The 2021 BNP Paribas Open (also known as the 2021 Indian Wells Masters) was a professional men’s and women’s tennis tournament played in Indian Wells, California. After the event was cancelled the preceding year amid the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was initially scheduled to take place on March 10–21, 2021, but was postponed to October 6–17, 2021 to accommodate logistics disruptions owing to the pandemic.[1]
It was the 47th edition of the men’s event and 32nd of the women’s event, and was classified as an ATP Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2021 ATP Tour and a WTA 1000 event on the 2021 WTA Tour. Both the men’s and the women’s qualifying and main draw events took place at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden from October 4 through October 17, 2021 on outdoor hard courts.[1]
Dominic Thiem was the defending men’s singles champion from when the tournament was last held in 2019. However, after Thiem ended his season early due to an ongoing wrist injury, he withdrew from the tournament.[2][3] Cameron Norrie won the men’s singles title to become the first British man to win the Indian Wells Masters and earn his first ATP Masters 1000 title.[4] Bianca Andreescu was the defending women’s singles champion from 2019, but she lost in the third round to Anett Kontaveit.[5] Paula Badosa won the women’s singles title to become the first Spanish woman to win the Indian Wells Masters and earn her first WTA 1000 title.[6]
The teams of Nikola Mektić and Horacio Zeballos[7] and Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka[8] were the defending champions in the men’s and women’s doubles draws, respectively. Mektić and Zeballos chose not to participate together. Mektić played alongside partner Mate Pavić as the top seeds, but the pair lost in the quarterfinals.[9] Zeballos played alongside partner Marcel Granollers but were eliminated in the first round. Sabalenka chose not to defend her title and Mertens entered alongside partner Hsieh Su-wei. Mertens successfully defended her title with Hsieh, making it Mertens’ second and Hsieh’s third Indian Wells title, respectively