Sandwiched between the Australian Open hard court Grand Slam and the European clay court season leading up to the French, consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami provide tennis fans with a 5th Grand Slam of sorts. After all, winning both events (a.k.a. the "double") is equivalent to winning a major (2000 ranking points). The size of the draw for both events is the biggest outside of the slams - 96 players in a 128-player grid, with first round byes for the top 32 seeds.
Over the last ten years, only two players have won the Indian Wells-Miami double: Andre Agassi in 2001, and world No. 1 Roger Federer in 2005 and 2006. It's interesting to note that Federer has been shut out of the Indian Wells and Miami winners' circle since then. World No. 2 Novak Djokovic has won both events, but not in the same year.
Here is the complete list of winners from 2000-2009:
Year - Indian Wells - Miami
2009 - Rafael Nadal - Andy Murray
2008 - Novak Djokovic - Nikolay Davydenko
2007 - Rafael Nadal - Novak Djokovic
2006 - Roger Federer - Roger Federer
2005 - Roger Federer - Roger Federer
2004 - Andy Roddick - Roger Federer
2003 - Andre Agassi - Lleyton Hewitt
2002 - Andre Agassi - Lleyton Hewitt
2001 - Andre Agassi - Andre Agassi
2000 - Pete Sampras - Alex Corretja
Can Roger do the "double" again this year, let alone win either one after a 3-year drought? Or will Djokovic, Nadal or Murray do the trick? Game on!
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