Credit One Charleston Open – Day 1

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Day 1 of the tournament had lots of tennis action, tons of activities on the Grand Lawn, live Tennis Talks with players, and even a Padel exhibition match. Padel, sometimes called Padel Tennis, is a racket sport of Mexican origin, typically played in doubles on a glass-enclosed court that is slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Although Padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the rules, strokes, and technique are different.

Credit One Charleston Open – Charity ProAm

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

Arriving early on the first day of Qualifying Rounds, I got to photograph the Celebrity Pro-Am benefitting Madison Keys’ non-profit, Kindness Wins. Some of the celebrity players included Tracy Austin, Jessica Pegula, Shelby Rogers, Jennifer Brady, Emma Navarro, Taylor Townsend, and so many more.

Credit One Charleston Open – Pre Tournament

Every spring, it’s an absolute honor to be invited back as the official photographer of the Credit One Charleston Open!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It was the first women’s tennis event to offer $100,000 in prize money. The tournament was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television. More recently, the Credit One Charleston Open was named WTA 500 Tournament of the Year. Kicking off the clay season, it’s grown to be the largest women’s professional tennis tournament in North America.

The week before the tournament began, I had the pleasure of photographing some pre-event photos! Working with the new DJI Mavic 3 Pro, I got some cool drone shots of the grounds. Then I brought out the Z9 for details of the trophy. And I even caught a few practice shots of last year’s champion, Ons Jabeur!!!

Credit One Charleston Open – Media Day

It was another EXCITING year for me to be covering the Credit One Charleston Open!!!

Since 1973, the Charleston Open has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports, creating milestones that over the years have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. Much has changed over the years. But to this day, the tournament remains the largest women’s only tennis tournament in North America. This year’s roster included 5 of the Top 10 women on tour, 5 past champions, and 5 Grand Slam champions. Previous winners include notable names like Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, Tracy Austin, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Nadia Petrova, Madison Keys…and so many more!

On the afternoon of Day 3, I was honored to photograph the Media Day appearances of the top-seeds and trending stars who were requested by the nations television stations and magazine jouranlists for private interviews. It was so cool being a fly-on-the-wall with the biggest stars like Shelby Rogers, Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Madison Keys, Belinda Bencic, and Emma Navaro!