All 96 players from top seeds to wild cards to qualifiers were placed in the BNP Paribas Open women’s draw Monday in a ceremony outside Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and the event featured the orchestrator of one of the wildest wild-card runs ever.
The 2019 BNP Paribas Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who authored a remarkable run from unknown wild card entry to the BNP Paribas Open title as a 19-year-old, and then won the U.S. Open the same year was on hand to the delight of the crowd.
Andreescu said she re-watches her BNP Paribas Open run in 2019 often, to remember to play with care-free abandon like she did back then.
“And who knows? I was a wild-card back then and I’m a wild-card this year, so we’ll see what happens,” she said.
But as the draw was revealed she didn’t exactly catch a break with her position as you will see as we take a deeper dive into the women’s draw.
Venus Williams lined up for All-American clash
One of the obvious points of interest was to see where the 45-year-old tennis icon Venus Williams would fall in the draw and there was a soft gasp as the bracket was filled in. Williams’ first match is against a qualifier, and if she can win that one she will face compatriot Madison Keys, the No. 15 seed in high-interest second-round match.
Williams, who will also play doubles at Indian Wells this year with Leylah Fernandez, does not treat these wild-card entries as just a farewell tour she’s been putting up a fight of late. Tournament organizers are no doubt hoping she tops the qualifier she’ll face to set up a primo Friday or Saturday second-round matchup.
Other enticing potential early-round matchups in the women’s field
Did Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek catch a break with the women’s draw?
While the potential early round matchups are fun to talk about, it’s often the now-clear end-game matchups that the draw reveals that are most impactful on who wins. Let’s take a look and see if No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or No. 2 Iga Swiatek got the better part of the draw.
Neither of those sounds like a fun path, but I’ll give an edge to Sabalenka, just because I think the Australian Open champ Rybakina and defending BNP champ Andreeva are primed for these conditions.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Where did Venus Williams land in BNP Paribas Open women’s draw?
Reporting by Shad Powers, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
