DEL POTRO WITHDRAWS WITH INJURY

Del Potro, who had off-season wrist surgery, opened the season in Sydney, but then pulled out of the Australian Open. He has not played since.”There are two things you can’t control – the weather and the health of players,” said tournament director Mark Baron. “That being said, we have a great field which includes four of the top five Americans, our 2012 returning champion in Kevin Anderson and the greatest doubles team in the history of the game – the Bryan Brothers.”

“We have two of the most fun players to watch in Ivo Karlovic and Alexandr Dolgopolov, and young Australian Bernard Tomic who some think will be Top 10 one day,” added Baron.

Baron also announced that two of the tournament’s wild cards were given to a pair of young Americans: junior phenom Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, FL and 22-year-old  Denis Kudla, who is ranked No. 131 in the world and has reached two ATP quarterfinals in his young career.

The 17-year-old Kozlov, with a junior career that included winning last year’s Orange Bowl title and a current No. 6 ITF ranking, has been playing Futures and Challenger events. He was given a wild card into this week’s Memphis ATP event, and played in Newport on a wild card as a 15-year-old in 2013. Last year Kozlov won Delray Beach’s “Survivor I” pre-qualifying tournament and played in the event’s 32-player qualifying tournament.

The event’s Draw Party will be held at 5:30 pm ET today where the 32-player draw will be formulated. Anderson, a Delray Beach resident, will be the 23rd annual tournament’s No. 1 seed, with three-time semifinalist John Isner the No. 2 seed.The 32-player qualifying draw will be released later this evening.