With an all-American final and a round of events, the 32nd annual Delray Beach Open at the Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center did not disappoint.
Top-seeded and defending champion Taylor Fritz defeated third-seeded Tommy Paul, 6-2, 6-3 to win the singles championship. Last year, Fritz became the first current Top 10 player to win the singles championship as a world-ranked No. 7. This year, he did it again, ranked No. 9.
“It feels really good coming here and defending the title,” Fritz said after the match. “Playing Tommy, I felt it could go either way. I am really happy I got the win…the match was way, way closer than the score indicated. It literally just came down to a couple of big points in both sets and I was fortunate enough to win them.”
In winning the title, Fritz became only the second player to win back-to-back championships in the 32 years of the tournament, joining Jason Stoltenberg who won in 1996-97.
“That’s great,” said Fritz, who would spend considerable time taking photos and signing autographs with fans after each match. “This was a tournament in my first five years where I could barely win a match here. I played really bad here and I figured it out the last two years and have been able to go back to back.”
It also marked the first time in tournament history that all four singles semifinalists were American, and the fourth time for an all-American final.
The doubles were won by third-seeded Julian Cash (Great Britain) and Robert Galloway (USA) who defeated the top-seeded duo of Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) and Neal Skupski (Great Britain) 5-7, 7-5, 10-2.
The Delray Beach Open also held its ATP Champions Tour Legends event, highlighted by six-time Delray Beach Open champions Bob and Mike Bryan, and past French Open champions Luke and Murphy Jensen.
And there was more. Special event days included USTA Florida Kids Day, Pride Night, and Senior Day specials. There were two free clinics for autistic children — Love Serving Autism on Saturday and ACEing Autism on Sunday.
ACEing Autism allows children on the spectrum to have fun while learning the sport of tennis, as well as improve their motor skills, social skills and hand-eye coordination.
“ACEing Autism is appreciative of the continued support the Delray Beach Open team has shown us over the years,” said Richard Spurling, executive director and founder of ACEing Autism, which has more than 150 programs around the country. He used to live in Florida and played tennis at Florida Atlantic University from 1992-96. “We are trying to go everywhere because the interest is high.
“We are excited to put on a free clinic once again for the local families and showcase all the benefits tennis has to offer,” he said. “There were some really good players out here. We try and make it a great day for the families and be welcoming. We want the families to know they can go anywhere with their children, and feel welcome. Our goal is to reach 10,000 kids in the next three years.”
Tennis pro Alex Michelsen, 19, spent an hour with the kids doing demonstrations and taking part in the clinic. Afterward, he spent time talking to the kids and families and posed for photos. It was a good week for Michelsen who advanced to the Round of 16 where he fell to finalist Tommy Paul, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4).
“It’s a cool program,” said Michelsen, who trains in California with the program founder’s 16-year-old son Nischal. “It’s a good group of kids and I was happy to help out. It is important to give them an outlet with sports, and hand-eye coordination and it is very good for their brains and their eyes. This was my first time doing this and I enjoyed the experience.
“The high-fives every time they would make a shot,” Michelsen said, “it was just fun to see that. They were very energetic, and I think they will keep playing. I had a blast, and I will definitely do it again. Energy wise on a scale from 1 to 10, they were a 10.”
Panna Bartha, 19, was one of several members of the FAU Women’s tennis team on hand to help with the clinic.
“It is amazing to help with kids,” said Bartha, a native of Hungary. “I love playing with the kids and it is so great to see them happy and want to play tennis.”
Martela Solano, of Hollywood, brought her three sons who have autism to the clinic.
“This program is amazing,” she said. “We have been doing this program for six years. “They play like twice a week. Probably the best thing is you meet other families, and they share information about nutrition and other things.”
“This was very much fun, because I could be with a lot of people,” said Angelo Solano, 12. “I was very excited to come here, and I got to play with a professional player.”
Lily Grubb, a sophomore at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, said she began volunteering when her brother (Andrew) started the Weston-based ACEing Autism program in Weston for his bar mitzvah. He’s 20 now and away at college.
“My mom is a speech pathologist, so I have always been involved with helping kids with autism my whole life, and once we started this program, I could connect with other kids and make an impact in their lives by playing sports and interacting with other kids.”
Erica Grubb said they have a dozen children in the program, which runs out of the Mid-Town Athletic Club. They run two to three sessions a year.
“It’s amazing for the children,” she said. “The parents enjoy watching their children learn tennis drills and to socialize as well.”
Off-the-court festivities
The tournament has added several events including Burgers, Bourbon & Brew party and Championship Weekend Brunch, Ladies’ Day Luncheons, Tacos, Tequila & Tennis, and Game, Set, and Pour parties.
Several nonprofits were also there including the KOP Mentoring Network, which collected canned goods at the tournament entrance. KOP Mentoring is a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring services to kids ages 7 to 17.
As part of the food drive, fans were asked to donate 10 nonperishable food items to receive a free seat for the day’s matches. Hundreds of pounds of nonperishable food and canned goods were donated.
There were plenty of vendors, including jewelry companies, travel, eyewear, hats, physical therapy/massage vendors, and nonprofits to go around.
“This event has been great for us,” said Carson Bennett, co-owner of Guaca Go with Amber Benjamin, who is based in Boynton Beach and is planning on opening a location in Delray Beach in April. They have been serving guacamole at the event for the past five years. He was one of an estimated 50 food vendors.
“It seems the fans enjoy our food,” said Bennett, who serves bowls, wraps and other healthy foods. “We did events for about three years and then we opened our first storefront in Boynton Beach and then in West Palm Beach. I believe last year we served around 4,000 to 5,000 people for the 10 days.”
Bennett, who is considering franchising his company, said it is important to be part of the community event.
“It really means a lot getting people to taste our food at an event-style setting like this,” he said. “A lot of people had never heard of us, or came into one of our stores, so this gives us a great opportunity to get face-to-face with people and make connections. It’s a great venue and we are looking to open our first franchise.”
Record-setting tournament
The Delray Beach Open attracted a record 67,175 fans during the 10 days and 17 sessions of the event. Records were also set for four sessions, and daily records were set for Thursday and Saturday. Seven sessions were sold out and it was the second-highest attendance (5,823) for a finals day.
American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, his wife Dorothea, and WNBA legend Lisa Leslie were among those in attendance this year.
“We created so many amenities on site this year, including elevated seating and five video boards on site,” said Ivan Baron, tournament chairman. “Our player field was unreal this year. Our box seats were brand new. The city of Delray Beach stepped up to another level. We increased the number of parties in the past three years, and we doubled the size of the food court this year because the lines were just too long last year, which is a good problem to have.
“We really believe in staying local,” he said. “I believe 100 percent of our vendors are local. We have a really good relationship with everybody, the vendors, the spectators, the players…My father (Mark) really started this from a piece of paper 32 years ago and it is incredible what it has grown to. We have already started planning for 2025.”
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