Delray Beach 2026 ATP 250 - Tournament Preview

Here is my Preview of the Delray Beach ATP 250 Open tournament.

Delray Beach is play on slow outdoor hard courts. It is among the slowest hard court tournaments.

Speed Statistics

In terms of court speed data, this is the average of the last 5 years:

• 71.2% Points won on the first serve
• 79.1% Service Holds
• 0.50 Aces/Game
• 0.20 TB/Set

Just to give you an idea, the numbers suggest speed conditions similar to those of clay tournaments played at altitude like Gstaad, Madrid or Geneva.

Past Winners 

2025: Kecmanovic d. Davidovich

2024: Fritz d. Paul

2023: Fritz d. Kecmanovic

2022: Norrie d. Opelka

2021: Hurkacz d. Korda

Fritz has lifted the trophy twice.

Weather

This week in Delray Beach, the weather will be warm and generally mild, with daily highs mostly in the mid to higher-20s °C (around 77–85 °F) and lows generally in the mid to lower teens °C (around 16–20 °F) through the first part of the period, cooling slightly later on. Winds are typically light to moderate (roughly 10–20 km/h or 6–12 mph) and the humidity is relatively high for a subtropical coastal location, often in the 60–80 % range, with occasional chances of showers early in the week before transitioning to sunnier, less humid conditions toward the end of the period.

Player Statements

Davidovich, 2025: "I played my game, knowing the balls were very heavy."

Fritz, 2025: "It’s slow conditions in Delray Beach so I’m going to have to work extra hard for a lot of points."

Norrie, 2025: "A couple of days of getting used to the heat and humidity really helped. I was enjoying the longer rallies and embracing the tough moments. I managed to run away with the match in slightly windy conditions."

"I’m skipping the clay this year. I was hoping it was going to be slightly easier conditions here, but it wasn’t… I was sweating just as much as I would in South America, but it’s nice to be on the hard courts and nice to get a win after a tough match."

“It's not the easiest conditions to play in with the court, balls, everything, it's not as forgiving as a lot of other places, so I feel like it's a lot easier to miss a lot of balls here.”

Nishioka, 2025: "As other players have said, even though it's the same ball as last week, it feels completely different, heavier. The ball doesn't fly well, and despite the high temperature, I'm even contemplating slowing it down further. I wonder if it's the quality of the balls or if it feels that way because of the weather. Even though I've been hitting like last week, I can't attack at all, and the conditions are quite difficult."

Thompson, 2024: "Brutal conditions, it's so windy. I mean you think you're set and you've got your strings on the ball, but you're not even close. It's really tough playing the elements and an opponent, but I did well."

Fritz, 2023: "It's been a really long day for everyone… It was a battle. You know, slow conditions out here, so I knew it was never gonna be easy, I was gonna have to work for a lot of points."

Paul, 2023: "The court's a little tricky with all the wind, so that's always tricky to get used to in the first match."

Nishioka, 2023: "Balls are so bad, balls are so heavy."

Nakashima, 2022: "Of course, playing during the day here is a lot different than playing at night." 

Johnson, 2022: "Definitely it's different here at night, but since I've played here, I don't know, ten or eleven times, I'm used to the difference of conditions from day to night."

Summary

It's a hard court tournament but the conditions are very slow. It's among the slowest hard court tournaments on the circuit.

There's a huge difference between playing during the day and at night (more humidity and a slower court). This sould be specially taken into account.

During the day, the ball jumps a lot, good for clay court players that like to lift.

The wind tends to be a significant factor to consider. 

Additionally, it seems the balls get big and are very heavy, as the humidity is very high.

All of this contributes to the slow play data.

Draws

Here’s the link to the Qualies and Main draws — you can check it anytime to follow the latest updates and see which players advance through each round:

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/delray-beach/499/draws