2011 Sony Ericsson Open: Introduction
The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open is scheduled to start next week, with main draw matches commencing from March 21 to April 3, 2011. Also known as the Miami Masters, the tournament will be starting its 27th cycle this year.
Held at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Miami, the event is played outdoors on hard courts.
For the Association of Tennis Professionals [ATP] World Tour, the tournament is part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series. On the women’s side, the event is part of the Premier Mandatory series of the Women’s Tennis Association
[WTA] Tour. The main draw for both the ATP and the WTA consists of 96 players each.
The Miami Masters event is one of the biggest tournaments of the year, second only to the four Grand Slams. It belongs to the same category as the BNP Paribas Open or the Indian Wells Masters, which are held in the same month.
This year, the ATP title for the event will be defended by American Number 1 and eighth seed Andy Roddick. This marked the fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title for the World Number 8, as well as the second Miami Masters victory.
The American was the first player to lift the Butch Buchholz Championship trophy. He was eliminated during the fourth round of the ongoing Indian Wells tournament, which may have some bearing on his level of play at the Miami Masters.
The WTA champion for 2010 was comeback queen Kim Clijsters, who is currently ranked World Number 2. The Belgian pro managed to make it to World Number 1 for a few days earlier this year as well, before Danish pro Caroline Wozniacki
took over the top spot once again. The player produced great results at the Australian Open, winning the title for the first Grand Slam of the year. However, she was forced to drop out of the Indian Wells tournament in the first round due to an injured shoulder.
This may affect her performance at the tournament.
The men’s doubles title will be defended by Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, while Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta will attempt to retain their 2010 doubles trophy as well.
The Sony Ericsson Open is one of the most popular tournaments on the tennis circuit. Last year, a record-breaking 312,386 spectators showed up to watch the event at Crandon Park. In addition to this, it is also extremely popular
with tennis players and has been selected as the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year on six different occasions.
Three players have dropped out of this year’s Miami Masters so far. Argentine pro David Nalbandian opted out of the 2011 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, citing a torn hamstring and hernia as his reasons. WTA players and sisters
Venus and Serena Williams have also decided not to play at the tournament; Venus has been absent from events since the Australian Open, where she was forced to withdraw during one of her matches. Serena Williams recently suffered a supposed pulmonary embolism
and hematoma which has rendered her incapable of taking part in any tournaments this year. She had already refused to participate in every event since the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and would probably have dropped out of Miami regardless of her health.
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