Winning the Miami Open is often a life-changing achievement for young players. Just ask world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who is the youngest Miami Open champion in tournament history, winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in 2022 at 18.

A few hours before 45-year-old Venus Williams was battling on the Grandstand court at the Miami Open on a beautiful Thursday afternoon, 17-year-old Moise Kouame was making history on an outside court. Sacrebleu! The kid from Paris, who was making his ATP Tour-level debut -- thanks to a wild card -- outlasted Californian qualifier Zachary Svajda 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to become the youngest male player to win a match in Miami and the youngest to claim an ATP Masters 1000 victory since Spanish legend Rafael Nadal did it in 2003. Kouame also became the first player born in 2009 or later to win an ATP Tour match.

Venus Williams walked out on Grandstand Court decked out in all-white, looking like the bride she was at her five-day wedding last year. However, on this pristine Thursday afternoon, Williams was the bridesmaid. In her record 23rd Miami Open, the 45-year-old Williams lost 7-5, 7-5 to Francesca Jones of Great Britain, who was making her Miami debut.

Iga Swiatek came into the Miami Open with 73 consecutive WTA opening match victories. However, she clearly didn’t come in her standard top form. The six-time Grand Slam champion has dropped to No. 3, after being the year-ending No. 1 or No. 2 in the previous four years. She hasn’t gotten past the quarterfinals in her three tournaments this year.

Four well-established stars on the ATP Tour are flying under the radar at the Miami Open this year.  They’re known as dangerous floaters. Stefanos Tsitsipas, 27, a Top 10 tenant from March 2019 to April 2024 with 12 titles and final appearances in the 2024 Australian Open and the 2021 French Open, has tumbled to No. 51. 

When Amanda Anisimova was a child, her favorite time of year was when the Miami Open came to town. She would go with her family and spend all day running around Crandon Park on Key Biscayne where the tournament was then held, watching practices and her favorite players such as Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniaki, Roger Federer and Victoria Azarenka.

Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 1 player in the world and top seed at this week’s Miami Open, was still basking in her championship run at Indian Wells last week in her media session Tuesday morning. If not for one amazing service return by Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, the third seed here, would have been lifting the championship trophy.

Both Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are hopeful of joining the exclusive club of players to have completed the arduous task of winning the Sunshine Double. Only seven men have won both the Indian Wells and Miami Open Masters 1000 series event in the same year, but none since 2017 when Roger Federer did it for the third time.

The 2026 Miami Open presented by Itaú will be played March 15 – March 29 at Hard Rock Stadium. The 15-day event is owned and operated by MARI and Hard Rock Stadium. The Miami Open is one of nine ATP Masters 1000 Series events on the ATP calendar, a WTA 1000 event on the WTA calendar, and annually hosts the world’s best players, with recent champions including the top players in each tour’s rankings – Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. Here are some fun notes from the session.