The BNP Paribas Open, one of the world’s largest tennis tournaments, gets underway this week in Indian Wells, Calif., and some of the names involved will be very familiar to Malibu locals. The tournament, owned by Malibu resident Larry Ellison, started Wednesday and concludes Sun., March 18. It features some of the world’s top-ranked tennis players such as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
Players with local ties competing in the tournament include Bob and Mike Bryan, Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish. The Bryan brothers are the world’s No. 1 doubles team and hail from Camarillo. In Oct. 2011, the Malibu Racquet Club hosted the Bryan Brothers’ annual fundraiser, which raises funds for youth in Ventura County. Both Santa Monica resident Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish, who lives near UCLA, joined the brothers in Malibu for their fundraiser. Querrey, a native of Thousand Oaks, has received a wild card into this weekend’s tournament, and Mardy Fish comes to the tournament with a world ranking of No. 8.
On the women’s side, world-ranked players include Maria Sharapova, current world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Each of the trio is playing well and has recent history with the others ahead of this weekend’s tournament. Sharapova arrives at Indian Wells after reaching the Australian Open final, losing to Azarenka. Wozniacki lost her spot at No. 1 to Azarenka after the completion of that tournament. The competition should be fierce at Indian Wells.
Malibu resident Laura Voydat has attended the tennis tournament for years.
“I’m a big tennis fan, as was my husband Mitch. All of us in Malibu are so lucky to have one of the world’s top tennis tournaments just around the corner from us,” Voydat said. “The lovely weather and the beautiful mountain scenery attract top tennis players and tennis fans too.
“In fact, one year when Andre Agassi was competing at the tournament in the early 1990s, we hosted his sister Rita Agassi and her son Skylar Gonzales, at our weekend home in Palm Desert,” she added.
The first weekend of the tournament this Saturday and Sunday is very popular with tennis fans, who can see many of their favorite players and enjoy tournament activities such as autograph sessions. The owner of the BNP Paribas Open, Larry Ellison, also owns the Malibu Racquet Club. Since purchasing the tournament in 2009, Ellison has funded major improvements to the tournament. Some of the changes include bringing Hawk-Eye technology to every court to help track where the balls land. The tournament also notifies fans when the top players practice so they can watch them on the practice courts.
Last year’s singles champions were Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki. The men’s and women’s singles champions will each receive prize money of $1 million.