Bruce Flory, son of the late tournament chairman Paul Flory, started out as a ball boy in the late 1960s. He joined the tournament full-time as Marketing Director in 1993. In 1998 he was named Tournament Director, where he remained until December 2010. Because Flory has so much firsthand experience at the event, we asked him to give us some inside information you won’t find in stats records or match recaps.
TIMELINE
LOOKING BACK
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A PROUD & STORIED TENNIS TRADITION
BEFORE THERE WAS A ROSE BOWL, before Army first played Navy on the gridiron, before baseball’s first World Series, before the first Indy 500, and decades before golf’s Masters, the best players in tennis were congregating in the southwest corner of Ohio for a very special tournament. That tournament, at first called the Cincinnati Open, is alive and well to this day, and its 114-year run in the Queen City makes it the oldest tournament in the United States played in its original city. COMMENTARY BY BRUCE FLORY
1899—The Avondale Athletic Club hosts the first Cincinnati Open. The tournament attracts the finest players from all over the country. This location is now occupied by Xavier University. The Clubhouse was the university’s first student center.
1920–45—The tournament thrives and the list of winners features some legendary tennis names, including George Lott, Bill Tilden, Bobby Riggs, and Bill Talbert among the men, and Ruth Sanders Cordes and Clara Louise Zinke among the women.
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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN 2013
1975—Paul Flory
1967—A $15,000 professional tournament is held in conjunction with the amateur tournament. It is the first combination professional/amateur tournament in the world.
1970—“My first memory of dad’s (Paul Flory) involvement in the tournament was when Ken Rosewall stayed at our house when he won the event in 1970. I think dad’s connection with Rosewall ignited his passion for the tournament and inspired him to get involved in subsequent years.”
signs on as tournament director, marking a turning point in the success of the event. He enlists the cosponsorship of The Cincinnati Enquirer and Taft Broadcasting (now a part of Clear Channel Communications).
1984—“Vince Van Patten was playing on Center Court when one of his shoes broke and he didn’t have a spare in his bag. The umpire had to ask the audience if anyone had a sneaker in his size. A pair was found and Vince finished the match in someone else’s shoes.”
1974—Financial stress
1979—The tournament
causes the women’s draw to be eliminated and, for the first and only time, the tourney is played entirely indoors (at the downtown Cincinnati Convention Center). This is the first year that donations are made to Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Despite the financial trouble, $15,000 is donated to Children’s. Since then, more than $7.7 million has been donated to this worthy cause and an additional $1.1 million has been donated to the UC Health Barrett Center and Tennis for City Youth, collectively.
solidifies its relationship with the Association of Tennis Professionals. Also, the tournament moves to its current site in Mason.