Indian Wells and Miami Open
We’re about to go into a great swing of extremely competitive and important tournaments. I’m talking about both Indian Wells and the Miami Open. Two tournaments played in March. This has become an exciting hard-court swing that proceeds the Australian Open and precedes the clay court season. Especially interesting has been the fact that the month of March is completely occupied by both the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments. Some folks say that both these tournaments are in essence the equivalents of a fifth or sixth grand slam. There’s some truth to that. Unlike, other Masters 1000 tournaments, both these tournaments take place over two weeks, just like the four Grand Slams.
That being said, you can’t compare the approximate 10 million dollars in prize money at each of these tournaments with a Grand Slam, which usually offers approximately 20 million dollars. Still, the 10 million is the most offered at a Masters 1000. Also, the fact that both these tournaments are back to back, allows players to get a nice haul for the month of March if you go deep in both draws – which historically has been the case. Let’s look at how the Big Four have performed at both these tournaments historically.
Novak Djokovic:
As you can see, Novak has pretty much cleaned up in March. He’s won both tournaments back to back four different times, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He’s made a total of 13 finals appearances, winning 11 of them. He’s the king of March.
Roger Federer:
Roger is no slouch in March either, winning both tournaments back to back three different times, 2005, 2006, and 2017. He’s made a total of 11 finals, winning eight times.
Andy Murray:
Andy has appeared in five finals, winning twice. That doesn’t come close to either Novak and Roger. However, it is respectable.
Rafa Nadal:
As we all know, hard courts are not the King of Clay’s best surface. Nevertheless, Rafa has performed pretty well at Indian Wells. He’s made nine finals appearances, winning three of them.
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