Doubles Only Tennis Podcast

DC Open Preview with Owner Mark Ein: Doubles Field, Mic'd Up Players, ATP Costs, & More

• Will Boucek • Episode 293

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0:00 | 22:19

Mark Ein is the owner of the DC Open, an ATP and WTA 500 tournament starting on July 25. I spoke with Mark the week leading up to the tournament about how he has built the DC Open into one of the premier 500-level tournaments in the world.

We discuss doubles' role in the tournament, his passion for tennis, and plans for the 2026 tournament. Mark also shares his thoughts on the ATP doubles cuts. 

  • Mark’s background in sports and business, starting as a ball kid at the tournament
  • Why he features star-driven doubles teams and actively recruits singles players into doubles
  • What the final week of tournament operations really looks like behind the scenes
  • 2026 upgrades to the fan experience including stadium upgrades, merch expansion, and the new “front porch” viewing area
  • Why selling an all-day, all-week experience beats marketing individual players in tennis
  • The advantages of a combined ATP & WTA 500 level event and why it is rarer than fans think
  • How mic'd up doubles players can create must-watch social content and bring fans closer to strategy
  • Does ATP doubles cost his tournament money?

Mark has some candid responses, and I appreciate his drive to promote and innovate our sport, something tennis needs. Be sure to watch the DC Open all next week!

Learn more about Mark & follow:

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SPEAKER_01

You're about to hear my conversation with Mark Ein. Mark is the owner of the DC Open. He also has a long list of accomplishments in the sports and the business world, especially in the DC area, which I talk about at the beginning in a sort of joking manner, but you'll hear how impressive his list of accomplishments is. And we start out talking about the doubles field in the DC Open. The DC Open has done a really good job of promoting doubles the last several years and always gets a lot of single stars playing in the doubles field. So we discussed that. I asked him what the week before the tournament looks like for him. What is going to be different this year in 2026 for the DC Open? We also talked about the benefits of having a combined event with both the WTA and ATP being on site. And it's the only 500-level event that is a joint tournament. After that, we uh talked more about doubles. I asked him the plans for the doubles draw or doubles tournament this year. Uh he plans to mic up players, which he discusses uh the benefits of and what he plans to do with that, especially in terms of social media. And then we talked

Meet Mark Ein And His Origin

SPEAKER_01

about the ATP doubles news uh and plans to cut doubles. I asked him very directly, actually, uh, if the ATP doubles tournament does cost the DC Open money. And I didn't like his answer, but I think it was truthful and I respect his answer. Um, but he it sounds like is not a fan of necessarily cutting doubles, but is looking to invest in it. And I really um appreciate and respect that as well. So uh you're gonna hear from somebody who really understands the business side of our sport. So I think you're gonna learn a lot from Mark in this conversation. So I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did, and be sure to watch the DC Open all next week. So without further delay, enjoy this conversation with Mark Ayn. Hey everyone, welcome to the show. Today we have Mark Ayn on. Mark is the owner of the upcoming DC Open. He went to Wharton and Harvard Business School, the founder of Venture House Groups, limited partner of the Washington Commanders, investment partner in Leeds United and the Baltimore Orioles, founded the World Team Tennis Washington Castles, chairman of Castle Systems Security Company, owner of Washington City Paper, was formerly on Biden's President's Export Council, executive producer of a documentary film, and once had an ATP ranking. Mark, tell us something that you don't do.

SPEAKER_00

My proudest thing is I started as a ball kid at this tennis tournament. So that's uh that's the life coming full circle. Is uh when I was a kid, I grew up actually really close to the site. And uh and the highlight of every summer was being a ball kid on the clay courts at the evening star tournament here.

SPEAKER_01

That's amazing. Yeah, I was reading reading through your Wikipedia page earlier, and I was like, God, he does everything.

SPEAKER_00

I I uh I love the I honestly feel so lucky I get to do all these cool things and have all these experiences. So I feel really blessed.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it sounds amazing. We'll have to do another podcast on time management because I want to learn from you. Um so to start, uh this morning I opened up my computer. I went to the DC Open homepage, and the first thing I see at the top is Tiafo Curios, Venus Iala, and Shelton highlight double or headline doubles field. Why is that at the top of the homepage two days and 16 hours before the tournament starts?

SPEAKER_00

You know, look, we um we really from since we took over in 2019, we've always focused on putting a pot a good spotlight on doubles. Um, one of the things we do is we proactively both try to create interesting teams and encourage people to play together and then just encourage singles players to play doubles here. Um, it's a little bit like, you know, a little bit like Indian Wells, where you get it's that's the start of that swing. And so people play double is a little bit the start of this swing, and so people are open to it, but we also really go out of our way to encourage it. Um, we've had Nick and Francis before, and we're thrilled by that. Um interesting, when we took over in 2019, uh Nick and Stefanos had a little Twitter conversation going back and forth,

Why Doubles Leads The Homepage

SPEAKER_00

and we put them together, which was super cool and fun. Um, thrilled to have Venus and Alex Allah playing together on the women's side. And then uh, and then obviously Ben, just getting Ben out here. He obviously has a lot of ties to DC with his girlfriend Trinity being here. And um, I know he has a close relationship. I think his partner also went to the University of Florida, and so they're friends, and so we love having that. And we still have a few more to go.

SPEAKER_01

What does the week before the tournament look like for you?

SPEAKER_00

You know, this doing this at the level we do it is a really big lift. And people, you talk about time management and all the stuff I'm involved in. Most people and the other things I'm involved in know I go into a bit of a black hole around this, and it's not that easy to get a hold of me because I'm really obsessed with making sure we do this in a world-class way, and it just takes kind of 24-7 mindset. It's not just me, it's a huge team who do the same thing. Um, what's interesting is there's a lot of pushing to get it right, and then kind of starting this week on Monday, it's a little bit take your foot off the gas because now it's just about pulling it together and having a lot of you know positivity, which there's a lot of reason to be. And so, you know, this week's just about a lot comes up and you just deal with stuff as it comes. And then you also get the pot the really fun part, which players are already coming on site, they're coming to town, they're excited, they're going around our city, fans are starting to get excited about the tournament being here. So a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement um

The Intense Week Before Opening Day

SPEAKER_00

as we get into the final days.

SPEAKER_01

What's going to be different this year from previous years?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so we always are trying to elevate the fan experience. So courts right behind me. First year we're doing LED signage, and we didn't just do the back walls, we did the back walls decide, well, the whole ring on the lower bowl, but also we did the second level. And, you know, this is a public facility, so it doesn't have any infrastructure. We have to build it all. But I think that's going to be really exciting and great here. And we're going to have some really great activations on the LED boards. Um, one of the things we've leaned into so much, which has been a huge contributor to the success of the event, is the food and beverage experience that we have here. We bring so many of DC's best chefs from the high end, from seven Michelin star chefs down to the best burger, the best ice cream, the best seafood. And then we create these venues all over the site that are each unique and super special and super fun. So we created a new thing at the entrance called the front porch, which is our nod to sort of Henman Hill, where we'll have a big screen and a picnic area and food truck. So um I was just looking at it. People are gonna love that. I think it's gonna be hugely popular. That's great. Um, our merchandise has been so popular here that we doubled the size of the merchandise tent.

Fan Experience Upgrades And Bigger Matchups

SPEAKER_00

It was already quite large, and we have a bunch of new great partners there. So I'm excited for that. And then, so there's all those things. We also went on the men's side from a 48 draw to a 32 draw to make it in line with the other 500s and the women's two uh the women's 500 that we have here. Um, so what that means, the cut for both main draw is like is within the top 50. I think it's 46. So if you think about that, from the first match, basically, outside whoever qualifies, you're talking about top 50 players. It's almost like you're starting in the third round of a grand slam from the first day. So the matchups are gonna be incredible. And then the qualifying weekend, which already sells out every year, the some of the players who are playing qualifying, it's unbelievable. You know, Seb Korda, Daria Kaziskina, um, Riley Opelka, like it's amazing. The players are gonna play qualifying, it's almost like a tournament of itself. So I think that's gonna be really exciting as well for everyone who comes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, the tennis is amazing, but the thing you mentioned about the the food and beverage and then the the front porch, I think that is what more tournaments need to push for because the Grand Slams had figured this out, right? Like it's correct, it's in it's a whole experience. It's not just sitting and watching tennis, but we can also watch the tennis on the TV that happens to be less than 100 yards away. Correct. I think that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Well, it's you know, the big thing that we've done, and it was an objective from the end, we took over this event in 2019. 18% of the tickets were people who bought the full tournament as opposed to an individual session, season tickets, and other sports. We're now up to 75% people buying. 75% of the tickets are people buying the whole week.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

And so what that means, and and 50% of the tickets for this year's tournament were sold at last year's tournament. So you're right, it is what the Grand Slams do, and it's something I think about all the time. When you ask someone, you go to a Grand Slam, any Grand Slam, and you go on any given day, and you ask how many people are there because of a specific player playing that day, someone should actually do that. My but it's got to be really small because the thing about tennis, you don't even know who's playing until the night before, right? And so it's the same in our tournament. When I talk to people about this week, they go, I'm coming Wednesday night, Thursday night, they no one has any ideas playing. No one knows who wins or loses. And even if they're in the draw, you don't know until it is. And so I do I agree with you. I think a lot of tennis events focus on marketing the players, which just given the nature of tennis is difficult as opposed to the experience of the whole event. And when you do that, you thrive. And this event, I think, is a perfect example of that.

SPEAKER_01

Why is it better to have a combined event with the women and the men?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I think one of the great things about tennis is that it's the only sport where men and women play on the same field at the same time. And we should highlight that. Um it, I mean, for every reason. Half the fans, more than half the fans are women, more than half the young kids who come are little girls who also want to see their favorite player. Um it you tap into double the player fields to get stars. So when you look at the you look at our list of who's playing, it's incredible, but it's because it's both of them. I mean, for every reason in the world, it's tapping into one of the superpowers of tennis, which is it truly is both genders at the same level. And uh what but what's interesting, Will, is I don't think people realize this because so much many people focus on the Grand Slams. There's only 11 tournaments in the world that are men and women, including ours, um, at the same level. Uh and so played at the same time. It's actually much more rare than people think, because the Grand Slams get the focus. And I I I think it's I'm I'm so happy

Why A Combined ATP WTA Event Matters

SPEAKER_00

that that's what we're we have.

SPEAKER_01

Uh so this is a doubles podcast. I want to shift our focus to that. What what are you doing for doubles this year?

SPEAKER_00

So this is I'm really excited to have a chance to talk about this. So first of all, I'm a huge proponent of doubles. I my entry into professional tennis, a lot of it came through getting to know the doubles players in the era of the Bryans and uh Nestor Knowles, Imenich, all those guys. And I played in Pro Amps and I got to know them, and they were great guys. We became friends. And um, and so, you know, just like in golf, where one of the reasons that they have such high sponsorship is because of the pro-am and fans and sponsors can get to know the players. Tennis can do that, but it's really the doubles, guys. That's my journey. And so, and I love the sport, it's what 80% of the people play. And so I've tried really hard to, as we talked about, spotlight and elevate doubles in our event. I push sometimes to put them on stadium court, which is a fight. Um, but when we have a good matchup, we try to put them on the biggest courts. Um, but the big thing that I've worked on, and this will be the third year that we're the only tournament that's ever done this, is we live mic the players. And we did that the last two years. Last two years we did it for broadcast.

Mic’d Up Doubles And Social Strategy

SPEAKER_00

This year we're doing a little bit of a twist, and it won't be live on broadcast, it'll be for social, but then we'll provide those clips to the broadcasters, and then it'll obviously live on social. I think this is one of the things that doubles can uniquely do that they should really lean into. When you talk to the social teams at the NFL and NBA, the most popular of social content is the live micing on the field. It's what everyone loves. Obviously, for singles, other than talking to their box, there's nothing to do. This is something doubles can uniquely do. I'd say if I had a you know a little bit of a frustration, we've made really big investments in this program and this infrastructure for two years, and we couldn't get a lot of doubles players to do it. And we were just trying to be helpful. I'd say this year, the early indications that we're gonna have widespread adoption. I'm really grateful for Andrea Vasavori. He won our tournament last year, and afterwards, he and I had a long conversation about this, and he said, I believe in it too. Let's work on it together. So we've been partnering on this, and he's organizing the doubles players, and he thinks we're gonna get widespread adoption. And I think it'll be fabulous. That when we have gotten this content, it's amazing to hear the players talk about their strategy and then see their reaction. And my hope is that is that we get a lot of players doing it, we get a lot of content, and it's uh wind in the sales of of of doubles.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think it's a great concept and great idea. I imagine the hardest part is just like finding a small mic that's comfortable enough to play tennis in, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean it is if frankly, it was it's it's fine. The players who did it in the past said, yeah, it's different, but it's fine, and we have to do stuff. This year it will be even smaller. The one advantage of the way we're gonna do it this year without having you don't need a transmitter to the broadcast, so it will be even smaller. But also at some point, I think it's really important, you know, everyone has to do certain things that to add their value. And I think this is something that is a very small, small inconvenience, if at all, uh, to create a lot of value for doubles. So I'm hopeful we're gonna get a lot of people doing it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. I imagine the recent um ATP doubles news kind of put a little bit of a fire under some of them to be more active and do something like this.

SPEAKER_00

Um Well, I love these guys and I want to help them and women. Yeah, so I'm really I'm really hopeful this is a help to them.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I want to ask about that. What was your reaction when you heard the news and how did you find out? Are you in on some of these meetings? If you can share.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, you know, topics get shared amongst the tournaments. And uh as I said, I've been a big fan of doubles. I we really, I think almost as much as any tournament proactively work to elevate and put spotlights on it. On the other hand, I actually understand the other side of it from other tournaments. The expense of doubles is really significant. And if you're not contributing in some form of revenue or something, it gets hard to justify. So I actually do understand both sides. I think the fix to it is find ways for it to add the value uh to either fully pay or at least pay some of the investment that gets made. Innately, it should be something that is a core part of the tours because 80% of people, recreational players, this is what they play. The points are fantastic. I just think you know, we we need to get the doubles players like they used to be to really be accessible to fans and sponsors and

The Hard Truth About Doubles Economics

SPEAKER_00

others so that they, you know, they can contribute to the to the ecosystem in a way commensurate with the investment that's being made in it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think um when I was looking earlier at your uh DC open social media, I think you've posted more, and it's been three posts uh about doubles in the last week, which is more than the A2P posted in the previous week when they had three tournaments going on, uh, which was zero posts. So I think y'all are doing a great job in kind of setting a setting a thanks.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'll tell you, there's there's every year the some of the absolute on court highlights of this week will be doubles matches on our side courts. Uh our two our two main side courts, one's 3,000 seats, one's 1200 seats, and they will be absolutely jammed. The energy will be unbelievable. It'll be, you know, Francis, Nick, Ben, Venus, players, fans will be so up close that it'll be every seat will be filled. It shows you what it can be, and what we all need to do is just figure out how to do more of that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, 100%. Um, so I know you gotta run. So last uh two questions here for you. Does the does ATP doubles cost the DC Open money? Yeah, so it's a loss. Okay. Uh and then what would happen if the cut uh the doubles field was cut in half?

SPEAKER_00

We lose less money. It's not it's I mean, the reason this is a conversation, again, this is coming from someone who's a huge proponent of doubles, right? And wants to and makes investment, but if you literally just look at the bottom line, it doubles costs a ton of money. Right now, it's hard to argue that it contributes much revenue or ticket revenue or sponsor revenue or anything. Um, and so if it was smaller, you would lose less money on it. My answer to it is not to just accept that. My answer is okay, let's find a way to take this that I said has so much good and have it find ways to contribute more. So um, you know, the I think this micing, we'll see if that drives social views, that's good for everyone. Um, good for us, good for everyone, good for the players. Um, we did do a pro-am a few years ago. It's a little, we we have a little scheduling issue around that, but we're gonna maybe try to get some of the doubles guys to come out and play with sponsors and stuff, which they uniquely should be able to do more of. My answer is like, let's fix it, not get rid of it or cut it. Let's fix it. But that's and I appreciate a lot of the doubles players really are of that mindset too. They want to work to fix it as well. Hopefully that's what happens. But the current status quo is doubles cost a lot and doesn't contribute a lot. And that's just the reality of it.

SPEAKER_01

I've got more questions, but I know you got to run. So we will uh end it there, Mark. I really appreciate you coming on and appreciate your time. All right, you too.

SPEAKER_00

Well, thanks.