From Courier to Federer and Djokovic, relive the sunshine double sweep of the ATP No. 1 club | ATP Tour
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From Courier to Federer and Djokovic, relive the sunny double sweep of ATP’s No. 1 club
ATPTour.com looks back at players who swept titles in Indian Wells and Miami
March 2, 2026
Stephen Dunn/Allsport
In 1991, Jim Courier became the first player to win the Sunshine Double.
Written by ATP Staff
From the dry desert conditions of Indian Wells to the humid conditions of Miami, the Sunshine Double is a challenge where few can win both trophies.
Only seven men have won the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open hosted by ETA in the same season, a list dominated by former world No. 1s.
Novak Djokovic has won the Sunshine Doubles title a record four times, while Roger Federer has won it three times. The Swiss is the latest player to achieve the feat, doing so in 2017.
Carlos Alcaraz, Yannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev are three of the 29 members of ATP Club One who will soon begin their quest to join the exclusive roster that won titles at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season.
*ATP No. 1 club members highlighted in bold
Jim Courier was the first man to win the Sunshine Doubles in 1991, aged just 20. The American started in Indian Wells, ranked 26th in the PIF ATP Rankings, before going on to have career-defining performances not just in California and South Florida, but throughout the rest of the season.
Courier needed a fifth-set tiebreaker to defeat France’s Guy Fouget in a three-hour, 30-minute Indian Wells final and went on to win his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros that year. Courier also reached the U.S. Open final, playing a huge role with his devastating inside-out forehand, which helped him reach world No. 1 for the first time in 1992.
Courier’s compatriot Pete Sampras followed suit in 1994, playing in the Sunshine Doubles. Sampras was ranked No. 1 at the time, but upon arriving in Indian Wells he was still searching for his best form in the tournament, having won seven of his first five matches. In ’94, he turned things around, winning the Indian Wells final in five sets and successfully defending his Miami title two weeks later.
The 1994 Miami final was one of 34 Lexus ATP head-to-head matches between Sampras and Andre Agassi, with Agassi often remembered for his sportsmanship. After learning that Sampras was suffering from a stomach bug, Agassi agreed to postpone the championship game until the next day to give his opponent more time to recover. “If I can’t be healthy and beat Pete, I don’t deserve to win,” Agassi said at the time, according to The New York Times.
In 1998, Chilean Marcelo Rios won the Sunshine Doubles, establishing his status as the world’s number one. Rios started that season ranked tenth in the PIF ATP Rankings, but within just three months, he had rocketed to the top. Rios dropped just one set in Indian Wells – a dramatic second-set tiebreaker against Greg Ruseski in the final, which the Briton won 17/15, proving just how much work it takes to win a set against the Chilean in the Sunshine Doubles.
For Rios, in Miami, a double award is just around the corner. If he wins the championship, he will become the world’s number one. The third seed did just that, beating Agassi in the championship game.
Three years later in 2001, Agassi enjoyed his moment in the spotlight with the Sunshine Double. The American knocked out three top-10 players in both events, including a straight-sets victory over arch-rival Sampras in the Indian Wells final.
Next up are Federer and Djokovic, the only players to have completed the Sunshine Double multiple times. In 2005, Federer’s hopes of achieving the feat for the first time were in jeopardy. The Swiss staged a miraculous two-set comeback to beat Rafael Nadal in a show of love in the Miami final. This dramatic Federer-Nadal final comes a year after their first Lexus ATP meeting, which coincidentally took place at the same venue. The two rivals faced each other 40 times during their illustrious careers.
In 2006, Federer took another plane. In the Sunshine Doubles, the Swiss dropped two sets in 12 games, a microcosm of Federer’s start to the year. Federer lost one match in the first three months of 2006.
Djokovic continued his dominance in 2011, ranking among the greats. The Serbian won the first 41 games of the 2011 season, including wins at Indian Wells and Miami. Djokovic defeated Federer and Nadal in the Indian Wells semi-finals and finals respectively, and defeated the Spaniard again in the Miami Championship.
In the 2014-16 season, Djokovic incorporated Sunshine Doubles into his territory. He completed a hat-trick and won two trophies for the third consecutive year. In 2016, the Belgrade native spent a record 428 weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, knocking out four top-10 players in both events.
From Courier’s breakthrough in 1991 to Djokovic’s record-setting dominance, the Sunshine Double has been a rare proving ground: Win Indian Wells and Miami and you’re destined for legendary status.
