There is a significant tennis
tournament beginning its main draw in Miami this week. It is one of the most
important annual events in the sport, attracting hundreds of players from all
over the world, including multiple Grand Slam winners, competing for one of the
largest prize purses of the year.
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So why doesn’t it feel that way?
Maybe it’s because several of the
biggest names in the sport — including the grand troika of Novak Djokovic,
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the men’s game, plus Serena Williams — are
skipping the event. Or because attendance will be limited to a maximum of 1,000
spectators a day — compared with nearly 400,000 over two weeks in 2019 —
despite state rules in Florida that would allow far more.
Maybe it’s because the Miami Open is
taking place without the opening act of the March winter hard-court swing, the
BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, which officials in the state
wanted no part of in the winter when COVID-19 infection rates were surging in
Southern California.
Or maybe it’s because the Miami Open
is a microcosm of tennis in 2021 — an unpredictable puzzle of player
scheduling, travel advisories and health precautions in a season that has
forced players to set priorities in a way they never have before. Many,
especially the biggest stars, now view tournaments not simply as a means to
compete or a chance for a paycheck but for whether an event fits into their
broader life.
“It’s so many different reasons,”
James Blake, a former player who is the tournament director in Miami, said when
asked what has influenced players’ decisions to play or skip the event. “As a
former tour player, I can tell you are programmed to want to compete against
the best players in the world. That is always your main motivation.”
Except when it isn’t. Williams withdrew
Sunday, announcing she had not fully recovered from recent oral surgery.
Djokovic, who is the top-ranked men’s player and who is recovering from a torn
abdominal muscle, pulled out Friday afternoon. Djokovic’s management agency,
the sports and entertainment conglomerate WME-IMG, owns the Miami Open, but
that was not enough for him to make the trip. He announced on Twitter that he
had “decided to use this precious time at home to stay with my family. With all
restrictions, I need to find balance in my time on tour and at home.”
Daniil Medvedev, No. 2 in the world
and a 2021 Australian Open finalist, is playing, as are rising stars Stefanos
Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev. But the women’s draw, which includes Naomi
Osaka, Ashleigh Barty and Simona Halep, may provide much of the heat.
Nadal announced earlier this month
that he was skipping Miami to continue healing his sore back and to prepare for
the spring clay-court season, during which he usually excels.
Roger Federer, the defending
champion in Miami who returned to professional tennis earlier this month after
two knee surgeries and a 14-month hiatus, said his goal is to be 100 percent healthy
for Wimbledon in late June. A two-week jaunt to the United States for a single
hard-court event didn’t make sense. He also has not committed to playing much
on clay this season.
“It’s always nice to have two of the biggest
names in sports on your air, but there is so much talent out there and that
gives the chance for different stories to be told,” said Ken Solomon, CEO of
The Tennis Channel, which will air 125 hours of live coverage of the event in
the United States. “We get 128 phenomenal athletes competing in this thing, you
don’t start thinking about who is not there.”
Prize money has been slashed to $6.7
million from $16.7 million in 2019, although it is among the largest prize
purses outside of the Grand Slams and the tour finals. Nearly everyone at the
tournament site will have to wear a mask at all times, except for players while
they are on the court.
Tennis will probably look this way
for some time. The All England Club, which hosts Wimbledon, announced last week
that players will have to stay in specified hotels for the tournament, set to
begin in late June, despite Britain’s success with its vaccine program. Crowd
sizes will be reduced and spectators will not be able to line up during the day
to search for a ticket.
Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, ranked
No. 5 on the men’s tour, said during last week’s tournament in Acapulco,
Mexico, that the tour sorely missed Indian Wells this year because it gathers
so many top players in front of rabid and casual tennis fans in the United
States during the first half of the year. The opportunity to play in front of a
crowd of any size — Acapulco allowed roughly 3,000 spectators for each session
— had vastly enhanced the experience.
“I feel really connected,” he said
of the experience of playing in front of fans. “I feel like I can enjoy the
game.”
But the challenges of the pandemic
have forced Tsitsipas and other players to focus almost entirely on larger tournaments
for the time being, and the biggest stars to focus almost exclusively on the
Grand Slams. Events such as the one in Miami may offer plenty of money and
rankings points, but everything is just a little different this year.
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