Coming February 2023: a WTA stop in Austin, Texas
After proving itself on the ITF World Tennis Tour, the capital city will step into bigger boots when putting on the ATX Open.
Did Austin, Texas just get weirder?
Maybe, maybe not. But its tennis community has received a big boost.
On Monday, the Austin Statesman reported the Texas capital has been awarded a WTA tournament for next season. Named the ATX Open, it's slated to kick off on February 26, 2023.
“The addition of the ATX Open in Austin will bring world-class tennis to one of the fastest growing markets in the country and will be a shining example of why women’s tennis is the leader in women’s sports,” WTA founder Billie Jean King expressed to the publication.
According to the Statesman, the positive update came from an announcement made by the DropShot Tournament Series, which has staged women’s and men’s ITF World Tour events in Austin since 2019. Last October, Sweden’s Mirjam Bjorklund won their W25 event and three weeks later, American Zachary Svajda triumphed in the men’s edition. DropShot Tournament Series promoter Bryan Sheffield and tournament director Christo Van Rensburg will run the ATX Open.
While full details will be released later, it's expected the inaugural event will operate as a WTA 250. The only tournament at the level in the U.S. currently is Cleveland’s Tennis in the Land, held the week prior to the US Open. Charleston and San Jose represent the country’s WTA 500 presence, respectively.
This is the second tour-level event to pop up in the Lone Star state within the last year. In February, Dallas staged its first ATP tournament in more than three decades after the DFW area produced years of success on the challenger tour. Reilly Opelka defeated Jenson Brooksby in an all-American final to win that 250 event.
Austin previously held a Davis Cup quarterfinal tie back in 2011 after receiving the host bid with the help of hometown hero Andy Roddick.
