The Miami Open, sometimes known as the Miami Masters, is an annual tennis tournament for men and women currently held in Key Biscayne, Florida, an island town just off the coast of Miami. The tournament is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour, played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park through 2018. The event is held annually in March. In 2019, the event will move to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens north of Miami.
The tournament has had multiple sponsorships in its history. During its inaugural playing in 1985, the tournament was known as the Lipton International Players Championships. and it was a premier event of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour as part of the Grand Prix Super Series from its first year until 1990. In 2000, the event was renamed the Ericsson Open. In 2002, the event became known as the NASDAQ-100 Open. In 2007, the tournament was renamed the Sony Ericsson Open, in a deal by which Sony Ericsson would pay $20 million total over the next four years, until 2014. From 2015-2019, the international bank Itaú became the presenting sponsor, making the official name of the tournament Miami Open presented by Itaú.
In 2010, a record 300,000 visitors attended matches at the 12-day Sony Ericsson Open, making it one of the largest tennis tournaments outside the four Grand Slams. In 2011, 316,267 visitors attended the Open.
The court has been criticized as the slowest hardcourt on the tour, subjecting players to endless grinding rallies in extreme heat and humidity.
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History
The tournament was founded by former player Butch Buchholz. His original aim was to make the event the first major tournament of the year (the Australian Open was held in December at that time), and he dubbed it the "Winter Wimbledon". Buchholz approached the ATP and the WTA, offering to provide the prize-money, and to give them a percentage of the ticket sales and worldwide television rights in return for the right to run the tournament for 15 years. The two associations agreed.
The first tournament was held in February 1985 at Laver's International Tennis Resort at Delray Beach, Florida. Buchholz brought in Alan Mills, the tournament referee at Wimbledon, as the head referee; and Ted Tinling, a well-known tennis fashion designer since the 1920s, as the director of protocol. At the time, the prize money of US$1.8 million was surpassed only by Wimbledon and the US Open. (The event's prize money has since grown to over $13 million.)
In 1986, the tournament relocated to Boca West. After its successful second year there, Merrett Stierheim, Dade County Manager and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) President, helped Buchholz in 1987 to move the tournament to its current home in Key Biscayne. In keeping with the ambitions of its founder, the tournament has been maintained as one of the premier events in tennis.
In 1999, Buchholz sold the tournament to IMG.
In 2004 the Indian Wells Masters also expanded to a multi-week 96 person field, and since then the two March extravaganzas have been colloquially termed the Sunshine Double.
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Event characteristics
Beside the four Major championships, the Miami Open is one of the few events on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and WTA tours where the main singles draw (for both the men and the women) involves more than 64 players, and where main draw play extends beyond one week. 96 men and 96 women compete in the singles competition, and 32 teams compete in each of the doubles competitions. The event lasts 12 days. As of 2012, ESPN televises early-round coverage in the U.S., and CBS broadcasts the men's and women's finals.
In 2006, the tournament became the first event in the United States to use Hawk-Eye to allow players to challenge close line calls. Players were allowed two challenges per set, with an additional challenge allowed for tiebreaks. The first challenge was made by Jamea Jackson against Ashley Harkleroad in the first round.
The last best of five set final was won by Roger Federer in 2006.
Points and prize money
As an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the tournament will distribute up to 1000 ATP Rankings points to the singles and doubles champions. This is a table detailing the points and prize money allocation for each round of the 2016 Miami ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory event:
Point distribution
- Players with byes receive first round points.
Prize money
Past results
Men's singles
- The men's final has been abandoned three times since the tournament's inception.
- In 1989, Thomas Muster was hit by a drunk driver just hours after his semifinal victory, severing left knee ligaments, which put him in a wheelchair for months. He won the championship eight years later.
- In 1996, Goran Ivani?evi? retired from the final early with a stiff neck, after sleeping awkwardly the night before.
- In 2004, Guillermo Coria was visibly bothered by back pain from late in the first set of the final. Coria eventually retired during the first game of the fourth set due to this back pain. The problem turned out to be kidney stones.
Women's singles
Men's doubles
Women's doubles
Mixed doubles
Records
Sunshine Double
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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