Apr 23 2015
From the top on the special Media Deck Floor to the sprawling grounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden (IWTG), Swisstrax modular flooring covered 85,000 square feet of the venue during the annual BNP Paribas Open, the largest ATP World Tour and WTA combined two-week tennis tournament, held March 9th through the 22nd.
An alternative to carpet and other types of flooring typically used during the event, Swisstrax’s Ribtrax open-profile tiles were used in the retail store, the sponsors tents and exhibits including the Emirates Garden Club and World Tour Challenge, Jeffrey Scott-Fine Magnetics, Bank of the West, Fila, Esurance, Tennis Warehouse and dozens of additional sponsor exhibit areas. With even one Swisstrax rental tile, over 200 pounds of carpet and carpet padding will be kept out of landfills over the course of its lifetime. “We recycle 100% of the rental tiles and they start their life over again!” said Swisstrax President and CEO Randy Nelson.
The venue used popular tile colors that included Racing Red, Pearl Silver, Mocha Java, Royal Blue and Turf Green. IWTG’s Director of Operations, Bill Clarke, was pleased with the flooring’s visual appeal and functionality. He said, “Swisstrax gave us a product that performed over and above our standard carpet by requiring much less maintenance and daily cleaning which saved us time and money.”
Ribtrax flooring, Swisstrax’s most versatile and durable tile for indoor and outdoor applications, proved its ability when the BNP Paribas Open endured three days of rain prior to the event. Clarke sees the flooring as a success for ITWG, “Swisstrax offered us a cost-effective alternative that could drain in case of rain, the ability to run cables below the tiles and appealed to our high end sponsors and vendors. Overall we had a successful event with Swisstrax and plan on using these products at the next BNP Paribas Open in 2016!”
For Nelson, the opportunity to have Swisstrax on the IWTG grounds was especially exciting. An avid tennis player and fan, seeing Swisstrax at a premier international event like the BNP Paribas Open was on his bucket list. He recalls, “Seventeen years ago while I was playing for the tennis club in Murten, Switzerland, we travelled to Basel and I actually met Roger Federer when he was the junior champion at his home club in Basel. We played their team. At that time nobody knew that he was to become one of the all-time greats in tennis.”
Nelson looks forward to Swisstrax’s continued relationship with the IWTG. “Larry Ellison has done a terrific job in making the BNP Paribas Open one of the top events for many players and Swisstrax looks forward to providing its services to this world-class event for many years to come.”