Bill
Gates
is seen every night occupying the same seat in stadium 1 of the
Indian Wells Tennis Garden
.
Not even he is able to ignore the best tennis players in the world when they play near his house.
And the co-founder of Microsoft and owner of one of the largest fortunes in the world has a great time from that place.
This is how he was seen, for example, enjoying himself with
Elisabeth Shue
- the actress of
Karate Kid
,
Back to the Future
,
El Santo
or
Goodbye to Las Vegas
, among many other films - on Wednesday night, at the game that
Holger Rune
He beat
Taylor Fritz
.
Fact:
Gates does not pay his entrance fee.
He is a special guest of Larry Ellison
, co-founder of Oracle and another billionaire.
A while ago they were fighting.
Today Ellison - business is business - is Gates' host at the tournament he bought in December 2009.
Although he didn't just keep the square.
Since she is not short of dollars, she also acquired the complex that no star wants to miss at each end of the American winter.
And what did this New Yorker do who did not know his biological father and whose mother gave him up for adoption to a sister whose husband gave her his last name and who with only $1,400 in 1977 founded Software Development Laboratories with two partners, the company that years later took the definitive name of Oracle?
Larry Ellison (below, second from left) and Bill Gates (above, second from right) watch the duel between Alcaraz and Zverev in Indian Wells.
Photo: AP
Ellison transformed the tournament, enlarged its dimensions, dressed it in glamor and thus managed to displace Miami to be, after the four Grand Slams, the most important event on the calendar for men and women.
Founder of Silicon Valley, in his fight for business positioning and for his friendship with Steve Jobs he was a declared enemy of Gates.
Mansions, luxury cars, planes, yachts and even one of the islands of Hawaii belongs to him.
As well as the ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 that the Puerto Rican
Charlie Pasarell
and the South African
Raymond Moore
moved in 1999 to the desert, near Palm Springs and about two hours from Los Angeles.
Players say they are treated there like nowhere else in the world.
That they have everything at their disposal.
And they will do anything for Ellison
.
So much so that
Rune, Andrey Rublev, Alex de Miñaur, Daniil Medvedev, Maria Sakkari and Ons Jabeur
, for example, did not hesitate to dress up for the tournament's social networks and be sellers of merchandising items and popcorn, cashiers or car ushers in parking, for example.
We have the best staff ever 😍#TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/0OXhEzvnZ5
— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 13, 2024
Ellison watches the games.
And the cameras always focus on it, of course.
Money has extreme power...