Laykold has been the official surface provider of the Miami Open for the past 38 years

However, the 2019 tournament’s move to Hard Rock Stadium, a multipurpose NFL Stadium and home to the Miami Dolphins, added another level of complexity and time challenges.

Then in 2022, the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix was added to the mix, necessitating a full court rebuild to repair the marks left by the 320kph racing track.

Challenge

This project had four major challenges to overcome:

Colors

The creation of a court color palette that would give the event a distinct Miami flavor, but at the same time deliver against the strict ball visibility requirements of Broadcast and meet player performance standards.

Pace Rating

There was a strong desire for court speed consistency between the venues with a ‘ITF 3 Medium’ Pace-Rating request. In 2022 the pace rating requirements changed again to ‘ITF 4 Medium Fast.’

Stadium within a stadium

As the official home of the Miami Dolphins, access to the venue was limited. Three weeks out from the tournament, we only had an asphalt base in stadium for the show courts. In 2023, the start of the Grand Prix just 5 weeks after the tournament, placed an additional time pressure post event to return the tennis venue back to an Formula 1 track.

Transformation of parking

With a requirement for additional courts, a huge transformation of the parking space around the stadium needed to take place. We could not begin installation work on nine of these courts until two months prior to the tournament commencing.

Approach

Laykold’s approach to delivering this project was technical and consultative to ensure a high performing result under very tight time constraints.

Colors

The color mixing needed to be 100% perfect to ensure accurate matching with existing surfaces. New color recommendations had to be based on Laykold’s understanding of color performance against the environmental conditions in the region.

As a result, Laykold:

• applied 11 color matches

• explored 24 color combinations

• trialed colors on three test courts

• completed one full court mock-up

Colors were also reviewed by players and tested by Broadcast for TV viewing visibility.

Pace Rating

To achieve the initial desired ‘ITF 3 Medium’ Pace-Rating and then the increased court speed rating of ‘ITF 4 Medium Fast’ in 2023, Laykold customized our product mix and installation methods to achieve the right ball speed for the tournament.

Stadium within a Stadium

With only the asphalt base three weeks prior to the tournament starting, a quick turnaround from Team Laykold and installation partner FastDry Courts meant the courts were ready in time.

Transformation of Parking

Laykold converted the outdoor parking area at Hard Rock Stadium into 18 practice and 11 tournament courts.

• Nine courts could not be installed until two months prior to tournament starting

• Quick turnaround from Team Laykold installation partner Fast-Dry Courts

• At conclusion of tournament, courts were transformed back to parking for Hard Rock Stadium.

Result

The 2019 Miami Open was successfully delivered as a high end, 5th Major ATP tennis tournament in record time. It had some of the highest fan attendance figures in history.

Player feedback has been very positive around court consistency and speed. With the repeat winner of the 2019 tournament, Roger Federer, saying “I really think it’s actually pretty good.”

The new Miami Open court colors; Laykold Oasis Blue & Biscayne Blue were the talk of the tournament among tennis enthusiasts and spectators. Perfectly capturing the sea, the sky and the sizzle of ‘Hard Rock’ tennis.

Laykold developed new technology, which will allow court coatings to be laid on new asphalt within a reduced time period. This Laykold innovation has been at the heart of bringing tennis to a thrilling new venue, which keeps the game innovating and developing.