With Venus Williams and Justine Henin dropping out of the Family Circle Cup at the last minute, I know it seems like the event lost some of its star power...not so.
Competition was still fierce and faces were quite familiar in the Cup's second day of action Tuesday.
Take Anna Chavetadze, for instance.
The No. 3 seed was none too happy during and after being upset by Sorana Cirstea, the world's 86th-ranked player. And yeah, I understand, losing is never enjoyable. But Chakvetadze went a little overboard.
During the decisive set, the 21-year-old Russian hit one of her backhanders that sailed wide and out, leading her to smack away one of the balls fed to her by a ballgirl.
A few points later, after crushing a winner down the line, Chakvetadze pumped her fist while displaying her game face, which looked like a mix of every face Bob Knight pulled out a few years back when mocking the term "game face."
As you know, Chakvetadze eventually lost, making for a stirring press conference.
First question: So what do you think decided the match?
Her answer (to the effect of): You saw the match. What can I say? The match was decided when the match was decided.
OK, let's try this again...
Question: What do you think helped your opponent regain the momentum after you stole it in the second set?
Her answer (with a cold stare ahead): She just stopped making mistakes and pushed the ball back to me. That's it.
A minute later, she was off.
After that, I made an abrupt transition to the lighter side of tennis, thanks to my encounter with legendary commentator Bud Collins.
Before Tuesday, I only knew Collins by name, so I had no idea this guy dressed the way he does. His choice of pants Tuesday was a red, white and blue checkered-like pattern to go with his blue shirt and the red sweater draped around his shoulders.
To each his own.
Still, he's a great guy who makes you feel like you are just as accomplished as he has been in 36 years of commentating.
In the nightcap, I got to see none other than Serena Williams, the incredible specimen of a tennis player.
It's easy to see on TV that Serena is built (to say the least), but after seeing her in person...wow, she's built!
Serena's calf muscles bulge out from her legs while calling her shoulders broad is an understatement. This all makes for a powerful volleys and serve, which reached 118 mph Tuesday. But as her opponent, Gisela Dulko, tried to expose in the match, it makes it harder for Serena to make the sprint from the baseline to the net for those tricky drop shots.
A (very) small contigent of celebrities were in the crowd to see this pretty tight match, from Venus and Serena's dad (well, I guess he's kind of made himself a celebrity) to rapper Common, who came off as another nice guy when I acquainted myself with him after the match.
As for Serena's press conference, it was fortunately a total 180 from Chakvetadze's. After plopping her gleaming, gold purse on the table, she was charming, funny and gracious, even with fireworks blaring outside and a couple journalists making some corny, suck-up comments.
All in all, it was a great first day at the Cup.
I'll be back and forth between the Cup and the Heritage this week, so check back on my blog for more off-the-cuff details and observations, if you so desire.