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 noon. Despite the rain, Eala still came out to train. She practiced her serves for about 20 minutes. It was still drizzling during her session.

Eala and her coaches believed practice was necessary, as they wanted to maintain rhythm and movement ahead of her second-round match. The short session helped her stay prepared. Even a limited time on court mattered.

Similarly, last year, in the lead-up to the US Open, Coco Gauff showed her commitment on a rain-hit day. While the weather forced most players off the practice courts, she stayed out with her team, working on her serves. Now, Eala has given fans a similar glimpse of dedication, as she was spotted practicing in Miami despite the tough weather conditions.

However, the ongoing rain delays didn’t just affect practice sessions, they also threw off schedules for several top players. Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, both of whom had first-round byes, saw their plans disrupted. They had training sessions lined up ahead of the main draw, but thunderstorms in Florida forced cancellations, leaving them unable to prepare as planned.

Organizers canceled most of the 37 matches scheduled for Wednesday. Additionally, the play was supposed to begin at 11 a.m. local time, and 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 canceled 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, organizers 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 to other courts. 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.

In fact, all the matches scheduled for March 18 will now be played on March 19. 

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 on Sky Sports, and explained the situation.

“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 said.

“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 organizers will complete matches within a tight schedule.