Family Circle Cup--in and around the stadium

Last year, times for the players' practice periods were posted, and many of us went to the various practice courts to watch the players hit, and to take photographs. Though we were told that this would happen again this year, it did not. At no time was any practice schedule posted, and at no time did I see any players on the standard practice courts, which struck me as quite odd. I did see Mara Santangelo practicing on a court behind the clubhouse, and I saw Meghann Shaughnessy and Virginia Ruano Pascual hitting on the Althea Gibson Club Court.

I am disappointed that we were not given practice schedules this year, as promised, and I am perplexed as to when and where the players practiced.

Unfortunately, one thing that was repeated from last year was the use of the same stadium music over and over every hour of every day. I like Green Day as much as the next person, but enough is enough.

I got another photo autographed today--the one I took last year of Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

This week, Mary Pierce received the first ever Meredith (Meredith Corporation publishes Family Circle magazine) Inspiration Award. There was a dinner for her, and today, she was presented with a trophy and a $5,000 check for the cause of her choice. It was nice to see Pierce in the stadium, even though an injury has kept her off the court. What wasn't so nice was when the editor of Family Circle mentioned "Wimbleton."

And of course, the tournament announcer has yet to correctly pronounce the names of Kuznetsova, Groenefeld, and Costano. I wish the players were more assertive and demanded that their names be pronounced correctly (although they might have to pay a price).

But I have saved the best for last: The tennis columnist for the Charleston newspaper says he had never heard of Mara Santangelo until this week, but that he didn't feel too bad because the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour media relations director had never heard of her, either.