Roger Federer is one of the only two men to complete the Sunshine Double more than once. He achieved the feat of winning the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open in the same year thrice, earning over $4 million in the process.
Before Federer, five players had achieved the Sunshine Double in men’s singles. The Swiss interestingly became the first European to get this record under his belt. He completed the double for the first time in 2005, four years after Andre Agassi did so in 2001.
After a successful title defence, Federer earned $455,000 for winning the Indian Wells 2005. He kept his form up, following the triumph with his maiden Miami Open trophy. For lifting the first of his four Masters titles in Florida, he took home $533,350. He then had an incredible season, winning two more ATP 1000 tournaments and two Grand Slams.
Federer defended both his Sunshine Double titles in 2006, becoming the first male player to achieve the feat twice. Defeating local favourite James Blake in the Indian Wells final saw him complete a hat-trick of titles, also earning him a paycheck of $490,000. He also bagged his second Miami Open title on the trot, beating future coach Ivan Ljubicic. The prize money for this event was the same as the previous year.
After 2006, Roger Federer had to wait 11 years for his third. In this period, though, Novak Djokovic raced ahead by achieving the double four times. Federer completed the Sunshine Double in 2017, receiving $1,175,505 each as prize money from both tournaments. He defeated compatriot Stan Wawrinka in the Indian Wells final after coming in as World No.10 while getting the best of Rafael Nadal in Miami.
Overall, with three Sunshine Doubles, Federer made $4,362,710 in prize money. Along with the sizeable sum, he also wrote his name into the history books.
(All figures from the official ATP website)
Who has completed the Sunshine Double besides Roger Federer?
As mentioned above, Federer became the sixth man to complete the Sunshine Double in singles when he bagged Indian Wells and Miami Open in 2005. Before him, Andre Agassi did the double in 2005. Jim Courier was the first men’s singles player to complete this feat, lifting both titles in 1991. Fellow Americans Michael Chang and Pete Sampras followed in 1992 and 1994, respectively.
In 1998, Marcelo Rios became the first non-American to achieve the Sunshine Double. Agassi followed him before Roger Federer made history. However, the Swiss icon’s record was blown out of the water by Novak Djokovic. The Serb completed the double for the first time in 2011 and then completed a hat-trick from 2014 to 2016.
On the WTA side, Steffi Graf leads the charts with two successful Sunshine Doubles in 1994 and 1996. She was also the first women’s singles player to achieve this. Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka joined the club in 2005 and 2016, respectively. Iga Swiatek became the player to most recently achieve the Sunshine Double, male or female, in 2022. She is on track to collect a second this year after winning the Indian Wells 2024.
