Janice Tjen Has No Specific Target at Indian Wells 2026

Janice Tjen does not set a target at the 2026 Indian Wells (Instagram/@wtameridaopen).

JAKARTA - Indonesian mainstay tennis player, Janice Tjen, ensures that she does not have a specific target in the 2026 Indian Wells event which is the fourth WTA 1000 tournament she has participated in so far in her career journey on the tour calendar.

The prestigious tournament known as the Fifth Grand Slam will take place on March 4-15, 2026 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, USA. This is Janice's eighth tournament in the WTA Tour calendar this year.

"In every tournament, I don't have a specific target about where I have to reach or something like that," the 23-year-old said in an online press conference from the United States.

Janice came to Indian Wells with a ranking that had dropped three strips due to a first-round loss at the 2026 Merida Open in Mexico. He previously ranked 36th in the world, but is now ranked 39th in the WTA.

The Jakarta-born tennis player will start the fight against Romanian tennis player, Jaqueline Cristian. On paper, the two are expected to have equal strength because currently Jaqueline is ranked 35th.

Janice said that tournaments like Indian Wells are certainly not going to be easy because there are many seeded players, but he will use this event to gauge how far his game has progressed.

"All I think about in every tournament I play is how I can do better than the previous tournament, how I can show off the things I have tried to improve and give my best," he said.

The draw puts Janice in an unfavorable position at Indian Wells 2026. If he manages to get through the first and second rounds, he will likely face world number one Aryan Sabalenka.

In the seven tournaments before California, Janice's best trip was reaching the third round at the 2026 Dubai Championship, which is also a WTA 1000 level. There, his step was stopped by the second seed Amanda Anisimova from the United States.

Prior to that, he appeared at the 2026 Qatar Open WTA 1000 and crashed out in the second round, falling to former world number one Iga Swiatek. His debut at the WTA 1000 was at last year's China Open, where he lost in the first round after winning two qualifying matches.