There’s something about the green clay tennis courts of Charleston.
The clay, made up of crushed volcanic rock from the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, signals a new season on the WTA Tour.
The tour year annually switches from hard courts to clay at the Credit One Charleston Open, then moves on to the slower red clay of Europe leading up to the French Open.
“I think, especially on the clay, you have to have kind of that grittiness and that toughness,” 2025 Charleston Open champion Jessica Pegula said of the green clay,