This year’s Miami Open stumbled out of the gate as relentless rain disrupted qualifying, forcing delays and cancellations early in the week. Amid the chaos, Alexandra Eala hit the practice court, showing resilience as the rain-affected Miami Open takes its toll on players.

At Court 24 on Wednesday, Alex Eala was scheduled to practice at 11 a.m. However, mild showers delayed play. The start time was pushed to 12 noon. Despite the rain, Eala still came out to train. She practised her serves for about 20 minutes. It was still drizzling during her session.

Eala and her coaches believed practice was necessary. They wanted to maintain rhythm and movement. This was important ahead of her second-round match. She is set to face Laura Siegemund next. The short session helped her stay prepared. Even a limited time on court mattered.

Other top players were also affected. Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff had their schedules disrupted. Both players had received first-round byes. Their training sessions were planned before the main draw. However, thunderstorms in Florida forced cancellations. They could not train as expected.

The Miami Open faced major disruption overall. Organisers cancelled most of the 37 matches scheduled for Wednesday. Rain continued to affect the event. Play was supposed to begin at 11 a.m. local time. Only the Grandstand court had a 12 p.m. start. But even by 3 p.m., no matches had started.

Initially, 12 matches were removed from the schedule. This included Venus Williams vs Francesca Jones and Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Arthur Fery. A revised order later listed 25 matches, including two unassigned WTA Match slots.

Several ATP matches were also cancelled and moved. These include Ethan Quinn vs Hubert Hurkacz, Alexandre Muller vs Matteo Berrettini, Tsitsipas vs Fery, Marcos Giron vs Martin Landaluce, Darwin Blanch vs Jan-Lennard Struff, and Nikoloz Basilashvili vs Mariano Navone. Meanwhile, Zhizhen Zhang vs Adrian Mannarino moved courts, and Eva Lys vs Yuliia Starodubtseva also shifted. 

With more rain expected on Thursday, organisers may need further schedule changes.

Miami Open main court disrupted as rain halts scheduled matches

Along with practice courts and Wednesday’s matches being abandoned, the Miami Open made another announcement. On March 17, officials confirmed that no matches would be played on Stadium Court on March 18.

The main venue at Hard Rock Stadium was directly affected. The reason given was “heavy rainfall in the lead-up to the tournament.” This forced further changes to the schedule.

Despite this, Stadium Court remained open for practice. Players could still train there. However, no official matches were allowed.

All of Wednesday’s matches were shifted elsewhere. They were spread across Grandstand, Butch Buchholz, Court 1, Court 7, Court 5, Court 2, Court 3, and Court 6. This created a packed and uneven schedule.

Due to ongoing weather issues, several key matches have been delayed. Matches scheduled for March 18 will now be played on March 19. This adds more pressure to the schedule.

One of the highlighted matches includes João Fonseca vs Fábián Marozsán. More matches are expected to be affected as delays continue. The tournament is still in its early stages. Many round-of-128 matches are yet to be completed. This makes the backlog even more difficult to manage.

Jamie Murray, former doubles world No. 1, shared his views. Speaking on Sky Sports, he explained the situation. He said, “It probably depends on how many match courts they can put in play tomorrow. On the schedule today, they’ve got eight courts. They might have the potential to do 10 or 11 courts. It also depends on how many are set up for electronic line calling, hawkeye, all the sort of stuff as well.”

He added more insight into the plan. “I think, ideally, they’ll try to get through everything just so that they’re back on track and players aren’t necessarily having to play back-to-back or even double up on one day. I think they’re far away from that. The good thing is there are a lot of days in the tournament as well.”

Practice sessions for main-draw players were also scheduled. But the weather outlook remains poor. More rain is expected on Thursday, and conditions are still unstable. 

With the situation worsening, it remains unclear how organisers will complete matches within a tight schedule.