Cincinnati Open

Just got back from the Cinci Open. We loved a bunch of the updates on the grounds, stadiums, practice courts, food & bev, experience, etc. BUT, this app is awful. I’ve been involved in data-driven F500 marketing tech, including apps and mobile for 10+ years, and this is the worst app experience I’ve seen in many years. It’s as if they started creating it 2 weeks ago and just launched it with no plan or feedback. The constant updates also point to this. So funny that 4 of us can be together on the grounds and we show different data and scores in the app on our individual iPhones, even when refreshing. A big issue…In this day and age, how can you not have a layout and live interactive map experience showing where you are and where you want to go to see a match/court? This was more of an issue than it should have been because the navigational signage is almost non-existent on the grounds. This was probably the most frustrating part of the experience. Finally, the internet seemed a bit better on the grounds but you should have a seamless wifi/internet experience for an event like this. It’s still funky.

Let’s say that I see a tournament I want to go to, but don’t have the names of courts memorized. I should be able to click the name of the court and immediately see it in a map. Nope. But I can click on the extra menu button, select Visit, and then find myself pushed out of the app into a browser so I can see a map that never changes. Why bother with an app. Why ask for my location? Why can’t I click on a tournament and save it so I can be reminded to get there in time? Is that a favorite? Dunno because I have to register just to do anything. Isn’t it good enough that I’m coming on site? You can’t even make the surveillance tracking useful to me? User experience. Get with it.

The most important function of any tennis tournament app is to give you the live scores. The second most important function is the order of play (aka daily schedule). This app does neither. It hides access to the live scores, when you find it, the page proudly proclaims “all live scores” — only it does not include all live scores and it includes some (but not all) results. I have not yet been able to discover any order of play. Maybe by the 2025 tournament they will have a functioning and useful app? EDIT: Kudos — a day later and they’ve added front page access to Scores and Schedule. Thank you! It is amazing how that improves my experience of the app overall.