On February 19, local time, Indian Wells announced that the four wild card winners of this year's event, Serena Williams, Kvitova, Fonseca, and Lerner-Qian will participate in the singles main draw with wild cards.

Williams infographic

This will be the 44-year-old's debut in almost a year, with the seven-time singles Grand Slam champion playing only two tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in 2024, losing in the first round of the Women's Singles to Nao Hibino and Schneider, respectively. Serena Williams made her Indian Wells debut in 1994 and will be the tenth time she has competed in the tournament in her career, having reached the semi-finals in 1998, 2001 and 2018.

Kvitova infographic

Indian Wells will be the second tournament in her comeback from birth to two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who welcomed the birth of her son Petr in July last year and will make her comeback debut at the WTA 250 Austin next week. Kvitova last made her competitive appearance at the 2023 China Open, and then announced her pregnancy in early 2024.

Fonseca data map

Lerner - Money

In men's singles, Fonseca and Lerner Chin, the champions and runners-up of last year's ATP New Force Finals, won wild cards in the main event. The 18-year-old Fonseca won his first career title in Buenos Aires last week, becoming the youngest Brazilian Tour winner in the Open era. The 19-year-old reached the fourth round of the men's singles at this year's Australian Open, setting a personal best Grand Slam record and becoming the youngest male player to reach the second week of the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal in 2005.

(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)