Mason, Ohio is home to the Lindner Family Tennis Center, a tennis facility. This venue, operated by Tennis for Charity, Inc., hosts the Western & Southern Open every year. The grounds feature four permanent tennis stadiums, making the center the only tennis venue in the world with more than two permanent stadia outside of the four Grand Slam venues. The original 1981 version of Center Court has been extended so that it can now seat 11,400 spectators. The Grandstand Court was completed in 1995 and can seat up to five thousand people. The 2010-built court 3 has a capacity of 4000 spectators. In 1997, the now-named Court 10 was constructed from the former Court 3.

The Lindner Family Tennis Center was named after Carl Lindner, Jr., a prominent Cincinnati businessman who was a tournament sponsor in the past. Since the Center’s conception, the Indianapolis company Browning Day has been the architect of record.

In 1979, when organizers of what is now known as the Western & Southern Open decided they had had enough of the Coney Island amusement park being flooded by the Ohio River, they moved the event here. Taft Broadcasting, one of the tournament’s backers, also controlled the adjacent Golf Center at Kings Island, which was across Interstate 71 from the Kings Island Amusement Park near Mason. Paul M. Flory, the tournament’s director, and Charles Mechem, Taft Broadcasting’s chairman, agreed to move the tournament to the Golf Center after Mechem recommended it.

At first, four DecoTurf II courts were erected, and the Coney Island bleachers were trucked up Interstate 71 to be set up around one of them, creating Center Court. Two years later, the court’s original bleachers were torn down and construction commenced. Nearly every year afterwards, Center Court’s seating and facilities have been improved.

The original West Building was erected in 1987 as one of the most significant expansions, providing office space for players and media as well as luxury suites for fans. There are now enough suites and seating for 10,000 people on Center Court thanks to a 1990 enlargement. Building in 1998 increased the number of courts at the Tennis Center from eight to ten.

Banshee
Stoltz Memorials of Mason