It may have been some 40 years ago but tennis hall-of-famer Charlie Pasarell still remembers the last ATP tennis tournament played in Tucson before it was relocated to Mission Hills Country Club and the valley where it would grow to become the BNP Paribas Open. First of all, it wasn’t really even a tennis tournament. “They called it the American
The Grandest Slam
The annual BNP Paribas Tournament in Indian Wells is often referred to as professional tennis' unofficial fifth Grand Slam event. The guys behind it are not ones to be content with fifth.
Each spring, they flock in record numbers to the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. That’s a long and fancy name. They should just call the whole thing Pasarell’s Palace. Starting March 8, and for the next 11 days, as many as 500,000 people will roll through the gates. The Palm Springs area will buzz. Restaurants will