This past week in tennis has brought us the conclusion of the 2025 Indian Wells Masters, with two new champions crowned in California. Read on for a full breakdown of how each event unfolded, plus a look at everything else in the tennis world over the last seven days.
Indian Wells crowns new champions
Last year’s Indian Wells Open was won by players who are very known commodities. Iga Swiatek won the women’s edition – a player who has both won Grand Slams and been number one. On the men’s side, it was Carlos Alcaraz, who also was number one and a Grand Slam champion.
Neither were able to defend their trophy this year, but the players that beat them at the event ultimately did end up winning the trophy. It’s a really bizarre parallelism, but both of the players deserved it.
Jack Draper proved the best on the men’s side, beating tough players left and right all event long. He had looked decent here in the past, but in all, things worked out for him, and he’s walking away with his maiden ATP 1000 trophy. Read more about Jack Draper and his current racquet.
On the women’s side, it was Mirra Andreeva who ousted Swiatek along the way before beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final. They had played two times this year, and each time Sabalenka proved much better, but this time around, it was Andreeva, who has now won back-to-back WTA 1000 trophies. More on Andreeva’s racquet and gear.
Andreeva, Legend in the making
Andreeva is a fantastic teenager who has been doing tremendous things this year. She’s now won two WTA 1000 events in the past month, which is almost unheard of in recent times by such a young player.
With the win, Andreeva will rise to number six on the WTA rankings, and she’s still only 17 years old. Besides that, she’s also number three in the WTA ace count, behind only Madison Keys and Aryna Sabalenka.
The victory also makes her the third youngest since 1989 to win the event, as only Serena Williams and Martina Hingis were younger when they did it. There are a couple more young achievements that she accomplished with this run, but for now, let’s only remember the name, as she’s a legend in the making.
Swiatek gets heavy boos in Indian Wells
One of those players that Andreeva beat both here and in Dubai was Iga Swiatek. The Polish player can’t seem to find a way to beat the Russian teen recently, and it’s really getting on her nerves. Her frustrations boiled over during that match as she slammed a ball given by a ball-kid into the ground, which went over his head into the crowd.
The ball-kid visibly flinched during that stunt, and the crowd heavily booed Iga for the move because it’s a terrible look. It’s certainly not something she does ever, which made it even more bizarre. More and more lately she has let her frustration boil over quite a few times, and it’s a problem. Moves like this are unacceptable.
Swiatek literally hitting a ball back at a ball kid
— Dan Gernez (@GernezDan) March 15, 2025
Poor sportsmanship and dangerous play
I've never seen such ugly behaviour beforepic.twitter.com/VckTPwbjES
Alcaraz gets candid following loss
Alcaraz was beaten by Draper in the Indian Wells semi-final, and he admitted after the match that he wasn’t feeling like himself during the match. He said he was nervous and quite irritated and just didn’t play well, which was true.
He did manage to win a set against Draper, but he also lost, which was the first time he had been beaten in Indian Wells in three years. It hurts, which Alcaraz also admitted, though he was outplayed by a player who was better on that day. At least in that sense, the loss was warranted.
Draper’s Indian Wells win by the numbers
Draper had never contested an ATP 1000 final before this week. Making the final at Indian Wells was the biggest match of his life, and he won it in style. It was the first time since Andy Murray that a British player managed a couple of top five wins at the same event.
He’s also the first English player, male or female, to win the Indian Wells trophy since 1970. On top of that, his final was only 70 minutes long, which is the shortest on-court victory here since Roger Federer bested Tim Henman in the 2004 final. A stellar final for a player who was by far the best this week.
Fonseca makes the most of his week off
Remember that Brazilian teenager, Joao Fonseca?
He exited Indian Wells early at the hands of Draper, but made the most of his loss by heading over to Arizona and winning the Phoenix Challenger. While it’s not an ATP Tour-level tournament, the event is one of the most competitive Challengers of the year, given how many players skip over from Indian Wells and take up last-minute spots.
Fonseca was dominant, dropping just one set and beating players like Kei Nishikori, Hugo Gaston and Alexander Bublik en route to his third title of the year. Watch out.
Coming up this week
There’s plenty coming up in the tennis world this week, as we’re smack bang in the middle of the Sunshine Double. That means that the Miami Open begins mid-week, with another 12-day tournament unfolding on both the men’s and women’s tours. Can Draper back up his success? Will Andreeva extend her 12-match winning streak? We’ll find out.
