The Winston-Salem Open is a men's professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

played on the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

in the United States. It made its debut at Winston-Salem in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and is part of the ATP 250 tournaments. It was previously held in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

and

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

before it was sold and relocated to Winston-Salem, creating a new tournament. The Winston-Salem Open was awarded the 2016

250 Tournament of the Year.

History

The event started on Long Island's

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

hamlet as a four-player singles exhibition in 1981, the event, first known as the ''Hamlet Challenge Cup'', developed into a larger draw competition, and saw winning numerous top players in the 1980s, including

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...

and an eighteen-year-old

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

in 1988. In 1990, the Long Island tournament became part of the tour as it entered the newly created

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...

(ATP) Tour, being sponsored by numerous companies including; Norstar Bank in 1990 and 1991, Waldbaum's from 1992 to 1995 and from 1997 to 2000, Genovese Drug Stores in 1996, and '' TD Waterhouse'' from 2002 until the move to New Haven, adding names like

Stefan Edberg Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...

Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former professional tennis p ...

, Magnus Norman,

Paradorn Srichaphan Paradorn Srichaphan (; ; ; born 14 June 1979) is a Thai former professional tennis player. Srichaphan was the first player from Asia to be ranked in the world's top 10 of men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), reaching ...

and

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...

to its list of champions. In 2005 the USTA decided to purchase the men's tournament of

, New York and merge it with the Women's event at

. This move created the first large joint ATP– WTA tournament leading to the US Open. The tournament remained a joint event until 2011 when the men's and women's events became separated, and the men's tournament relocated to Winston-Salem. The tournament will ignore its history with the ATP calling it a new event.

Tournament

The tournament is part of the US Open Series and is typically held in August the week prior to the US Open. It used to be one of six 250 level events on tour played in the United States but from 2025 it is one of only three. In 2016, the tournament received recognition as one of the ATP World Tour 250 Tournaments of the Year.

holds the record for most singles titles at five, winning in 1984–1986, 1989 and 1991; he also holds the record for most singles titles won in a row, at three. The only doubles team to win back-to-back titles is Jonathan Stark and Kevin Ullyett.

Past finals

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

Official website

ATP tournament profile
{{Coord, 36.135, N, 80.276, W, region:US-NC_type:landmark_scale:50000, display=title Tennis in North Carolina Hard court tennis tournaments in the United States ATP Tour