This is our update from Day 6 at Indian Wells (Saturday, March 8th)—a little later than planned because, honestly, things got way too busy on-site to keep up with daily updates in real time. Now that we’re back home and already prepping for our next tournament, we’re catching up with this post and one more from Indian Wells, which we’ll release Saturday before the finals.
Instagram Q&A & Surprising Questions 💬
We ran a Q&A on our Instagram, and some of the questions we got really made us think about aspects of the tournament we hadn’t considered before. If you missed it, we’ve saved the highlight on our Instagram—you can find it here.
More Routine Matches, But a Wild Day Before 🎾
Compared to the drama of March 7th, when Alexander Zverev lost in an epic 3+ hour match, today’s matches were a little more straightforward. But we still had some big names making their tournament debuts:
✅ Madison Keys breezed through her opening match.
✅ Carlos Alcaraz finally took the court.
✅ Lance Davis, the local beekeeper, made his return.
0Novak Djokovic’s Shocking Early Exit 🚨
For the second straight time, Novak Djokovic has lost in his opening round at Indian Wells to a lucky loser qualifier. This time, it was Botic Van de Zandschulp who pulled off the upset, taking down the former world No. 1.
Other Key Results of the Day 🔥
🎾 Aryna Sabalenka took down Macartney Kessler, who is having a breakout season in just her second year on tour—already notching wins over Coco Gauff and claiming a title this year.
🎾 Jack Draper defeated Joao Fonseca in a classic case of experience beating youth. Draper is now into the semifinals, a huge step forward from last year. He’s getting closer to breaking into the Top 10, a level he already looks like he belongs in. He also spoke in press about managing his chronic hip injury—you can listen to the full audio below.
🎾 Jasmine Paolini battled past Iva Jovic, another exciting young prospect.
🎾 Coco Gauff is still winning ugly—but winning is winning.
🎾 Taylor Fritz advanced as well and opened up about recovering from the oblique injury he’s been carrying since the Australian Open.
Ending the Day with a Party 🎉
After a long day, we wrapped things up by attending the Racquet Mag Surf Club party. A fun way to close out a packed day on-site.
📩 One more Ground Pass On-Site update from Indian Wells drops Saturday—subscribe now so you don’t miss it!
