Over the last few days, the Cincinnati Open has been rained out, and organizers are having trouble fitting an entire qualifying schedule into the same time frame as the opening of the main draw. Fans were officially told on Wednesday, August 12, that Session 2 was canceled out of “an abundance of caution” and that gates would not open at all on that day. 

The disruption started a day before, with morning storms delayed qualifying by over an hour before a second bout of rain in the afternoon led to another suspension. Only 12 of 48 first-round qualifying games were played when the action was suspended Tuesday. 

Wednesday saw no respite as the delays were repeatedly postponed to 12:00 pm, 1:00 pm, then 2:30 pm, and finally the entire session was canceled at 4 pm. At that time, there were still 33 qualifying games remaining, one day before the main draw was due to start. 

Despite the public cancellation, organizers tried to finish matches behind closed doors whenever the conditions allowed. The revised schedule made an attempt to resume play after 6 pm without spectators, but that plan created its own complications.

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To keep qualifying on track for the main draw’s start on Thursday, some players were double-booked to play twice in the same day, with players in the women’s draw among those scheduled to complete both their first and final qualifying rounds hours apart. 

This is far from an isolated headache for the tour this season. Things were just as hectic last week in Montreal, where players such as Ben Shelton were forced to play back-to-back without a break, and Daniil Medvedev was stranded mid-match in doubles action after rain suspended play.

At Queen’s Club in the grass season, Emma Raducanu found herself in a much more unlikely situation when she had to play her quarter-final and semi-final on the same day due to the torrential rain, leaving her clearly exhausted heading into a loss in the final.

Cincinnati’s rain chaos arrives alongside a wave of player withdrawals

The delays have added to an already challenging period for the tournament. Cincinnati is already missing Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz due to injury, along with Holger Rune, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Alexander Bublik. Naomi Osaka was next to join the list on the day qualification was rained out, withdrawing due to fatigue a day after her quarter-final loss to Elena Rybakina in Montreal. 

Also in question is Frances Tiafoe, who had to undergo minor surgery to get rid of a cyst in his hand, while Belinda Bencic’s inclusion is up for debate after missing her own Montreal quarter-final against Coco Gauff due to a hip injury. However, this delay could provide an additional day for these players to get ready for the competition. 

These rain issues have revived a question that the fans and commentators are asking: why the tournament’s 2025 renovation plans, which upgraded the new stadium’s seating capacity and expanded practice courts, did not include a retractable roof to avoid disruptions like these.

Qualifying remains to be completed before the main draw truly begins on Thursday, and the forecasts aren’t all that certain for the remainder of the week, Cincinnati’s tightly packed pre-US Open schedule has been put under scrutiny.