Not the Best Tournament
by Tennis Fan 335 on 3/25/23Hard Rock Stadium - MiamiRating: 2 out of 5The Miami Open Tennis Tournament is held at the hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, in Miami Gardens. We have attended the US Open, the Australian Open and the Canadian Open tennis tournaments. The Miami Open is our least favorite. As travellers not familiar with the Miami area we found that the advance information available on the tournament website was confusing at best and lacking in much detail. For example, a detailed grounds map was not available on the site until the week before the tournament. While purchasing tickets was straight forward we had to go through a lot of hoops to find and then purchase parking for the days we were going. And the parking map was also not available until the parking tickets themselves were available.
We specifically purchased in advance clear plastic bags of the required dimensions once we found that ordinary back packs and fanny packs were not allowed. However, once on site the security people hardly even looked at the bags, leaving us to wonder whether this was all really necessary. And while our grounds passes were scanned for general admission, our stadium passes were barely looked at, let alone scanned. Our impression was that the on site staff were poorly trained and indifferent.
Then there is the food and beverage issue. Talk about price gouging - $5 for a bottle of water and $16 for a beer. And none of the vendors could give you a receipt, not even by text or email. At home, by law, a receipt has to be given.
The shops were nice and well stocked, but again - price gouging. $60 for a Lacoste ball cap! And all the clothing and tennis gear were equally pricey.
The grounds were very nice and we particularly enjoyed the Grandstand Court. The Stadium Court inside the Hard Rock Stadium left us feeling like we'd been to a match in a poorly converted warehouse. The tournament would be better off with its own proper stadium court like Indian Wells or other similar tennis venues.
Overall we would rate the experience as poor in comparison to other tennis tournaments and would not recommend it or return again.