Schedule of matches

2009 marked the 25th edition of the Sony Ericsson Open and the event recorded another banner year. The tournament recorded eight session sellouts, set four session records and boasted a total attendance of 293,228 marking the second-highest total in tournament history.

The men’s final on Sunday, April 5 was sold out by Saturday, March 21 - marking the quickest sellout for a men’s final in tournament history.

But the record attendance is only part of the story.

In its third year as title sponsor of the Sony Ericsson Open, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications continued to raise the bar when it comes to presenting tennis to the world through innovative stunts and glamorous events.

Over the last three years Sony Ericsson has produced several unique stunts that have helped move tennis from the sports section to the lifestyle & entertainment pages.

In 2007 it was “Night Tennis”, last year it was “Walk on Water”, and this year it was “Traffic Tennis.” This year’s stunt took place on world famous Ocean Drive and saw Venus Williams and Andy Murray playing tennis from the top of their cars while stuck in traffic.

The Sony Ericsson Open once again hosted a star-studded Kickoff Party at LIV located at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The red carpet event featured a live performance by Wyclef Jean and drew many celebrity guests including Eliza Dushku, Nicky Hilton, Jim Belushi, Rick Fox, Boris Kodjoe, Romero Britto, Ana Christina, Santigold, Chad Johnson, Meagan Good, Jessica Gomes, Elyse Taylor.

On site, the Tennis Center at Crandon Park was once again revitalized with bold colors and music welcoming guests to the tournament grounds. The tournament created a new entertainment stage which provided daily entertainment for fans including player Q&A’s, fashion shows, and live musical performances.

The Sony Ericsson Open has become one of the most glamorous events on tour and this year’s event was definitely the place to be seen in Miami. The names of those visiting the tournament this year was like a who’s who of the entertainment and sports industries including actors Owen Wilson, Eliza Dushku, Meagan Good, Adrien Brody, and Boris Kodjoe; television personalities Star Jones and Al Reynolds; musical artists Common, Chayanne, Sandy “Pepa” Denton, Gloria Estefan, Enrique Iglesias, William “WAK” King, Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio, Alejandro Sanz, and Shakira; Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty; sports stars Vernon Carey, Cris Carter, Rick Fox, Thomas Jones, Anna Kournikova, Curtis Martin, Bryant McKinnie, Ed Reed, Tony Gonzalez, Randy Shannon, Kimbo Slice, and Dara Torres; 2003 Miss Universe Amelia Vega and Vogue Editor Anna Wintour.

True to form, the Sony Ericsson Open was a global event with over 600 credentials issued to media from 36 countries including reporters from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Both the men’s and women’s finals were broadcast on CBS. CBS has a long term contract with the tournament to showcase the finals through 2011. The tournament received over 2000 hours of television coverage globally on other networks.?

For the second consecutive year the Sony Ericsson Open took to the streets of Miami to bring tennis to people. The tournament hosted events at Coconut Grove (March 26), Mary Brickell Village (March 27) and the University of Miami (March 29) featuring video boards, player appearances and interactive games.

The Sony Ericsson Open continued its long tradition of community service in 2009.

The tournament continued its affiliation with the First Serve Organization which was started by the Buchholz family to empower young people by providing local tennis facilities and schools with a life skills program that promotes positive values, healthy habits and education through the game of tennis.

A total of 100 player appearances were made during the Sony Ericsson Open including Nadia Petrova visiting Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami to help build homes for needy families in downtown Miami.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and ATP Tour players also visited Baptist Children’s Hospital (Kei Nishikori) and held clinics for the Special Olympics (Lleyton Hewitt and Bethanie Mattek-Sands) and local youths at Arcor Kids Day (Bruno Soares, Robert Lindstedt, Cara Black and Liezel Huber).

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