For any male American tennis player competing at the Sony Open in Miami right now, one thing’s for certain: he’ll be following in some pretty big footsteps. The second ATP Masters 1000 event of the year has had multiple champions from the U. S., with many of the nation’s greatest players lifting the winner’s trophy since the inaugural event back in 1985.

 

That year, former world No. 7 Tim Mayotte captured the title at the Lipton International Players Championships. The serve-and-volleyer defeated fellow American Scott Davis in a five-set battle. The 1990s, though, are when things really took off for the U. S. contingent. Before there was a “Big 4” of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, America's own superstar quartet once ran rampant over the hard courts in south Florida.

 

 

Andre Agassi was the first of this group to capture what at the time was the biggest title of his career by defeating Stefan Edberg in the 1990 final. Agassi was followed by fellow Bollettieri pupil Jim Courier, who was coming off a victory at Indian Wells in his prior event. Courier defeated fellow American David Wheaton in 1991 and found himself in the top 10 for the first time afterward. Not to be outdone, the first Slam winner of the U. S. Big Four, Michael Chang, completed his own Indian Wells-Miami double with a victory over Argentine Alberto Mancini in the 1992 final. Pete Sampras got in on the act a year later, when he defeated compatriot MaliVai Washington and in the following year topped Agassi.

 

No one, though, has been as prolific in Miami as Agassi. The former world No. 1 has captured the most titles there (six) out of the most finals (eight), with his first title coming in 1990 and the last in 2003.

 

But the U. S. didn’t go long without a winner in Miami. In 2004, coming off a season that saw him reach the top spot in the rankings and win the U. S. Open, Andy Roddick kept what seemed like tradition alive with a victory over Guillermo Coria of Argentina. In 2010, Roddick once again took home top honors by defeating the always dangerous Tomas Berdych.

 

The Masters 1000 tournaments over the past few years have been completely dominated by the four-headed monster of Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray in recent years, making it hard for anyone to come in first in Miami. But if American players such as John Isner were looking for added motivation, they should feel inspired by the title-winning efforts of the players before them.