Cincinnati Open: Start date, how to watch, past winners, history & more

Many of the top talents in the men's and women's game are headed for Ohio as the Cincinnati Open takes place at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Ohio.

The event is one of the main stops on the road to the US Open in New York, as the tennis tours switch from the traditional summer grass to hard court action.

Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff were crowned respective champions at the Cincinnati Open last year.

Cincinnati Open Dates

The Cincinnati Open takes place this year from Monday 12th August until Monday 19th August, 2024. The men's and women's finals are scheduled for Monday 19th August, while some qualifying matches take place on Sunday 11th August, before the tournament proper begins a day later.

Cincinnati Open Venue

The Cincinnati Open takes place on the outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

The grounds include four permanent tennis stadia - Center Court, Grandstand Court, Court 3 and Court 10 – making it one of the best facilities in the game, outside of the venues for the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Center Court, first built in 1981, now boasts a seated capacity of 11,400. The venue takes its name from the late Cincinnati financier Carl Lindner Jr.

Cincinnati Open How to watch

All Cincinnati Open matches will be available to watch live on bet365's Live Streaming Service.

Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports Main Event will also be showing extensive live coverage of the men's and women's events on all main tournament days, including both finals.

Cincinnati Open Favourites

As always, both the men's and women's Cincinnati Open tournaments are set to be fiercely competitive this season.

The field in the men's tournament will not have to contend with defending champion Novak Djokovic. The 37-year-old confirmed he was not competing in the wake of his gold medal win over Carlos Alcaraz in Paris last week.

Alcaraz reached his first decider in Cincinnati last time around and the Spaniard will be amongst the favourites to go one better now.

Former winners Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev will also be amongst the leading contenders in the men's draw, alongside the likes of Jannik Sinner, Alex de Minaur and Andre Rublev.

American Coco Gauff won the first WTA 1000 title of her career in Cincinnati last summer, scoring her first career win over Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.

In addition to Gauff, two other former tournament champions were on the initial entry list: 2019 winner Madison Keys, and 2013 and 2020 winner Victoria Azarenka, while Karolina Pliskova, the 2016 champion, also became a main-draw direct entry after withdrawals.

Karolina Muchova, last year's beaten finalist, is also among the entries as she continues her comeback from February wrist surgery, though Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova has withdrawn from the event due to a continuing thigh problem.

Cincinnati Open History

Having first been held in 1899 as the Cincinnati Open, the tournament was renamed in 1901 to Tri-State Tennis Tournament, a name it would keep until 1969.

The event was largely contested on clay courts until 1979, when it switched to the hard court surface it has remained on since at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

The venue in Mason, Ohio is considered one of the more intimate on the ATP/WTA Tours, as players walk between courts amongst fans.

It has been confirmed that from 2025 the Cincinnati Open will be expanding to a 12-day format for both men and women, with the draws expanding from 56 to 96 players, as the event joins the likes of the Indian Wells Open, Madrid Open, and Miami Open in that status.

Cincinnati Open Past Winners

Roger Federer stands tall as a seven-time winner of the men's event, with the Swiss having played in eight finals, a tally now matched by Djokovic after he won this third title in 2023.

Americans Raymond Little, Beals Wright and Bobby Riggs all managed three successive tournament wins in the first half of the 20th century. Andy Murray won the title in 2008, while Andy Roddick's 2006 win is the most recent for an American man.

Ruth Sanders Cordes and Clara Louise Zinke are five-time winners of the women's tournament, with the latter contesting 10 finals in a row from 1923.

Serena Williams won consecutive titles in 2014 and 2015, while Madison Keys (2019) and Gauff (2023) are the only American women's winners since.