Indian Wells

Hi all,

On my way over to Indian Wells. Thought i write a few words about that amazing event.

If you ever want to visit a great FAN friendly first class tennis event, go visit the Indian Wells tournament. All players are really looking forward to come here every year. Incredible experiance really. The weather is just perfect for both fans and players. Not to hot and not humid at all. The only thing that sometimes takes a bit of time to get used to for the players is the fact that the ball is traveling very fast in the air in the desert and its sometimes tough to control.

The scenery is amazing with the mountains in the back of the tennis courts at Indian Wells Tennis Gardens. Its picture perfect really. If you are a golf fan you will also find hundreds of nice golf courses that really lights up the landscape.  Its very peaceful community out in the desert and you will find a range of different hotels and resorts within a short drive from the Indian Wells tennis garden, where the tournament is hosted.

The site is really laid out on quite a big area. 4-5 show courts outside where the seeded players are playing as well as a stadium court 1 (above picture) and a new Stadium court 2. Plenty of practice courts where the players are also training. Its very easy to get access to the training courts. There is also a little gap between the tournament in Indian Wells to the next one in Miami. The gap is not long enough for players to travel home so many players that loose early will just stay around in Indian Wells and practice for a few days before heading down to Miami. So there are many chances to see players up close in training. There is also hawk eye on all match courts.

You will find a big tennis plaza where you can shop for the latest tennis gears just outside the stadium court. You can also test your serve speed and do a bunch of cool things around the courts.

As always in the US there is no shortage of restaurants and places to get a drink. A big bonus is the Nobu restaurant ON SITE overlooking the new Stadium 2 court (below).

You can actually watch tennis while sipping on a beer eating your your Rock shrimp tempura. How about that for a treat!! And, the lines are not to big! You can actually get a seat here even on a crowdy day which does not happen in many places. The city of Palm Springs also hosts some really nice restaurants if you decide to go for a night out.

Tired of the tennis and fancy some shopping for a day there is an amazing outlet 45 min drive from Indian Wells called the Cabazon outlet. Its really worth going for a day or at least 1/2 day.

Palm Springs in the closest airport to Indian Wells. You can reach Palm Springs going through LA International airport, which is just a short 20 min flight away. You can also drive from LA which takes about 3 h depending on the traffic off course. This time around I’m connecting through Amsterdam and San Fransisco to Palm Springs but i have also been driving before.

*** Good luck to all participants in the Swedish long distance (90 km) cross country race Vasaloppet. Always the first Sunday in March. Special good luck to my dad racing again 66 years old.

*** Cool that 4 out of 5 players from the original Team Bactiguard has made the Swedish Davis Cup Team.

Hope i will see you out in Indian Wells this year!

//Magnus