Cincy Tennis! All the Fun, Funny, and Sexy Reasons to Attend the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati

Every August, in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Western and Southern Open draws thousands and thousands of fans to the enjoyable spectacle of professional tennis awesomeness. Each year the tournament has grown more popular, and we here at Tennis Inside Out like to take all the credit for the increasing love our “Midwest Slam” has been getting.

Okay, okay, maybe it’s not ALL our doing. But J.D. and I are continually happy to encourage tennis-loving peeps to check out the live tennis at Cincy, and we often point out that the tourney is a fan favorite because of how close you can get to the players:

On smaller courts, you can get right up on the tennis action…enough to be a bit scared that the yellow fuzzy ball might not respect that invisible line that separates you from the confines of the court…

…and that a one-handed backhanded shank might hit you right between the eyes. Always be alert, my friends, be alert!

Many of the courts are so intimate that you can almost get close enough to breathe on the back of a Slam champion’s neck.

Not that we condone that sort of thing. I mean, it’s alright for us, but you really shouldn’t do that.

What you can do is take an awesome selfie with a tennis hottie, as the lovely Ashley here is doing with Tomas Berdych.

And when those tall, sexy tennis players are moving by too quickly, you can always just grab them by their towel…

Okay, maybe we shouldn’t condone that, either. Well, as long as you’re gentle. And he’s still smiling and hasn’t called for security.

While the player’s entrance to the stadium is where many fans meet and greet the stars of the game, you can also run into your fave player after they leave a match. We recommend nabbing them after a win, if possible, as they’ll definitely be in a better mood for fandom interaction.

You might run into a player outside the practice courts as well…

Keep a look out and you’ll also see players in attendance, usually checking out a friend’s match, but sometimes an upcoming opponent’s.

And sometimes they’re even a bit closer than you’d ever expect…

That’s Benoit Paire, who bounded up the bleachers on those long legs of his and slipped in a few rows behind us. He was there to see buddy Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who beat Ricardas Berankis quite devastatingly. Admittedly Ben was on his phone a lot. When he left, I noticed a women’s fashion magazine sitting on the bench near where he had been.

“He didn’t arrive with it,” J.D. said to me. “But that doesn’t mean he didn’t read it.”

Another way to inhale the scent of get close to the players is by winning a chance to do the coin toss. Above, a very happy fan has a moment with American John Isner (and that’s Juan Martin del Potro on the left). Below, some delirious Fed fans get the chance to be in the middle of a Fedal smoosh, and really, what BIGGER honor is there in the life of a mere mortal?

Another perk of the Cincinnati Masters tournament? Meeting kindred spirits…

I really should have gotten this dude’s name. He complimented me on my shoes, and as I began my spiel about “Andy Roddick’s Olympic shoes” I glanced down–and saw his identical pair. And we lauuuuuughhhhhhhed.

Notice we are both wearing the low-rider ankle socks ARod preferred…hah.  #DetailsAreImportant. If you’re gonna wear ’em, you gotta wear ’em right.

Speaking of kindred spirits, you can also have a lot of giggles with your friends at the Western and Southern Open. Especially when you have heat stroke and are dizzy from watching 12 hours of matches while consuming only pretzels and ice cream at random intervals–because you don’t want to miss any of the action, of course. And especially when there are larger-than-life-size renditions of players available.

Meet Tola, who’s doing her best Andy Murray impression, late one night when the tournament was done for the day…

And below, she’s getting up close and personal with the Maestro…

And Terry here hilariously got a little closer and a little more personal with Serena…

Thankfully that two-dimensional child next to him isn’t looking…

While the tennis player representations can be fun to fondle, there’s nothing better than the real deal, of course:

Not that we’re saying you can fondle them. We never said that, for legal purposes.

Want more proof of the awesomeness of spending time at the Western and Southern Open? Check out some of our Cincy updates posts, filled with pics of your favorite men and women on both tennis tours:

Day 1 …… Day 2 …… Day 3 …… Days 4 & 5.

Also, shirtless Tommy Haas, a very hot Roger Federer,

and a future Slam winner playing doubles behind the loo…

and all the amusingly stupid things people can say at tennis tournaments.

We’ll see you at Cincy!

*Special thanks to the non-pro-tennis peeps in this post, who were uber good sports about letting us use their photos.