Dates, Novak Djokovic’s playing status, draw, TV channels, prize money

The 2023 Miami Open, the second leg of the Sunshine Double, is around the corner and we have all the important information you need ahead of the joint-ATP-WTA tournament.

When will the 2023 Miami Open take place?

The 2023 Miami Open will mark the 38th edition of the Florida tournament and this year it will run from March 19 to April 2.

It is a joint-ATP-WTA 1000 event with qualifying taking place on March 19, 20 and 21 before the women’s draw gets underway on March 21 with the men’s draw starting a day later.

The women’s singles final will take place on Saturday April 1 and the men’s singles final will be on Sunday April 2.

The tournament has had various names due to sponsorship rights as in the past it was known as the Lipton International Players Championship, the Lipton Championship, Ericsson Open, NASDAQ-100 Open, Sony Ericsson Open and Sony Open Tennis.

It has been known as the Miami Open presented by Itaú since 2015.

What about the venue for the Miami Open presented by Itaú…

The Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne was the venue from 1987 until 2018 before the tournament moved to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in 2019.

Crandon Park had been in a state of decay and the modern, big-capacity, glamorous Hard Rock Stadium – also the home of NFL side Miami Dolphins – was considered a major upgrade.

It is a 65,000-seater capacity venue, but temporary grandstands are built for the tennis with only 14,000 seats available for the tournament.

Who are the defending champions?

Tennis’ future stars shined brightly at the 2022 Miami Open as Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest title winner at the age of 18 years and 333 days old when he defeated Casper Ruud in the final.

It was the teenager’s maiden ATP Masters 1000 title and he has gone on to achieve even bigger and better things.

Iga Swiatek completed the Sunshine Double – only the fourth woman to do so – as she followed up her Indian Wells Open title with the Miami Open trophy, defeating Naomi Osaka in the final.

Much like Alcaraz, Swiatek also went on to greater heights later in the year.

Who will miss the 2023 edition?

As things stand (on March 15), Novak Djokovic’s status for the Miami Open is officially red as he is not allowed to enter the United States. However, he remains on the entry list as authorities are yet to confirm if his latest application for a special exemption to enter the country has been successful so do watch this space.

As for those who are confirmed absent, the biggest name is Rafael Nadal as he is still recovering from a hip injury while Nick Kyrgios is also out after undergoing knee surgery in January.

On the WTA side, Anett Kontaveit is the biggest absentee.

What about the seeds for this year’s event?

Djokovic remains in the draw so he is the top seed and he is followed by Carlos Alcaraz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Holger Rune, Hubert Hurkacz and Taylor Fritz.

The women’s top 10 seeds are: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Daria Kasatkina, Belinda Bencic and Elena Rybakina.

Any noteworthy wildcards?

2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu will also be in the main draw as she is received a wildcard along with exciting 15-year-old Czech star Brenda Fruhvirtova and 17-year-old Alex Eala, who won the US Open juniors last year.

The 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem will also feature next week as he has also been awarded a wildcard.

Speaking of the draw…

The official draw date is yet to be confirmed, but it will more than likely take place on March 18 or 19.

Which TV channels will broadcast the 2023 Miami Open?

Tennis fans in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland will be able to catch both the ATP and WTA action from the Miami Open on Amazon Prime.

Those on mainland Europe will be covered Eurosport, although those in Germany and Italy can tune in to Sky and Tennis Channel and Supertennis among other channels.

Tennis Channel / TC Plus have the broadcast rights in the United States with Canada covered by TSN and DAZN.

If you live in Australia then beInNSPORTS will be your channel of choice, SuperSport covers sub-Saharan Africa and ESPN International provides coverage for Latin America.

What about the daily schedule?

The day sessions in Florida gets underway at 12:00 local time (16:00 GMT) while the night sessions start at 19:00 (23:00 GMT).

What about the prize money?

This year’s men’s and women’s singles winners will each walk away with a $1,262,220 (about £105,000) with the singles and doubles prize money the same as the Indian Wells Open.

Round	Singles	Doubles
Winners	$1,262,220	$436,730
Runners-up	$662,360	$231,660
Semi-finalists	$352,635	$123,550
Quarter-finalists	$184,465	$62,630
Fourth round	$96,955	N/A
Third round	$55,770	N/A
Second round	$30,885	$33,460
First round	$18,660	$18,020
Qualifying R2	$9,440	N/A
Qualifying R1	$5,150	N/A