Category: Blog

As the Official Tournament Photographer for the Volvo Car Open, one of my distinct honors is photographing private portrait sessions with each year’s champions.

I caught up with Alla Kudryavtseva and Katarina Srebotnik shortly after their triumph, trophy presentation, and interviews with the Tennis Channel. At age 37, this was Katarina’s second doubles title at this tournament, winning her other one 10 years ago!!!

With the weather delays throwing off the schedule, we weren’t able to execute our original plan of taking Kiki Bertens downtown for her portrait at one of the iconic Charleston landmarks. In fact, we barely made it to a suitable location on Daniel Island as the last remaining rays of twilight faded to dusk.

Kiki was a kind and gracious champion, working quickly with us to capture a variety of shots before heading off to a celebratory dinner with coaches, friends, and family.

CONGRATULATIONS to Kiki, Alla, and Kata on an incredible tournament!!!

After a grueling week of tennis, shooting and editing non-stop for 10-14 hours a day, we finally arrived at Finals Day.  If you want to see me in action, watch this recap.  I’m the photographer in the tan hat at the end of the clip who got the shot of Kiki hugging her coach after winning the finals:

The players didn’t have it so easy either. Because of weather, all the finalists ended up having to play BOTH their semi-finals AND finals matches on the same day!!! Kiki Bertens played a tough 3-set semi-finals match in the morning, prevailing over the last American in the draw, Madison Keys. Then she had to play Julia Goerges, who is banging on the door of the Top 10, in the finals that same afternoon. Kiki came out with guns blazing and took home the Singles Trophy with an impressive 6-2, 6-1 display of high-percentage tennis.

At 26 years old, Kiki Bertens is known for her strength on the clay court. She has 5 WTA titles to her credit, all being on clay, with the Volvo Car Open being her biggest win yet. What a great way to start the clay-court season!

“I really liked that I was back on the clay, to be honest. But it was just a dream to win the title here. I never thought about it all week. Even this morning, I wasn’t thinking about the title, I was just trying to play as good as I can and now I have the trophy.”

Kiki Bertens is the FIRST EVER Volvo Car Open champion from the Netherlands!

Part of my assignment to photograph the Volvo Car Open this year included covering 4 tennis legends in the Invesco Series tour. Mark “The Scud” Philippoussis (winner of two Davis Cup titles), Michael Chang (the youngest male ever to win a Grand Slam), Andy Roddick (former #1 and Grand Slam Champion), and Tommy Haas (winner of 15 tour titles and one of only a few players to beat Roger Federer last year), all duked it out on Center Court! It was a very chilly morning. But the player’s light-hearted banter with each other, and with the crowd, soon had everyone warming up with fits of laughter. Even the chair umpire couldn’t resist a smile or two. But don’t let the fun fool you, these guys came to play!!! Eventually Tommy Haas prevailed to win the series.

Day 6 at the Volvo Car Open started off with a bang, but ended kind of soggy. It started off at a fun tennis clinic with 6-time Grand Slam champion, Renae Stubbs. Following that was a couple amazing matches on Center Court! But the weather caused a rain-delay for the rest of the afternoon matches, which will be played tomorrow. Check it out…and stay tuned for tomorrow’s FINALS!!!

Day 5 at the Volvo Car Open pitted the tour’s top dogs against the underdogs!!! The excitement and entertainment was impossible to contain! Check it out…

Day 4 at the Volvo Car Open was all about the ACTION!!! There was so much happening, both on and off the court. Let me know if you enjoy these posts…I love seeing everyone’s kind comments.

Day 3 at the Volvo Car Open was full of celebrities and surprises!!! Check it out…

What can I say about day two at the Volvo Car Open except…IT WAS AMAAAAZING!!! 🙂

Day 1 of the Volvo Car Open started with me photographing doubles partners Gabi Dabrowski & Yifan Xu as they visited with kids at the MUSC Children’s Hospital. Next I covered the All Access Media Hour, held at the Daniel Island Golf Center. There, I photographed the tournament portraits of the top 7 seeds: Caroline Garcia, Petra Kvitova, Daria Kasatkina (our returning Champion), Julia Goerges, Johanna Konta, Madison Keys, and Anastasija Sevastova. Next it was on to the tournament to cover player autograph sessions with the likes of Elena Vesnina, as well as the action on Stadium Court. Finally, I zipped downtown to photograph “Tennis in the City” at the Jack Adams Tennis Center with WTA player appearances by Kayla Day and Nicole Melichar.

Rolling out the red carpet and welcoming all the best tennis players in the world to Charleston, the Volvo Car Open Player Party is always a HUGE HIT!!! This year it was held at the beautiful new Grand Bohemian Hotel in downtown Charleston.

Here are a few shots from the pre-tournament qualifying rounds, and fun activities around the grounds, during the Volvo Car Open Family Day!

While the top players began settling into Charleston for the Volvo Car Open, I had the privilege of photographing Johanna Konta and Naomi Osaka on The Dewberry Hotel rooftop during this year’s Iconic Photo Shoot!!!