Miami Gardens, FL (March 14, 2023) – The Miami Open presented by Itaú announced today its remaining 22 wild cards for the 2023 tournament. The wild cards were given to the following players:
ATP Main Draw Wild Cards
WTA Main Draw Wild Cards
- Taro Daniel (JPN)
- Erika Andreeva
- Zizou Bergs (BEL)
- Ashlyn Krueger (USA)
- Juncheng Shang (CHN)
- Brenda Fruhvirtova (CZE)
- Emilio Nava (USA)
- Robin Montgomery (USA)
- Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (AND)
- Alexandra Eala (PHI)
- Hailey Baptiste (USA)
ATP Qualifying Wild Cards
WTA Qualifying Wild Cards
- Benoit Paire (FRA)
- Emma Navarro (USA)
- Abedallah Shelbayh (JOR)
- Heather Watson (GBR)
- Martin Damm (USA)
- Fernanda Contreras Gomez (MEX)
- Learner Tien (USA)
- Storm Hunter (AUS)
- Alexandr Blockx (BEL)
- Katherine Sebov (CAN)
- Priska Nugroho (INA)
It was announced earlier this month that 2020 and 2021 US Open champions, Dominic Thiem and Emma Raducanu also received wild cards for the Main Draw.
The 2023 Miami Open presented by Itaú will take place at Hard Rock Stadium, March 19 – April 2, 2023. The tournament’s Qualifying matches begin on a Sunday this year, for an unprecedented 15 days of tennis for fans to enjoy, making the tournament the largest Miami Open yet. It was also announced last week that the tournament will host “The Final Set Concert Series presented by Stella Artois” which will feature Afro-Cuban Funk artist Cimafunk on Friday, March 31 following the Men’s Semifinal match, and the legendary R&B band Kool & the Gang on Saturday, April 1 following the Women’s Finals.
Daniel, 30, is the elder statesman among the wild cards, having surged in the rankings following a quarterfinal in Acapulco. Shang, the 2021 US Open junior finalist, was just 17 in January when he qualified into the Australian Open and reached the second round, becoming the first Chinese man to win an AO match. Nava, 21, reached the 2019 junior finals at both the Australian Open and US Open. The 23-year-old Bergs owns four career Challenger titles.
A 15-year-old, Fruhvirtova made her pro debut as a qualifier at January’s Australian Open. Eala, 17, won the 2022 US Open junior title while Montgomery, 18, was the 2021 winner in both singles and doubles, which she claimed with fellow 18-year-old Krueger. Andreeva, who is also 18, was the French Open junior runner-up in 2021. Kasintseva, the 2020 Australian Open junior winner, is 17 and the first player from Andorra to play on the WTA Tour. Baptiste, 21, is a three-time winner on the ITF circuit.
Blockx, 17, is seeking his ATP Tour debut just weeks after winning the Australian Open junior title. His opponent in that final was Tien, who made his pro debut at last year’s US Open at the age of 16, making him the youngest to play the event since 2005. Damm, 19, reached No. 3 in the junior rankings and is son of two-time Miami Open doubles runner-up Martin Damm. Last month Shelbayh, a 19-year-old former Florida Gator, became the first player from his country to reach a Challenger final. Paire, 33, is a three-time ATP title winner who has reached the Miami Open third round on three occasions.
The 19-year-old Nugroho won five ITF titles in 2022. Earlier this month the 24-year-old Sebov won her third career ITF title. Contrares Gomez, 25, was an All-American at Vanderbilt. The 28-year-old Hunter was the 2022 US Open mixed doubles champion while Watson, 30, owns four career WTA titles. Navarro, 21 and a three-time winner on the ITF circuit, claimed the 2021 NCAA singles title while playing at the University of Virginia.
The wild card entrants join an already impressive lineup of the top tennis players in the world including 2022 Miami Open champions Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek, 2023 Australian Open winner Aryna Sabalenka, and other standouts and fan favorites including Coco Gauff, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jessica Pegula, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Ons Jabeur, Belinda Bencic and more.
The Miami Open presented by Itaú will be bigger and better than ever before in 2023. The festival atmosphere and complete entertainment experience that has made this iconic event the place-to-be in March will be back with a bang as guests enjoy the best that Miami has to offer, including amazing culinary options, music, and artwork by top local artists. The Stadium Court within Hard Rock Stadium returns and the revamped site will include new infrastructure, and more green space where fans can relax when taking a break from the great tennis action.
For more information and the latest news, follow us at @Miami Open on Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter and @MiamiOpenTennis on Facebook.
About the Miami Open presented by Itaú
The 2023 Miami Open will be played March 19 – April 2 at Hard Rock Stadium. The two-week combined event is owned and operated by IMG. The Miami Open is one of nine ATP Masters 1000 Series events on the ATP calendar, a WTA 1000 event on the WTA calendar, and features the top men’s and women’s tennis players in the world. The tournament is widely regarded as the most glamorous on the ATP and WTA calendars because of Miami’s unique personality, thriving nightlife, five-star hotels and restaurants, beautiful weather and beaches, and celebrity appeal, as well as its close proximity to both Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. For ticket information, visit www.miamiopen.com.
About Itaú
Itaú Unibanco is a Brazilian bank with 95 years of history and is currently the largest privately-owned bank in Latin America. It is present in 18 countries and has more than 90 thousand employees, in addition to a service network composed of approximately 4.5K branches throughout the region. It is a full-service bank, offering financial products and services to individual customers and companies in all segments.
About IMG
IMG is a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. The company manages some of the world’s greatest athletes and fashion icons; owns and operates hundreds of live events annually; and is a leading independent producer and distributor of sports and entertainment media. IMG also specializes in licensing, sports training and league development. IMG is a subsidiary of Endeavor, a global sports and entertainment company.
About Hard Rock Stadium
Hard Rock Stadium is a global entertainment destination and cultural curator of world-class events. The best-in-class venue is a home to the Miami Dolphins, University of Miami football team, Orange Bowl, Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, Miami Open presented by Itaú, major concerts, championship boxing and international soccer. For more information, visit hardrockstadium.com.
Benoit Paire · Jerry Shang · Miami Open · Robin Montgomery
Scoop Malinowski · March 14, 2023 at 9:38 am
Guess Sock got turned down by Blake.
Cory · March 15, 2023 at 2:14 pm
Scoop what is the exact process of obtaining wildcards? Player asks for it and the tourney director approves? I assume he or she cherry-picks based on who will draw more attention (more money). Is there often acrimony when players who are undeserving but home favorites are chosen over some foreign player who is much closer in the ranks?
Scoop Malinowski · March 15, 2023 at 4:15 pm
I asked a former ATP pro: “Owners/organizers of the tournament decide that and they all make up their own criteria.” I actually once helped a young ATP player get a wildcard into Tallahassee Challenger. I’m friends with Zane Khan and his coach since meeting them at Eddie Herr in juniors. At Sarasota Open they asked me if I could please help Zane get a WC into Tallahassee. So I got the phone number of the tournament director, called and left a message about a flashy exciting young American teen who needs a WC. She called back and said he’s on the list with some others to consider and she ended up giving Zane the main draw WC. He lost to Martin Cuevas, brother of Pablo like 63 21 retired, he said he had a stiff neck from sleeping in the car on the drive up from Boca to Tallahassee )
Cory · March 16, 2023 at 11:33 am
Scoop, what’s the latest on Djokovic situation? Apparently he’s invited to play an ATP chellanger in europe. What a disgrace that a top 10 player would have to resort to Challengers just to maintain his stay there.
Cory · March 16, 2023 at 1:29 pm
I remember reading about / seeing Zane Khan. At the very least remember hearing him as being on many’s radar. Looks like he’s inactive now. Still young, 21.
Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2023 at 1:41 pm
Cory, looks like moderna rigged the US govt to blockade Djokovic from playing Miami too. Ridiculous. Maybe he will play Monte Carlo next and hunt down Rafa there. 100 percent Rafa will play his favorite tournament. (I don’t think he had any injury vs McDonald.)
Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2023 at 1:44 pm
Cory, Khan has not played since he lost in 3R of US Open qualies 2021 to Donskoy I think it was 76 in the third. He’s had foot problems for years, he was endorsed by Nike but the shoes were a problem for his feet. A year and half of not playing is a major handicap, hopefully the foot heals fully. Khan also warmed up Federer the day of the Miami Open final he played vs Isner I think that was 2021 too. I saw that practice.
fannadal · March 17, 2023 at 6:22 am
As much as he loves the tournament, Rafa won’t be playing Monte Carlo. His injury in Australia was much more serious than was publicly revealed. He hasn’t yet begun practising full out although finally this week he’s posting some relatively positive videos. He may miss the clay season entirely, including Roland Garros. Unlike the mysterious Novak Djokovic, he hasn’t figured out a way to play with abdominal tears and ruptured hamstrings.
Scoop Malinowski · March 17, 2023 at 9:04 am
fannadal, Rafa will play Monte Carlo and all the big clay tournaments, you can be sure of that.