Professional men’s tennis tour to hold tournament in Sioux Falls

Some of the top men’s tennis players will be coming to South Dakota for the first time later this year.

Huether Family Match Pointe will host the MarketBeat Open presented by USTA Northern as a stop on the ATP, or Association of Tennis Professionals, professional men’s tennis tour Oct. 20-27.

“This is an amazing event and level of play to bring here — not even Minneapolis or Kansas City have hosted an event this level in over a decade,” said Mark Vellek, Huether Family Match Pointe executive director.

The MarketBeat Open, an ATP 75 event, will bring some of the best players in the world to Sioux Falls this fall for a tournament that has added importance on the ATP Tour calendar. The USTA Pro Circuit is using a four-tournament swing this fall after which the American with the highest ranking point total will earn the United States’ wild card into the 2025 Australian Open main draw. The MarketBeat Open will be the first tournament in the series for the Australian Open wild card.

Here’s a look at a similar tournament in Cleveland. 

The event will have a 32-player singles draw as well as a 16-team doubles draw. There will also be a 16-player singles qualifying tournament at the beginning of the week from which four players will earn main draw qualifier spots.

“We are incredibly excited to help bring this first-of-its-kind tennis tournament to Sioux Falls,” said MarketBeat founder and CEO Matt Paulson. “We think this event will elevate the visibility of Sioux Falls on the national stage and bring additional tourism revenue to the city.”

Conversations with the tour  began two years ago about bringing an event to the facility at the Sanford Sports Complex, “and we quickly learned that with six courts it wasn’t doable, so when our expansion opened, that’s when conversations started up again,” Vellek said.

“It was really cool to see how in awe the tour was during the site visit. They couldn’t believe how nice our facility is, and they were blown away by the entire Sanford Sports Complex. Without the expansion and without Sanford Health’s support through use of their facilities and providing operational support, we could never have landed this event.”

“This is a game-changer for Match Pointe, and it also speaks to how professional tournaments and events view the Sanford Sports Complex,” said Jesse Smith, vice president of Sanford Sports.

“Athletes and fans will be able to come to our campus for this tournament and not have to leave. We have two exceptional hotels, a great restaurant in Blue Rock, Scooter’s Coffee just down the road and entertainment for the family at Great Shots.”

To add an ATP tournament “to the long list of professional and high-level collegiate events that have been hosted on the Sanford Sports Complex is significant,” Smith said. “It shows this campus has the versatility and ability to attract new audiences and organizations that are looking for an elite place to play and watch incredible competition.”

USTA Northern, which played a role in bringing the tour to Sioux Falls, also is excited to help fill the void of professional tennis in the Upper Midwest.

“We are thrilled to have professional tennis returning to the USTA Northern section for the first time in over 10 years,” executive director Becky Cantellano said. “The players that will be coming to Sioux Falls are future stars of the ATP Tour, and this event is an incredible opportunity for tennis fans to see unbelievable matches up close in person.”

Match Pointe will turn two of its 10 courts into stadium show courts on which the entire tournament will be played.

The venue will be able to have almost 600 fans attend each session, Vellek said.

“What’s great about hosting this in our facility is fans are going to be able to get so close to the pros,” he said. “Literally the worst seat we will have will be better than just about every seat at the U.S. Open.”

Day one of the MarketBeat Open will be Kids Day, which will give those 18 and younger free admission.

Here’s a look at a similar tournament in Cleveland. 

The tournament has one wild card position into the singles main draw and one into the doubles draw, which it will award in the fall. Organizers also get one wild card to give into the singles qualifying draw. The qualifying wild card will be awarded to the South Dakota Adult Open men’s open singles champion, which will be July 19-21 in Sioux Falls.

“The qualifying wild card presented a unique opportunity to have a local tie-in,” Vellek said. “The South Dakota Adult Open is a long-standing amateur tournament here and has really taken off the past few years with increased prize money, so the winner of that tournament each year is certainly the caliber of player worthy of having an opportunity to compete in the qualifying.”

The South Dakota Adult Open is run by the Sioux Falls Tennis Association, which is looking forward to adding even more to its July event.

“The SFTA is excited that the MarketBeat Open has granted its qualifying wild card to our men’s open singles champion this summer,” board president Thomas Chiu said. “Over the past five years, the South Dakota Adult Open has doubled in prize money and draw size. This wild card will provide the winner with a great opportunity to showcase himself against the next level of competition.”

Sioux Falls “has always been a really great tennis community,” Vellek said. “The difference is now we have the facilities to match that, and it has created so many opportunities that had been lacking for a long time.”

The player field will be determined 21 days ahead of the start of the event. Tickets for the MarketBeat Open will go on sale Aug. 26, which is the first day of the U.S. Open. Sponsorships are on sale now. For information, contact Vellek at [email protected].