Local island golfer Clara Park chipped, putted and drove her way to capture the state title at the SC Junior Golf Association State Tournament for the girls 8-10 year old division.
Women’s tennis is no longer dominated by a few strong alpha females, such as the days when Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert played. Martina and Chris returned to the FCC last year to celebrate the tournament’s storied 35 year history.
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What makes women’s tennis unique? Balance at the top.
It wasn’t always this way.
For the better part of 40 years, women’s tennis was dominated by one or two sterling individuals. The names are legendary. Over the last 40 years, just five players enjoyed the role of alpha female – Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf. Others have scaled the tennis mountain since formal rankings began in 1975 (Evonne Goolagong, Tracy Austin, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Martina Hingis all claimed the top spot), but none dominated with the consistency of their fore bearers.
Serena Williams won the FCC in 2008 and is the top seed for 2009.
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Serena Williams – World No. 1
Serena is always a threat to win any tournament she enters and her new World No. 1 record makes her a favorite to repeat as the Family Circle Cup Champion. The 2009 Grand Slam Australian Open winner lost in the finals last week to Victoria Azarenka, playing flat and with a heavily bandaged thigh. On top of the injury, Williams made the cross-Atlantic trip this week to Marbella, Spain to compete in the red clay tournament and will have to make the cross-Atlantic trip again to compete in Charelston. The heavy travel schedule, coupled with the thigh injury, could limit Serena at this year’s tournament.
