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Location | Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida United States |
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Venue | Tennis Center at Crandon Park | |
Surface | Hard (Laykold) / Outdoors | |
Official website | ||
ATP World Tour | ||
Category | Masters 1000 | |
Draw | 96S / 48Q / 32D | |
Prize Money | US$3,645,000 | |
WTA Tour | ||
Category | Premier Mandatory | |
Draw | 96S / 48Q / 32D | |
Prize Money | US$4,500,000 |
The Miami Masters (currently sponsored by Sony Ericsson) is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park. The tournament is currently held in March each year.
The Miami Masters, which has had multiple sponsorships, was initially known as the Lipton International Players Championships and was a premier event of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour from 1985 until 1990 part of the Grand Prix Championship Series. In 2000, there was a change of title sponsor and 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 where the company will pay US$20 million over the next four years.
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 Majors.[1] In 2011, 316,267 visitors attended the Open.[2]
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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 and offered to provide the prize-money and 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. The prize money of US$1.8 million was surpassed only by Wimbledon and the US Open at the time. (The event's prize money has since grown to over US$9 million.)
In 1986, the tournament relocated to Boca Raton. After its successful second year there then-Dade County Manager and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) President Merrett Stierheim helped pave the way for a move to its permanent home in Key Biscayne in 1987.[3] In keeping with the ambitions of its founder, the tournament is one of the premiere events in tennis.[4]
Besides the four Grand Slam championships, the Sony Ericsson 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.
In 2006, the tournament became the first event in the United States to use instant replay 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.
A mixed doubles competition was also held at the inaugural tournament in 1985, and was won by Heinz Günthardt & Martina Navrátilová.
Player | Record | Year | |
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Most Singles Titles | |||
Men's Singles | Andre Agassi (USA) |
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1990, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003 |
Women's Singles | Steffi Graf (GER) Serena Williams (USA) |
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1987, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 |
Most Consecutive Titles | |||
Men's Singles | Andre Agassi (USA) |
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2001, 2002, 2003 |
Women's Singles | Steffi Graf (GER) Serena Williams (USA) |
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1994, 1995, 1996 2002, 2003, 2004 |
Most Consecutive Matches Won | |||
Men's Singles | Andre Agassi (USA) |
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2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 |
Women's Singles | Steffi Graf (GER) Venus Williams (USA) |
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1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 |
Most Times Seeded No. 1 at the Tournament | |||
Men's Singles | Roger Federer (SUI) |
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2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 |
Women's Singles | Steffi Graf (GER) Martina Hingis (SUI) |
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1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 |
Unseeded Players Who Advanced to the Finals | |||
Men's Singles | Sébastien Grosjean (FRA) David Wheaton (USA) Tim Mayotte (USA) (winner) Scott Davis (USA) |
- | 1999 1991 1985 1985 |
Women's Singles | Kim Clijsters (BEL) (winner) | - | 2005 |
Youngest & Oldest Winners | |||
Youngest Men's Singles | Novak Djokovic (SRB) |
316 days old |
2007 |
Youngest Women's Singles | Monica Seles (YUG) |
111 days old |
1990 |
Oldest Men's Singles | Andre Agassi (USA) |
335 days old |
2003 |
Oldest Women's Singles | Chris Evert (USA) |
44 days old |
1986 |
Most Finals Reached | |||
Men's Singles | Andre Agassi (USA) |
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1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003 |
Women's Singles | Steffi Graf (GER) Serena Williams (USA) |
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1986, 1987, 1998, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 |
Most Doubles Titles - Teams | |||
Men's Doubles | Woodbridge (AUS) / Woodforde (AUS) |
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1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 |
Women's Doubles | Novotná (CZE) / Suková (CZE) Novotná (CZE) / Sánchez (ESP) Novotná (CZE) / Hingis (SUI) Raymond (AUS) / Stosur (AUS) |
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1989, 1990 1995, 1996 1998, 1999 2006, 2007 |
Most Doubles Titles - Individual | |||
Men's Doubles | Todd Woodbridge (AUS) Mark Woodforde (AUS) Max Mirnyi (BLR) |
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1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 |
Women's Doubles | Jana Novotná (CZE) |
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1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by None San Diego |
Favorite WTA Tier I - II Tournament 1995 2004 |
Succeeded by Indian Wells Moscow |
Preceded by Indianapolis |
ATP Tournament of the Year 1998-2000 |
Succeeded by None |
Preceded by Monte-Carlo Monte-Carlo |
ATP Masters Series Tournament of the Year 2002-2006 2008 |
Succeeded by Monte-Carlo Shanghai |
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