DELRAY BEACH, January 7, 2025 (Press Release)
The 2025 Delray Beach Open, which runs Feb. 7-16 at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center, will welcome back former champions and record holders Reilly Opelka and Kei Nishikori, both who reached ATP finals last week in stellar comebacks from extended injury layoffs. Fans can watch them next month in Delray from the comfort of new stadium seating options.
Tickets for individual sessions and series packages are available now at DelrayBeachOpen.com. A variety of up-close, unique seating experiences including on-court Best Seats in the House, shaded Veranda seats, courtside Box and Reserved seats are available. New this year are Mezzanine Level two-top tables with food and beverage service right from the seats, and more than 1,000 new chairback seats that have replaced most of the bleacher seating in the upper level east stands as ticket demand has increased.
Opelka and Nishikori will be joined by two-time defending champion Taylor Fritz and last year’s runner-up Tommy Paul in the field for this year’s event.
Opelka, the 2020 champion and 2022 finalist, defeated 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic in straight sets last week in Brisbane, Australia enroute to his first final in nearly three years. He also defeated 2024 ATP Most Improved Player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and No. 37 Matteo Arnaldi. Arnaldi also will play in the DBO this year.
Opelka holds the Delray Beach Open record for most aces in a tournament, serving up 99 in 2022. But just a few months later he was off the tour, playing just one match from mid-2022 to mid-2024 due to wrist and hip injuries. He reached the semifinals in Newport at his first tournament back last July.
Nishikori became the tournament’s youngest champion when he won his first career title at the 2008 Delray Beach Open as an 18-year-old qualifier. It kick-started a career that saw him rise to No. 4 in the world and reach a US Open final. Out with injuries all of 2022 and most of 2023, he ended last year by winning five matches on the Challenger circuit and extended his win streak to nine matches by reaching the Hong Kong final last week, his first ATP Tour final in six years. Along the way he defeated former Top 10 players Denis Shapovalov, Karen Khachanov and Cameron Norrie, the 2022 DBO champion, before falling in a three-set final.
Nishikori’s result last week returned his ranking inside the Top 100 for the first time since June 2022, to No. 74. Now 35 years old and returning to the DBO after an 11-year hiatus, he would be the tournament’s second-oldest champion were he to hoist the trophy this year.
Arnaldi, a 23-year-old Italian, is playing in Delray Beach for the second time. During the 2024 season, he defeated two Top 10 players including two-time DBO defending champion Fritz. He also reached the French Open fourth round and the semifinals at the Masters 1000 event in Montreal, defeating Nishikori in the quarterfinals.
Fritz, currently ranked No. 4 in the world, will attempt the first three-peat in tournament history while No. 12 Paul will look to win one more match than he did in last year’s finalist effort. Fritz became the first American man to reach the US Open final last year since Andy Roddick in 2006, and he and Paul, a three-time title winner in 2024, teamed up to win the Olympic doubles bronze medal. Last week, Fritz and Delray Beach resident Coco Gauff led the United States to the United Cup team title in Sydney.
The full initial entry list for the Delray Beach Open will be released next week.
