When news broke last May that tennis-mad Ben Navarro, founder of Beemok Capital and the new owner of the Western & Southern Open, was entertaining a juicy proposal to move the longstanding tournament to Charlotte, N.C., many in the industry were chagrined. This was the potential demise of a storied event that has been played in the same city—Cincinnati, Ohio—in some form since for a record 124 years.

“For Charlotte, this would be amazing, but for Cincinnati it would be heartbreak,” Tennis Channel analyst Paul Annacone remarked at the time. “There’s such a tremendous heritage in Cincy. The community has always done such a great job. So this is a tough thing for them.”

In a conversation, ESPN’s Patrick McEnroe echoed the general sense of inevitability surrounding the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000-level tournament’s potential move.

“Masters are in major cities,” he said. “Madrid, Toronto, Paris. It was always a little weird that there was one in Mason, Ohio (the Cincy suburb in the which Western & Southern Open is held).

“Yes, it’s been incredibly successful but. . . nothing lasts forever. As much as I love the tournament, I kind of get this.”