The court at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships is awash in blue. It’s the centerpiece of a mural that features waves and a graffiti design. It’s the handiwork of Pompano Beach artist Doug Hoekzema along with Angel Mir and Brandon Opalka.

It took six days – three days’ prep and three days’ painting – to be ready in time for this week’s tournament. And that’s not all that makes the Delray ITC unusual.

There are rock concerts and parties. And the VolleyGirls.

Yes, the tournament has its own promotions team – a 12-member troupe of young women, who hail from Germany, Russia, Serbia, Colombia, Jamaica, and the United States. Their job is to promote the tournament off the grounds and encourage crowds during the men's ATP event, which runs through Sunday. The idea started with seven VolleyGirls last year.

“We’re taking this to a whole different level,” said John Butler, executive director of the tournament. “It’s not even tennis anymore. It’s a spectacle.”

After all, this is the tournament that last year began offering a dozen on-court seats that allow fans to get to their seats the same way players walk onto the court. The fans are as close to the action as possible without being in the game.

The idea behind all the innovations, Butler says, is to convince non-tennis fans the tournament is worth attending. He took a page from traditional sports and borrowed liberally from the entertainment that surrounds other sporting events, such as a Heat game. VolleyGirls grew out of watching the Heat dancers. The tournament has DJs patterned on the Heat’s DJ Irie.

The mural was Butler’s idea as a way to differentiate the Delray tournament from any other tennis tournament shown on TV.

“Here we have these big palettes. Let’s make it more fun,” Butler said. “Let’s make it so that when someone’s flipping through the TV channels, they’re going to know at least that it’s different. They might stop and take a look.”

Butler acknowledges that at the center of the event, however, is a tennis tounament. “We still have a field of 32 players that are going to attract the tennis market," he said. "We’re trying to bring in new fans.”

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