Cincinnati Open facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cincinnati Open
Location	Cincinnati United States
Place held	Lindner Family Tennis Center (1979–current)
Court type	Hard / outdoor
Website	CincinnatiOpen.com
Current champions (2023)
Men's singles	Novak Djokovic
Women's singles	Coco Gauff
Men's doubles	Máximo González Andrés Molteni
Women's doubles	Alycia Parks Taylor Townsend

The Cincinnati Open is a big yearly tennis event. It's held in Cincinnati, United States. Players compete on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. The tournament takes place every August.

This event started way back on September 18, 1899. It's the oldest tennis tournament in the U.S. that's still played in its original city. It's also the third largest tennis event in the country. Only the US Open and the Indian Wells Masters are bigger. The Cincinnati Open is part of the top-level tournaments for both men (ATP Masters 1000) and women (WTA 1000).

History of the Tournament

The tournament began in 1899 as the Cincinnati Open. In 1901, its name changed to the Tri-State Tennis Tournament. It kept this name until 1969. Over the years, it grew into the large event we see today in Mason.

The very first tournament was held at the Avondale Athletic Club. This area is now part of Xavier University. The tournament moved several times over the years. This happened because of changes in how it was managed and the type of courts used. The first tournament in 1899 was played on clay courts. These courts were made of "crushed brick dust." The event mostly stayed on clay until 1979. That's when it switched to hard courts.

In 1903, the tournament moved to the Cincinnati Tennis Club. It stayed there for most years until 1972. In 1974, the tournament almost didn't happen. But it moved at the last minute to the Cincinnati Convention Center. It was played indoors that year. Also, for the first time since 1919, there was no women's competition. In 1975, the tournament moved to the Coney Island amusement park. This park is on the Ohio River. Here, the tournament started to become popular again.

From 1981 to 1989, it was a major event on the men's Grand Prix Tennis Tour. It was part of the Grand Prix Super Series.

In 1979, the tournament moved to Mason. A special stadium was built there. The court surface changed from clay to hard court. Later, two more permanent stadiums were built. This made Cincinnati the only tennis tournament outside of the four Grand Slam events with three stadium courts. These were Center Court, Grandstand Court, and Court 3. A new Court 3 was built in 2010. This increased the number of stadium courts to four. The old Court 3 was renamed Court 9.

The women's competition returned in 1988 for one year. It came back permanently in 2004. The organizers bought the Croatian Bol Ladies Open and moved it to Cincinnati.

In 2008, the men's tournament was sold to the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The USTA also owns the US Open.

In 2002, Western & Southern Financial Group became the tournament's first sponsor. They continued their support for many years. In 2011, the men's and women's tournaments were played in the same week. The name changed to the Western & Southern Open.

In 2022, the USTA sold the tournament to Beemok Capital. In 2023, there were plans to make the Lindner Family Tennis Center even bigger. This included expanding the Cincinnati Open to a 12-day event. It would also have more players. There were rumors about moving the tournament to Charlotte, North Carolina. But Beemok Capital said the tournament would stay in Mason. In October 2023, they announced it would indeed stay in Mason. The event will expand to 12 days for both men and women. The number of players will also increase starting in 2025.

Paul M. Flory's Impact

In 1975, Paul M. Flory took charge of the tournament. He was an executive at Procter & Gamble. During his time, the tournament became even more important. It also gave millions of dollars to charity. These charities included Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Tennis for City Youth. This program teaches tennis to children in inner cities.

Paul Flory received many awards for his work. He was honored with the ATP's Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award. He was also inducted into the USTA/Midwest Hall of Fame. Flory started as a volunteer in the late 1960s. He remained a volunteer until he passed away on January 31, 2013. He never took a salary for his work with the tournament.

The Tennis Venue

The tournament is played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. This center is in Mason, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. It has 17 courts in total. Four of these are large tennis stadiums. They are Center Court, Grandstand Court, Court 3, and Court 9. This makes it one of the few venues outside of Grand Slams with more than two permanent stadiums.

In 2009, the tournament announced a $10 million upgrade. This included building a new West Building. It's called the Paul M. Flory Player Center. This building gives more space for players, media, and fans. It opened in mid-2010.

In 2010, plans were announced to make the grounds even bigger. They added six new courts. One of these is Court 3, which is used for TV broadcasts. A new ticket office, entry area, and food court were also added.

In June 2020, the tournament moved temporarily. This was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City. This helped reduce travel for players.

The venue also hosts other events. These include college tennis championships and high school state tennis championships. It has also hosted volleyball events, concerts, and charity events.

The Lindner Family Tennis Center is known for its friendly atmosphere. The way the facility is designed helps fans interact with players. Players often walk among the fans as they go from court to court. The tournament even shares player practice times.

Recent Champions

Here are some of the recent winners of the Cincinnati Open.

Men's Singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
2019	Daniil Medvedev	David Goffin	7–6(7–3), 6–4
2020	Novak Djokovic (2)	Milos Raonic	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
2021	Alexander Zverev	Andrey Rublev	6–2, 6–3
2022	Borna Ćorić	Stefanos Tsitsipas	7–6(7–0), 6–2
2023	Novak Djokovic (3)	Carlos Alcaraz	5–7, 7–6(9–7), 7–6(7–4)

Women's Singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
2019	Madison Keys	Svetlana Kuznetsova	7–5, 7–6(7–5)
2020	Victoria Azarenka (2)	Naomi Osaka	walkover
2021	Ashleigh Barty	Jil Teichmann	6–3, 6–1
2022	Caroline Garcia	Petra Kvitová	6–2, 6–4
2023	Coco Gauff	Karolína Muchová	6–3, 6–4

Men's Doubles (Open Era)

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2019	Ivan Dodig Filip Polášek	Juan Sebastián Cabal Robert Farah	4–6, 6–4, [10–6]
2020	Pablo Carreño Busta Alex de Minaur	Jamie Murray Neal Skupski	6–2, 7–5
2021	Marcel Granollers Horacio Zeballos	Steve Johnson Austin Krajicek	7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–5)
2022	Rajeev Ram Joe Salisbury	Tim Pütz Michael Venus	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)
2023	Máximo González Andrés Molteni	Jamie Murray Michael Venus	3–6, 6–1, [11–9]

Women's Doubles (Open Era)

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Score
2019	Lucie Hradecká (3) Andreja Klepač	Anna-Lena Grönefeld Demi Schuurs	6–4, 6–1
2020	Květa Peschke Demi Schuurs	Nicole Melichar Xu Yifan	6–1, 4–6, [10–4]
2021	Samantha Stosur Zhang Shuai	Gabriela Dabrowski Luisa Stefani	7–5, 6–3
2022	Lyudmyla Kichenok Jeļena Ostapenko	Nicole Melichar-Martinez Ellen Perez	7–6(7–5), 6–3
2023	Alycia Parks Taylor Townsend	Nicole Melichar-Martinez Ellen Perez	6–7(1–7), 6–4, [10–6]

Tournament Records

Here are some interesting records from the Cincinnati Open!

Men's Singles Records

Roger Federer has won the most Cincinnati Open titles. He has won seven titles out of eight finals. His last win was in 2015. In 2018, Novak Djokovic made history at this tournament. He became the first player to win the Golden Masters. This means he won all nine Masters tournaments. Djokovic did it again in 2020 for the "double Golden Masters."

Most titles	Roger Federer	7
Most finals	Roger Federer	8
	Novak Djokovic
Most consecutive titles	Raymond D. Little (1900, 1901, 1902)	3
	Beals Wright (1904, 1905, 1906)
	Robert LeRoy (1907, 1908, 1909)
	Bobby Riggs (1936, 1937, 1938)
Most consecutive finals	Bill Talbert (1941–1945)	5
Most matches played	Roger Federer Novak Djokovic	57
Most matches won	Roger Federer	47
Most consecutive matches won	Bobby Riggs	21
Most editions played	Roger Federer	17
Most times seeded No. 1 (since 1927)	Roger Federer	7
Best winning %	Bryan Grant	100%
	Bobby Riggs
Youngest champion	Boris Becker	17 years, 8 months, 29 days (1985)
Oldest champion	Novak Djokovic	36 years, 2 months, 28 days (2023)

Longest final
1948 (64 games)
Herbert Behrens	7	11	2	6	6
Irvin Dorfman	5	9	6	8	4

Shortest final
2011 (13 games)
Andy Murray	6	3
Novak Djokovic	4	0r

Women's Singles Records

Most titles	Ruth Sanders Cordes	5
	Clara Louise Zinke
Most consecutive titles	May Sutton (1905, 1906, 1907)	3
	Ruth Sanders Cordes (1920, 1922, 1923)
	Clara Louise Zinke (1929, 1930, 1931)
Most consecutive finals	Clara Louise Zinke (1923–1932)	10
Most times seeded No. 1 (since 1927)	Pauline Betz	4

Men's Doubles Records

Most titles	Daniel Nestor	5
	Bob Bryan
	Mike Bryan

Women's Doubles Records

Most titles	Clara Louise Zinke	6
Most consecutive titles	Martha Kinsey	4
	Clara Louise Zinke

Overall Records (Singles and Doubles Combined)

These records combine wins from both singles and doubles events.

	Men		Women
Most titles	Raymond D. Little	11	Clara Louise Zinke	12
Most finals	Bill Talbert	14	Clara Louise Zinke	18

See also

In Spanish: Masters de Cincinnati para niños