Black Tennis Pros

In what turned out to be a really nice event, American Serena Williams had to take down big sister Venus to earn the first Billie Jean King Cup title.

The entire event appeared to be planned, organized and promoted wonderfully. The celebration of legend Billie Jean King with a tournament named for her, broadcast on HBO and contested by four of the world's top players, it just could not have been done any better.

Venus and Serena Williams and Serbians Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic went head to head. The single-set semifinal no-ad format was do or die. It wasn't a matter of it suiting any of the players well, it was a matter of who was willing to go for it all. In the first semifinal Venus and Jelena seemed to start out on equal footing, but Venus managed to break Jelena's serve at the all to crucial 4-4 point of their match. She then served for and won that semifinal 6-4.

Serena and Ana's semifinal wasn't quite as even handed. While Ana did get in a few memorable shots, Serena was never in any danger. She defeated Ana 6-3 setting up the all-Williams final.

The maiden contesting of a tournament could not get any better than an all-Williams final. While it wasn't the most memorable match, the ladies played well and provided a match worthy of a final. After two weeks of winning tournaments back to back, Venus appeared to run out of gas... who wouldn't.

Nevertheless, the first Billie Jean King Cup was definitely a night to remember.


Event Photos