Executive Summary
The groundbreaking transformation of the Cincinnati Open ushers the nation’s second-oldest tennis tournament into a new era.
The global tennis tourism industry is booming, raking in billions each year. To keep pace, tournaments around the world are investing heavily in upgrades — revamping player amenities, transforming fan experiences, and embracing advanced technologies. Today’s tennis enthusiasts seek more than thrilling matches; they’re drawn to curated luxury, immersive cultural offerings, and gourmet dining. For elite athletes, top-tier facilities like cutting-edge fitness centers and personalized recovery lounges aren’t just perks — they’re essential tools for peak performance.
The Cincinnati Open is the longest-running tennis tournament in the United States still played in its city of origin and the last stop for the world’s top players before the U.S. Open. To prepare the grounds for the 2025 tournament, featuring expanded singles draws from 56 to 96 players, the renovation entailed extensive landscaping and elevated amenities. New bars and clubs, a shaded pavilion with a large viewing lawn, a new sunken court, and a two-story player clubhouse with new locker rooms, fitness center, and lounge all came together to create an unparalleled fan and player experience.
Submitting Organization: Gensler
Photo Credits: Contact Christine Keener at Gensler for photo credits
Detailed Nomination
Tennis Within a Park: The Groundbreaking Transformation of the Cincinnati Open
Ahead of the 2025 Cincinnati Open, the Lindner Family Tennis Center’s campus-wide renovation delivers an unparalleled fan and player experience with new amenities, courts, and refreshed facilities. Rather than building anew, the project reimagines an established campus. Including the existing Center Court Stadium and Grandstrand into a unified, contemporary environment that elevates both elite competition and everyday community use. Playing host to the longest-running tournament in North America still played in its original city, the venue’s radical transformation rivals Grand Slam tournaments while embracing the site’s Midwest roots.
The global architecture and design firm’s passionate dedication to the fan, player, and community experience served as the basis for the holistic master plan and renovation design. With community as a core value of the Cincinnati Open, the facility supports community events, new public tennis, pickleball, and padel courts and a public clubhouse and restaurant. Spectators enjoy matches on expansive video displays in the new Sponsor & Fan Plaza, a sheltered pavilion shared between national sponsors and local businesses. Interchangeable divider screens enable 365-day activation of the space for farmers’ markets, concerts, and festivals.
Recognizing that fan impressions happen within the first 30 seconds, memorable statements were created for the grounds’ entry points and four main axes. A similar language of hardscape and landscape, intuitive wayfinding, and visual iconography guides fans toward a central node. The experience-driven journey is dotted with food & beverage options, activity zones, and retail opportunities, reinforcing the campus as a cohesive venue rather than a collection of standalone courts and buildings.
The introduction of shade trees and thoughtful landscaping throughout the grounds creates a transformational change and a comfortable park-like setting for tournament play by mitigating the heat island effect. Paired with shade structures and misters, the grounds become a refreshing oasis. Secret garden suites offer patrons center-court premium seating in an indoor/outdoor space sheltered from the elements.
A key challenge and opportunity was the renovation of the existing Center and Grandstand Courts. Dynamic facades were introduced the unify the previous buildings in a simple, elegant, modern architectural language. The building and court additions doubled the facilities’ size, expanding the tournament while preserving and elevating the legacy of the original structures rather than replacing them. Comparable to the world’s top competitions, the best-in-class player amenities offer ample relaxation and recovery space within a vibrant, secure environment. Players’ full-service dining and outdoor terrace become a year-round community amenity outside the tournament dates.
The revamped Cincinnati Open has received glowing praise from clients, fans, and tennis superstars. Some of the game’s biggest names have hailed it as the “Ritz-Carlton of tennis” and like the “fifth Grand Slam,” underscoring its transformation into one of the sport’s most luxurious and player-friendly venues. In 2025, the tournament welcomed a record-breaking 285,571 fans, with over half attending for the first time.
Together, these enhancements signal a new benchmark for premium hospitality in professional tennis. By designing the grounds as a sequence of social, culinary, and viewing environments rather than a single-purpose stadium, the Cincinnati Open shows how a legacy tournament can operate more like a contemporary resort campus. The introduction of new premium products, including garden-inspired suites and club spaces, broadens the range of hosted experiences on site and gives partners and guests more tailored options for entertaining.
The tournament’s ability to attract ticket buyers from all 50 states and nearly 40 countries underscores how this experience-led approach strengthens its position as a global destination, not just a regional event. The Cincinnati Open offers a clear model for how elevated hospitality, flexible venues, and thoughtfully layered experiences can advance expectations across the wider premium hospitality sector.
