{"id":205314,"date":"2026-03-25T11:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205314\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:13:17","slug":"in-tennis-home-advantage-is-complicated-at-the-miami-open-it-is-no-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/205314\/","title":{"rendered":"In tennis, home advantage is complicated. At the Miami Open, it is no different"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 \u201cWhat do you think? Do you like them?\u201d Tommy Paul<\/a> asked last week, as the rain fell on the Miami Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was talking about his new camouflage tennis look that New Balance has thought up for him. It\u2019s not the usual look for a tennis player \u2014 a trucker cap with a camo brim and front, and a similar color scheme on his shoes.<\/p>\n

But Paul isn\u2019t the usual tennis player. He loves the outdoors, likes to fish and hunt. He loves camouflage, and really just about anything that flicks at the outdoor life. New Balance even put its logo in orange on the hat and the shoes, just like the deer hunters have on their outfits to avoid getting shot accidentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a couple of years in the works, and I\u2019m just pumped,\u201d Paul said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul played his way into the Miami quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-3 thumping of Tom\u00e1s Mart\u00edn Etcheverry of Argentina, and after what unfolded for his compatriots Tuesday, a few of them might want to consider some camouflage.<\/p>\n

The day had started with such promise for the believers in America\u2019s tennis present and future.<\/p>\n

Five U.S. men had landed in the Miami Open round of 16 for the first time in three decades. One of them, Sebastian Korda<\/a>, got there by knocking off the world No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, in a three-set scrap Sunday afternoon. It thrilled the Hard Rock Stadium crowd as American men have rarely done in recent years. All five played in the daytime, before Coco Gauff headlined the night session \u2014 into the quarterfinals of her hometown tournament for the first time.<\/p>\n

All six of the Americans in action Tuesday were Floridians. Four are true locals, who get to sleep in their own beds during this tournament, though the hometown cooking only counts for so much in Miami, informally known as the northern capital of Latin America.<\/p>\n

Alex Michelsen, a transplanted Floridian originally from California, got a taste of that Monday, shushing a crowd that was loudly in the tank for Alejandro Tabilo of Chile after a three-set win. Michelsen\u2019s reward was a round-of-16 meeting with Jannik Sinner.<\/p>\n

He fought nobly, and even served for the second set, but Sinner\u2019s defense and pace proved too much. He broke Michelsen back, before prevailing in a tiebreak that started with a great escape after the American botched a routine overhead for a 7-5, 7-6(4) win.<\/p>\n

By the time it was all over, a day that began full of hope but turned ugly in the afternoon ended on a series of highs, with Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Gauff winning three of the last four matches. As night fell, there were three wins, three losses, one spasming back, an aching knee, and three tennis reclamation projects \u2014 Paul, Tiafoe and Gauff \u2014 gaining steam.<\/p>\n

Monday, Tiafoe had saved two match points before prevailing 13-11 in a third-set tiebreak against defending champion Jakub Mens\u00edk. Tuesday against the dangerous T\u00e9rence Atmane, he was down 0-40 at 4-4 in the third set. He stopped making errors, started landing first serves, climbed out of the hole, and broke Atmane in the next game to make the quarterfinals here for the first time with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I was thinking about was trying to win this point,\u201d Tiafoe said of the moment when he was just about done. \u201cIt\u2019s also not making the moments bigger than what they actually are. Just try to focus on what it takes to win and not the win itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will face Sinner Wednesday. A tall task, even for a local, but Tiafoe isn\u2019t counting himself out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe puts his socks and undies on just like I do,\u201d he said of the Italian world No 2.<\/p>\n

Tiafoe had an advantage over Korda. He was playing a Frenchman in Atmane. Korda faced Martin Landaluce of Spain \u2014 and vociferous support from the stands.<\/p>\n

Serving up match point in a second-set tiebreak, Korda missed on his first ball because it caught the tape. He sent his second one kicking into the service box and up at the eyes of Landaluce, the 20-year-old world No. 151 who came through qualifying. For the third time in the match \u2014 it didn\u2019t work the first two times \u2014 the Spaniard jumped into the backhand return, swung about as hard as he could, and ripped the ball across the court. Korda never had a chance.<\/p>\n

Korda lost the next two points and the set. Landaluce let out a roar of \u201cVamos!\u201d. Korda waved a finger at the chair umpire, calling for the trainer. A minute later, he was lying beside the court on his belly, receiving treatment for the sore back that has been bothering him for more than a month \u2014 the latest ailment in a string of injuries the past three years.<\/p>\n

Landaluce broke an ailing Korda\u2019s serve in the second game of the third set, let him back in midway through, then broke a final time to seal a 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 comeback that would have made his idol, Rafael Nadal, proud.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was guessing T, I was going out wide and clipped the top of the net,\u201d Korda said in an interview after a cool-down. \u201cOtherwise, an hour and a half ago, I would have been in the locker room, happy and recovering for my next match. But, you know, that\u2019s the way tennis works. It\u2019s not always perfect. It doesn\u2019t always work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landaluce credited the charge to a crowd whose support leaned his way for most of the late morning and afternoon, filling the stands with \u201cOl\u00e9\u201d cheers and rattling the metal bleachers when matters got tight in the third set.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo win this way feels incredible. The Spaniards have that spirit \u2014 (Juan Carlos) Ferrero, (David) Ferrer, Nadal and Carlitos (Alcaraz),\u201d Landaluce said at the end. \u201cWhen I found myself in that situation, I told myself that I had to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landaluce has been training with Nadal at his Mallorca academy since he was 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo speak with him, get some of his tips, watch him practice day by day, I think that that got into my head,\u201d Landaluce, who was among the last players to get into the qualifying tournament here, said in his news conference. \u201cI was 15 or 16, and he would play with me like a top one. He was giving everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a couple of tennis generations since the American men had a role model like that.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s last two male Grand Slam winners, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, largely disappeared from the sport for more than a decade post-retirement and have only recently reemerged. During that time, young American women had Serena and Venus Williams to look up to, and those two have spawned another generation of Grand Slam winners and finalists, including Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Sofia Kenin and Gauff.<\/p>\n

\"Frances<\/p>\n

\n Frances Tiafoe reached the Miami Open quarterfinals with a win over T\u00e9rence Atmane of France. (Matthew Stockman \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz has come pretty close to getting to the top of the mountain without a near-contemporary as a role model, making the U.S. Open final in 2024. But he came into this season struggling with tendonitis in his right knee. He\u2019s been trying to play through it, and lately it\u2019s looked that way. He didn\u2019t have much lift on his serve. He was slow to switch direction and gave up on balls he often tries to chase.<\/p>\n

Fritz didn\u2019t want to blame his knee for his round of 16 loss to Ji\u0159\u00ed Lehe\u010dka, who beat him 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2, holding his serve all afternoon. He said all the right things. They played at a high level. Lehe\u010dka was better. The match turned on a couple of break points that the Czech won and he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Then, just as quickly, Fritz weighed the costs and benefits of taking time off. He said he needed to talk to his team before committing to his next tournament. The clay is coming, which will be softer on his knee, but harder on his tennis. He hates to sit out and watch the competition pile up ranking points, and he has been told that keeping the knee moving will irritate it less, not more.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a big risk to all that, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I do that and it doesn\u2019t work out, then I\u2019m in a really bad spot come grass-court season, when I really need to be healed,\u201d Fritz said during an interview. A few minutes later, he was off to figure out what comes next.<\/p>\n

By then, Michelsen was on his way to losing to Sinner and it was up to Gauff to give the Americans one win on Hard Rock Stadium. She came out hitting hard and smoking against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Gauff has long wanted to win the Miami Open more than any tournament other than a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

She grew up an hour north of its venue, in Delray Beach. She is a massive fan of the NFL\u2019s Miami Dolphins, who play in the stadium from August to January. Familiar faces fill the crowd. She gets to drive her own car to her matches if she wants. She\u2019s a crowd favorite most places she plays, but especially in Miami.<\/p>\n

That helped her overcome Bencic\u2019s beguiling brand of low topspin and her ability to take the ball on the rise and take time away from her opponents. It may be just a split second, but it\u2019s often enough to take opponents out of their comfort zones, especially someone like Gauff, who thrives with a little extra time to set up her groundstrokes.<\/p>\n

For a while there, it looked like it was going to be too much for Gauff. Her first serve, which has been a limiting factor these past months, kept her in the match and her north-south movement got her over the line.<\/p>\n

Bencic broke early in the third set, but her intensity dropped as she tried to manage apparent menstrual cramps. Gauff stormed back to take a 5-3 lead, running from corner to corner to chase down Bencic\u2019s still-rolling groundstrokes. An ace got her to match point. Then she kicked in a second serve, then worked a rally around to punch a volley into an open court for the 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was down to who could be more physical,\u201d said Gauff, who is in her first Miami semifinal Thursday against Karol\u00edna Muchov\u00e1. That matchup, in which she has a 5-0 head-to-head record, suits her in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like when I played Alycia (Parks) in this 7 p.m. match a couple days ago, it felt a little dead, but I think it was because we were both American,\u201d Gauff said of the crowd after her win over Bencic. \u201cWhen they have, like, a clearer person to root for, they\u2019re much more energetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two more Americans who are also transplanted Floridians will try to join her Wednesday: Jessica Pegula faces Elena Rybakina and Hailey Baptiste will take on world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

Like Tiafoe, Gauff had the advantage of being the undisputed crowd favorite. Paul did not.<\/p>\n

As the fans helped Etcheverry wake up early in the second set, Paul realized he\u2019d better snuff them out when he could.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd was starting to get involved, and I didn\u2019t want that at all,\u201d said Paul, who faces Arthur Fils of France Wednesday. \u201cI started throwing some stuff at him that I hadn\u2019t done so far. Tried to be a little bit less predictable, and it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe it was the camouflage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 \u201cWhat do you think? Do you like them?\u201d Tommy Paul asked last week, as the rain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1209,123,125,124,32029],"class_list":{"0":"post-205314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-miami","10":"tag-miami-headlines","11":"tag-miami-news","12":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}