Roger Federer recently succeeded in winning the Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in a row. Why only the very greatest have accomplished this feat and why Carlos Alcaraz has good cards this year.
Miami. Carlos Alcaraz mastered part one with flying colours, without losing a set he triumphed at the master tournament in Indian Wells. If the only 19-year-old Spaniard can now win six matches in a row at the 1000 event in Miami – there have been no serious declarations of war by the astonished competition so far – a “Sunshine Double” would be perfect again after a long time.
Winning back-to-back back-to-back hard court tournaments in California and Florida in one calendar year comes with no extra ranking points or extra prize money, but it’s a feat that only the very greatest have achieved. Jim Courier was the first in 1991, Sampras and Agassi also made it, Novak Djoković, who is not in the USA this year due to a lack of Covid vaccination, got the Sunshine Double from 2014 to 2016 three times in a row.
The last one so far was Roger Federer in 2017. Two years later, the Swiss was close again, but Dominic Thiem thwarted him in the Indian Wells final. In the women’s category, Steffi Graf (1994, 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Victoria Azarenka (2016) were successful.
Well-known failures
The Sunshine Double has not become lighter. The two tournaments are separated by more than 4000 km and three time zones, from the Californian desert to the much faster and wet places in Miami. In two two-week events, the aim is to prevail in 96 tableaus, in a best-of-3 format that does not forgive the slightest slip.
Rafael Nadal, for example, has not won a title in Miami despite five finals. Serena Williams came close to the double in 1999, before her Indian Wells boycott, but lost in the Miami final to sister Venus of all people.
Carlos Alcaraz triumphed in Miami last year. Before defending his title, he said: “I know what things I have to do.” Explosive for the Spaniard: In order to remain number one in the world, he would have to win in Miami as well and thus complete the Sunshine Double.
(joe)
