The Western & Southern Open released Grounds Pass tickets to select day sessions beginning at 10a.m. on Saturday, August 1, available on Ticketmaster. This marks the first time the event has released grounds passes this early.

A grounds pass allows the bearer access to everything at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, except for Center Court.

Outside of Center Court, the venue has 15 other tennis courts; 7 of which are used for match play and the other 8 for practice viewing. Grounds pass holders can access any of those outer courts, which all provide first-come seating for the matches and practices. The Grounds Pass also allows the patron to visit the food and entertainment plaza, shopping areas and can view all the Center Court matches on the large video walls at the UC Health Match Point.

Only 1500 passes will be on sale for the following sessions at the noted prices:

Session 8, Wednesday, August 19 at 11AM, $50

Session 10, Thursday, August 20 at 11AM, $50

Session 12, Friday, August 21 at 11AM, $45

To give an idea of the volume of matches that can be seen on a Grounds Pass ticket, last year’s Wednesday Day Session saw 35 matches played, with only 3 occurring on Center Court. Stars such as Andy Murray, John Isner, Maria Sharapova and the Bryan Brothers played on match courts that were accessible to Ground Pass bearers.

Fans can access the grounds as early as 9AM each day to take in some of the practice activity on outer courts.

Because of the price and popularity, the event is encouraging patrons to purchase grounds passes in advance as their availability is not guaranteed the day of the event.

To purchase grounds passes: Visit Ticketmaster.com and select the one of the sessions above (starting Saturday, August 1 at 10AM)

Call the tournament ticket office at 513.651.0303 (starting Monday, August 3 at 8:30AM)

No refunds or exchanges. All Grounds Pass sales are final.

About the Western & Southern Open:
The Western & Southern Open will be held August 15-23, 2015, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, 20 miles north of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio.

The tournament is one of the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 events on the men’s tour and a Premier 5 event for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), making it one of only five events in the world outside of the grand slams with events of that caliber occurring during the same week at the same venue.

More than 67 million people watch the event worldwide. The tournament is also one of the last stops on the Emirates Airline US Open Series before the US Open in New York. Since 1974, the tournament has contributed more than $9 million directly to its beneficiaries: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Barrett Cancer Center and Tennis for City Youth.

About the Emirates Airline US Open Series: Now in its 12th season, the Emirates Airline US Open Series continues to serve as a true regular season of hard court tennis, linking seven summer tournaments to the US Open. In 2014, Serena Williams won the US Open and Emirates Airline US Open Series women’s title for the second consecutive year, earning a record tennis paycheck of $4 million. Rafael Nadal (2013), Roger Federer (2007) and Kim Clijsters (2005) also accomplished the feat of winning the Emirates Airline US Open Series and US Open singles title within the same year.