The eyes of the tennis world are currently focused on the Washington DC Open and the Canadian Open, but the upcoming event in Cincinnati has already been hit with some withdrawals.
The Washington DC Open, which is a combined ATP/WTA 500 tournament, is set to conclude with the singles finals on Monday after rain delays on Sunday.
Main draw action at the joint ATP/WTA 1000 in Canada got underway on 1 August, and it will finish on 13 August — the same day that the Cincinnati Open will begin.
The Cincinnati Open is the second combined 1000 tournament of the North American hard-court season and the last big event before the US Open.
This year’s edition of the Cincinnati Open, which is staged at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, will finish on 23 August.
Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek are the reigning men’s and women’s singles champions in Cincinnati.
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Five players who were on the women’s singles entry list have pulled out of Cincinnati, while there have been no withdrawals from the men’s event.
WTA Cincinnati Open withdrawal list
Victoria Mboko and Emma Raducanu have not played since the Queen’s Club Championships due to injuries.
- Victoria Mboko (world No 12) – replaced by Tamara Korpatsch
- Hailey Baptiste (world No 32) – replaced by Tatjana Maria
- Jacqueline Cristian (world No 39) – replaced by Maria Timofeeva
- Emma Raducanu (world No 49) – replaced by Maya Joint
- Lois Boisson (world No 292) – replaced by Kamilla Rakhimova
Will Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic play?
Alcaraz has not played since sustaining a right wrist injury at the Barcelona Open in April, but he could make his long-awaited comeback in Cincinnati.
Novak Djokovic‘s last match was his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner, with the Serbian having skipped the Canadian Open.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner has missed four of the last five editions of the Cincinnati Masters, but he has confirmed he will return this year.
“I am very happy to announce that I will be in Cincinnati this year, for the first time since 2023,” Djokovic said in a video shared on the official Cincinnati Open X account.
“That year I played one of the top three Masters 1000 finals of my career.
“I really look forward to coming back, playing in front of you again, and seeing all the fans from around the world. See you soon!”
Uncertainty over Holger Rune’s participation
Holger Rune, who has been sidelined since October due to an Achilles injury, remains on the Cincinnati Open entry list.
However, the Danish star’s participation looks in doubt after his mother Aneke revealed it could be “two or three weeks” before he is ready to play.
“There’s a lot happening on the physical side at the moment,” Aneke Rune told SpilXperten.
We had the specialist from Doha here about 10 days ago to share a lot of tips on explosive training – and it’s really making a difference.
“He’s getting faster and faster, so fundamentally our main focus now is to improve his tennis-specific endurance. That’s why you can see him training with all that monitoring equipment.
“It could take two or three weeks – it’s impossible to say right now. What we can say is that Holger is giving 100% every single day to make it happen as quickly as possible.”
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