How Cincinnati prevailed over Charlotte in a tennis battle of the Queen Cities

When news broke last May that tennis-mad Ben Navarro, founder of Beemok Capital and the new owner of the Western & Southern Open, was entertaining a juicy proposal to move the longstanding tournament to Charlotte, N.C., many in the industry were chagrined. This was the potential demise of a storied event that has been played in the same city—Cincinnati, Ohio—in some form since for a record 124 years.

“For Charlotte, this would be amazing, but for Cincinnati it would be heartbreak,” Tennis Channel analyst Paul Annacone remarked at the time. “There’s such a tremendous heritage in Cincy. The community has always done such a great job. So this is a tough thing for them.”

In a conversation, ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe echoed the general sense of inevitability surrounding the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000-level tournament's potential move.

“Masters are in major cities,” he said. “Madrid, Toronto, Paris. It was always a little weird that there was one in Mason, Ohio (the Cincy suburb in the which Western & Southern Open is held).

“Yes, it’s been incredibly successful but. . . nothing lasts forever. As much as I love the tournament, I kind of get this.”

Scott Springer, a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, told me, “This caught a lot of (local) people by surprise. I’d be shocked if it (the move) didn’t happen.”

Consider Springer shocked.

In an unexpected development, Beemok announced earlier this month that the Western & Southern Open would remain in place for another 25 years, thanks partly to civic and corporate financial support. Beemok pledged to plow $200 million worth of upgrades into the tournament site, the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

In Charlotte, City Councilman Malcolm Graham, a tennis enthusiast and leading advocate for the planned $400 million “Project Break Point” tennis complex the city had hoped to build with Beemok, told local news sources that he was “extremely disappointed.”

“Charlotte was a great opportunity, but with Cincinnati you had a lot of history—a lot of fans, a lot of local support,” Bob Moran, the tournament director of Navarro’s Charleston Open and the President of Beemok Sports and Entertainment, told me in an interview. As evidence, he cited the continuous support shown for the tournament by the Cincinnati business community, the tournament’s long-standing army of volunteers (1400), and the record ticket sales and attendance figures posted by this year’s event.

Alarm over possibly losing the event may have helped drive a 9 percent jump in annual attendance at the tournament this year. The 192,000 fans who attended the 9-day event is the second-best ever. As of 2025, Beemok said, the tournament will expand to 12 days, featuring 96-player draws for both men and women.

I hate to couch the tournament as just Cincy. While I was out there I got to see how much people from all over really cared, and that resonated with me. Bob Moran

Moran spent almost all of July and August in Cincinnati, overseeing a general upgrade, advising rookie tournament director Todd Martin, and acting as the eyes and ears of Navarro, who had purchased the event from the USTA in 2022. But while many considered Project Break Point a fait accompli, Andy Roddick, a former champion in Cincy and a booster for Charlotte (where Roddick owns a home) sounded a note of caution.

“There’s still some ball to be played here,” Roddick, a Tennis Channel analyst, said on the air in mid-May. “This is not a done deal, but conversations need to happen quickly.”

Those conversations happened very slowly, as the underdog Cincinnati community rallied while, in Charlotte, potential costs for Project Break Point spiraled. Civic leaders in both places worked hand-in-hand with major stakehfolders, but Cincinnati may have had an edge in the business community. A number of high-powered companies (e.g. Proctor and Gamble) have been headquartered in Greater Cincinnati for many years, and they have a strong sense of civic responsibility.

Jason Williams, a sports columnist for the Cincinnati Enquirer, chronicled the way Cincinnati came from behind to win the bid.

“Greater Cincinnati leaders found a way to work together,” he wrote. “They checked their egos and fiefdom-building mentality. They had a plan. They didn’t give up in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. And look what happened: The out-of-town owner of the Western & Southern Open decided to keep his tennis tournament where it belongs—in Mason.”

That analysis represents just half the equation, though. Cincy fans, along with Moran and his team, provided the other half. The quick facelift that Moran supervised at the tennis center seemed to breathe new life into the event, so much so that Navarro was pleasantly surprised—and impressed—when he visited his investment. On a walking tour of the grounds he experienced the tournament's friendly, Midwestern vibe.

At the same time, Beemok representatives were coming to understand that while the Cincinnati tournament is in Mason, Ohio, it is not solely of Mason, Ohio. The event has evolved over the years into a regional one, not unlike, say, its tennis counterpart in Indian Wells, or the National Football League's New England Patriots.

“I hate to couch the tournament as just Cincy,” Moran said. “While I was out there I got to see how much people from all over really cared, and that resonated with me. On the grounds, the fans were from everywhere—Detroit, Chicago, Columbus, Louisville. So yes, the tournament makes its home in Mason, Ohio. But really, it’s the home for Midwest tennis.”

Like the far west, the Midwest has been experiencing something of a pro tennis event drought. That made the prospect of hosting a regional powerhouse that much more appealing to Beemok. Meanwhile, halfway across the country the outlook for Project Break Point became less rosy. The firm (Navarro, really) informed the Charlotte investors by letter that the Western & Southern Open would not be moving.

According to the Charlotte Observer, the letter said that the decision was “mult-faceted,” but also that “The consistent escalation of costs to construct a [new] facility of this [Project Break Point] scale proved to be too much.”

Ironically, each of the rival cities is known as a “Queen City.” Both are also river cities: Charlotte is on the banks of the Catawba River; Mason sits near the Ohio River. But there the similarities end. Charlotte is a booming southern metropolis, Cincinnati a much-buffeted survivor of upheavals in the industrial and agricultural heartland. This outcome represents a decision to remain and refresh, rather than to move on and build anew. It goes slightly against the grain of professional tennis, perhaps even of the nation’s history and character.

As the Enquirer columnist Williams wrote, “For once, we can celebrate a major victory over one of those peer cities that likes to take nice things from us. In this case, we beat out fast-growing Charlotte. It’s especially worthy of bellying up to the Moet champagne bar at the Lindner Family Tennis Center because just weeks ago the tournament appeared “gone,” Warren County Commissioner Dave Young told me.”

Bottoms up.