold out. I mean, even the US Open doesn't get sold out a month before, right? So

Anastasia (56:01)

US Open gets sold out in July, at least in the last few.

Nick (56:05)

That's a top tip for you then if you're listening and thinking about US Open trip. Don't wait till July.

Anastasia (56:10)

Don't

plan ahead, get an Amex card so you can do this. The US Open is a lot.

Nick (56:18)

whole different thing. So you have that then as a kind of a big option. yeah, it's interesting to know that it doesn't really get sold out. Like you could in theory, decide to do a last minute trip to Miami and not have to do the waiting around thing, which might explain why it's harder because they've not needed to invest in it because people will probably have already paid for tickets, they've probably checked online beforehand.

Yeah, if you want to do a Miami Open trip, is it as glamorous as Indian Wells or the US Open? No. Is it still a good day out? Yes. you know, it's a bit like saying it's a bit, it's kind of, it's a decent ground pass ticket for you, if you want to put it like that.

Anastasia (57:01)

I would say so. you know, we've talked a lot. I want to say that I will be putting on our website because I said I wanted to do what PJ was doing before other tournaments. So I will be putting up a guide for both tournaments and I will put on our social media when they're out. think the Indian Wells one should be out tomorrow, but then the Miami one, have a...

weeks and stuff to put that out so I'll put that out probably next week.

the one thing I do want to mention about the Miami Open, because it's happened to me twice now, you can almost guarantee a rain out. The weather in Miami is very, it's by the water, it's very temperamental, and it's tropical. So the last two times I've gone to Miami, I definitely had one each time.

I had one full rain out day. Like it just rained the whole day and there was no tennis. So I would mentally prepare yourself for that. Both times my ticket was refunded. So they do have a good refund policy. If no tennis happens, that's good. But especially if you're traveling from outside of Miami, it's something to consider.

Nick (58:11)

Yeah, definitely do that. And that's the case for most tennis tournaments that are not held in Australia or the desert. Although Dubai had that problem this week, weirdly, but that's whole tangent. Okay, so there you go. All you need to know for Indian Wells and Miami, if you want to plan a trip, whether you're going or not, hopefully this will help you out. Yeah.

Anastasia (58:19)

I love it.

Nick (58:35)

That's really exciting. Obviously there is some tennis that's happening in between because we're talking about the US spring swing and that's kind of restarting because we've had our week off. But yeah, it's the women's turn in action in the US spring swing happening because the Austin 250 is taking place.

Anastasia (58:55)

The Austin 250 is taking place. I'm still upset because Nick reminded me that Madison Keys can't play. I don't know why, but I know why. know why. I know exactly why. And I really feel after this year, they will reconsider that rule because again, sometimes you just have to see what happens, you know, to.

figure out, we didn't think about this specific thing that could happen. So hopefully that will be rectified. But yes, you are right. This week, the US swing continues with the Austin 250 WTA event, which is great. Awesome.

Nick (59:35)

Yeah, and for those of you, if you want to go to it, maybe you've got like, none of us have go, I have been before, but I'm sure there's some great resources out there to tell you all about it. But in terms of the names, we're going to be there Jessica Pegula is the top seed. Peyton Stearns is the third seed. Diana Schneider got a wild card in. You've also got McCartney Kessler, Caroline Dalhide, Bernarda Pera Katie Volynets is playing and

And yeah, that's it. And also it's the tournament where we'll see a comeback for a very well beloved WTA player, Petra Kvitova who is coming back after a year away to have a baby. So it's her turn to do a post maternity comeback. And we're looking forward to seeing how that goes. And you could potentially go and see that happen on the ground, as it were. So that's all happening in Austin.

Anastasia (1:00:25)

And according to Katie Boulter, it means she wins a 500 level event. think that will be it for this episode. It's been long enough and we've covered sort of our breakdown of Indian Wells and the Miami Open. It's a lot to listen to.

Nick (1:00:31)

Something like that, yeah.

Anastasia (1:00:46)

I think we will end the episode here and we will maybe put out a mini pod of all the stuff results and news that came out of the tour this week because there was a lot of stuff. And if we just keep talking, this will be two hours long guaranteed. We don't want that. So we will end it here, Nick. This has been awesome. This has been great. I hope these guides are really helpful. If you have, you know what?

We can't think of all the possible questions you might have, so this is what I'll say. If you have any questions, concerns about going to Indian Wells or the Miami Open, drop us a note. Drop us an email, drop us a comment, and hopefully we will be able to get back to you with all the, you know, and answer your question for whatever questions you have. So yeah.

Nick (1:01:33)

Yeah, absolutely, we'll reply to you on social media, get your question answered there. And then if we get a lot of the same sort of questions, maybe we might have to do an emergency mini pod for it or something like that.

Anastasia (1:01:42)

Yeah, totally. So thank you, everyone. And yeah, we'll see you on a mini pod somewhere soon. Bye, guys.