Volvo Car Open to serve up amplified tournament experience
The stage is set and the tents are up around the Volvo Car Stadium, next to one of Daniel Island’s busiest streets. People from all around the world have booked their plane tickets and hotel rooms, ready to see another round of world class women’s tennis at the Volvo Car Open. This year will continue the trend of bringing the sport’s top athletes to the courts, but will add in larger structural changes designed to increase accessibility for tennis fans experienced or nascent.
THE FOOD
The first change, according to VCO Tournament Director Bob Moran, is a renewed spotlight on arguably the best Charleston export: food.
“We’re redoing our dining, which is our grand lawn is becoming a dual restaurant theme, so we’re tending the whole lawn this year, which is different,” he stated.
This change will affect the structural layout of the stadium’s entrance and surrounding area. “[We’re] putting two different restaurant themes in [the grand lawn]; one healthy eating themed and the other one a barbecue style,” he said.
In addition to a champagne lounge next to the front gate, there will be a multi-surface bar on the stadium’s second tier level.
“Our merchandise tent is in our front gate and we’re building a rooftop restaurant on top of that, which is brand new, and overlooks the gallery as everyone comes in,” Moran added. “Vintage Coastal Crust is going to be operating that. And we’re doing a ‘Doubles and Bubbles’ lunch on top there, which will be fun.”
THE FESTIVITIES
When looking at the history of the Volvo Car Open, named the Family Circle Cup until 2015, it’s no surprise that tournament organizers would take time to focus on fun for both adults and kids. According to Moran, they have invested heavily in this weekend’s kick off festivities, also known as “Family Weekend.”
“We’re having all kinds of amusement rides, a Fortnite obstacle course and a LEGOland, a little sand discovery area, and a petting zoo,” he described. “In addition to tennis clinics and junior clinics and all those things, we’ve really amped up what opening weekend is for us.”
This started thanks to a push from the Volvo Car Open’s new owner, Ben Navarro. According to Moran, the CEO was impressed with VCO’s junior program, where they claim to have instructed 1,000 kids in 2018.
“He was like ‘How do we do more? How do we just amplify?’” recalled Moran. “And I said we can amplify Family Weekend because that’s our biggest opportunity to get kids out here for the first time.”
Having the ability to bring new fans out to the stadium is a hopeful tactic to grow the VCO brand into the future.
“We know the more youth we bring out—that’s our next generation of fans,” said Moran. “And it’s good for the community, it’s good for what we’re trying to do here. Our mission is to grow the game of tennis, and how do we do that? By trying to supply more opportunities. I think it’s going to benefit us. The more people we bring out here, the better.”
The VCO will also have new events added to the last weekend, as well, including a “Golden: State of Being” yoga experience on the Saturday before play and a Gospel Brunch prior to finals on Sunday.
“The other events we’re trying to do are really to broaden what we do and what our offerings are, make it more interactive for our fans,” Moran explained. “It’s important to us—not just watching tennis, but actually participating in things that are going on around.”
This will also be the first year that the VCO used the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) in their qualifying wildcard tournament, which ended March 3.
“UTR is a new ranking system that’s being used and it’s real time, like anything else now. Everything happens in real time,” Moran explained. “When you win a match or lose a match, your UTR changes in real time. We find that UTR on every level—for adults, for kids, for collegiate players—has been over the last year, year and a half, the best way to measure a person’s skill level.”
By this scale, rankings between 9 and 12 are considered advanced, while 13 and above is a professional rating. This year, Shelby Rogers, Sabine Lisicki, and Emma Navarro received wildcards into the VCO.
“An opportunity for a young lady to get in our qualies is a great opportunity,” added Moran. “It’s not something she would be able to do. If she tried to sign up for our tournament, she wouldn’t come anywhere near our draw, so this is an opportunity. If you can win, you can play.”
THE CONTENDERS
As far as the players go, the VCO will bring out another wide variety of top international athletes from more than 30 countries. According to VCO Tournament Manager Eleanor Adams, U.S. Open winner and former VCO champion Sloane Stephens is likely to be the top seed. Another past VCO victor and 2018 Aussie Open winner, Caroline Wozniacki, will return as well. “Those two are probably two of the names that fans or maybe even non-tennis followers will recognize because they’re known outside the tennis world, as well,” said Adams.
The VCO staff is excited to see world No. 9 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus make her debut in Charleston, noted Adams. Sabalenka has won three titles since August, in New Haven, Wuhan and Shenzhen.
After winning the 2018 VCO, Kiki Bertens will be back to defend her title. She finished out the year strong with impressive performances at the Canadian Open, Korean Open, and the French Open.
“I think her win here just gave her the confidence to move forward and really it was a platform for her to succeed the rest of the year, and she continued to,” stated Adams. “We’re really happy for her and proud that she made a breakthrough here in Charleston.”
Seventeen-year-old Amanda Anisimova and University of Virginia graduate Danielle Collins are two younger players that Adams considers “ones to watch” -- Anisimova because of her Women’s Tennis Association ranking in the 70s and Collins because of the “big splash” she made at the 2019 Aussie Open in January.
With the competition heating up, Adams believes that it will be a “very interesting” competition. “If someone asked me right now what my prediction would be for our champion this year, I wouldn’t really know what to say because the competition, I think, is going to be so tremendous,” she said.