DALLAS/WASHINGTON, February 6, 2022 (by Michael Dickens)
The Dallas Open marks the return of professional tennis to Dallas, Texas. The week-long ATP 250 indoor hard-court tournament is the only one of its kind in the United States and grew out of the former New York Open, one of the longest-running American tournaments on the ATP Tour.
Dallas is no stranger to men’s professional tennis. From 1971 to 1989, the city was host to Lamar Hunt’s World Championship Tennis season-ending finals event that featured stars like Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Arthur Ashe, among many of that era.
This year’s Dallas Open features the current Top-3 American men – No. 20 Taylor Fritz, No. 24 Reilly Opelka and No. 28 John Isner– as well as three other up-and-coming American talents: 2021 ATP Newcomer of the Year Jenson Brooksby, ranked 57th; Maxime Cressy, ranked 59th, who reached the fourth round of the Australian Open; and NextGen ATP rising star Brandon Nakashima, ranked 71st.
When the singles main draw was released on Saturday afternoon, Fritz received the No. 1 seed, Opelka was seeded second, Isner third and Brooksby fourth. No. 58 Adrian Mannarino of France is seeded fifth, Cressy is seeded sixth, No. 70 Marcos Giron of the United States is seeded seventh and Nakashima is seeded eighth. The top four seeds have received first-round byes.
ATP250 Dallas Open singles and doubles draws pic.twitter.com/6v31XtSLfP
— Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) February 5, 2022
Isner, a North Carolina native who played collegiate tennis at the University of Georgia, moved to Dallas four years ago. It’s been a goal of his to see the ATP put a tournament in his hometown.
“I just thought it would make perfect sense if you could bring a high-level tennis event to Dallas,” Isner told Dallas Magazine. “It’s much easier said than done; you can’t just pop a tournament in whenever you want it. It’s got to fit into the ATP calendar, which is a global sport.
“When the opportunity presented itself for this tournament, which was formerly played in Long Island (N.Y.), to come here, I think the team [here] sort of saw what I saw in the market here. Now that it’s here in Dallas, it’s going to be here for good. It’s going to be great.”
No doubt, Isner will be excited to show off his home city to his fellow players on tour.
Competition will take place all week inside the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, which promises to provide for a really intimate atmosphere for both players and fans. With a 2,500-seat main court, the furthest seat will be only 60 feet away from the court.
🎾 First ball! John Isner and wife Madie joined SMU Men’s Tennis to christen the courts.
Matches kick off tomorrow with qualifying up first. The main draw will be announced later today. #DALOpen | @smumtennis | @johnisner pic.twitter.com/PcqvlHEJTl
— Dallas Open (@DALOpenTennis) February 5, 2022
Among the wild cards are local favorite and Fort Worth, Texas native Mitchell Krueger, a three-time Challenger Tour titlist currently ranked 167th, who will play No. 123 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the first round; unranked SMU team captain Caleb Chakravarthi, who will oppose a qualifier; and former World No. 8 Jack Sock of the United States, currently ranked 150th, who will oppose No. 84 Oscar Otte of Germany.
The 28-player singles main draw also includes Americans Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Tennys Sandgren and Denis Kudla; Australians John Millman and Jordan Thompson; Feliciano Lopez of Spain and Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
The top-seeded doubles teams among the 16-team draw are: No. 1 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands, and No. 2 seeds Austin Krajicek of the United States and Hugo Nys of Monaco.
No. 121 Vasek Pospisil of Canada and No. 124 Liam Broady of Great Britain are the top seeds in the 16-player qualifying draw which begins two rounds of play Sunday.
Main draw play begins Monday and continues through Sunday, Feb. 13.
