Photos: Action Sam

Throughout my time at the Family Circle Cup, I've been taking all my photographs in the media section in the stadium not realizing that my credential allows me to go and take photos from the photo pit on the court.   But let me tell ya, once I figured that out, I immediately joined Samantha Stosur and Patricia Mayr-Achleitner on the clay.  It's a little bit intimidating to be on court with the players.  First, you get a little paranoid that everyone is looking at you when you trudge down to the pit, and then once there you get even more paranoid that your cell phone is really not on silent and it's going to ring during some crucial moment of a 24 shot rally.  Then, once you have checked your phone about 10 times and are reassured that it is off, you realize how close you really are, and are nervous the whole time you are going to get hit with a ball.  It was intense.  But the photos were totally worth it.  I call this batch:  Action Sam.