Professional Tennis Will Soon Make Its Debut in Frisco
By Stephen Hunt
In February 2025, men’s professional tennis arrives in Frisco with the Dallas Open, which has been at SMU since 2022, when the tournament relocated from New York, being played at Ford Center from February 1-9, 2025. The event was upgraded in 2024 to an Association of Tennis Players (ATP) 500-level tournament, the fourth highest tier of men’s tennis tournaments, and needed a bigger home to accommodate the event’s rise in stature.
“It’s a great event. We have a lot of tennis-focused residents, so bringing an event they care about is positive,” said Josh Dill, Assistant Executive Director, Visit Frisco. “Having that event migrate up the Tollway is a testament to how strong that event is, how they needed more capacity to the facility, and the Cowboys trying to utilize that facility in unique ways. It’s the benefit of partnering with an amazing organization like the Cowboys. Finding events that fit our demographics, bring the right kind of visitation to our city, and expose Frisco to a wider market is important to all of us. The partnership seems to be mutually beneficial.”
Former professional tennis player John Isner, who is now chair, Dallas Open Advisory Committee, finished second in singles in the 2023 Dallas Open, and Isner, a Dallas resident since 2018, feels moving the event to Frisco is the logical next step. “It had to happen. When the tournament got upgraded, it made sense to move to Frisco, a bigger venue,” Isner said. “The tournament was hugely successful at SMU, but there were restrictions on how the tournament could grow.”
“Moving to Frisco, now there’s 6,000-plus seats. The 500-level event is going to attract stronger players, a stronger field. There’s more money for the players. Everything about the tournament is bigger and to have the Cowboys be a partner is huge. It’s going to be an amazing experience for the fans. The infrastructure in Frisco at The Star, the Ford Center, everything is world-class, and [I] expect the tournament to be very successful.”
Speaking of the tournament field, organizers already have firm commitments from the top three American players in Taylor Fritz (No. 5 in the world), Tommy Paul (12th), and Francis Tiafoe (18th), plus from Casper Ruud of Norway, who was sixth in the world in the November 11, 2024, ATP rankings.
And it’s a field that figures to add additional big names in the future. “My goal is to make sure we’re bringing someone new to the event every year…that the fans can say, ‘Oh, somebody’s new.’ Casper (Ruud) was the first we were able to get across the line,” Dallas Open tournament director Peter Lebedevs said. “He’s excited.”
“Then you add what Taylor [Fritz] has done, we’re excited for his results. When we get our player field [finalized] that first week of January, you’re going to see a lot of players ranked from about 15 down to 30 playing as well. There are only 64 jobs in the ATP world that week, February 1 through 9, so all those players are going to be playing our event, which we’re excited to see.”
Isner concurs the draw is already top-notch. “The tournament is in a fortunate spot right now, given how strong American men’s tennis is. This is the strongest [it’s been] on the men’s side in probably 20 years,” he said. “The tournament picked a good time to come to Dallas and be a 500 [level event] because chances are, most of these top American guys are going to play the event going forward. Most tennis fans know the top four or five Americans. They might not know of the six to ten ranked Americans, but they will. These are guys that are younger than the group like Taylor [Fritz], Tommy [Paul], Francis [Tiafoe], and Ben Shelton, but they’re going to be coming up and making a huge name for themselves.”
“The tournament is in a very healthy spot as far as American participation, but one of the goals is to attract marquee players from outside of our country, outside of North America. That’s going to be a challenge. We’ve already done that with Casper Ruud, who is going to be a great addition, but going forward, a lofty goal is to get a couple top-tens, maybe a top-five ranked European player to join the event, [let them] see what we have to offer, and go from there.”
A True Hotbed of Tennis
Dallas-Fort Worth has a long history of supporting professional tennis. The finals of the 1992 Davis Cup, an annual international team men’s tennis tournament played since 1900, were held at Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth and included a star-studded United States contingent of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, John McEnroe in his Davis Cup swan song, and Pete Sampras. Dallas was home to World Championship Tennis (WCT) from 1968 through the early 1990s as SMU’s Moody Coliseum and Reunion Arena, the original home of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, hosted countless high-profile matches before capacity crowds.
Moody was also the site of the 1983 Virginia Slims of Dallas, which were won by Hall of Fame women’s player Martina Navratilova. There was also a 1983 Dallas Open men’s tournament at Las Colinas Sports Club before the tournament returned in 2022 at SMU, the first ATP Tour event in DFW in over three decades.
Not only were the first three editions of the revived Dallas Open at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on the SMU campus rousing successes with capacity crowds, but those passionate fans helped create an incredible atmosphere which will be even bigger and better for the 2025 event and beyond at its new home in Frisco. “I love the support I received being a Dallas resident now, but on top of that, the support that all the players received. The night matches [at SMU] were electric,” Isner said.
“We know the venue is a bit smaller, a little less than 2,500 seats at SMU, but every night session was sold out. You walk on the court, when it’s sold out, it makes for a great atmosphere. That’s what we expect to have in Frisco going forward, a bigger capacity arena with 6,000 fans packing the house. It’s going to be amazing. The presales on tickets have been very strong – that’s very encouraging.”
As home to pro football’s Dallas Cowboys, hockey’s Dallas Stars, professional golf’s PGA of America, and FC Dallas, a charter member of Major League Soccer, Frisco is already known as Sports City USA, but the arrival of the Dallas Open signals that our fair burg is getting its due in tennis circles as well.
“I moved here seven or eight years ago, and one of the first things I noticed was how big of a tennis scene Dallas was, how many play our great sport and watch it,” Isner said. “That was amazing to see. It had been a really long time since high-level professional tennis had been in Dallas, and it just made sense to bring an ATP tournament here. The Frisco market is huge. Obviously, we know how much it’s growing, and the tennis community is just as big up there as anywhere else in the DFW area.”
At the high school level, Frisco Centennial has won back-to-back Class 5A team state titles, the Titans’ most recent crown coming in October 2024, and their head coach, Douglas Fair, feels that seeing pro players play in their own backyard will be an incredible experience for his players. “Yeah, I’m not aware of any major professional tennis events in Frisco, so this is going to be something new and exciting. I’m certainly going to publicize it with my team, and I’m sure the other coaches in FISD will do the same,” Fair said.
“I think it’s going to be a great event. I’ve taken my kids out to watch SMU men’s tennis, and we’ve had a great experience. For us as a group or maybe just them individually, to go watch the professional level I think will be an incredible experience for them. I really feel like Frisco has become a tennis town, and not only for youth, but I see a lot of adults using facilities. I think it’s a very popular sport in Frisco. It’s really amazing [the Dallas Open is moving here]. I’m proud that I live in a tennis town, a tennis community. It will be a well-attended event and well-received.”
And Dill, who expects the 2025 Dallas Open to generate over a million dollars in economic impact to the region during its nine days, is intrigued by the fact that hosting such a prestigious tournament, the only indoor event on the ATP schedule, could lead to the game growing further in Frisco. “These ATP events are high-quality events. I know that there is a desire to even have more tennis courts in the market,” Dill said. “I do hope that it continues to grow. We’d like to see this event grow and maybe add some other components to it, maybe even some amateur and youth stuff that could run alongside or lead up to the event. Having six courts inside that facility (Ford Center) may open up some really interesting doors.”
Dill also likes that ATP Tour tennis is already a popular sport watched by fans around the world who might not yet be aware of Frisco. “The big thing I think comes along with this event is the international exposure. Tennis is such an international event, and it’s streamed in so many countries,” Dill said. “That’s a huge opportunity for the city.”
Professional tennis comes to Frisco with the 2025 Dallas Open, a 500-level ATP event and the only indoor event on the tour’s 2025 schedule. But this move to the Ford Center after spending its first three years at SMU is all about building a long-term relationship between the event and the city. “We are so fortunate to be partnered with the Cowboys because they have given us the keys to the Ford Center, and it’s absolutely amazing,” Isner said. “We want this tournament to be here for forever, really, and be a staple in the DFW sports scene every February. People are going to enjoy it.”
And for Lebedevs, the move to Frisco is a win-win. “The actual facility itself, it looks fantastic. It has connections to the hotel straight into the venue, so the players don’t have to go outside,” Lebedevs said. “It has all the amenities that go with the Cowboys. All these things working together make it a great venue. The plaza at the front, we’re going to tent that area and have our whole activation area outside in that plaza in front, and it’s going to be open to the public.”
Single session tickets are now on sale for this highly-anticipated event, as well as weekend plans, and premium seats. For more information on the 2025 Dallas Open, visit dallasopen.com.
Stephen Hunt is a longtime Frisco resident, former tennis player, and lifelong John McEnroe fan.
