Third Serve
Talk Tennis Guru
EDIT: I posted the title too early. Should be near-victories instead of near-misses. Mods, if you could edit the title I'd appreciate it.
Just a little trivia thread.
Here are the players who won the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells + Miami):
Courier 1991
Chang 1992
Sampras 1994
Rios 1998
Agassi 2001
Federer 2005, 2006, 2017
Djokovic 2011, 2014, 2015 2016
It's an impressive Masters achievement, especially considering how close together the tournaments are and the different conditions (IW is super dry, Miami very humid), as well as the draws being larger than perhaps any other Bo3 tournament. And back in the day they were both among the Masters events that had Bo5 finals (though this varied from year to year - IW 2004 was Bo3 while IW 2005 was Bo5). Here are some players who got really close to this achievement but couldn't go all the way.
Agassi and Edberg, 1990. Both players split the Sunshine Double between them, and they contested in each final. Edberg beat Agassi in IW in a tight four sets, and Agassi won Miami over Edberg in four sets (including eating a bagel set).
Agassi and Sampras, 1995. As with 1990, both players split the Double and competed in each final. Pete won in straight sets in IW (though some sets were close) and Agassi won in a deciding set in Miami.
Roddick 2010. Didn't expect to see him here but Roddick actually had a great start to the 2010 season. Pretty sure he led the points race after Miami. He lost to Ljubicic in two tiebreaks in the IW final and then beat Berdych in Miami (and also beating Nadal on the way to the final).
Nadal 2011. He didn't win any of the tournaments as Djokovic stopped him in both finals, but they were pretty close. IW went to a deciding set and the Miami final is one of the pair's closest matches. Ned also beat Fed on the way to the Miami final if memory serves me correctly.
Fed 2019. Fed made it to the IW final and lost to Thiem in three sets with the deciding set going into overtime. He then won Miami over Isner. I always forget he got so close to the Double that year.
Alcaraz 2022. Lost in a close semifinal to Nadal in IW, then won Miami over Ruud. You could argue he wasn't that close since he didn't reach the IW final but he still wasn't far off from the title.
Medvedev 2023. Lost to Alcaraz in the IW final, then won Miami over Sinner. The IW final wasn't particularly close so you could debate over whether this qualifies.
There might be others I'm missing. If you broaden the scope a bit you could probably include Nadal 2007 and a few others.
Just a little trivia thread.
Here are the players who won the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells + Miami):
Courier 1991
Chang 1992
Sampras 1994
Rios 1998
Agassi 2001
Federer 2005, 2006, 2017
Djokovic 2011, 2014, 2015 2016
It's an impressive Masters achievement, especially considering how close together the tournaments are and the different conditions (IW is super dry, Miami very humid), as well as the draws being larger than perhaps any other Bo3 tournament. And back in the day they were both among the Masters events that had Bo5 finals (though this varied from year to year - IW 2004 was Bo3 while IW 2005 was Bo5). Here are some players who got really close to this achievement but couldn't go all the way.
Agassi and Edberg, 1990. Both players split the Sunshine Double between them, and they contested in each final. Edberg beat Agassi in IW in a tight four sets, and Agassi won Miami over Edberg in four sets (including eating a bagel set).
Agassi and Sampras, 1995. As with 1990, both players split the Double and competed in each final. Pete won in straight sets in IW (though some sets were close) and Agassi won in a deciding set in Miami.
Roddick 2010. Didn't expect to see him here but Roddick actually had a great start to the 2010 season. Pretty sure he led the points race after Miami. He lost to Ljubicic in two tiebreaks in the IW final and then beat Berdych in Miami (and also beating Nadal on the way to the final).
Nadal 2011. He didn't win any of the tournaments as Djokovic stopped him in both finals, but they were pretty close. IW went to a deciding set and the Miami final is one of the pair's closest matches. Ned also beat Fed on the way to the Miami final if memory serves me correctly.
Fed 2019. Fed made it to the IW final and lost to Thiem in three sets with the deciding set going into overtime. He then won Miami over Isner. I always forget he got so close to the Double that year.
Alcaraz 2022. Lost in a close semifinal to Nadal in IW, then won Miami over Ruud. You could argue he wasn't that close since he didn't reach the IW final but he still wasn't far off from the title.
Medvedev 2023. Lost to Alcaraz in the IW final, then won Miami over Sinner. The IW final wasn't particularly close so you could debate over whether this qualifies.
There might be others I'm missing. If you broaden the scope a bit you could probably include Nadal 2007 and a few others.
