DELRAY BEACH, December 18, 2025 (Media Release)
Fans at the 2026 Delray Beach Open that runs Feb. 13-22 will have a chance to see two rising American stars, the tournament announced today. Learner Tien, 20, and Alex Michelsen, 21, both reached career-high rankings in the world’s Top 30 this year.
The tournament also announced that two-time champion and world No. 6 Taylor Fritz will play his opening match on Thursday night, Feb. 19. Other players previously announced as playing in the event are world No. 12 Casper Ruud and No. 20 Tommy Paul.
Both Tien and Michelsen started 2025 with surprise runs to the Australian Open Round of 16. As a qualifier, Tien upset world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the second round and Michelsen took out No. 12 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round for the second of three career wins over the Greek.
Together, they became the first pair of U.S. men aged 20 or younger to reach the third round at a Grand Slam event since the 2003 US Open (Andy Roddick, 20; Robby Ginepri, 20) and at the Australian Open since 1990 (Pete Sampras, 18; David Wheaton, 20).
Last month, Tien claimed his first career title at the event in Metz, France, after he reached his first-ever ATP final in Beijing. He recorded five victories over Top 10 opponents during the season and improved his position in the ATP Rankings by nearly 100 spots in 2025.
Tien is the top seed at this week’s Next Gen Finals, the ATP’s year-end event for the season’s best 20-and-under talent. He recently added former French Open champion Michael Chang to his coaching team. Chang played the Delray Beach Open in 2000.
Michelsen reached three semifinals this season, including in Delray Beach where he defeated past champion Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Miomir Kecmanovic. He avenged that loss enroute to claiming a Challenger title on clay in Estoril, Portugal, before Kecmanovic won their rubber match in a memorable fifth-set tiebreak on the grass of Wimbledon.
Michelsen broke through on the tour at Newport in 2023 to reach his first-ever ATP final in just his second event, becoming the youngest American finalist since Fritz at Memphis in 2016. He has since reached two other ATP finals and was a semifinalist at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals.
Childhood friends and rivals since their days as junior players in Southern California, Tien played at the University of Southern California for a semester before turning pro in 2023. Michelsen had committed to play at Georgia before his run to the final at 2023 Newport, turning pro shortly afterward.
The 10-day Delray Beach Open will begin with a Fan Fest Opening Weekend Feb. 13-15 featuring a Legends event with a field of the game’s past stars including the Bryan brothers and Juan Martin del Potro. Qualifying matches will be Feb. 14-15, and singles and doubles main draw action for the ATP 250 event starts Monday, Feb. 16 and concludes with the finals on Sunday, Feb. 22.
Tickets are available at DelrayBeachOpen.com.
