Five-star dining met top-shelf tennis on Day 1 of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open, as 2024 champions Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz joined members of the media and tournament officials to usher in a new edition of Tennis Paradise – and a mouthwatering new tradition: The Champions' Luncheon. 

Swiatek and Alcaraz were on hand at Porta Via - a California-style bistro and bar with over 30 years of culinary excellence in the Coachella Valley – inside Stadium 1 to introduce a pair of new signature dishes that honor their championship runs of last March.  

Served in honor of 2022 and 2024 champion Swiatek, a Warsaw, Poland native, were potato & cheese pierogies with caramelized onions, sour cream and chives. 

Swiatek and pierogies go back a long way. She told the crowd that her father is a master at making the treats, because he pays exacting attention to getting the thinness of the dough just right. This Christmas, Swiatek admitted, she drew the ire of her father when she ordered him to make 120 pierogies for the family’s holiday celebration. 

“The most important thing is the dough,” Swiatek told a gathered crowd, while sitting at a table with fellow defending champion Alcaraz. “I love it, I think the onions are really good.”

Alcaraz, cracking his vintage ear-to-ear smile, admitted that he hasn’t crossed paths with a proper pierogi before. 

“It’s the first time that I’ve heard about it,” said the Spaniard, drawing laughs. 

Alcaraz, born in El Palmar, Murcia, Spain was regaled with a serrano ham and manchego bocadillo complete with roasted piquillo peppers and arugula, complemented by house-made potato chips

“The bread is essential for a good bocadillo,” said Alcaraz. 

The two-time defending BNP Paribas Open champion also loves good ham. 

“There’s no secret about it,” he says. “Serrano ham in Spain, I have eaten it since I was a little kid. For me it’s classic in a bocadillo.” 

Fans can stop by Porta Via and enjoy these delectable dishes, which were designed and executed with input from Swiatek and Alcaraz, throughout the Indian Wells fortnight.