The Fifth Slam?

Written by: Staff on 30th March 2012

The Fifth Slam? |

It comes up every year around this time. Is Miami the “fifth
Slam”? That is, is this — long the largest tournament after
the Slams — in the same league as the “Big Four”?

Many people give dogmatic responses. In fact, the matter is
complicated, especially on the WTA side, because Miami’s
status has changed. Until a few years ago, it was “just
another Tier I.” Then it became the only mandatory non-Slam,
giving it a special elevated status. But as of 2009, there
are three other mandatory events, so it in fact has lost
some importance compared to other events. So we’ll try for
something a little more nuanced: Our answer is “It is and it
isn’t.”

In some ways, Miami has actually become more like the Slams
in the past decade or so: On the women’s side, it is now
required, just as they are Slams. Again, the Slams now have
32 seeds, as Miami has had for years. Miami now starts on
Tuesday, making it 13 days long — only one day shorter than
some of the Slams.

On the other hand, the Slams are all currently 128 draws,
and Miami is 96. (We should note, of course, that the Slams
have used other formats in the past.) The men’s matches at
Miami are best of three, not best of five. The Slams offer
mixed doubles; Miami no longer does, though it did in the
past. And, since 2004, Indian Wells follows the same format
(96-draws for both men and women) that Miami has used for
years. So there is still a “format difference” between the
Slams and Miami, and the format at Miami no longer sets it
apart from all other regular Tour events.

Until recently, there hadn’t been much difference between
the Miami and Slam fields. For the men, Miami is often
stronger than Wimbledon; clay-courters often find an excuse
to skip the grass season, but they don’t skip spring
hardcourts. On the women’s side, until 2004, Miami was
stronger than the Australian Open; a lot of top women
skipped Melbourne (in 2002 and 2003, it was Jelena Dokic,
and Amelie Mauresmo was also out in the latter year; in the
past, it’s been the serve-and-volleyers, Jana Novotna and
Nathalie Tauziat). Even as recently as 2007, Justine Henin
skipped the Australian Open (admittedly for personal
reasons) but played Miami.

In 2004, with Henin not playing and Kim Clijsters injured,
Miami lost a bit on the women’s side. Lindsay Davenport
backed out in 2005, based on a superstitious history of
injuries (even though her track record says she could have
avoided the injuries just as easily by skipping Indian
Wells). On the other hand, Miami is almost the only non-Slam
where both Williams Sisters play when they’re healthy.

But there is another measure of how strong Miami is: The
players who have won it. Let’s take a look. We’ll cut off
the list at 1987. Prior to that, there was a large “Lipton
Championships,” but it wasn’t at the current site.

Men’s Winners:
2011: Novak Djokovic
2010: Andy Roddick
2009: Andy Murray
2008: Nikolay Davydenko
2007: Novak Djokovic
2006: Roger Federer
2005: Roger Federer
2004: Andy Roddick
2003: Andre Agassi
2002: Andre Agassi
2001: Andre Agassi
2000: Pete Sampras
1999: Richard Krajicek
1998: Marcelo Rios
1997: Thomas Muster
1996: Andre Agassi
1995: Andre Agassi
1994: Pete Sampras
1993: Pete Sampras
1992: Michael Chang
1991: Jim Courier
1990: Andre Agassi
1989: Ivan Lendl
1988: Mats Wilander
1987: Miroslav Mecir

Women’s Winners:
2011: Victoria Azarenka
2010: Kim Clijsters
2009: Victoria Azarenka
2008: Serena Williams
2007: Serena Williams
2006: Svetlana Kuznetsova
2005: Kim Clijsters
2004: Serena Williams
2003: Serena Williams
2002: Serena Williams
2001: Venus Williams
2000: Martina Hingis
1999: Venus Williams
1998: Venus Williams
1997: Martina Hingis
1996: Steffi Graf
1995: Steffi Graf
1994: Steffi Graf
1993: Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
1992: Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
1991: Monica Seles
1990: Monica Seles
1989: Gabriela Sabatini
1988: Steffi Graf
1987: Steffi Graf

Until 2009, the picture for the women was pretty clear:
Every player who has won Miami in its time in Key Biscayne
has been a Slam winner (though some had not yet won a Slam
at the time of their victory), and all but Gabriela Sabatini
won multiple Slams, and all but Sabatini and Svetlana
Kuznetsova spent time as the world’s #1. This extends before
1987, we might add; before that, Chris Evert and Martina
Navratilova took home titles in Florida. This isn’t true for
the other Tier I (Premier Mandatory/Premier Five) events, as
the following list shows:

Indian Wells: Caroline Wozniacki took home the trophy in
2011, Jelena Jankovic won it in 2010, Vera Zvonareva won in
2009 (the first-ever Premier/Tier I Mandatory other than
Miami itself), and Daniela Hantuchova won it in 2002 and
2007 before it became required

Madrid: It has been played as a Premier event only three
times, but Dinara Safina won it in 2009 and Aravane Rezai in
2010.

Beijing is also new to top-tier status, but Wozniacki won it
in 2010, and Agnieszka Radwanska in 2011 — plus Jelena
Jankovic won it in 2008 when it was a Tier II that knew it
would be upgraded to a Premier Mandatory.

Doha, won by Victoria Azarenka, is in its first year as a
Premier Five. Admittedly it also had a year at that status
in 2008, when Maria Sharapova won it. But Vera Zvonareva,
e.g., won it in 2011 when the tier was lower.

Dubai, a one-time Premier Five in 2011 (now back to a lower
tier), was won by Caroline Wozniacki in 2011.

Rome: Jelena Dokic won Rome in 2001 and Jankovic took the
title in 2007 and 2008; Safina won in 2009; Maria Jose
Martinez Sanchez won it in 2010.

Canadian Open: Pam Shriver won the Canadian Open in 1987,
Safina claimed the title in 2008, Elena Dementieva in 2009,
and Wozniacki in 2010.

Cincinnati is only three years old as a Premier Five, but
already it has a non-Slam winner: Jankovic took home the
title in 2009.

Pan Pacific: Kimiko Date won in 1995, Dementieva in 2006,
Safina in 2008, Wozniacki in 2010, Radwanska in 2011.

Berlin (since downgraded, and then dropped from the
calendar): Mary Joe Fernandez won in 1997, Nadia Petrova won
there in 2006, and Safina in 2008.

Charleston (since downgraded): Petrova won Charleston in
2006, Jankovic won it in 2007, and Amanda Coetzer won it at
its old Hilton Head site in 1998.

Moscow (since downgraded): Nathalie Tauziat won Moscow in
1999, Dokic won it in 2001, Magdalena Maleeva took home the
title in 2002, Anna Chakvetadze in 2006, Dementieva in 2007,
and Jankovic in 2008 in its last year as a Tier I (making it
evidently the easiest Tier I for a lesser player to win).

San Diego (eliminated; now re-established at a lower tier):
This event had Slam winners every year for its final ten
years, but back in its Tier II days, Kimiko Date won it in
1996.

Zurich (downgraded, then eliminated): Magdalena Maleeva won
it in 1994 and Alicia Molik in 2004.

It’s a pretty clear picture: Every Premier Mandatory/Premier
Five that has been in existence for at least three years has
produced at least one winner who never won a Slam.

Until 2009, when Victoria Azarenka won the title, Miami was
the only exception. Is it coincidence that Miami had its
first non-Slam champion in the same year that three other
events became mandatory, and five others became
near-mandatory? Well, yes, it probably is partly
coincidence. But it’s certainly interesting. In any case,
Azarenka has now cured her slamlessness. So we’re back in
the situation where every Miami winner is a Slam winner.

The men were never as clear-cut; 1998 Miami champion Marcelo
Rios never won a Slam, but he was #1; 1987 winner Mecir
never won a Slam, but had assorted finals and would have
been a genuine candidate except for his back problems —
and, in any case, that was more than twenty years ago. It
was 2008 which gave us our real oddball winner: Nikolay
Davydenko has never been #1, and is highly unlikely to gain
that ranking; he has never won a Slam, and although he was
considered a serious contender a couple of years ago, his
body seems to be breaking down on him. Then, in 2009, Andy
Murray won Miami, and he has never won a Slam either. Every
other Miami winner has won Slams; most of them have multiple
Slams. Even with those exceptions, Miami has the strongest
list of winners of any of the Masters. We’d have to say: If
you’re good enough to win Miami, you’re probably good enough
to win Slams.

But, even with the men, it’s fascinating to see that
2008-2009 gave us our first-ever instance of back-to-back
winners who were Slamless. And while Andy Murray may yet win
a Slam, it seems highly unlikely, now, that Nikolay
Davydenko will.

So we’d have to say that, at least these days, Miami is not
really the Fifth Slam. Although, historically, it has had
fields at least as strong as the Slams, under the rules it
is simply another tournament for the men — “just” another
Masters. In terms of points, it is exactly identical to the
other eight Masters on the men’s side. It’s one of four
Premier Mandatory events on the women’s side. In the past,
you could almost as well call San Diego or
Filderstadt/Stuttgart the Fifth Slam. And from now on, we’ll
have to see how the other Premier Mandatory events do in
terms of champions. As for the men, with injuries being what
they are, it’s hard to get any required event up to full
strength. The flip side is, Miami had the entire Top 25 this
year — and even so, three of the Big Four made it to the
semifinal.

KEYWORDS: Miami Fifth Slam

Topics: Miami, Sony Ericsson Open