5 men's players to win Australian Open and triumph at either Indian Wells Masters or Miami Open in 21st century ft. Andre Agassi, Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner has continued his impressive run on the 2024 ATP tour and won his second Masters 1000 title at the Miami Open on March 31.
Jannik Sinner was seeded No. 2 at the 2024 Miami Open and stitched together a dream run to win the tournament. In the title contest, he bettered a resurgent Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets (6-3, 6-1) by converting four breakpoints in the match.
With this triumph at the Miami Open, Jannik Sinner became the fifth man in the 21st century to win the Australian Open and either the Indian Wells Masters or the Miami Open in the same year. Here is the list of men who have achieved this impressive feat.
#5 Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner skipped the warm-up tournaments to the Australian Open and went directly to Melbourne to kick off his 2024 campaign. At the year's first Grand Slam, the young Italian was seeded No. 4 and routed Botic van de Zandschulp, Jesper De Jong, Sebastian Baez, Karen Khachanov, Andrey Rublev, defending champion Novak Djokovic, and Daniil Medvedev to win his maiden Major title.
In the Sunshine Double, the 22-year-old reached the semifinal at the Indian Wells Masters and won the Miami Open. Jannik Sinner defeated Andrea Vavassori, Tallon Griekspoor, Christopher O'Connell, Tomas Machac, Medvedev, and Dimitrov to lift the title in Florida.
Before his Miami Open title this year, Jannik Sinner had reached the final of the tournament in 2021 and 2023.
#4 Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal added his name to the list of players to win in Melbourne and either Indian Wells or Miami in 2009. The Spaniard was the top seed at the 2009 Australian Open and did not drop a set until his semifinal match against compatriot Fernando Verdasco. Nadal survived the five-set marathon against Verdasco and endured another five-setter against No. 2 seed Roger Federer to win his maiden Australian Open.
Nadal continued his good form at the Indian Wells Masters. Again, as the top seed, Nadal dropped only one set to win his second title in the Californian desert. He bettered the likes of David Nalbandian, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Roddick, and Andy Murray.
#3 Andre Agassi
American tennis legend Andre Agassi was the first man to emerge victorious in Australia and the Sunshine Double in a single calendar year. In fact, he did it twice. Agassi defended his title at the 2001 Australian Open by defeating Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the title contest.
He then competed at the Sunshine Double in 2001, beating Pete Sampras in the final of the Indian Wells Masters and Jan-Michael Gambill in the Miami Open title contest.
Two years later, Agassi won his fourth and final title at the Australian Open and triumphed at the 2003 Miami Open, where he was the two-time defending champion. This was Agassi's sixth title at the ATP 1000 tournament in Florida.
#2 Roger Federer
Roger Federer did one better than Andre Agassi when it came to succeeding at the Australian Open and Sunshine Double in the same year. The Swiss icon followed Agassi's lead in this category by winning the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters in 2004.
Federer completed the title trinity in 2006, defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the Melbourne title contest, James Blake in the Indian Wells final, and Ivan Ljubicic in the Miami Open final.
Then, more than a decade later, in 2017, Roger Federer recaptured the imagination of the tennis world when he won his fifth Australian Open title and took home his fifth and third titles at Indian Wells and Miami, respectively.
#1 Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic reigns supreme on the list of players who have won the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters/Miami Open in a single year, achieving it an incredible five times in his career so far. The Serbian talisman won his first Australian Open title in 2008 by bettering Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final and backed up his maiden triumph at the Indian Wells Masters by downing Mardy Fish in the summit clash.
In 2011, Djokovic picked up his second trophy at the Australian Open and won his first Sunshine Double. In 2012, he defended his victories in Melbourne and Miami. Then, in 2015 and 2016, the current World No. 1 was unassailable at all three tournaments and lifted the trophies by defeating Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and Kei Nishikori in the title contests.
Interestingly, Novak Djokovic hasn't won at either Indian Wells or Miami since 2016. However, he has been a routine title holder at the Australian Open, winning the tournament in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023.