Washington_Open_(tennis)

Washington Open (tennis)

Washington Open (tennis)

Annual tournament

The Washington Open (branded as the Mubadala Citi DC Open for sponsorship reasons and sometimes called the DC Open) is an annual professional outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament played at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The event is categorized as an ATP 500 event on the ATP Tour and a WTA 500 event on the WTA Tour. The tournament is owned and managed by Mark Ein in partnership with IMG.

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Organized annually in the summer schedule of events on North American hardcourts leading up to the US Open, known as the US Open Series, the Washington Open was first held in 1969 as the Washington Star International. It was held on clay courts until 1986, when the surface was changed to hardcourts. In 2011, the event expanded to include its first women's tournament, a WTA International (now WTA 250) competition held in a separate venue in College Park, Maryland. The following year, the men's and women's events were consolidated at the Washington venue.

In 2023, the WTA 500-level Silicon Valley Classic was discontinued and merged into the Washington Open, forming the first and only joint-500-level event on the ATP and WTA tours.

History

The tournament was first held on the men's tour in 1969, known as the Washington Star International from 1969 to 1981, the Sovran Bank Classic from 1982 to 1992, the Newsweek Tennis Classic in 1993, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic from 1994 to 2011, and the Citi Open from 2012 to 2022. Competition was held on outdoor clay courts until 1986 when it switched to the current hard courts. A co-founder was Donald Dell, founder of ProServ International, who has since remained closely involved. The location of the event in Washington, D.C., was chosen at the urging of Arthur Ashe, an early supporter.

The tournament's center court

The women's event was first held in 2011 in College Park, Maryland, as the Citi Open, and for the 2012 season, the ATP and WTA decided to merge their Maryland and Washington spots into a joint tournament, with the women's event moving to the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, and Citi replacing Legg Mason as title sponsor of the joint event.[1]

In 2015, the Washington Open dropped out of the US Open Series because of disagreements with ESPN, which that year took over broadcast rights to the US Open and US Open Series events. ESPN would not commit to air more than four hours of the tournament on its ESPN2 network; the remainer would be relegated to ESPN3 online streaming. (In 2014, coverage was split between ESPN and Tennis Channel.)[2] Donald Dell criticized ESPN for using ESPN3 to acquire sports rights without any intent to broadcast them on television: "If you're running a tournament, and it's $2 million, and sponsorship money in the $6 million-to-$8 million range, you've got sponsors that don't want to be having only four or six hours on television." Citi Open organizers withdrew from the US Open Series so it could establish a new broadcast rights agreement with Tennis Channel. The four-year, $2.1 million deal included funding for additional amenities and 171 hours of television coverage.[3][4]

In 2019, the Washington Open was acquired by venture capitalist and USTA board member Mark Ein. It returned to the US Open Series, and also signed a five-year extension of its media rights with Tennis Channel.[5] The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The men's event returned for 2021, but the women's event remained cancelled; the WTA did not reinstate its sanctioning of the tournament due to conflicts with the 2020 Summer Olympics.[6][7] The tournament instead organized a women's invitational, featuring Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Jennifer Brady.[8][9][10]

In June 2023, Ein and IMG announced that the Washington Open would merge with the Silicon Valley Classic to form a single tournament in Washington, D.C.; this therefore promoted the Washington Open from a WTA 250 event to a WTA 500 event. Players had usually been divided between the two tournaments, as the Silicon Valley Classic was more prestigious, but the Washington Open was located closer to the rest of the US Open Series events. As a result of the merger, the Silicon Valley Classic's title sponsor Mubadala Investment Company became a co-title sponsor of the event, and the tournament was renamed the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The tournament is the first-ever joint 500-level event on the ATP and WTA tours.[11][12][13]

Past finals

A night match in 2018.
Grandstand in 2017.
A side court in 2017.

In the men's singles, Andre Agassi (1990–91, 1995, 1998–99) holds the records for most titles (five) and most finals overall (six, runner-up in 2000). He also shares with Michael Chang (1996–97), Juan Martín del Potro (2008–09) and Alexander Zverev (2017–18) the record for most consecutive titles, with two. In the women's singles, Magdaléna Rybáriková (2012–13) holds the record for most titles (two) and co-holds the record for most finals (two) with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (runner-up in 2012, 2015). In the men's doubles, Marty Riessen (1971–72, 1974, 1979) and the Bryan brothers (2005–07, 2015) hold the record for most titles (four), with the Bryans also holding the record for most consecutive titles (three). The Bryans co-hold the record for most finals (six, runners-up in 2001–02) with Raúl Ramírez (winner in 1976, 1981–82, runner-up in 1975, 1978–79). In the women's doubles, Shuko Aoyama (2012–14) holds alone the record for most titles, most consecutive titles and most finals (three).

Men's singles

American legend Arthur Ashe won the 1973 title.
Andre Agassi has won the most titles of any man, with five titles.
Gael Monfils, shown here serving in 2016, won the 2016 Washington Open title.
Alexander Zverev holding the trophy after winning the 2018 title.
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Women's singles

More information Year, Champions ...

Men's doubles

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Women's doubles

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See also

Notes

  1. Known as Championship Series from 1990 till 1999. International Series Gold from 2000 till 2008.
  2. Known as International Series from 2000 till 2008.
  3. Because of the exhibition nature of the event, each match was a two-set match. A ten-point tiebreaker was used in lieu of the third set.
  4. As of March 1, 2022, the WTA announced that players from Russia and Belarus will not compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

References

  1. [1]
    "Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C. changes name to Citi Open – ESPN". ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. April 24, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  2. [2]
    Reynolds, Mike (July 24, 2014). "Tennis, ESPN2 Serve Up 230-Plus U.S. Open Series Hours". Multichannel-us. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  3. [3]
    Rothenberg, Ben (August 13, 2015). "Why DC's Citi Open separated from U.S. Open Series". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
  4. [4]
    "DC's Citi Open Bumped Out Of U.S. Open Series Due To TV Deal With Tennis Channel". Sports Business Daily. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  5. [5]
    "Citi Open returns to US Open Series for 2019". US Open Series. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  6. [6]
    Malet, Jeff (August 2, 2021). "D.C.'s Citi Open Tennis Tournament Underway After Two-Year Hiatus (photos)". The Georgetowner. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  7. [7]
    Clarke, Liz (June 10, 2021). "Citi Open to return at 50 percent capacity after tournament was canceled in 2020". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  8. [8]
    Malet, Jeff (August 2, 2021). "D.C.'s Citi Open Tennis Tournament Underway After Two-Year Hiatus (photos)". The Georgetowner. Archived from the original on August 8, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  9. [9]
    Byrum, Tyler (August 6, 2021). "Citi Open tournament information". NBC Sports Washington. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  10. [10]
    Clarke, Liz (August 7, 2021). "At Citi Open exhibition, Coco Gauff talks about her bout with covid and getting vaccinated". Washington Post. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  11. [11]
    Wallace, Ava (June 1, 2023). "D.C.'s Citi Open merges with Silicon Valley Classic to boost women's event". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  12. [12]
    "San Jose moves to Washington D.C. to operate as Mubadala Citi DC Open". Women's Tennis Association. June 1, 2023. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  13. [13]
    Simon, Alex; Mastrodonato, Jason (June 2, 2023). "Bay Area loses longtime women's tennis event as WTA moves to Washington, D.C." The Mercury News. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved July 17, 2023.


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