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TENNIS MASTERS SERIES INDIAN WELLS, CA has joined the prestigious company of the four Grand Slams in offering a format that features the best men and women players competing simultaneously. This event has established itself as one of the most popular on the international tennis circuit.

The $80 million "INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN" is developed over 189 acres and includes a 16,071 seat state of-the-art stadium, three 7,000 seat stadiums, and 20 world-class courts.

See the world's best tennis players play in this important event.

The Indian Wells Tennis Garden is a jewel nestled in the desert foothills near Palm Springs, California, where fans have enjoyed world-class tennis drama starring the finest men and women professionals since its debut in 2000.

The tournament has also celebrated the history of tennis by featuring spectacular museum exhibits of the renowned Tennis Heritage Collection. Curator Rolf Jaeger of Costa Mesa, California, hosted the exhibits in grand style, attracting over 50,000 visitors and receiving accolades from tennis celebrities past and present. Currently there are no plans to exhibit the Tennis Heritage Collection in Indian Wells.

Jaeger designed the exhibits along two primary themes: Tennis racket evolution, with hundreds of fine rackets dating back as far as the 1700s; and the trophies and memorabilia of such great tennis legends as Roy Emerson, Pancho Gonzales, Alice Marble, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver and Ellsworth Vines. Leitmotifs are also well defined, including many works of art with tennis motif, a special exhibit of vintage photography, displays of games based on tennis, jewelry, porcelains, rare books, balls & ball cans, small & unusual rackets, related equipment, fashions and two early exhibits of tennis ‘kissing cousins’: Table Tennis and Badminton. The museum shop offers an array of tennis nostalgia items, artworks and books, as well as exquisite gold and silver tennis jewelry, custom-made by preeminent London jewelers.

Long active in southern California tennis circles as a player and collector, Jaeger has focused on his vision for the future: “I want to share my research and collection with the thousands of tennis enthusiasts in California, and what better setting than the prestigious ATP Masters Series tournament at Indian Wells. It is time to bring the history of the great sport of tennis to the people.”

Tournament Chairman Charlie Pasarell led a host of Tennis VIPs through the exhibits most every day. “We are thrilled that Rolf Jaeger has chosen the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the exhibit of the Tennis Heritage Collection. It’s a beautiful collection and I know the fans were both educated and entertained by it.”

Judging by the looks of amazement and appreciative smiles, the fans agree, many observing that this exhibit compares favorably to the museums at Wimbledon and Newport. One of the most admired pieces was a magnificent stained glass panel made in 1872 after a pre-Raphaelite oil painting. The companion panel was unveiled at the 1994 Wimbledon Championship.

Among the many superb original rackets on display was a rare Court Tennis racket trimmed in silver and velvet, awarded as a tournament prize in 1860, and the prestigious Henry V racket, evoking the famous Shakespearean reference to a gift of tennis balls that sparked the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Another popular exhibit was an original Act of Parliament from 1657, during the Oliver Cromwell era and the Puritan influence. The Act banned the betting on Tennis and other games, with penalty of imprisonment at hard labor and a fine of twice the betting stakes.

Other signature pieces on display include a rare long case clock from the early 1800’s, with tennis players hitting a ball back & forth as the clock ticks, several exquisite tennis cameos, original oil paintings and several of the earliest lawn tennis books.

Even the later rackets drew crowds, as they looked for their first racket, and ogled over some very unusual prototype rackets, such as dual grip models, and the double strung “spaghetti” strings banned in 1978. Classic rackets from the 1940s to contemporary times are beautifully displayed in large circular wheels. The fans also enjoyed the vintage photography exhibit, featuring 19th century photographs, celebrities and famous tennis stars.

Advanced collectors from as far away as Europe were astonished at the breadth, depth and quality of the exhibits. Gerald Gurney of England, founder of the Tennis Collectors’ Society, joined by prestigious historians and authors Siegfried Kuebler and Heiner Gillmeister of Germany, and Jeanne Cherry of Santa Monica, were unanimous in their assessment of the Tennis Heritage Collection as one of the world’s finest.

Visit the Tennis Heritage Collection Museum Shop online at: tennisboutique.com, or contact the Curator at: tennisheritage@aol.com. Contact from all tennis enthusiasts and collectors about tennis antiquities is welcomed!

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