Practical but not pretty. That’s Pro Tennis at Miami’s NFL Stadium.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – No one wanted to move the Miami Open 18 miles north from the idyllic setting of Key Biscayne to a suburban NFL stadium and its parking lot.

Not the tournament organizers, or players, or provincial officials, or old fans. They loved the Key Biscayne location so much that they tolerated traffic from downtown Miami over the Rickenbacker Causeway and the confines in Crandon Park were so tight that players would sometimes stretch and warm up in the stadium concourse.

Trekking across the crystal-clear waters of Biscayne Bay made a day on that old-fashioned terrain feel like a mini-vacation to tennis Shangri-La, with the coastal breeze through the coconut palms and dense vegetation relieving the South Florida humidity. For many, a tennis tournament, even one as important as the Miami Open, is not so much a sporting event as a new way to experience the best of what a region has to offer, whether it be the seascapes beyond the Monte Carlo Country Club , or the View of the mountains in the desert of Indian Wells, California.

But Crandon Park was in dire need of an upgrade. And while IMG, the sports and entertainment conglomerate that owns the tournament, was willing to spend some $50 million to renovate the main stadium, which seats about 13,000 spectators, and build three new permanent stadiums with more than 10,000 seats, local opposition arose. in the form of Bruce Matheson.

Matheson’s family had donated the land for Crandon Park to Dade County in 1940 on terms that did not involve private enterprise. A brokered settlement in 1992 allowed one stadium, but he drew the line at three more, returned to court and won, preventing any expansion.

With few options in South Florida, IMG struck a deal with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. He agreed to put a temporary tennis arena in the corner of Hard Rock Stadium every March and build a permanent grandstand, along with more than two dozen other courts, in his parking lot.

It was the opposite of Crandon Park’s charm, with its bandbox stadium that felt like a tennis version of a much-loved nightclub. Roger Federer was not happy.

“Right now it doesn’t feel right to move away from Key Biscayne to be honest,” he said during the tournament’s final year at the beach in 2018.

Five years later, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas is among those still pining for the old quarter and adapting to the new setup: a stadium-within-a-stadium in front of the main field, a tennis complex MacGyvered in a parking garage. It can all be of a “don’t look up” nature, lest the emptiness of the football stadium or the construction for an upcoming F1 race come into view.

“It’s one of the few tournaments of the year that I would say is soulless,” Tsitsipas said after losing to Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the round of 16. “It has no atmosphere, no energy.”

Tsitsipas, who has never progressed past the quarterfinals here, said he loves Miami as a tennis destination but believes tennis tournaments should take place in venues where players and fans can connect with the sport’s history. “I bet any player would still choose Key Biscayne,” he said.

Not everyone. World number 1 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is a big fan of the new location.

“A tennis court is always the same size,” Alcaraz said after beating Tommy Paul in straight sets on Tuesday. “I feel great here.”

The expanded grounds and easier access for residents north and west of Miami saw visitor numbers grow to a record 388,734 in 2019, 62,603 ​​more than Key Biscayne’s record. The tournament will likely break that record this year. Joshua Ripple, IMG’s senior vice president of tennis events, said the tournament is much more financially successful at the new location and can provide players with an amenity-rich workplace.

“It used to be more about where you go, how cool the city is and where me and my friends can go for dinner,” he said. Now, he said, it’s about lots of practice courts, lots of balls, good food on site, a big gym and decent transportation.

At Hard Rock, IMG can sell 50 lavish corporate suites instead of 25 at Key Biscayne, and the 75-acre footprint, compared to 32 acres at Crandon Park, has enabled 100,000 square feet of pop-up retail and festival space. Mark Shapiro, the president of IMG’s parent company, Endeavor Co., called it “a day party” minus the pool.

James Blake, the former pro who has been the tournament’s director since 2018, said he now has more options to say yes to player requests. Ice baths on site. Private massage rooms. Private suites for the top eight players and defending champions. A sprawling recovery room. Shaded seating for players and their entourages on the football field, plus corn hole and spike ball. Even shower heads high enough for NFL linemen – and tall tennis players like Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.

It beats filling buckets from the hotel’s ice machine to filling the in-room tub long after a game. Or a players dining area without enough seating.

“There’s room to grow here,” said Blake. “It felt like if you put one more person in Crandon Park, it was going to be Armageddon.”

And yet Crandon Park still has its appeal.

Late Wednesday morning, Jorge Fernandez, father of US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, was loading up a car after a practice session with his other daughter, Bianca, who is also trying to make it as a pro, at their favorite Crandon courses. Park, a world away from the action at Hard Rock Stadium.

“No comparison,” he said when asked about the old and the new tournament sites. “You’ve got the beach, you’ve got the golf course, you’re close to downtown.”

At the old Crandon Park stadium, where Federer and Rafael Nadal played their first game in 2004 (Rafa won), two middle-aged locals played a game. Federer and Nadal weren’t – and it didn’t matter at all.