Pro tennis returning to the nation’s capital for the 52nd year as the Citi Open tournament begins tomorrow, Saturday, July 31 and runs through Sunday, August 8 with full capacity attendance permitted at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.
The Citi Open tournament has been Washington, D.C.’s premier tennis event since its founding in 1969. Past champions have included all-time greats such as Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Nick Kyrgios, Juan Martín del Potro and more.
“Coming off a difficult 15 months, we can’t wait to bring back together our community, fans and the best tennis players in the world for a memorable week of competition and celebration in the nation’s capital,” said Mark Ein, CEO of MDE Tennis.
All-time great and 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal is making his Washington, D.C. debut the the tournament. Currently ranked No. 3 in the world, Nadal is arguably among the greatest tennis players in the history of the sport. The Spaniard has won an astounding 13 Roland Garros singles titles and his run of 81 consecutive victories on clay is the longest single-surface winning streak in the Open Era; but Nadal’s dominance in the game transcends surfaces. Born in Mallorca, he has held the world No. 1 ranking for 209 weeks, finishing year-end No. 1 five times, and, to date, has won 88 ATP singles titles, including 36 Masters 1000 (an all-time record shared with Novak Djokovic) and 20 Grand Slam titles (the all-time record shared with Roger Federer.) Additionally, Nadal is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning singles gold, in 2008, at the Beijing Games and doubles in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016.
“I am very excited to come to Washington for the first time,” said Nadal. “I have never been there and it’s one more place I wanted to come and play. I am looking forward to playing again and Washington shall be the best start for the US Summer Swing for me. Looking forward to seeing again my US fans that I haven’t seen since I won the 2019 US Open in NYC!. Vamos!”
In addition to the tournament’s rich history, MDE Tennis, who runs the event, announced their commitment to continue building on the reimagined Citi Open experience that was widely acclaimed and embraced by D.C. sports fans in 2019. Citi Open ticket holders will enjoy a gourmet food hall that features food and beverage concepts from top local celebrity chefs. Participating food and beverage partners include Levy Restaurants, Duke’s Grocery, Root & Sprig by Tom Collichio, Fuku by David Chang, Marra Forni and Kim Crawford
A limited number of tickets are still available for select matches, and additional information is available on the tournament’s website, citiopentennis.com.
