WTA LADIES ARE PLAYING TENNIS IN CHARLESTON • VERY VOCAL FANS

Written by: Staff on 3rd April 2018

WTA LADIES ARE PLAYING TENNIS IN CHARLESTON • VERY VOCAL FANS |

Photo by @VolvoCarOpen via Twitter

By Craig Cignarelli

The stadium court at the Charleston WTA event holds about six-thousand tennis enthusiasts. Most of them are slathered in sunscreen and wearing white hats which hide the icees and ice creams they purchased on the way inside. Some carry autograph books and boast front row tickets which they wave about like something from a Willy Wonka movie.

South Carolina has a long history of tennis – Hilton Head hosted famed teaching pro Dennis Van Der Meer for decades – so the tennis fans here are fairly knowledgeable. Still, patriotism reigns at these events. If an American is playing, the crowd supports her. There is no footnote here.

South Carolina was one of the thirteen original colonies. Driving around town here, one sees confederate flags, antique shops with swords and civil war military uniforms, and an assortment of July 4th memorabilia, which makes you think it might be from that 1776 day when the bombs bursted in air. Thus, these fans wield nationalistic pride on bumper stickers, beer coolers and pairs of shorts which make you wish there were more stars than stripes.

And so, when Kristie Ahn beat Sam Stosur 6-4 6-2, and when Claire Lu beat Magda Linette 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, when Taylor Townsend beat Heather Watson 6-3, 6-4, the crowd was there, screaming and supporting the American victors. And that brings us back to the stadium. The Romans started this type of entertainment in the Colosseum as a means to appease the citizens. Charleston now takes the torch and does the same. Perhaps today’s gladiators will wave to the crowd and thank them for not releasing lions onto the court during play.