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The Cincinnati Open has always been the warmup to the US Open, a stopgap in the Midwest before the glamour of the calendar’s final Grand Slam in New York City.
But after last year’s $260 million renovations, the Cincinnati Open has turned into a player favorite.
“It went from probably the worst facility-wise to probably the best now,” world No. 3 men’s player Alexander Zverev said last week.
Last year, Beemok Capital, which acquired the tournament in 2022, unveiled significant renovations to the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, about 25 miles from Cincinnati. Beemok is owned by billionaire businessman Ben Navarro, father of top 30 WTA player Emma Navarro.
The site doubled in size, going from about 20 acres to more than 40. It increased its outdoor courts from 21 to 31, and it added a new 2,000-seat stadium, a 56,000 square-foot players’ lounge, and multiple paddle and pickleball courts, among many other amenities.
The renovations were a necessary addition to expand the tournament from a one-week, 56-player event to a two-week, 96-player tournament. That expansion nearly led to the tournament’s relocation, as Beemok pondered a move to South Carolina, where its headquarters are based. Charlotte was considered as the relocation site for the tournament, then called the Western & Southern Open.
It would also be closer to the Charleston Open, another tournament run by Beemok. The company injected $50 million into renovations to that tournament, which became the first WTA 500 to offer equal prize money as ATP 500 tournaments earlier this year.
Rising costs to build a new $400 million facility—plus additional financial support from the local government in Ohio—convinced Beemok to stay in Cincinnati for another 25 years. In the end, the funding for the renovation was close to evenly split between public and private money.
“I 100% believe it was the right decision and 100% believe we’re going to grow the fan base here,” Bob Moran, Cincinnati Open director and president of Beemok Sports and Entertainment, told FOS last week.
‘A Massive, Massive Investment’
Top American male Taylor Fritz said last week that the facilities are comparable to some Grand Slam tournaments. Cincinnati native Peyton Stearns said she doesn’t mind “staying here all day” despite living a few miles away from the facility.
“The facilities have improved so much, tremendously,” said Novak Djokovic, whose first Masters 1000 main draw was at the Cincinnati Open in 2005. “I think it has become one of the favorite Masters events for most of the players.”
The Cincinnati Open was voted as the 2025 ATP and WTA Tournament of the Year awards, snapping decade-long streaks held by the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells) on both tours.
And Cincinnati’s facelift has been acknowledged by other tournaments as well. Last year, Canadian Open director Valérie Tétreault told Forbes of their desire to keep pace.
“We see many other 1000s right now upping their game. We know we need to follow suit. We feel like we are falling behind a little bit,” Tétreault said. Like Cincinnati, the Canadian Open, which is played in Montreal and Toronto, also expanded to a two-week event in 2025.
Stearns said the improvements in Cincinnati “raise the bar,” and hopes others “follow along shortly.” Fritz was less idealistic.
“I don’t know if I’d say it sets a precedent,” Fritz said. “I wish it did. I wish a lot of tournaments felt more obligated to make big improvements like they did here. It’s not expected because what they did here was a massive, massive investment back into the tournament.”
Getting into the grounds remains an issue, however, as the tournament’s fans generally drive into the 30,000-person town from around the Midwest. Moran said they are “continually trying to acquire more property around us to make it as easy as possible for people to get in.”
Some player spaces also often hit full capacity, especially during the early rounds when there are hundreds of players and teams going in and out of the grounds.
Moran says there’s still a ton of room for improvement.
“One thing I’ve learned is that no matter how much space you build,” he said, “you never have enough.”
