Tennis news: All Miami Open matches delayed as Aryna Sabalenka threatens to skip event

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Joao Fonseca will face Carlos Alcaraz for the very first time in an official match. The teenage sensation and the No. 1 seed are expected to do battle on Friday at the Miami Open, no doubt on the main Stadium Court, and the 19-year-old Brazilian ace is relishing the opportunity to face the seven-time Major winner.

“I'm excited for sure. I don’t know about other players, but I look forward to playing against the top players,” Fonseca said after beating Fabian Marozsan in three sets on Thuesday afternoon.

“I played against Jannik [Sinner] last tournament, and now I’m playing against Carlos. It’s just a super experience, so I’m looking forward to it for sure and it’s going to be a great match. Hopefully I can get the win.”

British No. 3 Jacob Fearnley has retired from his first-round match at the Miami Open. The 24-year-old lost the first set to Martin Damm Jr. 6-0 in just 24 minutes, and couldn’t continue. The chair umpire said his retirement was due to illness.

It’s official, we’re getting the first Carlos Alcaraz vs Joao Fonseca match on the professional tennis circuit.

The world No. 1 faced the teenage sensation in an exhibition match in Miami’s loanDepot Park, a baseball stadium, during the off-season.

Now, they will meet in the second round of the Miami Open, inside the Hard Rock Stadium, around 14 miles away from their exhibition venue. And they will no doubt be given top billing inside the Stadium Court – tournament director James Blake has already admitted that all of Fonseca’s matches must be staged on the centre court.

Fonseca beat Fabian Marozsan 6-4 3-6 6-2 to advance to round two, where top seed Alcaraz awaits.

At 17 years and 13 days old, French wildcard Moise Kouame became the youngest men's match winner in Miami Open history on Thursday.

The rising star stormed back to beat Zachary Svajda 5-7 6-4 6-4, earning his maiden ATP Tour win. And Novak Djokovic was watching.

The 24-time Major champion, who pulled out of the Miami Open with a shoulder injury, sent a special message to the teenager.

“Actually, I have a small secret. After the win, Novak texted me. I’m so nervous. I don’t know what to answer! I’m really so nervous right now. I don’t know if I’m going to answer. Maybe if you have tips, maybe you can give me?” Kouame told Tennis Channel.

“He texted me, I think, like, ‘Big match today. Congrats. Hopefully you’ll go far in the tournament’. Something like this.”

Read the full story here

It might have been a great day for British No. 4 Francesca Jones, but on the men's side, British qualifier Arthur Fery suffered a frustrating first-round defeat.

The world No. 174 came through qualifying to make his Masters 1000 debut and came up against former world No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Tsitsipas faced through the opening set, but Fery made the second one close. It still wasn't to be for the Brit, however, as he suffered a 6-1 7-6(4) defeat.

Francesca Jones beat childhood hero Venus Williams in Miami, and then bowed to her from across the net. They had a warm embrace at the net, and Jones later told Sky Sports: “You have to respect them. Someone on my team worked with her for quite a while and we hit with her, a month ago.

“I just told her, ‘I say goodnight to you and Serena every night because you’re still on the wall of my childhood bedroom’. She just laughed. We know each other well enough for me to make a couple of jokes. But no, there’s a lot of truth to that. I genuinely still have her on my wall and I’m so grateful to have that chance.”

Read the full story here

Last year’s breakout Miami Open star, Alexandra Eala, has come from behind to beat Laura Siegemund. The No. 31 seed was in trouble when she dropped the opening set, but she completed the comeback, winning 6-7(6) 6-3 6-3 to advance to the third round here. It took three hours and 20 minutes to get the job done.

Eala made it all the way to the semis here 12 months ago as a teenage wildcard and is defending 390 ranking points.

Francesca Jones has done it! The British No. 4 has taken out Venus Williams in the first round of the Miami Open, winning a close two-setter 7-5 7-5. This is Jones’ first main-draw win at WTA 1000 level.

Williams still has not won a singles match in 2026. She is set to team up with Leylah Fernandez in the doubles draw this fortnight.

Jones bowed to the tennis icon at the end of the match and they shared a warm embrace at the net. The Brit practised with Williams earlier this year and has hailed her as one of her biggest inspirations on tour.

It’s admittedly been a “crazy” few weeks for world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. She got a new puppy, she got engaged, and then she won Indian Wells for the first time in her career. The reigning Miami Open champion is now hoping to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’, winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back.

While she’s had a lot of excitement off the court, Sabalenka’s eyes are firmly on the prize. Ahead of her title defence at the Hard Rock Stadium, she said: “My head is always in one direction: Keep working, keep improving, keep getting better, and going out there and fighting and hopefully get the win. The last couple of weeks were really crazy for me. So many great things happen, and I can only feel happy, feel confident, feel strong... I just want to carry that energy into the season.”

Alexandra Eala isn’t going down without a fight. After losing a close first set to Laura Siegemund 7-6(6), she’s stormed back to take the second 6-3, forcing a decider.

As for Francesca Jones, the Brit has just broken back in the second set of her match against Venus Williams. It’s 1-2 in set two, and Jones took the opener 7-5.

On the men’s side, 2021 champion Hurbert Hurkacz is out of the tournament. He suffered a 6-2 6-4 defeat to Ethan Quinn, as the American claimed a maiden match win at the Miami Open.

British No. 4 Francesca Jones has taken the first set over seven-time Grand Slam champion over on the Grandstand court. They traded back-to-back breaks at the beginning of the match, but the Brit came out on top, grabbing a 7-5 lead. 

Jones and Williams were supposed to face off on Wednesday, but their night-session match was ultimately cancelled at around 7pm local time (11pm GMT) after rain wreaked havoc on the schedule, with zero matches taking place.

Alexandra Eala enjoyed her breakthrough at the Miami Open 12 months ago, storming into the semi-finals as a wildcard ranked down at No. 140 in the world. On her way, she took out three Grand Slam champions in Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, and Iga Swiatek.

Eala has returned to the Hard Rock Stadium at a career-high of No. 29. But her ranking could be in trouble, as she’s at risk of falling at the first hurdle. The 20-year-old got a bye directly into the second round as a seeded player, but has just lost a brutal, 90-minute set to tricky German ace Laura Siegemund.

The 38-year-old saved four set points to take the opener 7-6(6).

After winning Indian Wells, Jannik Sinner has his eyes on competing the ‘Sunshine Double’ – winning Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back.

The Italian has already lifted the trophy at the Hard Rock Stadium, beating Grigor Dimitrov to be crowned the champion in 2024. If he can claim it again this year, he’ll be the first man to do the double since Roger Federer in 2017. But Sinner knows it will be a big challenge.

“It’s definitely different. Indian Wells, it’s the opposite. It was very hot there, and yesterday when we arrived, it was cold for Miami. But we all know it can change,” he said of the conditions.

“Let’s see how it turns out. Obviously, (Indian Wells) has been a great tournament for me. Now we try to get some practice sessions in, see what the weather allows us. But I’m happy to be here. This is a tournament that I missed last year – the last one before clay, an important tournament.”

Moise Kouame isn't the only teenager to get a big win on the ATP Tour today.

Aged 19, Spanish ace Rafael Jodar has just won his first match at Masters 1000 level, beating Yannick Hanfmann 6-4 4-6 6-1.

Jodar will now face Aleksandar Vukic in the second round. Vukic got into the main draw as a lucky loser when No. 4 seed Lorenzo Musetti withdrew.

Teenage wildcard Moise Kouame has earned his first-ever win at ATP Tour level, coming from a set down to beat Zachary Svajda 5-7 6-4 6-4. Aged 17, Kouame has already made a name for himself on the ITF tour this year, lifting two trophies. He also reached the Lille Challenger semi-finals.

The Frenchman struggled physically towards the end of the match and took an off-court medical timeout at the beginning of the third, continuing to receive treatment in some changeovers. But he battled through to become the youngest man to win a Masters 1000 match since Rafael Nadal in Hamburg in 2003.

Kouame is also the youngest men's match winner in Miami, the first man born in 2009 or later to win an ATP Tour match, and the seventh-youngest man to win a Masters 1000 match.

The world No. 385 called the physio again even after winning the match, and a wheelchair was brought to the court for him, but he was able to walk off himself.

Paula Badosa is through to the second round of the Miami Open as she continues to rediscover her best form after on-and-off injury issues. It was here, a year ago, where the Spanish star was forced to pull out of the tournament ahead of her fourth-round match. She didn’t play again for two months.

But the former world No. 2 got off to a strong start against qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Thursday, winning 7-5 6-3.

Play is underway in Miami after a total washout on Wednesday. The schedule is jam-packed with 50 matches, and the outer courts started an hour earlier than usual at 10am local time (2pm UK).

We've had one winner so far today, Aussie qualifier Talia Gibson has carried her form across from Indian Wells, where she reached the quarter-final and caused plenty of upsets. She needed just 69 minutes to beat Sara Bejlek 6-1 6-0.

Paula Badosa currently leads Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5 3-3, while on the men's side, teenage wildcard Moise Kouame has just forced a deciding set against Zachary Svajda.

A spokesperson from the campaign group Save Wimbledon Park has made it clear they will continue to fight the recent ruling. The High Court recently ruled plans to add 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000 seater stadium to the current Wimbledon sight will not be restricted by land-use rules. 

In response to the statement, Jeremy Hudson of Save Wimbledon Park said: "We love tennis but we continue the fight after this news because there is a strong case for protecting this precious open space from development.

"Wimbledon promised they would never build on this land, and Wimbledon can do better because there are existing, alternative plans which show that their scheme can be accommodated on their current site."

He added: "These better plans would still allow the All England Lawn and Tennis Club to stage a qualifying tournament on site in keeping with the other Grand Slams. Therefore, we fight on."

Plans to triple the size of Wimbledon's tennis site have moved a step closer. The High Court has found the development plan has not been restricted by rules around land-use. 

The plans of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club include building 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000 seater stadium. This plan qould require the development of a site which used to be a golf course. 

Pressure group Save Wimbledon Park have campaigned against these plans, stating this area had to be kept as a public space, due to an existing statutory trust under the Public Health Act, but Wimbledon lawyers disagreed, saying they purchased the freehold all the way back in 1993, meaning any trust would no longer apply. 

In his ruling, Mr Justice Thompsell declared the land "was never appropriated or dedicated to the use of public recreation" and "was used as a private golf club" while also stating the club was  "unencumbered by any statutory trust".

"It never became the subject of a statutory trust and therefore the 1986 lease and the 1993 transfer of the freehold were each made free of such trust," the ruling said.

"Even if the above proposition is wrong, it is clear that the land was never used or laid out for public recreation."

Elena Rybakina is one of the players out to stop Aryna Sabalenka winning again having already beaten her in a Grand Slam final this year.

She has been speaking on a number of topics ahead of the Miami Open including the misconception that she is going to struggle due to the change in conditions.

She said in a pre-tournament press conference: "The city has a lot of nice restaurants and a lot of things to do. And generally I like Miami, the atmosphere and the courts.”

“They are a bit faster than Indian Wells, which is good for my game, so I am super excited to be here.

“I have twice been very close to getting the title so that gives more motivation and hunger to finally get to the title.”

“It’s going to be a difficult tournament for sure but I will try my best to get to the very end. I think we have put in a lot of work with the team and all the things clicked together.

“We are still trying to improve. There are a lot of things to work on but for now I am happy. There are a lot of positives from each tournament that we can take.

“It was a very tough final, a very close one, and I just hope that I continue like this throughout the year and I am going to play many more.”

Aryna Sabalenka is looking to claim The Sunshine Double in Miami after her triumph at Indian Wells earlier this month.

Sabalenka avenged her Australian Open final defeat by beating  Elena Rybakina to claim silverware but there was minimal time for celebrations ahead of the Miami Open, as revealed by her coach Jason Stacy.

On The Big T Podcast, he said: "Pretty much just chilling. There wasn't much happening. Yeah. We just have a few snacks. It wasn't that exciting.

"I was going to say embellish the story. I mean, it was crazy. It was like, man, it was like the plane was losing control cuz we were just jumping and dancing so much. Espresso martinis flying all over the place.

"Yeah. Yeah, I mean look obviously you know how it is in our world sometimes you don't have a lot of time in between to celebrate you know we try to make sure we have those moments to enjoy it and acknowledge be like okay you know it was great.

"But I mean in reality we rushed from this stadium to the house got our bags raced to the airport and they had our adventure getting back on."

The ATP tour have reportedly made new rule changes with following Jack Draper's controversial incident with Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells. 

During their quarter-final match, Draper was docked a point for hindrance despite the incident happening several shots before Medvedev lost the point and appealed. 

After a video review, the Brit was deemed to have distracted Medvedev despite the Russian successfully returning the ball before later losing the point. 

The decision led to many players to call for new rules around video reviews and the ATP have reportedly listened, with two regulations coming into effect:

1. Hindrance video checks can no longer be requested after a point has been completed. The player must immediately stop the game and ask for a check. If he continues to play, he loses the right to appeal.

2. Video review challenges are unlimited but the chair ‘will retain control over the process’ and has discretion to deny any unreasonable requests.

Former world No 1 Justine Henin has also been speaking about Jannik Sinner and more specifically on his triumph at Indian Wells.

She said on Eurosport’s Winning Return:“Jannik Sinner didn’t necessarily impress me, and that’s what’s actually quite worrying.

“Seeing him win with relative ease, because you can still analyse one of the matches in which he was, fortunately, very much on the back foot.

“I think that in terms of management, I found him quite brilliant throughout the tournament, but in terms of play, I’ve seen him play much more convincingly before. And yet, he’s won Indian Wells for the first time in his career without dropping a single set.”

Holger Rune has delivered a brutally honest verdict of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

On the Tales from Tennis podcast, he said: “It gives me the belief that I know I can do it, and every time I step [on court] against them, I know I have a chance to beat them.

"And I know that both of them find it uncomfortable to play me, so that’s extra motivation for me.

“And yeah, I always had great matches with Jannik, even before he turned out as a Grand Slam champion, he was always an incredible player.

"I think it’s always been an exciting matchup with me and both of them.

“So for my case, it’s about being as consistent as to do it every week to give myself the chance to play them much more often.

"And I think that would also make my level increase a lot, because they get to challenge themselves almost every week against each other.

“With just two guys making finals and winning everything, it gets boring to be honest.

“I think there needs to be more guys to challenge them, not just one tournament, but consistently.”

While Djokovic has pulled out of the Miami Open, Toni Nadal  , the uncle and former coach to Rafa Nadal has stated he expects Carlos Alcaraz to start missing tournaments.

On  Onda Cero’s Radioestadio Noche, he said: “I’ve seen him looking a bit tired. In some rallies, he seemed to be running on fumes and with less energy than usual, and I thought, ‘Maybe he’s going to stop playing in some tournaments'.

“But he’s also fighting for the number one spot. I don’t know; Samu López and he will decide.”

Novak Dkojovic has been told by Martina Navratilova that he should maybe be playing more matches after withdrawing from the Miami Open due to injury.

She said: “We did not see anything going on with his shoulder here, but the balls and everything is heavier in Miami, so who knows?

Hopefully everything will be okay and we will see him soon again. I think he needs to have more matches before the big ones.

"I think he has pulled back so much that, even though he is as solid as he is, I think he needs a bit more match play to put yourself out there. But he knows better than me.”

As already mentioned, there are several Miami Open first round matches schedule for Thursday.

The weather has already caused havoc at the event but there is hope that the action will get underway at some point today.

If it does, there are some big names set to be in action that includes Iga Swiatek and Venus Williams.

Rising stars Alex Eala and Joao Fonseca will also feature with both to play on the main court. The latter put in an impressive performance in the fourth-round of Indian Wells against eventual winner Jannik Sinner.

Iga Swiatek has made her struggles clear ahead of the Miami Open.

She said: “It’s been tricky with the practices because of the weather but we changed our schedule to manage that and yeah I got two practices now which is great also not so much flexibility with the courts because these are the busiest days of the tournament.

"So I’ll try to adjust to the conditions because that’s the most important thing when you switch from different surfaces and everything and be ready for the first match.

"I felt great during practice, but obviously, it's usually closed patterns there, it's gonna also take some adjustments I would say, but the center court hasn’t been available.

"So also we are going to see how the surface looks on a center court.”

Coco Gauff has responded to Aryna Sabalenka's recent admission on not wanting to play at the Dubai Tennis Championships again after the world No 1 was slammed for withdrawing from the tournament.

As quoted by The National, Salah Tahlak, a tournament director, suggested players should be docked ranking points if they pull out. Sabalenka later responded to those comments and claimed that she is not sure she wants to play there again.

Ahead of the Miami Open, Gauff has issued her verdict on the situation and subsequently supported Sabalenka.

She said: “I just feel Iga [Swiatek] and Aryna have played that tournament so many times, and it wasn’t anything personal to it.

“It’s tough. We’re trying our best to play the calendar.

“I completely understand why she [Sabalenka] would feel like that ​because the comments were unnecessary.”

Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu are the biggest of over 20 names to have thus far withdrawn from the 2026 Miami Open.

Illness has been cited as the reason for the latter pulling out while Djokovic has a shoulder injury. No 4 seed Lorenzo Musetti is the latest star to withdraw due to an arm injury.

He was due to be in action on Friday with most top-ranked players do not kick off their respective campaigns until latter rounds.

Emma Navarro and Sonay Kartal are just two others that will not be competing in the Florida-based tournament.

The Miami Open follows almost immediately on from Indian Wells, a tournament won on the men's side by Jannik Sinner.

The Italian beat Daniel Medvedev in the final last Sunday and in case you missed it, we saw an interaction between Sinner andd Carlos Alcaraz with the latter showing his true colours.

As captured by Tennis TV, the pair reunited at what looked to be a practive changeover in Miami with Alcaraz stating: Hey, great stuff champ, congrats." 

As stated yesterday evening, Express Sport are back to cover the Miami Open following the postponement of all matches last night due to the weather.

A busy Thursday in the United States is therefore on the way with 50 first-round and second-round matches scheduled!

For all the latest updates on action and other Tennis news, don't go anywhere...

It's official, it's a washout at the Miami Open.

Organisers have just confirmed that Sessions 3 and 4 for Wednesday 18th (the day and night sessions) have been cancelled, and that all matches will be rescheduled.

Impacted ticket holders will receive an email with next steps. Express Sport has outlined the ticket policy in a post below.

We'll be back to keep you updated with all of Thursday's action at the Hard Rock Stadium, no doubt it will now be a busy one!

With the day session now entirely cancelled on Wednesday at the Miami Open, organisers have confirmed that ticket holders will receive an email with next steps.

The Miami Open website states the following RE the ticket policy.

For Grandstand and grounds pass ticket holders, “when the day session is ended before the completion of one match (no completed matches)” … due to inclement weather”, ticket holders are eligible for exchange as provided in the Ticket Exchange Policy.

The policy states: “If a Miami Open session is cancelled (as provided for in the Cancellation Provisions below), tickets can be exchanged for a one-for-one basis for this year’s Miami Open (2026), subject to availability.”

Organisers of the Miami Open have now confirmed that Wednesday's day session has been cancelled entirely.

The night session, featuring Venus Williams vs Francesca Jones and Matteo Berrettini vs Alexandre Muller, is still expected to go ahead. These will take place not before 7pm local time / 11pm GMT.

Matches were expected to start now, 6pm local time and 10pm GMT, on all courts except Grandstand.

However, they're all still looking damp and there's no sign of the players. We'll keep you updated when a new start time is announced.

The night session on Grandstand is expected to get underway at 7pm local time / 11pm GMT.

No. 4 seed Lorenzo Musetti has withdrawn from the Miami Open, citing an arm injury.

The Italian was forced to retire mid-match at January's Australian Open, when he got hurt while leading Novak Djokovic by two-sets-to-love in the quarter-finals.

Musetti returned to competition in Indian Wells earlier this month but lost his opening match. And he is now out of Miami, where he received a bye into the second round and wasn't due to play his first match until later this week.

Read more here

Most big tennis tournaments have roofs over the centre court, sometimes over the second-biggest stages, too.

But there are no roofs at the Miami Open, and organisers have struggled so far this year. First, WTA qualifying was cancelled over the weekend.

Now, day two of the WTA main draw and day one of the ATP event has been affected by the rain. Most matches on Wednesday have been cancelled. It's currently 5.23pm local time in Miami, and there has been no play at all so far.

So why does the Miami Open not have a roof? The answer is simple, the tournament relocated to the Hard Rock Stadium in 2019. It's not a permanent tennis venue, the Hard Rock is home to the Miami Dolphins. The Miami Grand Prix also happens around the site. That means organisers of the tennis tournament have no chance of building a roof for the two-week event.

Play has been pushed back again, and matches will not start before 6pm local time / 10pm GMT.

The Grandstand night session is set to begin at 7pm local / 11pm GMT.

A new order of play has been released for the Miami Open. There are now just 14 matches on the schedule, and some which had previously been removed are now back on the list.

The Grandstand night session is set to start at 7pm local time (11pm GMT) as planned, featuring Venus Williams vs Francesca Jones, and Alexandre Muller vs Matteo Berrettini.

The matches on other courts due to start not before 5pm local time are: Denis Shapovalov vs Botic van de Zandschulp; Viktorija Golubic vs Peyton Stearns; Eva Lys vs Yuliia Starodubtseva; Reilly Opelka vs Nuno Borges; Emiliana Arango vs Oksana Selekhmeteva; Alycia Parks vs Sinja Kraus; Dalma Galfi vs Elvina Kalieva; Lilli Tagger vs Ella Seidel; Giovanno Mpetshi Perricard vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli; Darja Semenistaja vs Elisabetta Cocciaretto; Anastasia Zakharova vs Anna Bondar; Tereza Valentova vs Katie Volynets.

There will be no play at the Miami Open until 5pm local time / 9pm GMT. 

Some matches have already been removed from Wednesday's schedule. These are listed here.

Jamie Murray, the former doubles world No. 1 and current tournament director of the ATP 500 event at the Queen’s Club, was in Sky Sports’ commentary booth on Wednesday, expecting to call matches.

That didn’t quite go to plan, with play delayed due to rain. As a tournament director, he knows how these delays work. And with some matches now cancelled and postponed until tomorrow, Murray explained what fans could expect from Thursday’s schedule in Miami.

“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. We’ll see, but there’s going to be a lot of matches for sure,” 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. They’re not playing five-set matches as well for the guys, so for them to play back-to-back three-setters, I don’t think it’s much of an issue. And, to be honest, I think half the draw would rather be doing that anyway! I don’t think they like the days off.”

There will be no play at the Miami Open until at least 4pm local time / 8pm GMT.

Some matches have now been cancelled for the day. Venus Williams' clash with British No. 4 Francesca Jones is no longer on the schedule.

On the ATP side, the following matches have been cancelled for the day:

Ethan Quinn vs Hubert Hurkacz

Alexandre Muller vs Matteo Berrettini

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Arthur Fery

Marcos Giron vs Martin Landaluce

Darwin Blanch vs Jan Lennard Struff

Nikoloz Basilashvili vs Mariano Navone

Six WTA matches have also been removed from the schedule but there are two empty 'WTA Match' slot on the schedule.

Read the full list of affected matches here

Play has yet to get underway on Wednesday, but the WTA main draw kicked off yesterday, and British No. 3 Katie Boulter booked her spot in the second round with a 7-6(9) 6-4 win over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

It was “revenge” for Boulter, who lost to the Spaniard at the US Open a couple of years ago, while she was the 31st seed. After beating Bouzas Maneiro in Miami, Boulter told Sky Sports: “That kind of stung me and I wanted revenge.

“It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the draw. I actually let that one get away from me, but I know how good a player she is and I felt like the level and quality of our tennis tonight was good, but really pleased with the way I played today.”

It looks like the rain has stopped in Miami – at least for now! Pictures show the courts looking nice and dry around the Hard Rock Stadium, but play is still not scheduled to resume for about 40 minutes.

Sky Sports cameras showed some players practising on the damp courts, while others warmed up on the players' grass around the stadium. “Here are some shots behind the scenes. It has stopped raining, it’s starting to brighten up a little bit, and as you can see, some players are actually hitting [on] these rather damp match courts,” Jonathan Overend said on commentary.

Coco Gauff retired mid-match in Indian Wells last week and said it felt like a “firework was going off in [her] arm”. She suspected it was a nerve problem and planned to get an MRI scan – and the scan confirmed her suspicions. The 22-year-old has given an update on the injury as she prepares to compete in Miami Open, having considered skipping the tournament altogether.

“It was a nerve thing, like I said immediately after the match. Every day is different. But for the most part, I’ll be fine playing this tournament. I may feel it sometimes on court, but I definitely feel it less and less every day, if that makes sense,” she explained.

“The goal was to play this tournament. There was a thought of skipping it. I think if it wasn’t Miami, I would probably skip this tournament. But the fact that it is, I really wanted to play here.”

Read the full story here

Matches are being staged across Grandstand, Butch Buchholz, Court 1, Court 7, Court 5, Court 2, Court 3, and Court 6 today, with the main Stadium court out of action.

Play has been delayed to at least 3pm local time / 7pm GMT. Here is who will take to the court for the first matches of the day in Miami:

GRANDSTAND

Jennifer Brady vs Sloane Stephens

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ

Denis Shapovalos vs Botic van de Zandschulp

COURT 1

Dayana Yastremska vs Ashlyn Krueger

COURT 7

Emiliana Arango vs Oksana Selekhmeteva

COURT 5

Janice Tjen vs Yulia Puntintseva

COURT 2

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli

COURT 3

Zhizhen Zhang vs Adrian Mannarino

COURT 6

Elena-Gabriela Ruse vs Antonia Ruzic

The players may not be on the courts in Miami, but they have still been able to speak to the press during the pre-tournament media days. And world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who is fresh off the back of a title win in Indian Wells, has threatened to skip one particular WTA 1000 tournament.

The Belarusian was expected to compete in Dubai last month, even turning up to the tournament site and practising, but ultimately withdrew, citing a hip injury. World No. 3 Iga Swiatek also withdrew, and at the time, tournament director Salah Tahlak told The National that the two players should be punished for skipping the event. “The reasons for withdrawal were a bit strange. Iga said she wasn’t mentally ready to compete, while Sabalenka said she has some minor injuries,” he said.

Sabalenka has now responded, and says she may never compete in Dubai again. “His comment was ridiculous. I'm not sure if I ever want to go there after his comment. For ‌me it's too much,” she said in Miami.

Read the full story here

Play at the Miami Open is currently delayed due to rain.

Most matches were scheduled to start at 11am local time / 3pm GMT, while Grandstand had a later start time of 12pm local / 4pm GMT.

However, no players have taken to the courts so far on Wednesday and matches continue to be postponed thanks to the unruly weather.

The latest update is no play before 3pm local time / 7pm GMT.

Currently, all scheduled matches are still expected to be played today. However, if delays continue, some may be pushed back to tomorrow.