It’s been quite a fun week of tennis at the Miami Open. The women’s side was a complete mess, with all sorts of upsets happening throughout the whole event. In the end it was Ashleigh Barty displaying some tough tennis to beat an in-form Karolina Pliskova, 7-6, 6-3. On the men’s side, Roger Federer picked up his 101th professional singles title beating defending Champion John Isner 6-1, 6-4 before a packed house at the make shift stadium court inside the Hard Rock arena.

Before we talk more tennis, I do have to say that this stadium within a stadium thing is totally weird. That being said, it sounds like the players and journalists in attendance were nothing but complimentary to the move. From the looks of it, it looks like IMG had a big part in this move and there seems to have been a massive investment in the once a year conversion of the stadium. Additionally, there’s a grandstand court that was built and numerous practice courts. Also, I heard the facilities within the stadium are top notch. So maybe it’s not so weird. I’m not so sure I’d be in favor of making more of these top-level tournaments being played inside football stadiums though. Something about it just seems a bit off to me. Call me a purist.

AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

Ok, let’s go back to the tennis. As much as I think Barty was great, the women’s side seems to be a disaster right now, and even though she won at Indian Wells, I don’t believe this is the start of her winning a bunch of other tournaments. This is just the nature of the game right now for the women. That being said, let’s talk about Roger Federer. He’s a 37-year-old wonder kid, plowing through the field like a 20-year-old upstart. This was his 17^th Miami Open, of which he’s won four. Isner was ailed by an injury in the last two games of the match, but make no mistake, Federer was going to win this, regardless of Isner’s form. At this point, it doesn’t matter what Federer wins, it’s just amazing to keep watching him beat a bunch of top players on his way to another important title.