![]() ![]() The 2020 Miami Open was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was held with limited attendance, and Hard Rock Stadium proper was therefore not used. New permanent courts were also built on the site's parking lots, including a new grandstand court. While it has the same number of seats as the center court at Crandon Park, it also has access to the stadium's luxury seating and suites. ![]() The stadium is primarily used for American football a modified seating layout with temporary grandstands is used as center court. ![]() In November 2017, the Miami Open signed an agreement with Miami-Dade County to move the annual tournament from the tennis complex in Key Biscayne to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida beginning in 2019. The organizers decided not to pursue further legal action and started looking for a new site. In 2015, an appeals court ruled in the family's favor, preventing upgrades from being made to the aging complex. The tournament organizers proposed a $50 million upgrade of Crandon Park that would have added several permanent stadiums, and the family responded with a lawsuit. The land on which the Crandon Park facility stands had been donated to Miami-Dade County by the Matheson family in 1992 under a stipulation that only one stadium could be built on it. The aging Crandon Park facility had been criticized as the slowest hard court on the tour, subjecting players to endless grinding rallies in extreme heat and humidity. In 2004, the Indian Wells Masters also expanded to a multi-week 96 player field, and since then, the two events have been colloquially termed the "Sunshine Double". In 1999, Buchholz sold the tournament to IMG. In keeping with ambitions of its founder, the tournament has been maintained as one of the premier events in pro tennis after the Grand Slams and the ATP World Tour Finals sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Major" up until the mid-2000s. After its successful year there, Merrett Stierheim, Dade County manager and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) president, helped Buchholz move the tournament to its long-term home in Key Biscayne from 1987. In 1986, the tournament was played at Boca West. The event's prize money has since grown to over $13 million. At the time, the prize money of US$1.8 million was surpassed only by Wimbledon and the US Open. 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 first tournament was held in February 1985 at Laver's International Tennis Resort in Delray Beach, Florida. 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. 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". The tournament officially was founded by former player Butch Buchholz who was executive director of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in the 1980s. The initial idea of holding an international tennis tournament in Miami was born in the 1960s, when famous tennis players such as Pancho Gonzalez, Jack Kramer, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, and Butch Buchholz toured across the country in a station wagon, playing tennis in fairgrounds with portable canvas court. History Ī 2009 match between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martín del Potro at Stadium Court In 2011, 316,267 visitors attended Miami. In 2010, a record 300,000 visitors attended matches at the 12-day tournament, making it one of the largest tennis tournaments outside the four Grand Slams. Behind the Indian Wells Masters, it is the second event of the "Sunshine Double"-a series of two consecutive hard court tournaments in the United States at the beginning of the season. The tournament had historically been held at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida from 1987 through 2018, before moving to Miami Gardens for 2019. The Miami Open is usually held between March and April. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Masters 1000 circuit, and part of the women's WTA 1000 circuit. The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. ![]()
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