Blake: "Last year I learned that Fonseca is unique here in Miami"

Andrés Tomás Rico | 19 Mar 2026 | 19.25

Blake: "Last year I learned that Fonseca is unique here in Miami." Photo: Getty Images

Streaming Challenger Vicenza live tennis

🎾 Lautaro Midon vs Joao Lucas Reis da Silva

Sign up with Bet365 here
Make your first deposit of at least €5
Go to the “Live” section and watch every match

Watch the match on Bet365

James Blake has not had the start to the Miami Open that he was hoping for. The storms that have hit the coast of Florida have forced part of Wednesday's schedule to be suspended and rescheduled for a tight Wednesday. This poses a real headache for the organization and needs the green light from players, WTA, ATP, and TV.

This was confirmed by Blake himself in an interview on Andy Roddick's YouTube channel. There, the former world number one asked him several questions about the intense days he is experiencing in Miami. The former tennis player confessed the difficulties of leading one of the most important tournaments in the world, as well as sharing the lesson he learned from last year when the tournament security recommended not placing Joao Fonseca on outdoor courts due to the large number of Brazilian compatriots crowding the court and its surroundings.

James Blake, Miami Open tournament director talks about the masses moved by Joao Fonseca in Florida

"I learned last year, and I learned the lesson, that Joao Fonseca is unique here in Miami. We have had incredible draws here. We have had Roger, Rafa, Novak, all the best players. We had Juan Martín del Potro, who was extremely popular. But Fonseca is different."

"I had never received a security warning for any of them as happened with him last year. That enthusiasm was different. And we will see if this year he continues, because no one has hit the court yet due to rain, and he has not played here this year. So we'll see how long this lasts, not only for his tennis achievements, because he was on the central court before many much more established players. People with better resumes, who have achieved more here and in their careers. That's where you have to make that decision."

The same happens with Eala and the Filipino public

"She is also a phenomenon and has fans from all over the world now. This makes you have to readjust your criteria. When I started in this tournament, I felt I was looking more at the strictly tennis background: this player has two Grand Slams, this one has four, so the one with four goes to the center court and the one with two goes to the Grandstand. It was a logic very based on the track record. With Fonseca, that changed a bit because of how popular he is here in Miami. I can't speak for other tournaments, because I don't know if it's the same in Rome or Shanghai, but here in Miami, it's unique."

The challenge of scheduling in a Masters 1000 and a WTA 1000 tournament

"Every day we receive requests from agents, sometimes from the players themselves, sometimes from agents on their behalf, saying, 'So-and-so doesn't want to play at this time.' It's incredible: no one wants to play the first match and no one wants to play the last. Everyone wants to play the second, third, or fourth, and there are only a few slots like that. So we have to decide who we are going to please, who we are going to leave a little annoyed, and how all of that fits into our master schedule, which we defined months ago: which ATP matches go to the main court and when, and which WTA matches go to the main court and when."

"We have to fit all of that and also make sure it fits the media because they need to keep a continuous line. The international signal needs continuity. I can't put all the women's matches first and then all the men's matches, because then the global signal from the WTA side would be without a match, there would be a gap. So we have to figure out how to fit this little puzzle. And that's exactly what I'm about to do."

His greatest challenges as the Miami tournament director

"I have said many times that practically every year something new arises. So I would say that probably the biggest one was last year with Fonseca, because of everything related to his fans, the security madness, and something we had never experienced."

"Before that, I would say it was the tragedy of Aryna Sabalenka's ex-boyfriend happening during the Miami Open. We had to do something that at that time had no precedent: completely change the schedule to allow her to keep competing. So yes, something new comes up every year. This year it was the torrential rain at the start and some issues with the main court. We have to adapt to everything."

On the most surreal request he has received from a player

"I am definitely not going to give names, but probably the craziest was from someone who got quite upset because we didn't allow them to enter through the entire Hard Rock Stadium with their electric scooter, because they wanted to ride around everywhere."

"You have to understand that there are thousands of people passing through those hallways all the time, and you can't speed around there. Plus, it's a liability risk. So no, you can't bring your electric scooter and ride it through the stadium to the court or the training courts. No. That could not be allowed," confessed a James Blake who is facing a few days of hard work because of the non-stop rain in Miami.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Blake: "El año pasado aprendí que Fonseca es único aquí en Miami"