Delray Beach Open Brings Star Power, NextGen Dreams and Tennis Nostalgia to South Florida

Featuring Fritz, Ruud, Paul, Tiafoe, Cobolli, Tien, Norrie, Michelsen, Korda, Nakashima & Tennis Legends Del Potro, the Bryan Bros & Haas!

Tennis fans, February in Delray Beach is going to be special.

With one look at the 2026 Delray Beach Open entry list, you’ll know you are in for a treat. Seven of the top 30 players. Four past champions, including one chasing history. Two Grand Slam finalists. Rising American stars. International breakthrough stories. And a lineup of legends returning to the same courts where they once lifted trophies to entertain fans.

It’s the strongest field in years with storylines in every match. Fans can see the players who have been the talk of tennis in the past year up close at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center February 13-22.

Leading the stars is top 10 player and two-time champion Taylor Fritz, as he tries to do what no one has done before: win this title three times. Will it happen in the tournament’s 34th year?

A new opponent for Fritz in Delray Beach will be three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud of Norway. Local fan favorites Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul, past Delray champion and finalist, respectively, return after becoming the first American men to reach the French Open quarterfinals last season since Andre Agassi in 2003. A third past champion, 2022 winner Cameron Norrie, comes back to Delray Beach after finishing the 2025 season with a win over world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Paris and a final in Metz. All of these players have spent time ranked among the world’s top 10 players.

Photo credit: ATP Tour

Other Americans on the come up at Delray Beach include 2021 finalist Sebastian Korda, Marcos Giron, who has already reached two semifinals in 2026, and Aleksandar Kovacevic, who reached his first two ATP finals last season and the semifinals in his first event of the 2026 season.

The future of American tennis may be as compelling as its present.

The Delray Beach Open will be a capsule of ATP NextGen American stars. Learner Tien and Brandon Nakashima are ATP NextGen Finals champions, and Alex Michelsen was a semifinalist in the prestigious event featuring the world’s best young pros. He and Tien are childhood friends who now share the biggest tennis stages in the world. Nakashima is the DBO’s defending doubles champion.

Several European players who made some of the biggest splashes on the tour last year will try to do the same in Delray Beach.

Last year’s Delray Beach singles and doubles champion Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia is back to defend his titles. Italian Flavio Cobolli returns after a career-defining year that saw him win two titles, reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals and become a Davis Cup hero who led Italy to the World Cup of Tennis.

And then there is Valentin Vacherot.

The Monaco native shocked the tennis world as the lowest-ranked player at No. 204 to win a Masters 1000 with a run to the Shanghai title as a qualifier. That included a semifinal win over No. 5 Novak Djokovic. Having jumped up in the rankings as a result, Vacherot is now bringing his big serve to the main tour week after week and will make his Delray Beach Open debut.

If tennis nostalgia is your thing, the Delray Beach Open does it better than anybody.

Every year, the tournament invites former players back to take the courts and entertain fans. For the 17th time, the Legends event takes place opening weekend, turning competition into a reunion.

Photo credit: Delray Beach Open/Andrew Patron

Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion and 2011 Delray winner, returns to play Legends doubles matches on Friday and Sunday. Waiting for him: Bob and Mike Bryan, six-time Delray champions, newly inducted Hall of Famers and still as competitive — and entertaining — as ever.

Photo credit: Delray Beach Open/Andrew Patron

Add in the always energetic, French Open-winning Jensen brothers – Luke and Murphy – and past Delray Beach Open champions Tommy Haas, Xavier Malisse and Jan-Michael Gambill, and the Legends matches showcase tennis history with a bit of laughter on the side.

Throughout the tournament records will be chased, careers will pivot, friendships will share the spotlight and legends will walk familiar courts once more. It’s a week for Delray Beach and its fans to be the center of the tennis universe.

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By Toni Woods. Top photo courtesy/credit: ATP Tour & Toni Woods.