The Sony Ericsson Open is an annual hard-court tennis tournament which is held in Key Biscayne, Florida. The event is second of the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and is a Premier Mandatory event on the women’s tour. The 12 day tournament boasts the participation of the top men’s and women’s players in the world. It is a must visit tennis event that takes place in Miami with a record 297,011 people visiting the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in 2008 and nearly 294,000 in 2009.

The event was originally known as Lipton International Players Championships. In 2002, the event was named as NASDAQ-100 Open. In 2007, the tournament was named as Sony Ericsson Open as the company has agreed to pay US$20 million over the next four years. The tournament is also known as Miami Masters. This is one of the few tournaments besides the Grand Slams where the main draw play extends beyond one week.

The tournament was founded by former player Butch Buchholz. In keeping the ambitions of its founders, the tournament is one of the most well-known and prestigious events on the tour, and is considered as ‘fifth major’ by many people. The Sony Ericsson Open was selected as ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the year for the fifth time in the past six seasons by the players.

Tournament facts –

Venue – Tennis Center at Crandon Park
Surface – Hard (Laykold) / Outdoors
Official Ball – Penn
Men’s Singles – 96 players
Women’s Singles – 96 players
Men’s Doubles – 32 pairs
Women’s Doubles – 32 pairs
Courts – There are 12 tennis courts at the venue, with a 13,300 seat Stadium court.
Winner of most Men’s Singles titles – Andre Agassi – 6 titles
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles – Steffi Graf and Serena Williams – 5 titles each.
Next Tournament - March 21, 2011
Past Winners – Andy Roddick

Western & Southern Financial Group Masters is also known as Cincinnati Masters. It is an annual outdoor hard-court tennis event which is held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.  This event began on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city. The tournament was first played at Avondale Athletic Club and since then the event has come a long way and is now a grand-scale ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

The men’s event is one of the nine Master’s 1000 tournaments on the ATP World Tour. The women’s event is a Premier 5 event on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and is the only WTA event held in American Midwest. In 2009 and 2010, men’s and women’s singles events will be played between August 8-23 in 2009 and August 7-22 in 2010. This is a back-to-back two week tournament, which will be held separately for men’s and women’s. But in 2011, the tournament for both will be played simultaneously in eight day’s span.

Tournament facts -

Venue - Lindner Family Tennis Center. This is the only venue outside the Grand Slams which consists of more than two permanent stadiums.
Surface – Hard / Outdoors
Official Ball – Penn
Men’s Singles – 56 players
Women’s Singles – 56 players
Men’s Doubles – 24 pairs
Women’s Doubles – 28 pairs
Courts – Matches are played on 4 to 5 courts.
Winner of most Men’s Singles titles - George Lott, Bobby Riggs, and Mats Wilander – 4 titles each.
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles - Ruth Sanders Cordes and Clara Louise Zinke – 5 titles each.
Next Men’s tournament – August 15, 2011.
Women’s tournament – August 7 to 15, 2010.
Past Winners – Roger Federer

The Shanghai Rolex Masters is an annual, outdoor hard-court tennis tournament which is held in Shanghai, China is an annual, outdoor hard-court tennis tournament which is held in Shanghai, China. The event is a part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and is held annually in October at Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Shanghai, China. The inaugural tournament took place between 11th October and 18th October 2009. In its inaugural year, the tournament was awarded as ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year, by the players themselves. Rolex has decided that it will continue its partnership with the Shanghai Masters as the Title sponsor of the event this year.

Shanghai has hosted the year ending tournament- Tennis Masters Cup five times, since 2002. The successful organization of Tennis Masters Cup reflected thoughtful services and splendid matches; and finally in April 2007, ATP and Shanghai sealed the deal that gave Shanghai, the rights to host the only Masters 1000 event outside Europe and North America. This meant that more than 100 professional tennis players displayed their skills in a 9-day thrilling event.

This is the only Masters 1000 event that takes place in Asia, thus the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 can be termed as a flagship event on the new Asia swing, as mentioned by the ATP in 2009, including other Asian tournaments like Bangkok, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai.

Tournament facts –

Venue - Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, Shanghai, China
Surface – Hard, DecoTurf
Men’s Singles – 56 singles
Men’s Doubles – 24 pairs
Courts – There are in all 25 tennis courts in the Qi Zhong tennis complex. The main court can hold around 15,000 spectators whereas a new Grand Stand Court 2 with a capacity of 5,000 people has also been built.
Current Champion – Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer.
Next Tournament – October 10, 2011

The Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open is an annual clay-court tennis tournament which is held in Madrid, Spain. The event boasts of world’s best male and female tennis players, and the tournament is classified as ATP World Tour Masters 1000 for men and a Premier Mandatory event on women’s circuit. The old “Masters Series de Madrid”, began back in 2002 and there has never been a same winner since then.

In August 2007, ATP and WTA Tour confirmed Madrid as the combined tournament for men and women, making it the only event in Europe in the mini Grand Slam category. With more than 7 million Euros to be won, the event plays host to some of the best tennis stars of the world. The tournament will be played at “La Caja Mágica” also known as The Magic Box, state-of- the art clay courts. The Mayor described the venue as one of the best sporting facilities in the world which will portray Madrid as a great global tennis capital.

Tournament facts –

Venue – Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain.
Surface – Clay / Outdoors
Tournament Director – Manolo Santana
Men’s Singles – 56 players
Women’s Singles – 60 players
Men’s Doubles – 24 pairs
Women’s Doubles – 28 pairs
Courts – There are 4 tennis courts at the venue and 2 training courts. The Manolo Santana is the center court with capacity of 12,500 persons.
Winner of most Men’s Singles titles – Roger Federer – 2 titles
Winner of most Women’s Singles titles – Dinara Safina – 1 title.
Next Tournament – May 2, 2011
Past Winners – Rafael Nadal