Memories of the Miami Open – which started as The Lipton more than three decades ago – as it begins its final year on Key Biscayne:
“Checking the electronic schedule in the middle of Crandon Park that first Saturday, I realized that it resembled a departures board at an international airport that, for some strange reason, was displaying surnames instead of destinations: Van Roost. Likhovtseva. Dragomir. Li. Enqvist. Costa. Philippoussis. Campbell. Prieto. Vinck. Appelmans. Halard-Decugis. Sawamatsu. Brandi. In that septet of singles matches (only a small sampling of the long day’s duels) you had, I figured, the representation of at least a dozen countries and possibly five continents. The world was spread out on hardcourt before me.”
….
“Tennis globalism was beautifully captured a little while later when Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden met Leander Paes of India. It would be difficult to think of two more diverse countries, yet there on the same court, in vaguely similar outfits (Bjorkman’s decidedly baggier) and with almost identical weaponry, the two men stood separated only by a net. During one of the changeovers – as if underscoring the benign exoticism of the meeting – a giant iguana scurried across the court.”
from “Love on the Key” from A Way to See the World: From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler.
