Location Miami, FloridaUSA Category Masters 1000 | Website Official website Draw 96S / 48Q / 32D | |
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Founded 1985; 32 years ago (1985) Instances 2018 Miami Open, 2017 Miami Open Profiles | ||
The Miami Open is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in 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, played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park. The tournament is held in March each year. It is owned by IMG.
Contents
- History
- Event characteristics
- Points and prize money
- Point distribution
- Mens singles
- Records and Stats
- References
The tournament has had multiple sponsorships in its history. It was initially known as the Lipton International Players Championships and was a premier event of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour from 1985 until 1990 as part of the Grand Prix Super Series. 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 the company would pay $20 million 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 Majors. 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.
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 US$9 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.
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.
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: