Indian Wells Wild Cards Announced: Venus Williams and Gael Monfils Among Recipients, Stan Wawrinka Misses Out

On February 28, the first ATP/WTA 1000 combined event of the year announced its main draw wild card list. On the men's side, it includes French star Gael Monfils, who is set to retire at the end of this season and holds a 22-15 record at this tournament. The 39-year-old veteran first played at Indian Wells in 2005 and reached the quarterfinals twice, in 2016 and 2019. This will be his 17th appearance at Indian Wells; last year he fell in the third round to Grigor Dimitrov. Although 2025 also marks Stan Wawrinka's final year on tour, the Swiss star did not receive a wild card.

File photo of Gael Monfils (Image: Visual China)

Spanish teenager Jordi, 19, will make his ATP Masters 1000 main draw debut at Indian Wells. Over the past six months, Jordi has won three ATP Challenger titles and qualified for last year's ATP Next Gen Finals. This season, he has already secured three tour-level victories, including an upset win over Norrie in the first round of the Acapulco ATP 500 event.

File photo of Zheng Rui (Image: Li Jianyi)

American player of Chinese descent Zheng Rui, along with two other local players Martin Damm and Zachary Svajda, also received main draw wild cards. The 22-year-old Zheng will make his ATP Masters 1000 main draw debut; earlier this year at the Australian Open, in his Grand Slam main draw debut, he caused an upset by defeating Korda in the first round. Damm recently impressed at the Montpellier ATP 250 event, where he scored upset wins over Hurkacz and Agut to reach his first tour-level semifinal.

File photo of Bianca Andreescu (Image: Visual China)

On the women's side, aside from the previously announced local legend Venus Williams, wild cards were awarded to Grand Slam champions Bianca Andreescu and Sloane Stephens. Andreescu won the Indian Wells title in 2019 at age 18 and claimed the US Open crown later that same year. This marks the Canadian's return to Indian Wells for the first time since 2023; after winning two ITF titles this year, her world ranking has climbed back to No. 164.

Sloane Stephens, also a former US Open champion, has a best result of reaching the quarterfinals at Indian Wells in 2014. Due to a six-month absence last season, Stephens' current world ranking is only No. 775. She fought through three rounds of qualifying to reach the main draw at last month's Australian Open.

Other wild card recipients include 2024 Paris Olympic women's singles silver medalist Vekic, former Australian Open finalist Brady, Roland Garros girls' singles champion Lily Tagger, as well as American players Parks and Volynets.

2026 Indian Wells Main Draw Wild Card List:

Men

Gael Monfils

Zheng Rui

Jordi

Martin Damm

Zachary Svajda

Women

Bianca Andreescu

Sloane Stephens

Vekic

Brady

Tagger

Parks

Volynets

Venus Williams

(Text, Editor / Wang Fei, Images / Visual China)