“The future is really where we focus,” says Moran, whose recruiting trips to Wimbledon helped bring Kasatkina and Ostapenko to South Carolina. “We want star players, of course, but we pay really close attention to see who we think is next.”
But Moran also focuses on youth, rather than star power, out of necessity. During the 1970s, when it was known as the Family Circle Cup, the tournament was a signature event on the Virginia Slims tour. It began in 1973, the same year that the WTA was formed, and was held on Hilton Head Island, a new mecca for recreational players. Nationally televised, the Family Circle Cup became a symbol of tennis’ U.S. boom, and of the WTA’s pioneering success as a women’s pro sports league.
By the 1980s, though, the men’s and women’s tours had begun to join forces at ever-larger, ever-more-lucrative and often mandatory, dual-gender events. Two of the largest, in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne, would eventually take over the month of March on the pro calendar.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity,” Moran says. “The women come from two weeks in the California desert, and then two weeks of the glitz and sizzle in Miami, so it can feel like they’re taking a big deep breath when they get off the plane here. Everything kind of slows down for them in Charleston, and we put on the Southern charm.”
Along with a slower pace off the court, the Volvo Car Open—which moved to Daniel Island near Charleston in 2001—also offers a slower pace on it. Slightly quicker green clay serves as a convenient bridge from the March hard-court swing to the red clay players will face in Europe. In 2013, Serena Williams began a 22-match win streak in Charleston that ended, two months later, with her first French Open title in 11 years. In 2017, Ostapenko reached her first final of the season in Charleston, before winning Roland Garros.
While the tournament may not have the stature it did 40 years ago, it has carved out a niche as a place where fans can get a sneak a peak at coming WTA attractions. A breakout win in lower-stakes Charleston often leads to a bigger breakout down the line. In 2007, Jelena Jankovic won the title; in 2008, she reached the US Open final and became No. 1 in the world. In 2010, Sam Stosur was the champion in Charleston; the following year she was also a US Open champion. In 2014, Andrea Petkovic won Charleston; that spring she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, at Roland Garros. Angelique Kerber won Charleston in 2015; the next year she won two major titles and rose to No. 1. In 2016, Sloane Stephens won in Charleston; in 2017, she won the US Open.
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