(March 3, 2026) Tuesday was the main media day at the BNP Paribas Open, with the main draws beginning on Wednesday. Players participating in the news conferences were in appearance order: Jannik Sinner, Ben Shelton, Jack Draper, Elena Rybakina, Taylor Fritz, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz.
No. 2 Jannik Sinner is back ion Indian Wells after missing last year’s tournament.
Media asked the Italian about his YouTube Blog:
“I feel like fans, you know, they don’t know exactly how we are as a person, so this helps also to show how I am off the courts. I think it’s something great.
“Me personally, I love to watch also other YouTube videos from other sports people, and yeah, you know, it’s of course something different. You have behind my team what makes it by itself. You know, I don’t have to worry about anything else.
“But in the same time, it’s nice to show something outside of tennis. You know, at times how we practice or what other stuff I love to do outside, outside of tennis courts. I think it’s nice, but at the same time obviously the main priority is always to play tennis, and that’s what I love to do.”
Asked about how he keeps focused with the current world events and players being unable to travel back from the MiddleEast:
“There are certain things we cannot control really, and this is definitely one of them. I do think and believe that ATP and everyone is trying to do the best possible choices, to feel as safe as possible, and that’s the only thing I can say really, no?
“I obviously hope that everyone is safe and they can come here to play or also to go home. It depends what they want to do.
“But, you know, there are certain scenarios we cannot control, so I tried of course to be focused, but you also realize that there are much more important things in life than playing tennis, you know. Yeah, I do believe we have good protection around us, being as a player, and I hope other players feel the same way.”
No. 8 Ben Shelton is fresh off his win in the Dallas Open.
“His thoughts on “the Rage Room” for players instituted at the most recent Austin tournament:
“I mean, yeah, probably (smiling). I probably would use it. I have to look at — I didn’t hear about it or see anything about it, but yeah, I’d probably use it. Yeah, I’ve got some anger, for sure (smiling).”
Thoughts on current world events, conflicts and how to keep focus:
“You know, this last tour I had friends playing in a tournament in Mexico with a lot of conflict, friends in the Middle East playing there still, people that are stuck over there.
“It’s brutal to think about some of that. We talk about it all the time, obviously praying for all the people, families affected and people who are stuck in tough situations right now.
“Yeah, it certainly isn’t easy, and it is something that’s on all of our minds.”
Jack Draper comes in as the defending champion and talked about how it feels to to return:
“Yeah, it feels amazing. Year has gone very quickly. Slow at the same time, as well. One of my favorite tournaments for sure, especially after the memories of last year.
“Yeah, I’m just very grateful to be back on the tour and doing what I love.”
“I feel like I wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t be in the tournament if I didn’t feel like I could go all the way again. That was probably the primary reason I didn’t go out to Australia, just purely because if I’m going to enter a tournament, I’m going to be in the event, I want to feel like I can be physically ready to not just take part but to go all the way, because I believe in my tennis so much that when I get out there, I know that I can play some great stuff.
“At this point, truthfully, I’m just very grateful to be back on the court, to be back on the tour. I’m feeling like I have improved a lot as a player over the last eight months, but I do recognize that I have been away from the game, and it is a bit of a step up in level to just come straight back to it after that amount of time out of the game. So let’s see what happens. I’m sort of not overthinking things too much.
“My main priority is looking after my body, making sure that when I’m able to hit the match court that I’m fully prepared for what’s to come, and I always believe in my tennis, so let’s see how far I can go.”
While other players on the tour do Vlogs and participate in documentary series, Draper wants no part of it.
“Yeah, I mean, personally I don’t love kind of letting people in to my life sort of outside of tournaments and outside of the sort of public place, but I think it’s actually something that I will carry on, because I think it’s good to share your journey, good to share and hopefully inspire kids and younger generations and to show that it’s not all the highlights and the glitz and glamour.
“There is more to the sport and the lifestyle than that. There is a lot of ups and downs, and I think as well as the moments you see on social media or the highlight reel, it’s important to show a bit more of a raw side to it as well.
“I think I’ll carry on doing it, and hopefully, you know, give people some good insights.”
The 2023 champion Elena Rybakina comes into Indian Wells after just winning the Australian Open.
Asked about the possibility of women playing best of 5 in the second week of a major tournament:
“Well, I think it’s a huge change, to be honest, even if it’s only second week. You start in one format, and then it gets longer, so it’s mentally also, to be ready to play so many sets if it goes to that point, I think it’s not easy.
“And of course physically, then you need to understand how you’re gonna feel. Even if you have this one day in between, it might be not enough, and then in the second week sometimes you play two days in a row.
“I think it’s a huge change, and I don’t think it might be interesting also for the people, because they maintain the level for so many sets, I think it’s going to be quite difficult.
“So I think it’s a tricky topic, and me, as a player, I would say I wouldn’t want to play three out of five, to be honest.”
Former champion Taylor Fritz reflected on tennis tour:
“A lot of things have changed. I think for me I feel like over the last, like, four years it’s probably just been a big shift in kind of how I go about what I’m doing and how I prepare for matches, you know, kind of get into a tournament. Yeah, I feel like kind of just an entirely different career almost the last couple of years from the first, like, five or six I was on tour. So still always trying to learn and pick up on new stuff.
“Yeah, obviously now it’s more of a battle with, I’d say, physically just being there as opposed to before it was more about being able to practice and always continue to improve and put all the time in on court.
“Now I think it’s more about just the level is going to be there. I just need to be physically able to, you know, give everything in matches.”
No. 1 Aryna Sablenka was asked about her thoughts about her thoughts on Craig Tiley’s idea of women playing best-of-five sets in the second week of a major.
” Yeah, let’s do that. I feel like I would have probably more Grand Slams. I feel like physically I’m really strong, and I’m pretty confident that my body can handle that. So let’s do it.
Reporter: You’re clearly the best player in the planet, but for everybody else, do you think it would be a good idea?
“Well, I don’t know. I guess it’s a lot of fitness work to be done for others, but I feel like we’re in sport and we have to care about ourselves, and I feel like if they do it, I have huge advantage.”
Her thoughts on “Rage Rooms” for the players:
“Oh, that’s cool, let’s do that. But I think after me there will be nothing to destroy. (Laughter.)”
“I would be there the whole day. (Laughter.)”
Jessica Pegula has taken a leadership role on a new WTA committee to examine the schedule.
“I think it’s something that over the last few years, I think maybe as you mature, you get older, you realize how important it is to give back to the sport. I think being on the player council has taught me a lot of the ins and outs of our sport and all the moving pieces. So I feel like if you really do want to make change, it’s hard to do.
“And so, I mean, really the reason I even was on the architecture council is just because I was asked by, like, three separate people, and I guess my name kept coming up with a lot of players and tournaments and stuff like that as someone that they thought as a top player would be a good voice for both, well, mostly the players, but voice of reason, I guess, with that bridge between the tournaments and the players and the schedule.
“So, I mean, I think it’s not something I’m always looking for. I think they just tend to come to me. But I’m very appreciative that players and other people think I would be a good fit for that role, and I think I’m at a point in my career where I’m happy to give back as long as my time isn’t taking too much up of that.
“I think there is a lot of help on that council, so it’s not like it shouldn’t be taking any more away than what I already do on council anyways, and there is a lot of other girls that are also on council that are there to help.
“Yeah, I think it’s just where you kind of want to spend your energy. And I do think it’s good to kind of broaden your thinking outside of just competing on court and playing our sport, because there is so much more to it.
“And I think you see that with a lot of really legendary, amazing players and champions that usually at some point they were kind of part of a change to their sport. So I think that’s really important as far as leaving a legacy of, like, what you want to say that you helped accomplish.
“Some people don’t always want to do that, but I think to me it became something that was more evident maybe as I got older.”
On the possibility of women playing best of 5 in the second week of a major:
“I mean, again, I said before I don’t really think we should have to. I’m honestly just not a massive fan of the three out of five, even with the men. And even though I know that there have been amazing three-out-of-five matches, I do think in three-out-of-five matches there is also a lot of those where guys throw sets because they’re tired. If they get down a break, they tend to throw the set to get reset for the third set or the fourth set, whatever it is. They have told me that before. They have to reserve their energy in different ways.
“You’re definitely managing your energy much different, from at least what I have been told from the guys, than you do two out of three.
“So I think that’s something. I think we have amazing female athletes that honestly I think we could do that. I don’t think it’s the fact that we can’t; I just don’t necessarily think that we should.
“Just on that aspect, I don’t even know how you would schedule tournaments. We’d have to add weeks. We can’t even get through the schedule now (smiling). So I’m not really sure for like a fan experience how that would really work.
“Would you really want to sit three out of five of a woman’s match, possibly go five, and then another five for a men’s match that you really wanted to see? I mean, that’s like ten hours of tennis, maybe not that long, but a lot of tennis sitting there as a fan. I don’t really know if that experience would be enjoyable.
“There is a lot of other variables that I don’t think sometimes people are thinking about, or maybe a fan doesn’t realize, because it would be a massive change. I don’t think it’s that we’re not capable. I just don’t really know if that’s the best thing for the sport.
“The only thing I could think of is like a quarterfinal on, maybe it switches to a three out of five. I don’t know if the men would necessarily go to that, though, because obviously it would be a change for them. I also don’t think a lot of men would want to wait for a three-out-of-five woman’s match all of a sudden to have to play a three-out-of-five match, especially when you have back-to-back night matches, you have long days, if a court is moving really slow. All of a sudden that’s another thing that has to get thrown into the equation.
“There is a lot of moving parts. I think it would — I don’t think it would take that long to implement as far as us being ready to play. I just think that there is so many moving parts to it that it would definitely take a lot of consultation with the players, because it would be affect many different aspects of our sport.”
“I don’t know how it would have to be rolled out to where it would still help our product. Is it only semifinals and finals where it’s separate, you have time to schedule? You can play it on maybe a different day? I don’t know what that entails where it still feels like it’s helping the sport.
“From first round on, I don’t really think it’s great for our sport. For a fan, it just seems like it’s going to be a lot, and the scheduling and for the players, I just don’t know how it’s even feasible. So I think it just depends on how you would kind of roll it out.”
Iga Swiatek on women playing the best of 5 at major tournaments:
“I think honestly it’s a weird approach in the world where everything is becoming faster, you know. So I don’t know if the audience honestly would like that.
“Also, like, I don’t know if we would be able to keep the quality for five sets. Well, that’s a fact, like, men are more physically strong and they can handle it for sure better.
“Also, we have never practiced in a way to prepare for that, so we would need to change, I think, our whole calendar, because the Grand Slams would be so tough that I don’t think we would have honestly time to prepare for any other tournaments.
“So I think it would change a lot. I don’t think it would change anything for good. I don’t know what’s the reason, honestly, for this. You know?”
There is already more tennis with extending with the Sunday, so I guess we can extend forever (smiling).
But we are the ones that will play, and the question is we’re actually going to handle it or not, and I think this might be tricky, this five-court situation.
Coco Gauff on the possibility of women playing best-of-five sets at majors:
“Yeah, I mean, it probably would favor me, because I’m physically up there with the best, but I mean, I probably wouldn’t want to see that happen, and if it were to happen, I would prefer it to be the whole tournament, not just the quarters. I think changing the format in the middle of the tournament defeats the purpose of the playing field.
“Yeah, I think it would be a lot on players and also, like, fans and TV. I mean, imagine, like, sometimes five sets lasts all the way to the 7:00 p.m. session. If all of us were going five sets, I don’t even think we would be able to finish within the two weeks, to be honest.”
On the creation of a “Rage Room” at the most recent Austin tournament:
“That was real? I thought it was an AI — my mom sent it to me, and I told her it was AI. She believes so many AI things. (Laughter.)”
“For sure it was inspired by me, I guess (smiling). So I’ll take it nicely. I mean, I guess I would. I’m someone who doesn’t break a racquet like that often, but when it happens, obviously, as you can see, it happens.
“So I guess I probably would use it. It’s not something you really plan, but I definitely try not to do it on camera or on court.
“So, yeah, if I felt like I needed to let go some frustration, I would definitely be in the Rage Room. Yeah, they have ones, I think here, so maybe I should book one of those and actually like break plates and stuff, that would be probably more fun than a racquet.”
No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz on player Vlogs and other behind-the-scenes documentaries:
“Well, I think it’s good. Why not getting to know the players behind the scenes. I think it’s really good to understand a little bit more about how a player is going through in every tournament in his life, and I think that’s really interesting to see.
“Talking for myself, I think I just really wanted to show the people how I live, how I feel, and, you know, how I just approach everything in my life. If it is going to be a second part, I don’t know yet, but it’s just about about how I feel and if it’s gonna be like interesting or not.
“But right now, I don’t feel like we need that second part, let’s see in the future, but I think my point of view, I think it’s great for everyone that we get to know the people behind the scenes.”
Alcaraz on up and coming teen player Rafa Jodar from Spain:
“Well, yeah, I got to know him a couple of years ago, sparring in the Davis Cup. Then I saw his achievement in the juniors tour, so I just practice with him.
“In the Davis Cup, not that much, but I could feel the rhythm and then a couple years after that, he just come to the tour, like, and playing such great tennis in the challengers, going through in the challenger tour like really quick, winning a few of them, position himself in a good ranking.
“I really like him. I really like the way that he plays. No fear. Having no respect to anybody when he step in the court. Off the court he’s a really nice guy. Have huge respect to everybody who’s in the tour. But once he step in the court, he believes in himself and he believes and he can beat anybody.
“So that’s what I like the most to him, and for me, it’s not surprising at all how good he’s doing in the tour and how far he’s breaking in the tour and being close to the top 100. We’re gonna see like more of Rafa in couple of years, or I just hope that.”
