World TeamTennis finals to come to Charleston

As the Family Circle Cup women’s tennis tournament prepares to kick off this weekend, Charleston learned Monday that it will host another batch of professional tennis players in July.

Bob Moran, general manager of the Family Circle Tennis Center, announced the city’s selection as the host site for the World TeamTennis finals, an event that officials hope will be the beginning of a relationship between the league and city.

World TeamTennis co-founder Billie Jean King and CEO Ilana Kloss said they expect full crowds for the event.

Kloss said some marquee players will be available, but she wasn’t sure yet who will be in Charleston for the tournament.

Martina Hingis, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport and Serena and Venus Williams are some of the players in the league, which features teams from New York, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Boston and Philadelphia, among other franchise cities. Players have to participate in three regular season matches to be eligible for the finals.

Kloss said the league received three bids to host the finals, but Charleston was the favorite.

“It was not a difficult choice,” she said.

Kloss said the league hopes the finals will be the beginning of a relationship between World TeamTennis and Charleston.

“It’s an important market to us,” Kloss said. “And we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure it’s successful.”

She said the league wants to expand and would consider Charleston for a franchise team.

King said Charleston has a rich history of tennis and a good partnership with the Family Circle Cup, which came to Daniel Island in 2001 from Hilton Head Island. The U.S. Tennis Association also dubbed Charleston the Best Tennis Town in America in 2010 after a vote by the public.

“What I love about the area, there’s a lot of grass-roots tennis going on,” King said. “We hope this is the beginning of something fantastic.”

The tournament will start on July 22 with the Eastern Conference championship. The Western Conference championship will be the next day, and the conference champions will play July 24. Tickets go on sale April 4.