Three hours after the last ball had been struck, four boys no taller than five feet tall walked, ran and smack-talked one another on the Volvo Car Stadium at the Family Circle Tennis Center.
“Do you have a racquet?” one asked.
“Do you?”
“I’ve got the balls.”
“Watch me jump over the net.”
“Bet you can’t.”
“Bet I can.”
The circus was about to leave town. Exhibitor booths were being torn town. Save for the singles winner Daria Kasatkina and runner-up Jelena Ostapenko, all the other players were gone. Kasatkina was across the street, at one of the restaurants located right next to the tournament. Ostapenko walked the grounds with her mother.
For those from the traveling circus, there would always be another transportation van, a car to the airport, a plane to the next stop – likely another tournament, but maybe a precious off-week back home.
“What’s the score of the final there?” Kasatkina asked a tour official, referring to the WTA hard court event 1,600 miles away in Monterrey, Mexico – in the scheme of things, fairly close. This is the world the pros occupy, a global that spreads to all corners of the world. Once upon a time there was a pro who by April of a calendar year had competed on every continent but Antarctica.
But as the sport marches across the planet, in cities like Charleston, the aura of the tournament remains – or does it? For every event, the recipe is the same. Get a sponsor. Make sure the player field is as good as possible – and, more than ever these days, treat every player as if each day was his or her birthday. Organize tickets, TV rights, media coverage, food, parking and various exhibitors.