2016 DELRAY BEACH OPEN FIELD ADDS STARS ANDERSON KARLOVIC RAONIC & TOMIC
Three Top 20 Players, Three Former Champions in Talented Field
DELRAY BEACH: Top 20 ATP stars Kevin Anderson and Bernard Tomic, along with defending champion Ivo Karlovic, highlight a list of players who have been added to the 2016 Delray Beach Open’s ATP World Tour field that was released today. The three join early signees Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Haas in headlining the 24th annual event.
The lineup gives the event a trio of Top 20 players – Anderson (No. 14), Raonic (No. 11) and Tomic (No. 20) – and former champions – Haas (2006), Anderson (2012) and Karlovic (2015).
The 10-day event, which includes a three-day ATP Champions Tour event over President’s Day weekend, takes place February 12-21 at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center. The event is the only one in the world that includes ATP Champions Tour and ATP World Tour events at the same venue in the same week.
Karlovic (No. 26), Dimitrov (No. 28) and Jeremy Chardy (No. 29) give the field another three players ranked among the world’s Top 30, while the 37-year-old Haas will play on a wild card following a return from the fourth major surgery of his career.
In Raonic, who reached world No. 4 in 2014, the tournament has the top-ranked Canadian in the history of the sport while Anderson, a South African who has settled in the Delray Beach area and practices at its Tennis Center, has steadily moved up the ranking charts and is knocking on the Top 10 for the first time.
The 23-year-old Tomic finished 2015 with the highest ranking of his career while the 24-year-old Dimitrov will seek to replicate a 2014 season that saw him play in the Wimbledon semifinals and finish just outside of the world Top 10 at No. 11.
Four Americans are among the entries: No. 2 American and 2014 Delray Beach semifinalist Steve Johnson (No. 30), 2015 Delray Beach runner-up Donald Young (No. 48), veteran Sam Querrey (No. 60) and 23-year-old Denis Kudla (No. 62).
A pair of wild cards that are still held by tournament director Mark Baron will complete the singles draw.
The Bryan Brothers head the 16-player doubles field and will be making their ninth Delray Beach doubles appearance; the all-time top doubles duo in the world is after their fifth DBO title and have 109 career tournaments wins as they start the 2016 season.
The ATP Champions Tour six-player field features a US team of James Blake, Mardy Fish and Aaron Krickstein playing an international team of Mark Philippoussis, Sebastien Grosjean and Greg Rusedski in the three-day tournament. Fish, a former Top 10 player on the ATP World Tour and Delray Beach’s 2009 champion, retired last year from the ATP World Tour and is making his ATP Champion’s Tour debut.
All ATP Champions Tour matches are pre-scheduled between Feb. 12 and 14, with the schedule posted at http://www.yellowtennisball.com/schedule/.
Raonic will make his first-ever appearance in Delray Beach on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 8:00 pm while the Bryan Brothers are on the Wednesday, Feb. 17 schedule at 8:00 pm.
Tickets are available at yellowtennisball.com/tickets or can be secured from the on-site box office (30 NW 1st Avenue in Delray Beach) or over the phone (561-330-6000 ext.1).
THE 2016 DELRAY BEACH OPEN SINGLES ENTRY LIST: Kevin Anderson (RSA), Benjamin Becker (GER), Ricardas Berankis (LTU), Jeremy Chardy (FRA),Thiemo de Bakker (NED), Grigor Dimitrov (BUL), Damir Dzumhur (BIH), Marcel Granollers (ESP), Sam Groth (AUS), Tommy Haas (GER/USA), Steve Johnson (USA), Ivo Karlovic (CRO), Denis Kudla (USA), Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ), Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE), Adrian Mannarino (FRA), Illya Marchenko (UKR), John Millman (AUS), Sam Querrey (USA), Rajeev Ram (USA),Milos Raonic (CAN), Dudi Sela (ISR), Bernard Tomic (AUS), Donald Young (USA)
For more information: Go to YellowTennisBall.com.
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DELRAY BEACH: The opportunity to be a ball kid for a professional ATP Tour event is available to kids in the South Florida community at the upcoming Delray Beach Open (February 12-21) at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center.
Ball Kids must be 12 years old and attend a series of training sessions. Each participant receives uniforms, meals during working sessions, match tickets for families and friends, and an invitation to the popular Ball Kids party.
Ball kids must work at least three sessions during the 17-session tournament, which consists of both an ATP Champions Tour event (Feb. 12-14) and an ATP World Tour event (Feb. 15-21).
Training dates are on a pair of Wednesdays – Jan 27 and Feb. 3 – from 5:00 – 7:00 pm and on Thursday, Feb. 4 from 5:30 – 6:30 pm. New applicants must attend two of the three sessions.
All ball kids information, including an application and release form, can be found at YellowTennisBall.com/ballkids page.
About The Delray Beach Open: The only tournament in the world featuring an ATP Champions Tour event and an ATP World Tour event in the same week at the same venue is held in Delray Beach, Florida February 12-21 at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center. The ATP World Tour’s first North American hard court event of the outdoor season is one of just 10 ATP World Tour events in the United States. In 2016 it will be celebrating its 24th year overall and 18th in Delray Beach. The ATP Champions Tour event is in its 7th year and was the first-ever event played on US soil. Each year the Delray Beach Open brings world-class tennis players and thousands of visitors to Delray Beach and Palm Beach County. In 2010, the tournament received the Discover The Palm Beaches Florida’s annual Providencia Award for its extraordinary contribution to tourism. The City of Delray Beach was also a finalist for the USTA’s “Best Tennis Town” Award and in 2003, the tournament was the recipient of an “ATP Award of Excellence.” For more information please visit www.YellowTennisBall.com.
About ATP: The ATP is the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits – the ATP World Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. With 62 tournaments in 31 countries, the ATP World Tour showcases the finest male athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the 2015 ATP World Tour battle for prestigious titles and Emirates ATP Ranking Points at ATP World Tour events (including Master Series 1000, 500 and 250 events), as well as Grand Slams (non ATP events). The ATP Champions Tour brings together many of the greatest tennis players in history for nostalgic, competitive and entertaining tournaments around the world. Players are either formerly ranked No. 1 in the world in singles, a Grand Slam singles champion or finalist, or a singles player on a winning Davis Cup team. Players must be retired from ATP World Tour competition and each event can invite wild card entrants of its choice.
About The City of Delray Beach: In the southeast corner of Palm Beach County on the Atlantic seashore, a Village by the Sea that began as an agricultural community in 1895 has become one of Florida’s most popular destinations for visitors, new families and seasonal residents. The City of Delray Beach encompasses slightly over 16 square miles with a permanent population of nearly 65,000 and growing. Renewal and re-development efforts have resulted in recognition as the All-America City in 1993 and 2001, the Blue Wave designation for clean and beautiful beaches, and hailed by city planners around the nation as a model for growth management. In 2012 during the nationally televised “Best of the Road” special, Delray Beach was chosen by Rand McNally, USA Today and the Travel Channel as the “Most Fun Small Town” in America. In 2014, USA Today also named it as one of the “Best Atlantic Beaches in Florida.”
