A Net Gain

The Western & Southern Open is the nation's oldest professional tennis tournament played in its city of origin.

The Open will be held August 14–22, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason.

First played in 1899 on the site of current day Xavier University, the Open has been a fixture in the Queen City for more than a century. The champions list reads like a who's who of tennis greats, with more than 100 International Tennis Hall of Famers having played in Cincinnati over the years.

While delivering great tennis to the world is the main product, the Western & Southern Open's primary mission for decades has been to use the event as a force for good. Over the past decades the tournament donated to key community beneficiaries.

Giving Back

$11 million – Total money donated directly to key community beneficiaries.

$9 Million – Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

$1.5 Million – The Barrett Cancer Center at UC

$994,633 – Tennis For City Youth

The Volunteers

1,300 – People from the Greater Cincinnati area who annually volunteer

31 – Committees, from Ballpersons to Player Escorts to Transportation, volunteers

On the Court

The Lindner Family Tennis Center and the venues for the four Grand Slams are the only venues in tennis with more than two permanent stadiums.

The capacity for the Center’s stadia are:

11,435 – Center Court

5,000 –  Grandstand Court (capacity

3,500 –  Court #3

2,500 –  Court #9

The Players

56 Draw size

44 direct acceptances

7 qualifiers

4 wild cards

1 special exempt

Winners

The first winner of what is today the Western & Southern Open was Nat C. Emerson in 1899. Bobby Riggs won four times, from 1936-38 and again in 1940.

7 – Roger Federer has won the Cincinnati Masters the most times on the men’s side, the last of which came in 2015. Other multiple champions in the Open Era include

4 – Mats Wilander

3 – Andre Agassi

3 – Pete Sampras

3 – Marty Riessen

FYI, Novak Djokovic has won the Cincinnati Masters twice while Rafael Nadal has won the tournament once.

Between 1974 to 2003, the women’s event was held only once. No woman has won the tournament three times in the Open Era, with Rosie Casals (1970), Margaret Court (1972) and Yvonne Goolagong (1973) among the winners prior to that. Those with two titles include defending champion Victoria Azarenka and Serena Williams.