How do tennis tournament tickets work?

[Brett]

Haven't really been to many tournaments before and I am confused how they work. Can someone break it down very simple and thoroughly the best way they can? It doesn't seem as simple as an NFL or NBA game where you just pick one seat and that's it.

I live close to Indian Wells and already have tickets to the Sunday finals...buying those makes sense. But I want possibly buy a daily ticket for just one other day but I'm so confused on how it works...general admission, grandstand, etc. How does it work with several stadiums/courts being played on...along with day and night session? Confused here by all the process.

Thank you so much and sorry for the dumb question.

 

[schmke]

Most tournaments have one or more stadium courts where many/most/all tickets are purchased for a specific seat. Then there will also be general admission or grounds pass tickets that give you access to the grounds and allow you to go to any court you wish, but may only sit in designated areas for grounds pass holders.

At Indian Wells there is a very small section in the stadium 1 (nose bleed upper deck in Northeast corner) for general admission for certain sessions and it is first come first served, but a general admission ticket will get you access with a very good seat to the non-stadium courts although you may have to camp out in advance to keep that seat for the more desirable matches.

See the stadium maps on the tournament page at http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/en/tickets-and-packages/daily-tickets

 

[TNT34]

I’ve never been to the Indian Wells tournament, but I go regularly to the Cincinnati tournament (WesternSouthern Open) and suspect that it's very similar to what you'll find at Indiana Wells.

The absolute most fun (for me) is to go on Tuesday. Monday and Wednesday are good, but Tuesday is the best. There are 40 or so matches being played that day, many of the “better” players are playing, and almost everybody is practicing. If you go on Monday most of the seeded players are not playing yet; if you go later in the week too many people have lost and moved on.

Get the match schedule and the practice schedule, and see as many people as you can. Practices are as much fun to watch as matches, just different. The practice schedule is not completely reliable, but it’s a good guide. Keep your eyes out for changes if you really care about anyone in particular. The practice courts for Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Serena will be packed, but you can see them. Everyone else is pretty easy to see up close.

The only thing you need reserved seats for is inside the main stadium, and you can’t get good single session seats for that so just get the cheapest ticket available. You should be able to see almost everything that's not in the main stadium with whatever ticket you have, so just use the ticket to get in the gate and then move around between the various match and practice courts and watch 15-30 min of each player you want to see. If you get drawn into a great match and want to stay you can always do that.

You may even want to get there before the matches start to watch practices before the first matches. Most of the people who play in the first several matches on each court will be practicing before matches start. People who play later in the day or in the evening will generally be practicing later, and people who are not playing that day could practice at any time.

Some people only want to watch match play, and that’s fine for them. But for me, moving around and watching 30 or 40 players playing and practicing is much better than watching only a few players play complete matches.

Have a great time.

 

[Beowulf]

Another good option is to attend the qualifying sessions before the main draw tournament begins. It's the least expensive way of seeing professional tennis up close. The players might not be household names, but you'll some that you've heard of, and they're all amazingly good and fighting hard to get into the main draw.

 

[CrispyFritters]

I've been to Indian Wells many times. I suggest you buy a "Grounds Pass" for Day or evening session. The grounds pass gives you access to all the courts and stadiums in the open seating areas. For most courts, the majority of seats are open seating except for a few reserve front row spots, and of course the main stadium court.

This is really best way to get onto 10+ courts and also wander the practice courts.

If you get an evening pass, I suggest you arrive a little early so you can walk in right at 4pm. Almost always, the day session matches are still going on and you can usually catch the last 1-2 day matches (which are often the best ones) without sitting in the blistering sun all day.

Have fun!

 

[Bionic slice]

they work great when you get them for free, i got free tickets to Cincy once...