Tennis fans have never seen anything like the recently released Indian Wells 2026 BNP Paribas Open Men’s Doubles draw.
For years, the top-ranked singles players in the women’s doubles draws at major events have been paired together in interesting and sometimes unexpected duos. Some of these doubles teams have achieved great success, the most recent example being the team of French Open finalists and Miami Open champions Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff.
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The men are finally catching up and this year’s Indian Wells Men’s Doubles Championship is set to produce some exciting moments.
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Who is in the Indian Wells men’s doubles draw?
Tournament officials at the BNP Paribas Open must be pinching themselves as Jannik Sinner’s partner is American Reilly Opelka.
As avid tennis fans know, the pair won the 2021 Atlanta Open together, and in recent years Opelka has criticized singles players for playing doubles, as well as the absence of doubles at all in tournaments. The #WatchMoreDoubles movement was sparked by Opel’s comments.
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Novak Djokovic’s partner is Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been eliminated. If anyone can improve in his career, it’s Tsitsipas and we want this team to go far.
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Ben Shelton was paired with fellow American Emilio Nava, whom he continually mocked during his Australian Open loss to Cam Norrie, who hit 65 winners and committed 80 unforced errors.
March 3, 2026; Indian Wells, California, USA; Ben Shelton (USA) speaks to the media during a press conference during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Other teams to watch include Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev, Daniil Medvedev and Lerner Tian, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sebastian Korda, Brandon Nakajima and Frances Tiafoe, and Acapulco Open doubles champions Alexander Zverev and Marcelo Melo.
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A total of 32 teams are participating in the Indian Wells Men’s Doubles draw, which will begin on Sunday, March 8. Sinner and Opelka’s first game will be against top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zerballos, and we’ll find out soon how good they are. Zeballos won the Indian Wells men’s tag team title in 2019 with Nikola Mektic.
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