By Glen Andersen
In 2019, the Miami Open Tennis tournament moved from Key Biscayne to
Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, which is home to the Miami
Dolphins. On a whim, I decided to attend the tournament yesterday.
Tickets go for as low as $45. It took me only 90 minutes to drive
there from Port St Lucie. It was the best tennis event I have ever
been to.
The Miami Open is an ATP 1000 event with 128 players in both the mens
and womens draws. Winners of both events get 1.1 million dollars. It
is the equivalent of any of the 4 major tournaments and Indian Wells.
However the venue is far superior to the US Open. The grounds are
vast and beautiful. I saw more people hanging out on the grounds than
I saw watching the matches!
They built a permanent, 5,000 seat grandstand stadium for this
tournament, plus 18 practice courts, 15 additional outside courts for
matches, and the main stadium court is a temporary facility built
inside the Miami Dolphin football stadium. The Main stadium has a
seating capacity of 13,000. Interestingly, this tennis facility is
used only for the Miami Open tennis tournament. The courts are not
available for public or private use. However Dade county is working
with the owner, IMG, to give public access to the courts.
What made the event extra special were the practice courts. 9 of the
18 practice courts are closed to viewing by the fans. However the 9
that are open to the fans have elevated bleachers right behind them. I
entered the grounds at 10:30 AM and went to the practice courts
(matches started at 11 AM). And what did I see at the practice
courts? I saw Carlos Alcaraz playing points with an Argentinian
ranked 20th in the world.. I saw Rublev playing points with Khachanov,
Korda playing points with Andy Murray, Gauff playing points with
Pegula, and so forth. The seats I had for the practice session were
the equivalent of $1,200 US Open stadium seats! I could have spent
all day at the practice courts, but of course I didn’t.
Anyway, I highly recommend this event.
Glen Andersen is a nationally ranked senior tennis player based in Port St. Lucie, FL and Hamburg, NJ.
Andy Murray · ATP · Carlos Alcaraz · Miami Open · Sebastian Korda · WTA
Scoop Malinowski · March 22, 2024 at 9:22 am
Excellent report Glen, it’s a super special tournament and unique experience. Ideally located compared to Key Biscayne which was an adventure to drive to if you didn’t get there early. The new venue has so many attractions to see, IMG pulled off the miracle of hosting a major tennis tournament in a football arena parking lot )