Organized annually in the summer schedule of events on North American hardcourts leading up to theUS Open, known as theUS Open Series, the Washington Open was first held in 1969 as theWashington Star International. It was held onclay courts until 1986, when the surface was changed to hardcourts. In 2011, the event expanded to include its first women's tournament, aWTA International (nowWTA 250) competition held in a separate venue inCollege Park, Maryland. The following year, the men's and women's events were consolidated at the Washington venue.
In 2023, the WTA 500-levelSilicon 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.
The tournament was first held on the men's tour in 1969, known as theWashington Star International from 1969 to 1981, theSovran Bank Classic from 1982 to 1992, theNewsweek Tennis Classic in 1993, theLegg Mason Tennis Classic from 1994 to 2011, and theCiti Open from 2012 to 2022. Competition was held on outdoor clay courts until 1986 when it switched to the current hard courts. Co-foundersJohn A Harris andDonald Dell, founder of ProServ International, have since remained closely involved. The location of the event in Washington, D.C., was chosen at the urging ofArthur Ashe, an early supporter.
The women's event was first held in 2011 inCollege 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, andCiti replacing Legg Mason as title sponsor of the joint event.[1]
In 2015, the Washington Open dropped out of theUS Open Series because of disagreements withESPN, which that year took over broadcast rights to theUS Open and US Open Series events. ESPN would not commit to air more than four hours of the tournament on itsESPN2 network; the remainer would be relegated toESPN3 online streaming. (In 2014, coverage was split between ESPN andTennis 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 memberMark 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 theCOVID-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 the2020 Summer Olympics.[6][7] The tournament instead organized a women's invitational, featuringCoco Gauff,Jessica Pegula, andJennifer Brady.[8][9][10]
In June 2023, Ein andIMG announced that the Washington Open would merge with theSilicon Valley Classic to form a single tournament in Washington, D.C.; this therefore promoted the Washington Open from aWTA 250 event to aWTA 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 sponsorMubadala 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]
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 withMichael Chang (1996–97),Juan Martín del Potro (2008–09) andAlexander 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) withAnastasia Pavlyuchenkova (runner-up in 2012, 2015). In the men's doubles,Marty Riessen (1971–72, 1974, 1979) andthe 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) withRaúl 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).
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.
^abKnown as Championship Series from 1990 till 1999. International Series Gold from 2000 till 2008.
^abKnown as International Series from 2000 till 2008.
^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.
^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 theRussian invasion of Ukraine.
Sebastian Korda
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Nadia Petrova
Shahar Pe'er
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Andrea Petkovic
Kurumi Nara
Yanina Wickmayer
Donna Vekić
Camila Giorgi
[d]Liudmila Samsonova
Kaia Kanepi
Maria Sakkari
Marie Bouzková
Sania Mirza
Yaroslava Shvedova
Olga Govortsova
Chang Kai-chen
Chanelle Scheepers
Eugenie Bouchard
Belinda Bencic
Kristina Mladenovic
Andreja Klepač
Monica Niculescu
Han Xinyun
Alexa Guarachi
Erin Routliffe
Fanny Stollar
