Credit One Charleston Open earns tournament of the year honors again

The Credit One Charleston Open was recently named the WTA 500 Tournament of the Year for the second year in a row. While tournament director Bob Moran was obviously satisfied with the honor, he and his staff are always searching for ways to make the largest women’s-only tennis tournament in North America even better.

 

“You can always make it better for the fans, the players and the community,” Moran said. “It’s about the experience, and that’s important. We want the players and fans to be able to have an unmatched experience.”

 

Players on the WTA Tour vote on the award, and the criteria includes staff and organization excellence, fan support and the operation’s wider dedication to the sport and its athletes.

 

“To be recognized with this award for the second year in a row is testament to the continued drive and commitment to the fan and player experience from the Credit One Charleston Open team,” WTA chairman Steve Simon said in a press release. “The tournament should be exceptionally proud at staging an event that continually

goes above and beyond to create an atmosphere and environment where players feel comfortable and able to perform at their best. Charleston has earned a well-deserved reputation and set an aspirational standard.”

 

The tournament, which will be contested for the 52nd time this spring, March 30-April 7, has a long, unique and illustrious history. The tournament was born in 1973 when it was known as the Family Circle Cup and was contested on Hilton Head Island.

 

The event moved to Charleston in time for the 2001 tournament and changed sponsorship in 2016 when it became the Volvo Car Open. Charleston businessman Ben Navarro bought the WTA Tour event along with the operations of the Family Circle Tennis Center and Volvo Car Stadium in 2018.

 

Navarro and his wife, Kelly, began a massive upgrade of the main tennis stadium, which was completed in 2021 for $10 million. The renovations cost approximately $40 million and were mostly paid for by the Navarros, and the arena was re-christened as the Credit One Stadium.

 

Parts of the stadium were demolished, the new seating sections were built along with a new 70,000-square-foot, four-story Stage House for all players’ facilities. The renovations expanded the stadium’s seating capacity to 11,000. Other upgrades included improving the stadium’s lighting, landscaping, concession stands, private suites and bathroom facilities.

 

“This award exemplifies the high standards that our owners Ben and Kelly Navarro challenge us to meet each and every year,” Moran said. “We’re immensely proud to receive this recognition, particularly after extraordinary 2022 and 2023 tournaments, which showcased a new stadium and fan experiences. This award is dedicated to everyone who makes our tournament great - our players, fans, corporate sponsors, volunteers, staff and media partners. We cannot host a successful event without them and share this distinction with them.”

 

The Credit One Charleston Open was one of three WTA events to earn tournament of the year honors. The BNP Paribas Open, which is contested in Indian Wells, California was named the top 1000 event while the Transylvania Open, held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania was the top 250 event.

 

The Credit One Charleston Open will have its typical world-class field this spring as some of the biggest names on the WTA are already on board, including World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, World No. 6 and defending Charleston champion Ons Jabeur, World No. 9 Maria Sakkari and past Charleston champions Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens.