The Miami Open celebrates its 40th anniversary this week. Here’s a trip down memory lane
The swirling wind and bitter cold are what Martina Navratilova and Tim Mayotte remember most about the inaugural Lipton International Players Championship, which was held in Delray Beach at Laver’s International Tennis Resort in February 1985.
The facilities were modest, to say the least, with a trailer serving as the hospitality area, a far cry from Hard Rock Stadium, where the tournament is celebrating its 40th anniversary this week. But the event was revolutionary.
It was the first time in 56 years that a new two-week tournament was added to the professional tennis calendar, and the first to include men and women outside the four Grand Slam events. It was an instant hit. Attendance for two weeks was 125,817, exceeding any golf or tennis event that had ever been held in Florida.
Navratilova, then the top-ranked player in the world, beat Chris Evert 6-2, 6-4 in the final in front of a sold-out crowd and ABC-TV cameras. Mayotte outlasted Scott Davis in the five-set men’s final for the biggest win and paycheck ($112,500) of his career at that time, unaware that his parents had flown in from Springfield, Mass., to watch.
The two inaugural champions and tournament founder Butch Buchholz reminisced about that first incarnation of the event earlier this week before being honored on Stadium Court.
Mayotte, 64, recalled that it was so cold during one match that he wore a full sweatsuit and there was a drunk fan in the stands who stayed until the end.
“There was a 50 mile per-hour wind, and I would hit the ball outside of the alley and it would come in,’’ said Mayotte. “There was one guy in the crowd sitting there and every time I’d win a point, he was so drunk, he’d yell, ‘Way to go mayonnaise.”
Navratilova, the 68-year-old 18-time Grand Slam champion, also remembers the windy conditions in Delray that week 40 years ago.
“Back then we didn’t have the materials to wear that they have now, so we were freezing our butts off,” she said. And she was on the court more than any other player because she played, and won, in women’s singles, women’s doubles with Gigi Fernandez and mixed doubles with Heinz Gunthardt.
As for the final win over Evert, Navratilova did not remember much. The two played each other 80 times over 16 years.
“I just know I won, but we played so many times,” she said. “Some you remember more than others. I remember most of the losses, but I don’t even remember all of those.”
Mayotte said having a Navratilova-Evert final on ABC in the afternoon was key in giving the new tournament credibility.
“Chris and Martina’s match was a huge success, and I think it really set the stage for this tournament,” Mayotte said. “It made a statement that this tournament is a big deal and is here to stay.”
The tournament was the brainchild of Buchholz, who had been barnstorming around the country with fellow players Barry MacKay, Pancha Segura, Pancho Gonzales, and others, making some money at the sport while entertaining crowds.
Buchholz dreamed of a professional tournament for the players, similar to the Professional Golf Association’s The Players Championship. He remembers MacKay one day pounding on a table, declaring that one day they would have a $100,000 tournament.
This year, the men’s and women’s Miami Open champions will earn $1.1 million.
“I was running the ATP at the time, and I really felt the players should have their own big event sort of copying what the PGA did with the Players Championship,” Buchholz said. “They just celebrated their 51st tournament. We’ve done 40. I can’t believe it’s been 40.
“I was a little brave. I told the local politicians, `I’m going to put together a 15-year deal and I’ll build a stadium.’ I wasn’t sure how I’d build it, but getting the women together with the men was the right product.”
It became the first big co-ed tournament outside the four Grand Slam tournaments. Of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments now, seven are co-ed.
After the first year, the tournament moved to the Boca West Resort. Evert won the women’s title, and Ivan Lendl won the men’s. There were plans to move the event to Weston, but that fell through.
Merrett Stierheim, the longtime county manager of Miami-Dade County, had just been named CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association and he suggested Buchholz move the tournament to Miami.
“Merrett said, `Butch, you need to go look at Miami,’ and in my mind, if you got past Fort Lauderdale, you needed a machine gun,” Buchholz, 84, joked. “But, so I did. I went down and he set up meetings for me with the Parks Department people.”
They took him to four sites. He did not like the first three.
“Then, they said, `Well, alright, we’re going to take you to one more, but you’re not gonna like this,” Buchholz said. “Well, we go over the Rickenbacker Bridge and then we stop at this garbage dump that had been there for 30 some-odd years.
“I’m looking across the street and there’s 7,000 parking spots, and I thought,`That’ll solve the parking situation.’ Then they took me on site and I see a dead dog, all sorts of [discarded] refrigerators and cars. It was a dump. The smell was terrible. I said, `We can change this,’ and he said, `We’ve been trying for 30 years to figure out what to do with this,’ I said, “This is perfect because it set the tone. You go over that bridge to get there, and then going home you’ve got the skyline.”
Buchholz sold the tournament to IMG in 2000 and remained heavily involved for the next decade.
The tournament changed sponsors over the years, but remained a fixture in Key Biscayne, drawing huge, spirited crowds until 2018.
The list of winners includes the biggest names in the sport: On the men’s side, Lendl, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray. On the women’s side, Navratilova, Evert, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters.
A dispute with Bruce Matheson, whose family owned the land on Key Biscayne, could not be resolved after years in court and the tournament had to find a fourth home.
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross stepped up and suggested the idea of hosting the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium. It has been there since 2019.
As Buchholz walked through Hard Rock Stadium this week, he marveled at all the player amenities.
“There was a big sign that said, `Recovery Room,’ and I said, `What’s that?’’’ he said, smiling. “They told me that’s where players come recover after matches. I said, `Back in the day, we got a six-pack.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 3:47 PM.