MASON, OH – The rains fell, and two of the toptennis players in the world dropped out due to injuries.
Yet this year's Cincinnati Open tennis tournamentdrew a record number of people, according to officials with Warren County and the city of Mason.
Over the two weeks, more than 300,000 people attended the Cincinnati Open in Mason, according to Warren County Commissioner David Young and an Instagram post from the city of Mason. That's more than 285,000 that showed up to the 2025 tournament, the first year the tournament expanded to two weeks.
"After a rough weather-related start and dealing with the weather over time, it literally couldn't have gone any better," Young said. "After all of this great tennis, you have three of the four finalists being
American, and you had really great matches."
The record-setting attendance comes three years after the region almost lost the tournament. The tournament's owner, Beemok Capital, had begun negotiations to move it to Charlotte in 2023.
The Cincinnati Open stayed in Mason thanks to a partially government-funded renovation.
People from around the world
People came from all over the world to the newly revamped Lindner Tennis Center. Officials said the tournament attracts people from all 50 states and more than 65 countries.
Anyone who walked through the Cincinnati Open parking lot could see an impressive array of license plates from all over the country. The host city of Mason invitedpeople to write where they came from on a billboard in the parking lot. A day before the tournament's final, Mason posted a picture on Instagram of the board filled with locales across the globe – Philippines, Ukraine, Texas, Alabama and many more.
Early in the tournament, Scott Hutchinson, the spokesman for the Warren County Convention and Visitors Bureau, walked over from his office across the street to peruse the license plates in the tournament's parking lot. The first vehicle he encountered was a tour bus filled with European tennis fans.
"It is very much an international draw," Hutchinson said.
Hotels and restaurants packed
It was still too soon for any specific numbers from the local convention and visitor bureaus on hotel rooms and economic impact. But early indications were that hotels and restaurants were hopping with tennis fans from across the region.
Young said a family from Nashville at the tournament told him the closest hotel they could find was in Northern Kentucky, at least half anhour away.
"That's what we're talking about, a regional impact," Young said. "That's what benefited Northern Kentucky, Butler County, Clermont County and Hamilton County. It's all over the place."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Open sets attendance record this year
