Family Circle Cup from Hilton Head to Daniel Island
Cup is an historical leader in tennis...Birthplace of Stars ***image2***Family Circle Cup originated in 1973 when Jack Jones and John Moreno approached Family Circle Magazine, and the magazine owners decided to make a bold statement of commitment to women’s issues by becoming the first women’s magazine to fully underwrite a professional women’s tournament. The Cup is arguably one of the most important tournaments in women’s tennis history, according to Robin Reynolds, tournament director -- the first to offer $100,000 in total prizes and the first to be broadcast on a national television network, NBC. The first winner, Rosie Casals, received a prize of $30,000, the biggest any woman had received to that time. This year the prize is $196,000 for the winner, with $1.34 million in total prize money for the tournament. Always a Tier I event (ranking just under the Grand Slam events, based on prize money), its importance stemmed from the fact that it was founded at the time when Billie Jean King, Casals and others were fighting for recognition and equal treatment of women in the game. Originally held at Hilton Head, SC, at the Sea Pines Resort, it remained there for 28 years (except for 2 years at Amelia Is., FL). After overcrowding dictated a decision to move, the tournament found a new home in Charleston, SC, and moved into a new facility on Daniel Island in 2001, according to Reynolds. "Hilton Head was a wonderful place for 28 years, but the tournament had grown, and the logistics of holding it in that small space, and back-to-back with a PGA event, were very difficult," Reynolds said. The old stadium seated only 8,000 people, with no permanent seating, she said, and parking also was a problem. "We felt we had to move in order to grow," Reynolds said. ***image3***"When the possibility of our move came up, lots of cities contacted us," she said, but tournament organizers wanted to keep it in South Carolina. They received bids from other South Carolina cities, but Charleston won out because it presented the best package of advantages and inducements, she said. "Charleston was perfectly suited, as one of the top tourist cities of the Southeast," she said. "There are so many facets that make it attractive – the restaurants, the historical attractions and the overall ambience of the city." In addition, she said, "The City and Mayor Riley were incredibly supportive. When you have a community get behind you, it’s so important." The City of Charleston built the $16-million-dollar, state-of-the-art facility in just 15 months, for the tourney. ***image4***"It happened because so many entities that had to come together, did – it was amazing. It was quite an achievement, and it happened because everybody wanted it to happen," Reynolds said. Hilton Head fans took it hard when the prospective move was announced at the end of the 2000 tournament – the fans booed. But 2000 winner Mary Pierce scooped green clay with a golden shovel into a crystal vase to be taken to the new facility, and Reynolds promised the tourney would be true to its venerable traditions. Now in its 34th year, the Family Circle Cup has had 15 champions – Chris Evert won the cup eight times, for the most titles and the most consecutive wins. Family Circle Cup is known as a birthplace of stars: It is where Steffi Graf won her first professional title in 1986, defeating Chris Evert 6-4 and 7-5. She would go on to win 107 in her career. ***image6***A year earlier, in 1985, Gabriela Sabatini made her professional debut in a final with Evert. She actually had to play two matches in one day since she played doubles – quite an undertaking for a newcomer, Reynolds noted. Family Circle Cup was where Jennifer Capriati gained the spotlight in 1990, beating Martina Navratilova when she was just 14 years old. "The score wasn’t that impressive, but it was the fact that you had a really solid tour veteran vs. a 14-year-old coming into the game," Reynolds said. It was also where Capriati made a dramatic comeback, in 2001, defeating Martina Hingis to take the championship after 11 years without winning a tourney. Martina Hingis became the No. 1 player in 1997 during the Family Circle Cup – at 16, the youngest No. 1 in the history of the game. She won the cup, defeating Monica Seles in a third set tiebreak that ranks as one of FCC’s most memorable moments. Hingis beat Anna Kournikova in 1999 when Hingis was 18 and Kournikova 17 -- the youngest pairing ever in a women’s tennis championship. The 2002 Family Circle Cup championship was another milestone, the first time in WTA tour history that a final featured two unseeded players, Iva Majoli and Patty Schnyder. ***image8***Justine Henin-Hardenne, won her first US title at FCC in 2003, defeating Serena Williams 6-3, 6-4. She won again last year in 2005, beating Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-4. "Family Circle Cup gave fans a chance to see the early, incredible players -- Pam Shriver, Virginia Wade, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and then the generation that came in after that in the mid-‘80s – Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini . It has been one of the most popular tournaments in tennis," Reynolds said. "Hilton Head was such an important part of the early development of women’s tennis – it was a great time to be involved in Women’s tennis," she said. "But Daniel Island is one of finest facilities in the southeastern United States, seating over 10,000 people. It helps us take the tournament to a new level and we hope to make it bigger and better each year than year before."
Who was Rosebud?
We’re talking about women’s tennis here, not the movies’ "Citizen Kane" – in this context, our "Rosebud," was Rosemary aka "Rosie" Casals, winner of the very first Family Circle Cup in 1973 in Hilton Head, SC. (She beat Billie Jean King and then Nancy Richey to take the title.) The prize of $30,000 was the largest ever given to a women’s champion up to that time, and the total prize money of $100,000 also set a new mark for women’s play.
One of the shortest players in top-level women’s tennis history at a mere 5-feet 2 ¼-inches, she was, nevertheless, a giant of the game, taking the first-ever Virginia Slims championship in Houston in 1970 and helping to found the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973. That year she also provided color-commentary for the famous "Battle of the Sexes," Billie Jean King vs. Bobbie Riggs.
A San Francisco native, daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, Casals honed her game on public courts at Candlestick Park to enter the U.S. Top 5 in 1964 at age 16. She remained in the USTA Top 5 for 11 years, achieving her highest ranking, No. 3, in 1975, and was elevated to the Hall of Fame in 1966.
She won 11 singles titles and 112 doubles titles – the latter record second only to Martina Navratilova’s 162. She won five Wimbledon and two US women’s doubles titles with frequent partner Billie Jean King, and two mixed-doubles championships with Ilie Nastase. She won her last doubles championship as a 41-year-old alongside Navratilova in 1988.
Necessity fostered invention in Casals’ serve-and-volley game. She wowed fans with breathtaking leaps in matches with the likes of Margaret "The Arm" Court (who stood 5’11"), and wasn’t averse to slapping a ball between her legs.
A rebel against the traditional white tennis costume, she preferred spangled and sequined multi-colored outfits provided by designer Ted Tinling. She raised a stir at Wimbledon in 1972 when a purple-squiggled dress was deemed unacceptable and she was ordered off the court to change. The dress was later displayed in the Hall of Fame in Newport.
A distant relative of Pablo Casals, the distinguished cellist, Rosie was given up by poor immigrant parents and raised by a great-aunt and uncle. Manual Casals, her great-uncle, became her only coach.
Casals, 58, now lives in Palm Desert, Cal., where she runs Sportswoman magazine, which she founded in 1982.