BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells Announces New ITF Junior Tournament in Second Week; Tien Signs with USC for January

While I was covering the Junior Orange Bowl finals yesterday, the BNP Paribas Open made the announcement that I had been anticipating for several weeks regarding a new International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit tournament that will be held in the second week of the ATP and WTA Masters Tournament in Indian Wells. 

I had heard about this event in October, but details were scarce, and I wasn't sure whether it would begin in 2023 or 2024. But I spoke with Alex Cercone of the USTA about it at the Orange Bowl and she confirmed the event will take place in 2023, and it is now on the ITF Junior Circuit calendar, with a 48-draw, from March 13-19. This is a J300 (the new ITF naming convention for 2023 with the number of points awarded to the winners), formerly known as a J1, and will take the place of the ITF JB1 Easter Bowl that had been held at the Indian Wells site a week after the BNP Paribas Open.

The question of who will be allowed to compete is still not entirely clear to me, but it appears, at least for this year, to be open to Americans and Canadians. I have asked the ITF for clarification on this, and plan to write an article about the tournament next month for the Tennis Recruiting Network. The J300 in San Diego is the next week, and followed by the Easter Bowl, which will continue to be at Indian Wells, and will include a USTA 18s gold ball championship.

Below is the portion of the announcement yesterday from the BNP Paribas, which contained many other items of news about the tournament.

Tournament to Debut First-Ever Junior Championships

While the ATP and WTA stars will continue to take center stage in Tennis Paradise, the 2023 BNP Paribas Open will offer more tennis than ever before for fans to enjoy. The first-ever BNP Paribas Open Junior Championships will be held during the second week of the tournament, offering promising junior tennis players the opportunity to play alongside the professionals. This combined boys’ and girls’ event will be an ITF Level 1 tournament and feature junior players from the United States and Canada, with plans to expand to a full international player field in 2024.

The other big news from this week came from the University of Southern California, which announced that 2022 Kalamazoo 18s champion Learner Tien has signed with the Trojans and will join the team next month. Tien, who turned 17 earlier this month, finished high school early and was weighing his options, which included offers from sport management companies and many other Division I schools, but the Irvine California resident decided to stay close to home. 

Whether Tien plays just one semester, like fellow Southern Californian Brandon Nakashima did at Virginia, prior to beginning his pro career, or stays longer, like Florida's Ben Shelton or UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald, he'll always have the USC community willing to provide its support when he is ready for professional tennis.