Miami Open presented by Itaú kicks off with fashion, food, cheer, dance, and plenty of tennis
Mar 17, 2025
The Miami Open presented by Itaú hosted a special media event on the tournament’s Opening Day to highlight campus updates, exciting new activations on-site and standout food and beverage options, all expertly curated in collaboration with Sodexo Live!. And that's not all — there was also a stunning fashion show at the fountains on-site.
Above: A look at Sunday's fashion show. Photo credit: Miami Open presented by Itaú.
Florida Tennis was on the scene. And we had the opportunity to participate in some delicious food and beverage tastings showcasing a variety of new and returning offerings available across the campus. We sampled all the food and some truly tasty beverages — the Miami Open is bringing some flavor this year! Check out our photo gallery below to see some of the treats available to attendees the next two weeks at the Hard Rock Stadium.
We also ran into Tournament Director James Blake who recently did the Florida Tennis Podcast and provided an exclusive interview with Florida Tennis contributor Adam Ross. Blake said he was impressed with the new issue of Florida Tennis and was excited to see Madison Keys on the cover.
Above: Miami Open Tournament Director James Blake loves the new issue of Florida Tennis. Photo credit: Adam Ross for Florida Tennis.
Afterwards, we got a chance to view an exclusive fashion show — and the event was packed. The fashion show offered spectators a first look at the new merchandise line from the Miami Open Shop and Lacoste. It also featured a very cool breakdancer and the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders who closed the show. We're definitely swinging by the shops on-site to pick up some gear this week!
Fans were back in full force to check out the tennis as well. We even got a chance to see Novak Djokovic practicing inside the stadium and Jasmine Paolini working (extremely hard) on her fitness routine in the scorching heat. These two are definitely serious about going far in the draw this year. Yesterday's Opening Day festivities were presented by bakerly.
Above: Poppin' and lockin' at the Miami Open Fashion Show. Instagram: Florida Tennis.
On-court action kicked off with WTA qualifying matches. An all-American contest was one of headliners of the day, with 24-year-old and former Wimbledon junior champion Clare Liu upsetting top seed Caroline Dolehide. Eight of the top 10 seeds were victorious. The second round of qualifying will take place today, with the 12 winners advancing to the main draw.
Meanwhile, the men kick things off today with some great matches. There will be 36 singles matches on today’s schedule with the ATP beginning their qualifying. Eight Americans will compete in the first round qualifying matches. In addition, the ATP’s singles main draw will be revealed during a special event mid-afternoon.
For ongoing updates and additional coverage from the Florida Tennis team on-site, check out Florida Tennis on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook — we're also posting (and updating) the Order of Play and Match Results on our social media channels as well.
Photo Gallery
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Above: Sampling all the food options available at the Miami Open — yummm!!! Photo credit: Adam Ross for Florida Tennis. Article written by Florida Tennis Editor and Publisher Matt Pressman with additional coverage from Florida Tennis Associate Editor Osvaldo Godoy and Florida Tennis Contributor Adam Ross. Photo credit (top): Miami Open presented by Itaú.