5 storylines to follow at the 2025 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament

The Cincinnati Open returns to Mason with a new two-week format and expanded player fields beginning on Tuesday, Aug. 5 from the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

There are 96 players in both the WTA and ATP singles field this year, compared to 56 in 2024.

This summer's fields include 119 total players who have won a title during their career and the top 56 players from both the men's and women's tours.

Here are five storylines to watch for in Mason.

1. Will Cincinnati get an Alcaraz-Sinner showdown?

The last four meetings between the ATP's top 2 players, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, have been in a tournament final. Sinner snapped a five-match losing streak to Alcaraz with a four-set win on Sunday, July 13 to claim the Wimbledon title.

So far this year, Alcaraz has wins over Sinner in Rome and Roland Garros. Will they meet up in Cincinnati?

Alcaraz was involved in the last Cincinnati final featuring the World No. 1 and No. 2 when he fell to Novak Djokovic in a thriller in 2023.

Sinner is trying to become the first back-to-back Cincinnati men's singles winner since Roger Federer (2014-15), who won the tournament seven times.

Alcaraz followed the runner-up finish in 2023 with an upset loss in the Round of 32 to Gael Monfils last summer in Cincinnati in what the Spaniard called the "worst match that I've ever played."

2. Can WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka defend Cincinnati Open title?

WTA No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka enjoyed a breakthrough last summer in Cincinnati.

The Belarusian did not drop a set and won 62 of 95 total games en route to winning her first hard-court title since 2020. Previously, Sabalenka suffered semifinal setbacks in Cincinnati three times (2018, 2022, 2023) and a pair of Round of 16 exits.

Sabalenka is in the same boat as Sinner, trying to become the tournament's first repeat champion since a legend did it a decade ago. Serena Williams was the last to do it, going back-to-back in 2014-15.

Sabalenka, one of six past Cincinnati Open champions in this year's field, has three titles this season, including a hard-court crown in Miami.

3. Will this be Novak Djokovic's final Cincinnati appearance?

There have been retirement speculations surrounding 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic. Will this be his last appearance in Cincinnati?

Local fans haven't seen Djokovic since the marathon win over Alcaraz in the 2023 final, which lasted a tournament-record 3 hours and 49 minutes.

Last summer, Djokovic withdrew from the Cincinnati Open following the quick turnaround from his Gold Medal run at the Paris Olympics.

Djokovic has reached the Cincinnati Open finals eight times and captured three titles (2018, 2020, 2023).

4. Iga Swiatek coming off Wimbledon domination

This summer marks the first Cincinnati Open with a new WTA No. 1 since 2021. That year, Iga Swiatek was No. 8 and fell to Ons Jabeur in the Round of 32.

Over the last three years, Swiatek has arrived in Warren County as the top-ranked WTA player but has suffered back-to-back semifinal defeats to the eventual champion (Sabalenka in 2024 and Coco Gauff in 2023).

Swiatek made history in capturing her sixth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Her win over Amanda Anisimova marked just the second time in the Open Era that a Grand Slam winner did not drop a game (6-0, 6-0) in the final.

Swiatek has reached the semifinals in two 1000-level, hard-court tournaments this year (Indian Wells, Qatar).

5. Will American tennis stars make a run at Rookwood Cup?

Of the 37 nations represented in this year's Cincinnati Open, the United States has the largest contingent with 24 players.

That includes a half-dozen players currently ranked in the top 10 in their respective tours.

On the women's side, there have been two American winners since Williams went back-to-back: Madison Keys (2019) and Gauff (2023), both in the field this year. There's also No. 3 Jessica Pegula, the runner-up to Sabalenka in 2024 and No. 10 Emma Navarro, who has fell in the Round of 64 in Cincinnati in back-to-back years.

It's been 19 years since the Cincinnati Open has seen an American win the men's singles title, when Andy Roddick claimed the 2006 crown. Last year, Frances Tiafoe was the first American to reach the Cincinnati Open men's singles final since 2013.

There are two Americans in the ATP Top 10 in Taylor Fritz (No. 5) and Ben Shelton (No. 10). Shelton reached the Cincinnati quarterfinals in 2024, and Fritz is a two-time quarterfinalist (2022, 2023).

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 5 storylines to follow at the 2025 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament