2024 Miami Open: Will Rafael Nadal, Emma Raducanu, Simona Halep play? Is Novak Djokovic the top seed?

The Miami Open marks the second and final leg of the Sunshine Double and there will once again be a lot of the spell at the 2024 edition of the joint-ATP-WTA 1000 event in Florida.

When does the 2024 Miami Open take place?

The 39th edition of the ATP-WTA 1000 event officially runs from March 17-31, but the women’s main draw action only starts on March 19th with the men’s tournament getting underway a day later.

Unlike the Indian Wells Open where both the women’s and men’s finals take place on the final Sunday, the women’s showpiece match is scheduled for Saturday, March 30 with the men’s final taking place on Sunday, March 31.

Please tell us more about the venue for Miami Open…

The Miami Open relocated to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in 2019 as it left the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne after a 32-year stay.

The state-of-the-art Hard Rock Stadium – also the home of NFL side Miami Dolphins – was considered a major upgrade from Crandon Park as it has a 65,000-seating capacity. However, temporary grandstands are built for the tennis tournament with only 14,000 seats available.

Who won the titles in 2023?

There were first-time Miami Open winners in both the men’s and women’s tournaments last year as Daniil Medvedev defeated Jannik Sinner to win the ATP title while Petra Kvitova denied Elena Rybakina the Sunshine Double as she beat the Indian Wells champion in straight sets.

Interestingly, for the third year in a row, the reigning women’s champion won’t defend her title as Kvitova will miss this year’s tournament as she is expecting her first child. Last year Swiatek withdrew due to injury while Ashleigh Barty also missed her title defence in 2022 as she retired.

Who else will miss the 2024 edition?

Rafael Nadal will once again be absent. There were initial hopes that the Spaniard would play in both Sunshine Double events, but it was later confirmed that he would skip the Miami Open although he later also withdrew from Indian Wells.

The main cast of the ATP Tour will be in action though with world No 1 and six-time champion Novak Djokovic returning for the first time since 2019.

On the WTA Tour side, defending champion Kvitova as well as Olympic champion Belinda Bencic are absent as they are on maternity leave.

French Open runner-up Karolina Muchova and teenage star Mirra Andreeva will also be missing due to injury.

Who are the top 10 seeds for both events?

World No 1 Novak Djokovic headlines the draw as he is assured of the No 1 ranking ahead of the tournament, but the line-up behind him remains unclear as the seedings are based on the March 18 ATP Rankings.

Carlos Alcaraz is currently at No 2, but he could be replaced by Jannik Sinner with Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz and Alex de Minaur likely to follow.

OFFICIAL ATP and WTA Rankings

On the women’s side, the seedings are based on the March 4 WTA Rankings and Iga Swiatek leads the way with Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova, Zheng Qinwen, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko completing the top 10.

Any noteworthy wildcards and protected rankings entrants?

Former world No 1 Simona Halep will play her first match since September 2022 after she was given the go-ahead to return following her doping ban.

2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu will be in the main draw despite being ranked outside the top 250 while former world No 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams have also received wildcards.

In terms of protected rankings, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Paula Badosa are the high-profile entrants.

On the ATP side, Kei Nishikori has received a wildcard while Matteo Berrettini used his protected ranking to enter.

When is the draw for the Miami Open?

The official draw for the women’s event will take place on Sunday, March 17 and the men’s draw will be Monday, March 18.

What about the daily schedule?

The day sessions in Florida gets underway at 11:00 local time (15:00 UK time) while the night sessions start at 19:00 (23:00 UK time).

Which TV channels will broadcast the 2024 Miami Open?

Tennis fans in the United Kingdom can catch the action on Sky Sports Tennis with Now TV also providing daily coverage.

Sky Deutschland covers Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, Eurosport is the host broadcast in France and Sky Italia will broadcast the Miami Open in Italy.

Tennis Channel has the rights in the United States, TSN covers Canada, beInNSPORTS will broadcast it in Australia, SuperSport covers sub-Saharan Africa and ESPN International provides coverage for Latin America.

More about the 2024 Miami Open prize money

The overall purse is $8,995,555 each for the ATP and WTA events with prize money equal.

This year’s men’s and women’s singles winners receive a cheque of $1,100,000 (roughly £860,000).