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Family Circle Cup Tennis… [Image 2011]

Well… if you haven’t made your way out to a Family Circle Cup Tennis match yet, now’s your chance… I was on the Family Circle Cup website today and I see that Serena Williams will be playing tonight! Here’s a blip from FamilyCircleCup.com

Session begins at 7:00pm.
Get your tickets today – great seats are going fast! Ticketmaster.com

Serena Williams, 2008 Cup Champion, with highligh the Tuesday, April 2nd evening session, beginning at 7:00pm
*Serena will face the winner of the Elena Vesnina / Stephanie Dubois match to be played tomorrow.

We went last year and had a great time, so if you’re looking for something to do, get your tickets now, it’s fun! There is a great tent full of merchandise to purchase as well as vendors set up all over the place. It’s a lot of fun even if you don’t know a lot about tennis!

Visit their website for further details!

Here’s the history on Family Circle Cup tennis… check it out (info from FamilyCircleCup.com) – catch you back here tomorrow!

History – A Shining Star in Women’s Tennis
The early 70’s were a period of uncertainty for women’s tennis but at the same time it was also a time of hope for young women who had dreams of playing professional sports. They wanted their sport to grow and earn the recognition, equality and respect that their male counterparts were enjoying. The sport needed a company who believed in the future of women’s tennis and was willing to take a chance on what many people at the time thought was a long shot. Family Circle magazine stepped up to the challenge and the rest as they say is history, and history in the making it was.

From a historical perspective, few tournaments can compare to the Family Circle Cup. Initially signing on to sponsor the event in 1973, Family Circle magazine holds the record in all of professional tennis as the longest running event sponsored by the same company. Family Circle was the first women’s magazine to fully underwrite a professional women’s sporting event. Since 1973, the Family Circle Cup has been a pioneer in women’s professional sports creating milestones that over the years have directly influenced the popularity of women’s professional tennis. It is a tournament rich in tradition that has been highlighted over the past 39 years with a number of outstanding accomplishments.

In 1973, it was the first women’s tennis event to offer a $100,000 dollars in prize money. As the first Family Circle Cup champion, Rosie Casals received a check for $30,000, which was the largest prize money payout awarded to a woman that year. Even more remarkably, the Family Circle Cup was the first women’s event to be broadcast on network television in 1973. Players who participated in that first tournament still have fond memories of the significance of this occasion. Billie Jean King remarked that the final between Rosie Casals and Nancy Richey was not the best played match due to the nervousness of both players, but every player there that day knew that it was a historic day in women’s sports. Millions of viewers became instant fans, and women’s tennis was well on its way to the heights that the game has reached in present times. Today, the tournament receives four days of coverage on ESPN2, and is also broadcast on Eurosport to over 95 million homes in Europe.

In 2001, the Family Circle Cup made a bold move to secure its success for the future. After 28 years in Hilton Head, the tournament moved to a new home in Charleston, South Carolina. This partnership between the City of Charleston and Family Circle magazine is the first of its kind in women’s tennis. Family Circle magazine is the first title sponsor to partner with city and county municipalities to build a tennis facility of this stature. This state-of-the-art facility not only serves as the home for one of the Premier Events in the WTA, but also provides residents of greater Charleston access to one of the finest tennis facilities in the southeast.

Every spring, the City of Charleston and Daniel Island serves as a backdrop to one of the richest and most traditional events in women’s professional tennis. The Family Circle Cup, a WTA Premier Event, has a roster of past champions that include some of the biggest names in the history of women’s tennis including Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Serena Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki.

As one of the hottest tickets in professional sports, the Family Circle Cup is more than just a tennis tournament, it’s a festival with some world-class tennis thrown in. During the week, fans are entertained with a variety of activities aimed at making their week on Daniel Island a memorable one. It’s an action packed nine days filled with high-level tennis and a host of other activities that have been created for all age groups from children to senior citizens.

The Family Circle Cup, one of the most traditional events in women’s tennis, will continue to cement itself as an annual institution in Charleston, a city that is truly one of America’s most historic treasures.

The Family Circle Cup boasts a prize money purse of $749,160. Over ninety players compete for a piece of that purse each year and battle for one of the most coveted trophies in women’s tennis – when that is at stake, it is all business on the court.

Where most sporting events settle for status quo, the Cup continues to strive for excellence. The future of women’s professional tennis is as bright as ever, and the Family Circle Cup will continue to be its shining star.

: Image: John L. Russell/Associated Press

As many of you may have heard, the Chicago to Mackinac Island race this year had some wild storms, storms which claimed the lives of two amazing sailors, Suzanne Bickel and Mark Morley, owner of WingNuts, during the 103^rd annual Race to Mackinac. Here is some information from www.wdrb.com …

Posted: Jul 18, 2011 1:09 PM EDT Updated: Jul 19, 2011 8:47 AM EDT – www.wdrb.com

By JEFF KAROUB and JOHN FLESHER – Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) – The crew of the WingNuts knew trouble was brewing in northern Lake Michigan.

As lightning bolts erupted from a midnight sky and gusts kicked up churning waves, the eight people aboard the 35-foot sailboat dropped their main sail and clipped on safety lines. Their vessel, among hundreds taking part in the annual race from Chicago to Mackinac Island, was near North Fox Island off the northwest Michigan coast when disaster struck.

A gust estimated at 75 mph hammered WingNuts, flipping it over. The capsized boat heaved up and down in 4- to -6-foot waves as six members of the crew managed to cut or unclip their lines, cling to the hull and signal for help.

But their beloved skipper, Mark Morley, and crew member Suzanne Bickel could not free themselves. A Charlevoix County dive team found them dead about eight hours after the survivors were rescued by Sociable, a competing ship.

“The WingNuts crew is indebted to the crew of the Sociable and are heartbroken over the loss of their crew members, Mark and Suzanne,” the survivors said in a statement that described the accident.

The deaths are the first caused by the weather or an accident in the race’s 103-year history, although one sailor died years ago of a heart attack, said Rachelle Treiber, spokeswoman for the Chicago Yacht Club, which organizes the event.

Morley, 51, and Bickel, 40, were boat racing veterans. Morley had participated in six Chicago-Mackinac races and Bickel had taken part in two, the yacht club said.

Despite their experience and preparation, the storm was too sudden and powerful.

“It was among the nastiest, if not the nastiest, that I’ve seen,” said Adam Hollerbach, 33, of Detroit, who sailed aboard the 70-foot vessel Details. He said his boat reached Mackinac Island’s harbor just as the storm unleashed its fury, with wildly shifting gusts, lightning bolts and stinging hail.

On the open lake, the WingNuts team bore the brunt.

“They knew it was coming but it just sort of caught the boat the wrong way,” said Chip Cummings of Rockford, whose 16-year-old son, C.J., was among the survivors.

WingNuts is based in Saginaw, and seven of the eight crew members were from Michigan. The other was from Chicago, where the race started at Navy Pier for some competitors on Friday but for most on Saturday.

The vessel overturned about 13 miles northwest of Charlevoix and about 270 miles from Chicago. Air and water temperatures early Monday were in the low 70s. The occupants wore life preservers, the Coast Guard said.

Cummings told The Associated Press his son, a cousin of Mark Morley, and other crewmates pressed devices on their vests, alerting the Coast Guard that they were in peril.

Cummings said Stuart Morley, 15, Mark Morley’s nephew, was able to undo the harness that was attaching him and the other sailors to the boat, then released C.J.’s harness. That enabled both of them to clamber onto the hull.

Sociable rushed to the scene, radioing other competing crews. Ten boats dropped from the race to aid the search as Sociable plucked five of the stranded sailors from harm’s way and shortly afterward rescued a sixth.

Cummings said his son, who lives in Grandville, was exhausted but otherwise physically fine. The other rescued sailors were Mark’s brother Peter Morley, 47; John Dent, 50; Stan Dent, 51; and Lee Purcell, 46.

A 41-foot utility boat from the Coast Guard station in Charlevoix arrived. Crew members knocked on the hull to see if anyone was trapped inside. Hearing no response, they began a broader search. Mark Morley and Bickel eventually were found close to the vessel.

Organizers say 355 boats and roughly 3,500 crew members took part in the race, which finishes off Mackinac Island in the straits where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet. The first race was in 1898, and organizers began holding it every year starting in 1921.

Morley loved it, those who knew him said.

“Mark lived to sail – he lived and breathed sailing,” Chip Cummings said. “He was certainly the most accomplished sailor … I’ve ever met.”

Grant Hilger, who sailed with Morley previously but was with a different crew for this race, said he was a member of a sailing family and took pleasure in repairing and restoring boats. On the water, he was “a big storyteller, had stories that went on and on,” Hilger said.

Bickel, also a veteran sailor and scuba diver, sailed on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea as well as the Great Lakes, the crew’s statement said.

Participants in some past Chicago to Mackinac races have dealt with severe weather, according to the race’s website. An 80-mile gale in 1911 caused the vessel Vendector to crash on rocks near Fisherman’s Island off Charlevoix. The crew survived.

A crewman was swept overboard during a 65-mph gale in 1937 and rescued by the Coast Guard. Just eight of 42 yachts were able to finish the race that year.

In 1970, a storm caused 88 of 167 starters to withdraw. A gale in 2002 capsized the 44-foot Caliente and damaged other vessels

Racers were in a somber mood as they arrived at Mackinac Island and learned of the WingNuts’ fate, Hollerbach said.

“You know that it could have been you,” he said.

___

Flesher reported from Traverse City. AP researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report.

From http://www.chicagonow.com :

Lord, here my prayer,
send your angels,
to guard well, we sailors,
serving in your fleet,
protect us from harm or defeat,
give us guidance and wisdom,
to pursue diplomacy and peace
instead of hatred and war,
chosing life, over death,
when I die, permit me to appear first,
at your gate,
allow the devil to think I’m late,
and, before he realizes his mistake,
grant me entrance, and assign me to serve,
life eternal, in your heavenly fleet…

Mac McGovern

Heartfelt prayers go out to the families and friends of Suzanne Bickel and Mark Morley…