Dallas Open Returns With Bigger Tennis Stars and More Prize Money

It feels weird to say after this weekend’s news about Luka Doncic, but Dallas is one of the best places in the world to be a sports fan. We have a North Texas representative in every major professional league; NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL, even MLS.

This is appealing, except to the tennis fan. Despite the sport having multiple bonafide mainstream stars, consistently great gameplay and compelling narratives, it has been nearly impossible to be involved with the live pro tennis product in the way that other leagues are around here until very recently.

In the NBA, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are guaranteed to stop in Dallas twice a year, but Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will probably never even see the city. For years, a diehard tennis fan in North Texas could conceivably go their entire lives without seeing one of the sport’s major stars. Even if you lived in a major American tennis market, which Dallas is not, an ATP tournament only happens once a year in those few cities.

This week, however, the primetime professional tennis world enters our orbit. The Dallas Open officially begins it’s round of 32 tournament today at noon. In previous years, the tournament was designated as an ATP 250 event, meaning that the eventual champion would be awarded only 250 points towards his world ranking. There was also only a total of $800,000 in prize money that would be distributed between the singles and doubles finalists at the end of the weeklong tournament.

It’s not necessarily small potatoes, but to the defining stars of each tennis generation, a 250 event and its relatively small prize money just wasn’t attractive enough to even make a bid to the Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer class of tennis.

This year is different, though. Beginning with the young 2025 ATP tour season, Dallas became one of just three cities across the globe to earn an event upgrade this year, along with Doha, Qatar and Munich, Germany. The winners of each tournament are now set to earn 500 points towards their rankings and the possibility of a lot more money, with the tournament’s total prize money is being upped to $2.6 million.

Higher stakes and higher prize money calls for a bigger venue. The Dallas Open has moved from it’s previous home at the low-capacity Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at Southern Methodist University to the Star in Frisco, which can seat many more fans. During a brief phone call, Dallas Open president Peter Lebedevs informed us that two playing courts were constructed at the Star, along with four private practice courts for the players to warm up on.

When you put higher stakes, prize money and a bigger venue together, you get bigger stars. In fact, three of the top ten highest ranked players in the world and six of the top seven Americans are in Frisco for the Dallas Open this week.

World No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 5 Casper Ruud are set to play, each coming into the tournament after disappointing exits during the Australian Open. Ruud was upset by 19-year-old Jakub Mensik who lost in the next round. Fritz lost to the aging French star Gael Monfils, who enjoyed a brief Cinderella run to the tournament’s fourth round before retiring against Ben Shelton.

Speaking of Shelton, the budding American star will be returning to the Dallas Open after making his tournament debut last year. The 22-year-old is fresh off a semifinals appearance at the Australian Open, where he lost in straight sets to the eventual champion, Jannik Sinner.

Tommy Paul, defending Dallas Open champ and world No. 9 will also be returning to the court. He emerged victorious over fellow American Marcos Giron last year. Other notable names in the tournament include fan-favorite American Frances Tiafoe, who has participated in the Dallas Open each of the last four years, as well as Tomas Machac, Alex Michelson, Cameron Norrie and Brandon Nakashima.

For the Dallas tennis fan who may have otherwise never gotten the chance to see players like Ruud or Fritz, this is an almost overwhelming roster. Over the weekend, the tournament held a series of qualifying rounds to fill out the 32-man player pool. After that was complete, the seeding and schedule for the first two days were announced.

Top eight Dallas Open seeds:
1. Taylor Fritz
2. Casper Ruud
3. Tommy Paul
4. Ben Shelton
5. Frances Tiafoe
6. Tomas Machac
7. Alex Michelson
8. Matteo Arnaldi

Two matches are set to be played on the primary stadium court this afternoon. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will face off against Brandon Holt, followed by Matteo Arnaldi battling with Christopher Eubanks.

At 3:30 p.m., Rinky Hijikata will play Adrian Mannarino on the Grandstand court.

The tournament has two matches set for Monday night after 7 p.m., with one between Frances Tiafoe and Taro Daniel and the other between Ethan Quinn and Trevor Svajda.

Tickets are separated into afternoon or evening sessions, going for about $20 a seat as the low, "get-in" price. The rest of the tournament field will play on Tuesday, though exact times remain unannounced.

UTD student Ritvik Thota is a longtime tennis fan and player. Last year, he volunteered at the 2024 Dallas Open quarterfinals at SMU.

“It’s definitely an amazing feeling and an upgrade for the tournament being held in Friso now,” he says.

Thota told us that he plans to get tickets to this year’s final, set to be held on Sunday afternoon. In perhaps a subtle prediction, he says that he’s most excited to see Fritz take the court this year. They say always everything’s bigger here, but this time it’s indisputable. More points. More prize money. Bigger venue. Bigger stars. North Texas is in for quite the week of world-class professional tennis.

“It’s 15 minutes away from me and a 500 level ATP event,” Thota says. “I don’t know what else I could ask for. It’s a dream come true.”