Updated 6th March 2024.
The BNP Paribas Open, also known as Indian Wells Masters, is the first Masters 1000 event of the season. The tournament takes place in mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, right next to the Mojave Desert. With all the best players in the world competing on this event, the Indian Wells Masters provides some great tennis betting opportunities.
Let’s learn more about Indian Wells betting strategies, some predictions and which sportsbooks to choose.
- Dates: 6-17 March, 2024
- Location: Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, US
- Surface: Hard Court
- Prize Money: $8,995,555
- Singles / Doubles: 96 / 32
If you are planning to bet on Indian Wells Masters, then this article is what you need. Our team of experts has compiled an analysis on the tournament, what to look for and the best sportsbooks to bet in Indian Wells. We’ll also present our best odds and predictions during the event.
Other resources:
Best Sites for Indian Wells Betting
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Above you have some of the most trustworthy sportsbooks, but we always recommend that you do your own research when choosing a new tennis betting site.
Here are some of the reasons why we selected these as the best tennis betting sites on the Indian Wells Masters.
Competitive Indian Wells Masters Betting Odds
- Your tennis bets on this event can bring you higher returns when betting on sites with competitive odds for the BNP Paribas Open.
Variety of Markets for the Indian Wells Masters
- All the sportsbooks above offer plenty of markets for you to bet on Indian Wells Masters. You can wager on the winner of the tournament, in all matches and also in-play betting.
Bonus and Promotions for Tennis Betting
- Take advantage of the best sign-up bonus and loyalty promotions to bet on the Indian Wells Masters and other tennis tournaments.
Indian Wells Masters Mobile Betting Apps
- If you want to bet on your mobile, almost all our top-rated sportsbooks for the Indian Wells Masters have mobile apps available to place your bets on your phone (or a really well made mobile site).
Once again, we strongly encourage that you do your own research when choosing a new sportsbook for your Indian Wells betting. Above we listed some of the main factors that make a good betting site for the Indian Wells Masters and other tennis tournaments.
Make sure you check your local jurisdiction and if you are of legal age when selecting a new betting site. That way your betting experience will be much more enjoyable, and you will increase your chance of winning money with your tennis bets.
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Betting on the 2024 Indian Wells Masters
The best players in the world head to Indian Wells in early March for the first Masters 1000 event of the year. A few days before the tournament all the best sportsbooks for tennis betting will offer odds for the winner of the event and for each match.
The draw is always something consider, as some players can see their chances increase by having a good draw. Waiting for the draw to place your bets on the winner of the Indian Wells Masters is always something that we recommend to increase your chances of winning.
The odds will chance due to various circumstances, and this is something that you should look into. Sometimes the betting sites overact to a bad performance in the previous week, giving you good value on your bets at Indian Wells.
If you are new to tennis betting, we invite you to read our tennis betting guide section, where you will find plenty of useful information to start betting in tennis.
We also have regular betting tips available for the best tennis tournaments, where you can find useful information when deciding your bets. Below is the list of our most recent tennis betting tips, which will feature Indian Wells once the tournament is underway.
Indian Wells Masters Betting Guide
If you’re completely new to tennis betting, you should check out how to bet on tennis where you will find very useful information to get started. This is a great starting point for those who are in the early days of their tennis betting adventure, as this article will give you the basics you need to know to bet on Indian Wells Masters.
When betting on this, our any other tournament, is very important to analyze several aspects. Each event is unique and should be seen as such. The best bettors are those who know every little detail, as that can make the difference between profit or losses.
Check below some of the key information on the Indian Wells Masters to know what to look for when placing your bets.
Surface and Game Conditions
There are three surfaces where a tennis match can be played: hard court, clay or grass. If you have ever played tennis, you know how different each surface is in terms of speed, bounce and movement on the court.
Knowing how court surface affects tennis betting is extremely important, as this will allow you to analyze each match based on the surface where is played.
In the case of the Indian Wells Masters, the tournament is played on hard court. This is the most popular surface in US, as almost all professional tournaments in the country are played on it. However, it’s important to mention that there are different types of hard-court surface, each of them presenting different conditions to the players.
Plexipave Courts
If you are planning to bet on the Indian Wells Masters, you should know that this event is played on Plexipave (see image). This is considered the world’s leading acrylic surface and according to the official ITF website, the surface has a Category 3 rating, meaning medium speed in a scale from 1 to 5.
For many bettors, this information is enough, and they will make their analysis considering that the game conditions are medium. Nevertheless, they are forgetting a very important detail that plays a huge role on the game conditions in Indian Wells.
Tennis in the Desert
As mentioned earlier, the tournament is played right next to the Mojave Desert and that makes it a unique place to play tennis. The main reason is that the dry air from the desert changes the way the ball travels through the air, making it faster and bouncier. This happens because there is a decrease in air density, meaning lower drag force to the ball. If you want to learn more about this topic, we recommend our article on how weather conditions affect tennis betting, where you will find a more detailed explanation on this.
But going back to the desert’s dry air, this means that although the surface is considered medium pace, the conditions will be faster and bouncier than normal. This makes shots like kick serve and topspin way more dangerous than they usually are on hard court.
Roger Federer v Dominic Thiem Final
Below is a clip of from the 2019 Indian Wells final between Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem, where you can see clearly the higher bounce and how differently the ball travels through the air.
Time of Play and Weather Conditions
This is an aspect often ignored by bettors but can also have a significant impact on the outcome of a tennis match. Knowing both the time of play and weather conditions can give you an edge over the sportsbooks when betting on the Indian Wells Masters tournament.
We talked already about how important the dry desert air is on the game conditions, but we have yet to discuss other weather variables. If you follow tennis closely and listen to the players conferences, for sure you’ve heard expressions like “heavy conditions” when playing on night sessions.
The main reason for this feeling is the absence of sun, which has a significant impact on the game conditions. When playing during the day and at higher temperatures, the gas molecules inside the ball expand, making it faster and bouncier.
Day and Night Tennis Betting
If you’re planning to bet on Indian Wells, you should know that this Masters 1000 events has matches both during the day and night. This is becoming a trend in most tournaments, as night sessions attract more audience and have a different atmosphere. For the players, this means slower conditions and longer rallies.
Besides the schedule of play, checking the weather forecast is also important. While playing during the day is always faster than at night, it doesn’t mean that day sessions always have the same conditions. Hotter days will provide faster balls while cold and cloudy days are known for having slower game conditions.
With this in mind, always check both the schedule of play and weather conditions, as this will give you very useful information on how to bet in the Indian Wells Masters. If you’re looking to back a big server like John Isner, for example, it’s probably not the best idea to do it if he’s schedule to play at night
Preparation to the Tournament
The last point we want to talk about that you should consider, especially when betting early rounds, is the preparation of each player for this tournament.
As you already know, Indian Wells provides unique conditions to the players, who need some time to get used to them. Most players arrive early to have a good preparation and you can see on them practicing on their social media accounts and often on YouTube videos.
However, you will also have players who arrive in the last minute as they have been competing on other tournaments in the previous week. This is something very important when betting on the Indian Wells Masters, as these players won’t have so much time to get used to these unique conditions.
Don’t forget also that the top 32 players have a bye in the first round, meaning that they will only start competing in the second round. This is very important as these players will have more time to get used to the conditions, even if they had a long week in the week before.
Betting on Indian Wells Masters Matches
Now that you have a better understanding of how the game conditions are at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens, it’s time to take a look at some tips and strategies that you can use.
These are some general strategies that can help you when placing your tennis bets in Indian Wells, but you should always do your own research. In case you are interested in some analysis, our tennis betting tips section has some information that can also help with your decision.
Upsets in Early Rounds
The first rounds are always difficult for some players, as they need to get comfortable in new game conditions. This is even more evident in tournaments that present unique game conditions, like Indian Wells.
When betting on the Indian Wells Masters you should be very careful with the opening rounds, especially if you are betting on big favorites. Even though they are big favorites for a reason, there’s always some major upsets on this event.
The draw on this event has 128 players, with the top 32 seeds only starting to play in the 2nd round. This means that they get a bye in the opening round and will face a player who has, at least, one match already played.
Qualifiers are also very dangerous players to bet against, as they already played a couple of matches before the first rounds. Although they are lower-ranked, and that’s why they needed to play qualifying, they are still quality players.
That said, we strongly advice that you’re very careful when betting on big favorites in the early rounds in the Indian Wells Masters.
Check the Players Previous Results in Indian Wells
One great way of analyzing a match before placing your bets, not only in the Indian Wells Masters but in all tournaments, is by checking the players previous results on the event. Each player has its own unique style and while some thrive in Indian Wells’ conditions, others struggle to produce their best tennis.
The former world no.1 and three-time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray, is a good example of a player who never enjoyed the conditions in the desert. The Brit has been a good investment throughout his career when betting on hard court at Masters events but we can’t say the same about his performance in Indian Wells.
Even though Murray made it to the final in 2009, he only won 66.67% of the matches played throughout his career on this event, which is far below his 75.84% winning percentage in all the other Masters 1000 events on hard court.
Another thing we recommend is trying to analyze if a specific playing style suits the game conditions. For example, betting on big servers on the Indian Wells Masters has been a solid betting strategy over the years. The fast and bouncy conditions make it very difficult to return powerful serves, especially when playing during the day.
Looking at the results of some of the best servers in the last decade we have the following results:
John Isner
- One final
- One semifinal
- 67% career winning record
Milos Raonic
- One final
- Three semifinals
- 19% career winning record
Check the H2H Between the Players
The last betting tip we have for the Indian Wells Masters is to always check the head-to-head between the players before placing your tennis bets.
One of the most popular betting strategies is to analyze the players’ matchup and how each of them can exploit the opponent’s weaknesses. When looking at the head-to-head, you can get a good information of that. If a player has won almost all previous encounters, it’s very likely that he has something in his game that bothers the other player.
However, we recommend that you are selective when looking at stats. For example, a previous encounter on clay or grass is not as relevant as a meeting on hard court, since Indian Wells is also played on hard court.
That said, make sure you look at relevant information when analyzing the previous head-to-head between players, in order to get insightful information to place your tennis bets in the Indian Wells Masters.
Previous Indian Wells Masters Champions
| Year | Men’s Singles Winner | Women’s Singles Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Carlos Alcaraz | Elena Rybakina |
| 2022 | Taylor Fritz | Iga Swiatek |
| 2021 | Cameron Norrie | Paula Badosa |
| 2019 | Dominic Thiem | Bianca Andreescu |
| 2018 | Juan Martin del Potro | Naomi Osaka |
| 2017 | Roger Federer | Elena Vesnina |
| 2016 | Novak Djokovic | Victoria Azarenka |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic | Simona Halep |
Indian Wells Masters Tennis Betting – Conclusion
The Indian Wells Masters is the first big tournament of the year in the US and the first Masters 1000 event of the season. This is a great opportunity to see the best players in action and test your tennis betting skills.
We hope this article has helped you understand what to look for when betting on the Indian Wells Masters. This tournament presents unique conditions to the players as the dry air from the Mojave Desert make the ball fly faster through the air and bouncier.
Before doing any Indian Wells Masters betting, always check whether the players had time to prepare for the tournaments and their past results on this event.
The first rounds can be dangerous, especially if you are betting on big favorites. There are always some surprising upsets in early rounds, so make sure you have this in mind when placing your bets in Indian Wells.
Don’t forget also to always analyze the players’ matchup and how can they exploit the opponent’s weaknesses. Make sure you consider relevant data when looking at this information, as analyzing previous encounters on other surfaces can lead to wrong conclusions.
And do not forget that live betting on tennis can be quite a little trick when the bookmakers put too low odds on your favorite. The odds swings can be huge and this you can take advantage of, especially if your player is a slow starter.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
To bet on the Indian Wells Masters you will need to have an account with a sportsbook, deposit money on it and then you can start betting. The tournament takes place in mid-March, so make sure you check your sportsbook at that time to find bets available on this event.
One of our favorite strategies to bet in Indian Wells is to look for undervalued big servers. This is an interesting approach as the conditions are faster and bouncier due to the desert’s dry air, making it a good tournament for these kinds of players.
This will always depend on your location, so we recommend that you check our list of the best sportsbooks for tennis betting and see if you’re allowed to play on them according to your jurisdiction.
Our tennis betting tips section has plenty of useful predictions and previews that can help you deciding where to bet on. As always, we advise that you do your own research before investing your money.
Early rounds can be extremely dangerous, especially when betting on favorites. It might take some time to get used to the conditions, reason why there are always some surprising upsets every year in the first rounds.
