Scouting Report: 10 Things To Watch In Miami

1. A New Home: The Hard Rock Stadium is the new venue for the 35th edition of the Miami Open presented by Itau. The tournament was held the past 32 years in Key Biscayne after one year in Delray Beach (1985) and Boca Raton (1986). The Stadium seating capacity is 13,800 and other seating capacities are: Grandstand (5,191), Court 1 (3,024) and Butch Buchholz (1,564). Overall there are 12 match courts and 18 practice courts.

2. The Field: Six-time champion Novak Djokovic, three-time winner Roger Federer and reigning champ John Isner are the players in the draw to hold the Miami Open trophy. Overall 18 of the Top 20 players in the ATP Rankings are competing in Miami.

3. Novak Top Seed: This is the fifth time Novak Djokovic comes into Miami as the World No. 1 and top seed, and the first since 2016 when he won a record-tying sixth title. He won three titles as World No. 1 in 2012, 2015-16. He is 20-1 in Miami at No. 1 and 42-6 overall. He won his first of 32 ATP Masters 1000 titles in 2007 Miami. Last year he came in No. 12, losing to Paire in his opening second-round match.

4. Roger Returns: Federer is making his 18th Miami Open appearance since his debut in 1999. The 37-year-old Swiss superstar is 50-14 in Miami. Federer is 12-2 on the season, highlighted by his 100th tour-level title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and a runner-up finish at the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells.

5. Defending Champion: Last year Isner rallied past Alexander Zverev to capture his first ATP Masters 1000 title and become the first American to win the Miami crown since Andy Roddick in 2010. Isner comes in with a 10-6 record on the season. The top American is 19-10 lifetime in Miami.

6. Sunshine Double: Seven players have swept the first two ATP Masters 1000 events of the season in Indian Wells and Miami. Djokovic has accomplished the feat four times (2011, 2014-15-16) and Federer has done so three times (2005-06, 2017). The others are Andre Agassi (2001), Marcelo Rios (1998), Pete Sampras (1994), Michael Chang (1992) and Jim Courier (1991).

7. Thiem Title Time: Austrian Dominic Thiem captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells (d. Federer) on Sunday. It was Thiem’s 12th career ATP Tour title and he jumped from No. 8 to No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, equaling his career-best ranking on 6 November 2017.

8. #NextGenATP Seeds: Three #NextGenATP players are seeded in Miami: No. 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 20 Denis Shapovalov and No. 28 Frances Tiafoe. Shapovalov and Tiafoe reached the fourth round last year, while Tsitsipas lost in the first round.

9. Wild Cards: The five wild cards are: Christopher Eubanks (USA), 2013 finalist David Ferrer (ESP), Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB), Nicola Kuhn (ESP) and 17-year-old Chun Hsin Tseng (TPE).

10. Strong Doubles Draw: The Miami doubles field features seven year-end Top 10 teams and six duos making their debut together. Reigning champions and five-time overall winners Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, the No. 3 seeds, have a 58-15 record and this is their 21st straight appearance. The top seeds are Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who captured the Miami title in 2017. There are four Top 10 singles players in the draw: No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 4 Thiem, No. 9 Isner and No. 10 Tsitsipas.

STATS OF THE DAY

• There have been 19 different players who have won the 19 tour-level tournaments in 2019, the first time that’s occurred to begin a season since the ATP Tour began in 1990.

• Eight players in the current Top 18 of the ATP Rankings have won a title this season and there have been seven first-time winners.

• Three players have won their first tour-level title at an ATP Masters 1000 event since the series began in 1990 – Roberto Carretero at 1996 Hamburg, Chris Woodruff at 1997 Montreal, Albert Portas at 2001 Hamburg.

• There are 11 main draw first-round singles matches and 12 final round qualifying matches on Wednesday’s opening day schedule, led by former World No. 4 and 2010 Miami Open finalist Tomas Berdych, who is ranked No. 89, his lowest since he was No. 93 on 1 March 2004. Berdych takes a 5-0 head-to-head record against Aussie Bernard Tomic.

• In qualifying on Court 1, Canadian #NextGenATP star Felix Auger-Aliassime (18), who reached his maiden ATP Tour final in Rio de Janeiro last month, takes on Italian Paolo Lorenzi. In the next match on, former World No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga tries to qualify into his first ATP Tour event since 2007 Queen’s Club in London. He plays Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.