The Miami Open is the second episode of U. S. Tennis March Madness, following the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Qualifying play kicked off Monday, March 21, and main-draw matches run through the WTA and ATP finals on Sunday, April 3.

The Miami event has roots dating back to 1985. The tournament has worn several sponsor monikers. While multiple Florida locations have hosted the event, it has remained a significant tournament for both the WTA and ATP tours over the years. In tournament ranking, Miami is one of nine ATP 1000 Series events and one of four WTA Premier Mandatory Events. This caliber is just below the Grand Slams.  

The first tournament was held in Delray Beach, then moved to Boca Raton, and eventually landed at its current home, Crandon Park on Key Biscayne.  Former sponsors include Ericsson, Sony, and NASDAQ. As of 2015, the title sponsor is Global Latin American Bank, Itau. The Itau sponsorship ushered in the current tournament name, Miami Open.

The tournament was first named Lipton International Players Championships. The event founder is former player Butch Buchholz, a righty from St. Louis who played from 1961 to 1970.  Now age 75, would Butch recognize his own creation, which now sets fan attendance records of over 300,000  people each year?  

Miami was the first American tournament to introduce the Hawkeye point review challenge system in 2006. Its initial WTA and ATP Singles Champions were Martina Navratilova and Tim “the gentleman” Mayotte of the U. S. In 1985, Martina played the WTA singles final against Florida native Chris Evert in front of a sell-out crowd.

The Miami hard courts have a reputation for being one of the slowest surfaces on the tour. This characteristic tends to produce long, grinding points, a fact that may make it less than popular with some players. The list of champions includes just about everyone you would expect, with the notable exception of Rafael Nadal.

Both WTA & ATP world No. 1s, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, captured the singles titles in 2015. The 2015 doubles champions were favorites Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, along with the Bryan brothers. Over the years, Miami has won awards from both tours.

Despite 31 years of tennis history, the future of Miami is in turmoil. This circumstance has nothing to do with the player field, performance, or fan base, but rather logistics and legal barriers. The heart of the matter is that Miami uses a public tennis facility to host the event. The facility is in need of repairs, and fan popularity necessitates other growth measures as well. The current Crandon Park Tennis Stadium was constructed in 1994.

The legal mire of Crandon Park has roots in the original land donor agreement. In 1940, the Matheson Family gifted the acreage to Miami-Dade County. Today, family descendant Bruce Matheson is keen to keep the agreement provisions intact. Primarily, these provide that the site must be maintained as a public park.

At issue is whether it is acceptable to make improvements specifically to support the tournament. A legal battle has been stewing for a while. The most recent court ruling as of December 2015 says no to improvements. In response to the ruling, event organizers state they are considering a change of venue.

While the facility works for now, it is showing its age, and it now pales in comparison to American counterpart Indian Wells.  Indian Wells is state of the art, primarily due to an influx of passion and funds from tennis fan and Oracle Corporation founder Larry Ellison. This comparison is apples and oranges, private versus public. However, to undervalue public tennis facilities and their impact on the popularity and growth of the sport is short-sighted.

With the new USTA Headquarters opening near Orlando, Florida, let’s hope we can hang onto this event. American tennis has lost other events to overseas investors. With economic growth in Latin America and the Asia Pacific markets, there is competition for combined events of this caliber. The current tour schedules already max out the annual calendar. If the event is sold outside the U. S., it will not be easy to re-establish another event of this magnitude.

Let’s hope the Miami tradition lives on and that the parties involved come to a suitable compromise. At the very least, identify another location in the United States if a move is in the best interest of the event. With the success of Indian Wells, perhaps Mr. Ellison can help? For 2016, the action is in Miami, and the player field looks as solid as ever. The stars are officially out in Crandon Park. Come see for yourself.