Eventually, the Jannik Sinner and Jiri Lehecka final at the Miami Open was going to be played, and tennis fans who wanted to watch the match or visit the event might have considered themselves a bit lucky. After all, the South Florida rain had held off for the most part after the first two days of the event.
Not on Sunday. It poured, and pushed the start of the Sinner and Lehecka match back until...Well, at the time this is being written, who knows? After the rain began, it only got harder. Plus, the wind picked up. In other words, it was a mess.
The 2026 Miami Open has been a gem for the most part. While many matches had to be pushed back as rain delayed play for the first couple of days, the weather was somehow not an issue the rest of the Masters 1000 until the final day. That was more unexpected than rain delays, as the precipitation is often an issue in the tropics.
Miami Open final between Jannik Sinner and Jiri Lehecka delayed because of (you guessed it) rain
The delay of the Sinner and Lehecka final was exactly the kind of example needed for the event to get out of being played in Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, and have its own tennis facility. Not all courts can be covered, of course, and maybe only two. But the main court and the second one need to have a roof in Miami, or the tournament needs to be played elsewhere.
Or, maybe, at a different time of year. To be fair, however, the rain might fall at any point in the year in Miami. There is less of a chance of it in the fall, but that, of course, is when the Dolphins begin play, so a tennis tournament isn't going to be held at Hard Rock Cafe if the football team is scheduled.
The rub is that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross also owns a 45 percent stake in the tennis event. He owns Hard Rock Stadium, too. This means he makes money from the tournament being held at the stadium, and this is only augmented by vendors and concession sales.
Moving the event to a newly built, tennis-only location would cost him money, and he isn't in the business of losing money. For fans and people tuning into the matches, the frustration will likely continue.
It's kind of cool to have an entire Masters 1000 pop up inside and just outside a football stadium. For the long-term health of the tournament, though, it needs to go to a more weather-adjusted area.