The New Indian Wells Surface Draws Mixed Reception as Daniil Medvedev Chides “Slower Than Ever” Courts

Daniil Medvedev has described the newly-refurbished Indian Wells court surface as “slower than ever” despite others swooning over the improvements.

Indian Wells Court Surface Changes From Plexipave to Laykold

One of the most hotly-anticipated dates on the tennis calendar is already underway with qualifiers battling it out for a spot in the Indian Wells main draw.

Despite having the second-largest tennis-specific stadium in the world and indistinguishable facilities to that of Grand Slam venues, organisers at Indian Wells have sought to improve the court surfaces for 2025, along with a record Indian Wells prize money pool.

Even in the face of being affectionately known as the ‘fifth Grand Slam‘ by those on Tour, Indian Wells is notorious for having slow, gritty Plexipave courts.

In an attempt to align with other faster courts in North America, Indian Wells have since changed its surface provider to Laykold; the same used at the Miami Open and US Open.

As a result, players can expect the ball to bounce lower but the tempo to be faster.

New Court Surface at Indian Wells Draws Mixed Reviews

Inevitably, the first court surface update in 25 years has drummed up plenty of speculation as to what effect it may have.

WTA number one Aryna Sabalenka – whose baseline power-play aligns with the new surfaces – has come out in full of the change in a typically tongue-in-cheek interview.

“I love them [the courts]. They’re a little bit faster, which is good for me, right?” Sabalenka told reporters.

“It feels good so far. I’ll tell you later after my first match. I hope I’ll still like it.”

The same can not be said for the other side of the draw, as reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz – who is eyeing a third straight title in California – questioned why the decision was taken to update the surfaces.

“The court is faster, right? I don’t know. Honestly, it’s a change that I didn’t understand when I saw it; it was 25 years since the tournament, it was the same court, and then right now, it has changed,” said Alcaraz.

“I don’t know the reason why did it. I have to practice on it. I think I consider myself a player who adapt very well his game, you know, on the surfaces and all the conditions that you’re playing on.”

🇪🇸 Carlos Alcaraz crushing the ball inside an empty Indian Wells centre court as he prepares to defend his title 🏆#TheFirstServe pic.twitter.com/a7zMHwWeTx

— The First Serve (@TheFirstServeAU) March 5, 2025

Despite his reservations, the Spaniard is favoured to complete a three-peat at Indian Wells according to three-month doping ban.

Daniil Medvedev has reached the final in the previous two editions, and is certainly not one to shy away from sharing his unfiltered opinions.

Speaking to the press about the new court surface, the world number six said: “I’ll be honest, I like Indian Wells, I even like the courts now, but they seem almost slower than before, very slow.

I don’t know what other players think, but I just had two days of jet lag. So I can’t tell you for sure what I’m saying. But, yes, I played for two days, and they seemed very, very slow, so we’ll see how it plays during the tournament.”