To kick of the start of the Volvo Car Open each year, the tournament has me photograph what they call the Iconic Photo Shoot. They select two players, who we take to an iconic Charleston landmark, where they pretend to play a little tennis. This year’s players were rising American star, Danielle Collins, and our 2017 champion from Latvia, Jelena Ostapenko.
The first day of qualifying at the Volvo Car Open (www.volvocaropen.com) was absolutely EPIC!!! Between Family Day, VIP clinics, all the special player autograph sessions, and the Draw Party, there was so much to see and photograph. It kept me hopping while I hustled to cover everything…including even a little bit of tennis action! 🙂
Here are a few fav’s from Day 2 at the Volvo Car Open! Enjoy…
Day 1 at the Volvo Car Open had me running around like mad covering a variety of on-court and off-court player appearances. You have to be EXTREMELY flexible to cover this game!!! 🙂 Here are a few shots from the day. Enjoy…
The Family Circle Cup has a new title sponsor and is now the Volvo Car Open!
Don’t worry, the longest running and largest women’s professional tennis tournament is still the same amazing event it always has been…just with a new name. 🙂
Here are some images from the days before the official start of the tournament. My coverage began with the annual Iconic Photo Shoot, featuring the two previous champions, Angie Kerber and Andrea Petkovic. It continued with all kinds of player appearances and activities during the Family Day at qualifying rounds. And it culminated in the always amazing Player Party, which officially welcomes all the players to town and kicks of the tournament with a bang!
Stay tuned…seven more days of awesome tennis to come!!!
Congratulations to 2015 Family Circle Cup Champion, and now 2016 Australian Open Champion, Angelique Kerber!!!
Less than a year after winning in Charleston, Kerber stunned Serena Williams down under in a 6-4 3-6 6-4 thriller. This is her first grand slam title! The big-hitting lefty’s accomplishment deprived the American of a 22nd major title, which would have tied Kerber’s fellow German, Steffi Graf, for the lead in the Open Era.
Kerber sunk to her knees when Williams sent a forehand volley sailing long on match point. Emotions soon manifested themselves in tears as the gravity of what the 7th seed had accomplished finally sunk in. Later, the legendary Steffi Graf, one of my personal favorites of all time, called Kerber to congratulate her.
Hopefully we’ll see Angelique Kerber back this year at the newly renamed Volvo Car Open!!! 🙂
“As announced live at the US Open in New York, Charleston has WON the 2010 Best Tennis Town in America contest, ahead of second-place finisher Atlanta, GA and third-place finisher Richmond, VA. Along with the incredible the honor (and bragging rights), the lowcountry area will receive a $100,000 award to be used for tennis programming and facility enhancements.”
As an active player in the Charleston tennis community, and the official photographer of the Family Circle Cup professional WTA Tour tennis tournament, I’m excited to share this video with everyone. Look for me in the blue shirt (hint: I’m the one with all the camera gear!) at the 2:46 minute mark while photographing a player appearance during the Family Circle Cup several years ago!!! 🙂
Mike Saia, my “Boss” for the week at the Family Circle Cup when I photograph the professional tennis tournament there every spring, just sent me this note: “Check out the WTA home page: www.sonyericssonwtatour.com. Wait for the Flash to move to More News!” Turns out the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is using my image of Samantha Stosur, last year’s champion, on their main page. I love it!!!
It’s been over a week since the Family Circle Cup, and I’m FINALLY feeling fully recuperated. J This year’s tournament was a AWESOME.
Sam Stosur literally CRUSHED Vera Zvonareva to win her second (and biggest) WTA Tour Championship. She had an amazing 36 winners in the 6-0, 6-3 final that was the fastest in the history of the tournament! Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova were able to hold on to capture the Family Circle Cup doubles title, beating Vania King and Michaella Krajicek in straight sets. King & Krajicek were playing together for just their second tournament. Huber, the #1 doubles player in the world, normally plays with Cara Black. This was her first time playing with Petrova!
Aside from the great tournament action, there were tons of off-site player appearances and VIP parties to photograph. But most would agree that the Game, Set, Rock event with legends John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova was the big hit of the week!
Mike Saia, Communications Director of the FCC, did a great job keeping all the media organized. My former colleague, Doug Cunningham, retired last year. But it was nice to see him come back to assist on some of the VIP events. The super talented Alice Keeney took his place. She really stepped up to the plate, did a great job filling some big shoes, and was wonderful to work with. I’m already excited to see what NEXT YEAR has in store!!!
After the final ball was struck, the trophy was raised, the last interview was made, and Samantha Stosur was able to relax for a few minutes…a small group of five photographers was granted an exclusive photo shoot with the Champion on the roof of the Market Pavilion Hotel in downtown Charleston. We had a beautiful view of the city skyline. Since the sun was at her back, I used it as her hair light and set up an off-camera SB-800 to my left as the main light and another SB-800 behind her as a kicker or rim light. Both were fired by an on-camera SB-900 in Commander Mode using RadioPoppers to translate the signal. I used a Nikon D3 with 70-200 f2.8 for the shot. Sam was a pleasure to work with. I wish her all the best and hope she goes on to win many more titles!
Well, the Family Circle Cup is over! But what an AMAZING display of power and domination in the 52-minute final. Samantha Stosur completely dominated Vera Zvonareva and took the championship match into the record books as the fastest final in the history of the tournament! I think Vera’s an excellent player. But Sam was just “in the zone”.
“To be able to play that well in a final is a great feeling. You always hope you’ll do that, but to actually go and perform that way is very, very pleasing,” said Stosur, who has now beaten Zvonareva five straight times.
Another fact for the record books is that Sam is now the first Australian to ever win the title! Up until recently she’s been known as more of a doubles specialist. But she’s decided to concentrate more on singles and is doing quite well. This is her second singles title.
“The first title I won is always going to be very special. It took me a while to get that,” Stosur said. “This is bigger than Osaka though. To do it on clay and playing well all week is just a great feeling. You can’t really compare the two, but this is definitely a bigger event and I’m very pleased I was able to play so well.”
CONGRATULATIONS Samantha!
