The Miami Open: Tennis, Sunshine and the Two Weeks That Take Over Miami

Index - The Miami Open: Tennis, Sunshine and the Two Weeks That Take Over Miami

1. - Miami Open 2027: Dates, Venue and What to Expect
2. - The History of the Miami Open
3. - Miami Open 2026: Results
4. - Miami Open Tickets: How They Work
5. - How to Get to Hard Rock Stadium
6. - Beyond the Court: What Else Happens at the Miami Open
7. - Building a Miami Trip Around the Tournament
8. - Plan Your Miami Open Trip With Us
9. - What you can do in Miami

For two weeks every March, the tennis world moves to South Florida. The Miami Open presented by Itaú is one of the biggest tournaments outside the four Grand Slams — an ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 event that brings the entire top of both tours to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. It is also, quietly, one of the best sporting events in the United States for people who are not necessarily tennis obsessives: the dress code is sunglasses and linen, the food is genuinely good, and you can spend an entire day wandering between outer courts watching the best players in the world from ten feet away.

The 2026 edition delivered one of the rarest results in the sport — both singles titles won by players who had lifted the Indian Wells trophy two weeks earlier. The Miami Open 2027 is scheduled for 14–28 March 2027, and if you are thinking about building a trip around it, this is the moment to start.

Miami Open 2027: Dates, Venue and What to Expect

The 2027 tournament will be the 42nd edition and returns to Hard Rock Stadium, 347 Don Shula Drive, Miami Gardens, Florida. The official dates are 14–28 March 2027, still listed as subject to change — the tournament occasionally shifts by a day or two once the ATP and WTA calendars are finalised, so confirm before booking non-refundable flights.

The format is unusual and worth understanding, because it shapes how you plan your days. Both the men's and women's draws are 96 players, which means the tournament runs a full fifteen days rather than the usual seven or eight. The first week is the sprawling, generous part: dozens of matches a day across the outdoor courts, top seeds playing their openers, qualifiers producing upsets, and a grounds pass that gets you into almost everything. The second week narrows into stadium sessions, with quarter-finals, semi-finals and the two finals staged in the main arena. Since 2026 the event has also hosted an ITF wheelchair tennis competition at WT500 level, adding another layer to the second week.

Attendance sits above 400,000 across the fortnight, and the tournament is owned and operated jointly by MARI and Hard Rock Stadium, with former US No. 1 James Blake as tournament director.

The History of the Miami Open

The tournament was founded in 1985 and has always had an outsized reputation for its size and ambition. It began in Delray Beach, moved to the Tennis Center at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne — where it spent three decades and earned the nickname "the fifth Slam" — and relocated to Hard Rock Stadium in 2019 after more than $500 million of renovations to the venue.

That move transformed the event. The site now includes a purpose-built tennis campus of roughly 30 tournament and practice courts laid out across the stadium grounds, with a 14,000-seat centre court constructed inside the stadium bowl itself — shaded by a permanent canopy and overlooked by the largest video board in tennis. Hard Rock Stadium is home to the Miami Dolphins and the University of Miami, and hosts the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix on the same site, so the infrastructure is built for scale.

The roll of champions reflects how seriously the players take it. Novak Djokovic has won six titles here, Andre Agassi six, Roger Federer four, Serena Williams eight. In recent years it has become a reliable early-season marker of who is going to dominate the rest of the year.

Miami Open 2026: Results

The 2026 edition will be remembered for the Sunshine Double — the feat of winning Indian Wells and Miami back to back in the same season. It is rare enough that it had been achieved only a handful of times in either draw. In 2026 it happened twice, on the same weekend.

Jannik Sinner beat Jiří Lehečka 6–4, 6–4 in the men's final on Sunday 29 March, without dropping a set across the entire fortnight — or, for that matter, across both Californian and Floridian tournaments. He became the first man since Roger Federer in 2017 to complete the Sunshine Double, and the first ever to do it without conceding a set. It was his second Miami title after 2024. Lehečka, seeded 21st, reached his first Masters 1000 final without having his serve broken until the championship match.

Aryna Sabalenka beat Coco Gauff 6–2, 4–6, 6–3 the previous evening to defend her title and complete her own Sunshine Double — the fifth woman to do so, and the only player in history to have achieved it in both singles and doubles. Gauff, who grew up in Delray Beach, was playing her home tournament.

2026 Finals — All Draws

Elsewhere in the draw: defending champion Jakub Menšík went out in the third round to Frances Tiafoe, who saved two match points to get there. Seventeen-year-old Moïse Kouamé became the youngest player to win a Masters 1000 main-draw match since Rafael Nadal in 2003. And the Sabalenka–Rybakina semi-final was only the third time in the Open era that the world No. 1 and No. 2 had met before a final outside the WTA Finals. Total prize money across both tours reached $9,415,725.

Recent Champions

The 2020 edition was not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Miami Open Tickets: How They Work

Ticketing at the Miami Open is more layered than at most tournaments, and understanding the structure saves both money and frustration.

The core distinction is between a grounds pass and a stadium session ticket. During the first week, a grounds pass gets you onto the campus and into the outer courts, where the early rounds of both draws are played simultaneously — this is by far the best value in the tournament and, for many people, the most enjoyable way to watch. You can stand courtside for a top-20 player's opening match with no barrier between you and the baseline. A stadium ticket adds reserved seating for the featured matches in the main arena.

From the middle weekend onward, play is organised into day sessions (typically from around 11:00 AM) and night sessions (typically from around 7:00 PM), each ticketed separately. Night sessions in Miami are a genuinely different experience — the heat drops, the stadium fills, and the atmosphere is closer to a concert than a tennis match. Prices climb steeply through the second week, with the two finals commanding the highest rates.

There are also hospitality tiers — club seating, suites, and premium lounges with dining included — which are worth considering if you are hosting clients or celebrating something. These sell out early and are handled separately from general admission.

Timing: for the 2027 tournament, the official channel is currently an interest form on the tournament's own website, with individual session tickets released closer to the event. Our advice is straightforward — decide which week you want before you worry about which session. First week for volume and value, second week for the marquee matches.

Good to Know Before You Go

• Hard Rock Stadium operates a clear bag policy. Check the current dimensions before you travel.
• Sealed water under one litre is permitted; outside food only in small clear bags for medical or dietary needs.
• No professional cameras — lenses over six inches, tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are not allowed.
• Umbrellas are permitted after search but must stay closed in seating areas. Bring a hat and sunscreen instead; the outer courts have limited shade.
• March in Miami is dry-season weather — highs around 80°F / 27°C, comfortable evenings, and low humidity by Florida standards. Rain delays happen but rarely last long.

How to Get to Hard Rock Stadium

The stadium sits in Miami Gardens, roughly 16 miles / 26 km north of Downtown Miami and around 20 miles / 32 km from South Beach. It is a straightforward journey, but traffic on tournament days is real and worth planning around.

By Car

From Miami International Airport (MIA), the drive is approximately 17 miles / 27 km and takes 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. From Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International (FLL), allow a similar time. On-site parking is available in the stadium lots and should be pre-purchased — it is significantly cheaper and faster than arriving without a pass. Leave more time than the map suggests for the second week's night sessions.

By Rideshare

Uber and Lyft both operate designated pick-up and drop-off zones at the stadium. Drop-off is easy; the post-session queue is not. If you are leaving immediately after a final, expect surge pricing and a wait.

By Train

Tri-Rail connects Miami with Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach along the Broward and Palm Beach corridor. The closest stop to the stadium is Golden Glades, from which a short rideshare completes the journey. The tournament also runs shuttle services from designated park-and-ride locations during the event — check the official site for the current year's routes. Note that Miami's Metrorail and Metromover do not serve Miami Gardens.

By Private Transfer

For most of our clients this is the answer. A private transfer means a driver waiting for you at the gate, air conditioning on the way back, and no queue at the end of a long day in the sun. We can arrange transfers from your hotel, from Miami International Airport, or from the Port of Miami if you are combining the tournament with a cruise.

Beyond the Court: What Else Happens at the Miami Open

The tournament has deliberately built itself into something broader than a fortnight of tennis. The campus includes a substantial dining programme, with Miami restaurants operating pop-ups across the grounds rather than the usual stadium concessions. There are lounges, art installations, brand activations and a concert series that traditionally closes out the final weekend — past editions have featured everything from Afro-Cuban funk to Kool & the Gang playing after the women's final.

The practical implication: you do not need to be a tennis expert to enjoy a day here, and it works well as a group outing. Buy a grounds pass for a first-week day, arrive late morning, watch four or five matches, eat properly, and leave when you have had enough sun. It is one of the more civilised sporting days out in the United States.

Building a Miami Trip Around the Tournament

March is the best month of the year to be in South Florida, which is part of why the Miami Open works so well as the anchor for a longer stay. A tournament day or two leaves plenty of room for the rest of the city — and the rest of the state.

Our Private Miami Tour is the natural companion to a tennis week: a local guide and a luxury SUV, four hours through the Art Deco District, Wynwood's murals, Coral Gables, Brickell and Little Havana — or a full-day version that pairs the city with an Everglades airboat ride. Everything is built around your pace, which matters when you are also working around a match schedule.

If you have a free day, the Everglades and Biscayne Bay combination gives you the two landscapes that define this part of Florida in a single outing, and Key West with snorkelling and a catamaran cruise is a long but rewarding day trip down the Overseas Highway. For something more relaxed, the Millionaire's Row cruise along Biscayne Bay takes ninety minutes and requires nothing of you.

Travellers with more time often turn the tournament into the opening chapter of a longer route — our Mini South Florida Gateway and My Florida Vacation itineraries both work well built around March dates, and Driving the East Coast runs the whole way from New York.

Plan Your Miami Open Trip With Us

We are a family-run agency based in New York, two generations in, and we have been arranging travel in Florida for a long time. We do not sell tournament tickets — those come from the official channels — but we do handle everything around them: accommodation in the right neighbourhood for your schedule, private transfers to and from Hard Rock Stadium, guided days in the city, and day trips that fit between sessions.

March fills up early in Miami, and the tournament fortnight is the busiest two weeks of the season. If you are thinking about the Miami Open 2027, tell us your dates and what kind of trip you have in mind, and we will come back to you with a couple of tailored options.

Get in touch with our team — we will take care of the rest.

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