(April 1, 2013) CHARLESTON, SC – Two-time champ and defending champion Serena Williams leads a stellar field for the 2013 Family Circle Cup in Charleston this week. Coming off a record sixth title in Miami, there’s no time for the world No. 1 to rest as she kick starts her clay season on the green clay.
Last year’s Charleston win kick started a stellar 12 months for Williams, which saw her win two slams, two Olympics gold medals and the year-end championships plus retain the number one ranking.
Williams said her semis and final last year here were amazing. She dropped just two games against Sam Stosur in the semis before winning the final 6-0, 6-1 against Lucie Safarova. “I really don’t know if I’ve played better, ever. Hopefully I can kind of rekindle some of that fire,” she said.
When discussing her Miami win, Williams said she was happy she was able to solve problems on her own when she was down, and commented that on-court coaching is not for her.
“I don’t do it so much,” she said. “For me I like to solve problems and I think in Miami I solved a lot of problems. I was down in several matches and I was able to solve and figure it out on my own.”
Although Williams doesn’t use the on-court coaching, she says she definitely notices when other players do. “I do think about it and I think like ‘OK, ha I’m in now’ so it makes me feel good,” she said.
Williams will launch her 2013 Family Circle Cup against Camila Giorgi of Italy during Tuesday’s day session.
2011 champion Caroline Wozniacki and 2010 winner Sam Stosur are the 2nd and 3rd seeds, with Sloane Stephens as the 4th seed.
Stephanie Neppl is in Charleston covering the Family Circle Cup for Tennis Panorama News. She spends all her spare funds traveling to tennis tournaments and has played since her teen years. She has worked as Social Media Manager for Tennis Auckland’s ATP and WTA tournaments. Follow her live updates on Twitter at @TennisNewsTPN. Follow her personal Twitter @stephintheus and her blog http://ihaveatennisaddiction.blogspot.com.