World No. 8 Taylor Fritz Top Seed at Delray Beach Open
Eight Seeds Rank in World’s Top 40 Players
The eight seeded players for the Delray Beach Open are set with world No. 8 Taylor Fritz earning the top seed. The tournament kicks off Friday with ATP Champions Tour Legends matches starting at 6 p.m. and the Bryan Brothers at 8 p.m. and continues over the weekend with Legends matches and qualifying rounds. Main draw play for the ATP Tour 250 event is Feb. 13-19 at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center. The tournament is the first North American hard court event of the outdoor season, and one of just 10 ATP Tour events in the United States.
Following top seed Fritz is fellow American Tommy Paul, third seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov and fourth seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia. The top four seeds receive first-round byes in the 28-player tournament.
Fritz comes into Delray Beach for a sixth time after a stellar 2022 that saw him crack the world’s Top 10 for the first time. He beat Rafael Nadal to capture the ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells title and again at the year-end ATP Finals, picking up two more titles in between.
It is Paul, however, who is surging. The 25-year-old Palm Beach County resident reached the semifinals at the year’s first Major at the Australian Open last month with wins over two seeds and DBO players Ben Shelton and Jenson Brooksby, cracking the world’s Top 20 rankings for the first time at No. 19. Last year, Paul entered the Delray Beach Open as a wild card and reached the semifinals.
Shapovalov was part of Canada’s first-ever champion Davis Cup team last November. That followed a strong fall that saw him reach two finals including a win enroute over then-No. 10 Fritz. Kecmanovic won a personal-best 38 matches in 2022 with quarterfinals at ATP Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami and a fourth round finish at the Australian Open.
Rounding out the eight seeds, all ranked among the top 40 players in the world, are fifth seed Yoshihito Nishioka, the 2020 DBO runner-up; sixth seed American Brooksby, who defeated Australian Open second seed Casper Ruud last month; seventh seed Jiri Lehecka who reached the Australian Open quarterfinals; and eight seed John Isner, who is the all-time ATP Tour ace leader and holds the DBO record of 30 aces in a match.
Scheduled matches so far include Isner at 1 p.m. (day session) and Shelton at 8 p.m. (evening session) on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, Feb. 14; Fritz at 8 p.m. (evening session) Wednesday, Feb. 15; and Shapovalov at 2:30 p.m. (day session) and Paul at 8 p.m. (evening session) on Thursday, Feb. 16.
In addition to the Legends and qualifying matches opening weekend, fans can participate in special events including an ATP pro-am, Legends clinics, USTA Kids clinic and nonprofit clinics. The tournament is celebrating its 25th year in Delray Beach and 31st overall.
Some of the world’s best players launched their careers at the Delray Beach Open. Former champion American Frances Tiafoe, now ranked in the world’s top 20, continues to light up crowds with his game and personality, and reached this year’s U.S. Open semifinals. Other recent Delray Beach champions include former U.S. Open winners Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro, Grand Slam finalist Kevin Anderson, and multiple Grand Slam doubles titlist Jack Sock. Other competitors over the tournament’s entire 30 years of ATP tennis include a roster of Hall of Famers and fan favorites with Nick Kyrgios, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Tommy Haas, Patrick Rafter, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Jimmy Connors being among the most notable.
The Delray Beach stop on the global ATP Tour annually plays in front of over 60,000 fans and reaches television audiences in over 50 countries.
