Following the ATX Open in Austin, to avoid the finalists having to travel late at night to Indian Wells, American player Jessica Pegula arranged for her private plane to fly them to the California desert for the tournament. Pegula's actions demonstrated her generosity and care for other players.
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03-06, 2025Pegula's parents are billionaires who own the Buffalo NFL and NHL teams. She won the Austin Open singles final 7-5, 6-2 against fellow American McCartney Kessler. However, she did not leave immediately, but waited for Kessler and Zhang Shuai to lose in the doubles final to Yuan Yue and Anna Blinkova.
Considering the players needed to quickly adjust to the conditions before the Indian Wells main draw, which starts on Wednesday, Pegula proactively offered to fly everyone to California for the WTA 1000 event on her private plane. Zhang Shuai thanked Pegula for her generosity on Instagram, stating that without Pegula's help, they might have had to transfer flights late at night in Los Angeles, or travel to airports near Dallas and Houston.
Zhang Shuai wrote, "You know she could have left immediately after the singles final, but she is such a selfless and generous girl. This message is not to show off that I took a private plane, but just to express my gratitude and pass on this love." Blinkova also shared Zhang Shuai's story on Instagram and thanked Pegula, the world number four, who has accumulated more than $17 million in prize money in her career.
Chinese player Yuan Yue also expressed her gratitude on social media to US Open runner-up Pegula for providing the luxurious trip. "Otherwise, it would take all of us at least nine hours on the road," she added. Blinkova will face Kessler in the first round of Indian Wells, while Yuan Yue will face Ukrainian player Dayana Yastremska. Pegula, as the fourth seed, has a first-round bye, while Zhang Shuai will participate in the subsequent doubles competition.
On another note, Nick Kyrgios has not won a singles match since 2022. If he can win a match this week, he will have the opportunity to face his friend Novak Djokovic across the net. Kyrgios's singles career has declined due to a series of injuries, and he used a protected ranking to enter the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 event, often referred to as the "fifth Grand Slam."
He will face a qualifier in the first round, whose identity is yet to be determined. The winner will face Djokovic, who has a first-round bye as the sixth seed. If Djokovic progresses smoothly, he will face Alex de Minaur in the round of 16. De Minaur needs to first defeat the winner between David Goffin and Lorenzo Sonego, and then likely face 21st seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Kyrgios, Djokovic, de Minaur—or someone else—are expected to face defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. But there are many matches to be played before that, including Denis Shapovalov potentially posing a threat to Alcaraz in the third round. Kyrgios is one of the few players on the tour who has a winning record against Djokovic.
He has won two of their three encounters, including the one in Indian Wells in 2017, but lost the most important one, the 2022 Wimbledon final. The once fierce rivals are now friends and participated in an exciting doubles match together in Brisbane at the beginning of the year. Djokovic has won the California desert event five times, but all of those were before the 2017 encounter with Kyrgios. He will partner with Andy Murray again, with the Scot having resumed their coaching relationship that started at the Australian Open.
De Minaur has never made it past the fourth round at Indian Wells, but he is confident of at least reaching the third round, as he has never lost to Sonego or Goffin in nine encounters. His record against Hurkacz is 1-1, and his record against Djokovic is 1-2. Jordan Thompson, Chris O'Connell, Aleksandar Vukic, Rinky Hijikata, and Alexei Popyrin have directly entered the main draw, with the latter having a first-round bye as the 28th seed.
Li Tu successfully advanced through qualifying by defeating fellow Australian James Duckworth 6-4, 6-2, while Adam Walton narrowly defeated American Michael Mmoh 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. World number one Jannik Sinner will not participate in the tournament as he is serving a three-month ban for doping violations.
In addition, there have been some changes to the court surface, which will make the courts, known for being slow, slightly faster and less like clay courts, especially since early forecasts predict colder and potentially damp weather. This should favor most of the Australian players. On the women's side, no Australian players automatically entered the main draw, but Madison Inglis, Kimberly Birrell, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Maya Joint all passed through qualifying.
