They have reached the SFs at 2023 Indian Wells, 2023 Miami and 2024 Indian Wells • Carlos Alcaraz • Jannik Sinner • Daniil Medvedev Sunshine Double specialists 🫡
ATP PREVIEW | 2024 Miami Open: Can Carlos ALCARAZ claim Sunshine Double amid chasing pack led by Jannik SINNER and Daniil MEDVEDEV
ATPTuesday, 19 March 2024 at 14:00
The Miami Open will take place between March 20 - March 31 on the ATP side and will be led by Carlos Alcaraz who will aim to do the Sunshine Double after winning Indian Wells.
With the draw now released, our preview looks ahead to the main talking points ahead of the last hard court action before the clay court season on the sunny courts of Florida.
Alcaraz leads battle for Sunshine Double with closing chasing pack
Carlos Alcaraz has form in winning Miami having claimed the title back in 2022, but he has never completed the so-called Sunshine Double. He won Indian Wells last year and made it back-to-back this time around, Last year, he reached the semi-finals in his title defence in a year that saw two of his main rivals this time compete for the title.
Those being Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev. Sinner lost to Alcaraz in the semi-finals of Indian Wells ending his imperious 19-0 winning streak going all the way back to the Davis Cup Finals last year. This may give him a fresh impetus similar to when Iga Swiatek lost her World No.1 spot without the pressure to continuing adding to it. While Medvedev continues his winning ways despite a final loss to Alcaraz, it was a 7-5, 6-3 win for the Russian in last year's final. But it was also one of his final wins over the Italian with the Head to Head streak soon being reversed slightly towards the back end of the season after Sinner puked in a bin in Beijing.
Others who will have their sights set include some of the leading lights from California including Holger Rune, Tommy Paul, Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev with other top names such as Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas among others aiming to return to form.
Big misses in Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
But two big misses when it comes to this tournament are Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is still chilling and relaxing in Miami, but has decided against playing after a crushing loss to Luca Nardi at the Indian Wells Open. He said he wanted to balance his personal and professional schedule which had many believe that he was going home to spend time with his family.
But it is likely at this point that he will start preparing for the clay court season after a disappointing Indian Wells with Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome at the very least on his list. Rafael Nadal is the same, albeit he was never particularly signed up to play Miami with Monte-Carlo only weeks away. But given that he was going to play Indian Wells then skipped out on it, he could've played Miami feasibly if he had a good run in California. Both will return in the clay court season, but it means two of the biggest names are missing from this week's draw.
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