KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – The Miami Tennis Cup rolls into South Florida this weekend as Crandon Park prepares for a makeover.
"It is an invitational tennis tournament with the top league players of the world," said Miami Tennis Cup CEO Julian Wortelboer.
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"I was one of the couple hundred kids they invited to open this thing when I was 10 years old," said recently retired tennis player Andy Roddick.
Voters in Miami-Dade County passed a referendum that makes about $50 million available for improvements at Crandon Park. New center court stadium seating, outdoor food pavilions, and merchandising shops are expected.
Wortelboer agreed that improvements are necessary.
"When you start competing with Dubai and the Shanghai Open, these facilities are just beautiful and they haven't done any construction on this facility in the last 20 years or so," said Wortelboer.
Many of the professionals enjoy coming to Miami and feared if Crandon Park didn't get a makeover, the tournament would be moved.
"It's gotten the name as the fifth major, so I think if you look at the other majors and you want to be mentioned with them and I think they have done a significant job of upgrading," said Roddick.
The bond has yet to be issued.