The Sunshine Double: All the players who’ve won Indian Wells and Miami in the same year

The Sunshine Double—winning the Indian Wells and Miami titles in the same year—is one of the rarest achievements in tennis. It’s been up for grabs for the men since 1985 (when Miami joined Indian Wells on the ATP calendar) and for the women since 1989 (when Indian Wells joined Miami on the WTA calendar).

Since then, seven men and four women have done it.

MEN TO WIN SUNSHINE DOUBLE (7):
Jim Courier (1991)
Michael Chang (1992)
Pete Sampras (1994)
Marcelo Rios (1998)
Andre Agassi (2001)
Roger Federer (2005, 2006, 2017)
Novak Djokovic (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016)

WOMEN TO WIN SUNSHINE DOUBLE (4):
Steffi Graf (1994, 1996)
Kim Clijsters (2005)
Victoria Azarenka (2016)
Iga Swiatek (2022)

The lists are full of all-time greats, with 10 of the 11 players having won Grand Slam titles (the only exception being Marcelo Rios, a former Grand Slam finalist) and 10 of the 11 players having reached No. 1 (the only exception being Michael Chang, who reached No. 2).

Only two players have won the Sunshine Double in back-to-back years—Federer did it two years in a row in 2005 and 2006, while Djokovic did it an incredible three years in a row from 2014 to 2016.

For anyone, adding their name to the above list of legends would already be an honor—Carlos Alcaraz and Elena Rybakina, who won Indian Wells this year, can both do that in Miami.

But Alcaraz could take it to a whole new level, and in two ways.

First of all, if he wins Miami this year, the 19-year-old Spaniard would become the first teenager ever to win the Sunshine Double.

YOUNGEST PLAYERS TO WIN SUNSHINE DOUBLE (men or women):
20 years, 1 month: Michael Chang (1992)
20 years, 7 months: Jim Courier (1991)
20 years, 10 months: Iga Swiatek (2022)
21 years, 9 months: Kim Clijsters (2005)
22 years, 3 months: Marcelo Rios (1998)

Secondly, Alcaraz—who didn’t drop a set in Indian Wells and who hasn’t lost a set in Miami yet—could become the first player ever, male or female, to win the Sunshine Double without losing a set.

As of now, the fewest sets dropped en route to winning the Sunshine Double is one—it’s been done three times, twice by Graf in 1994 and 1996 and once by Djokovic in 2016.

It’s been done a further five times with the loss of just two sets, once by Rios in 1998, twice by Federer in 2006 and 2017, once by Clijsters in 2005 and once by Azarenka in 2016.

And shout-out to Clijsters for winning 14 matches en route to doing the double in 2005—no one else has needed more than 12 matches to do it. After a wrist injury ruined her 2004 season, Clijsters went into Indian Wells the next year ranked No. 133 and was unseeded for both legs of the double—she ended up winning them both and coming out of them ranked No. 17 (and No. 2 by year-end).