BNP Paribas Open Highlights: BNP Paribas USA Awards Four Desert Mirage Students College Scholarships

We’re getting closer to Sunday where the 2023 BNP Paribas Open Champion will be crowned and it’s all coming down to the wire as these matches heat up over at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Highlighted Matches:

Iga Swiatek (1) DEF. Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-3

Jannik Sinner DEF. Taylor Fritz 6-4, 4-6, 6-4

Carlos Alcaraz DEF. Felix Auger Aliassime 6-4, 6-4

Aside from BNP Paribas Open being known as one of the best tournaments in the nation, and the "5th Slam", the tournament does so much for the community here in the desert. The BNP awarded four scholarships to different seniors at Desert Mirage High School, early Thursday morning.

The students were awarded a whopping $20,000 college grant.

"It’s a great honor, honestly…. and I’m glad that they’re able to come here to our school and provide scholarships for students to pursue a second education." says Stephanie De La Rosa, one of the scholarship recipients.

Many of these students had never picked up a racket before joining their high school tennis team and never expected to receive something this big through their hard work.

"I mean I feel very recognized and empowered at this moment, I never thought like actually thought I was gonna win." says Jose Hernandez Beltran, a scholarship recipient.

This is the seventh year the BNP Paribas has awarded student athletes with college grants, putting emphasis on students who not only maintain great academics and give back to their community, but by doing both and participating on their school’s tennis team to pursue tennis more.

"It’s more of a motive for me to continue playing tennis." says Daniel Hernandez, another scholarship recipient.

"Like this helps open the door to more opportunities. The scholarship definitely opens more doors for me. So instead of having to choose colleges based on financials, I could actually go to school with a good program for my major." says Caitlyn Hill, a scholarship recipient.

All of the students share one similar goal.

"It’s inspiring to see how skilled, talented, motivated these four winners, common objective eventually to come back here and give back to the community." says Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas Americas.