The hard-court swing begins: from Cincinnati to the US Open, tennis's cruellest three weeks

The hard-court stretch of the tennis season peaks in August, with the Cincinnati Open played from 11 to 23 August.

The season's final Grand Slam, the US Open, begins in New York on 23 August and runs to 13 September. Spread across three weeks, it is one of the longest events on the calendar.

The short gap between the two tournaments has become the main constraint shaping preparation for players at the top of the rankings.

MHA Analysis

The hard-court swing is the physically cruellest stretch of the tennis calendar: back-to-back big tournaments inside two weeks force a player heading to the US Open to choose between form and injury risk. Results in Cincinnati are therefore often less a preview of New York than an indication of who is protecting themselves. The Slam running three weeks also makes it the single event that decides the earnings balance of a season for players outside the top ranks.