Black Tennis Pros

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Serena Williams will return to Centre Court almost exactly 50 weeks after she won her fourth Wimbledon title, opening her 2011 campaign against France's Aravane Rezai.

Williams, seeded seventh after the withdrawal of Kim Clijsters, won the opening match of her comeback in Eastbourne before losing out to Vera Zvonareva in a repeat of last year's Championships final, and will be closely monitored when she plays her first match on Monday.

The former world No.1 has faced the talented Frenchwoman just once in competition, rallying from a set down to defeat the current world No.56 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the pre-Australian Open tournament in Sydney in 2010. And so Rezai will not be a cakewalk for the four-time Wimbledon Champion, especially given the latter's lack of match fitness.


Sitting alongside Williams in the top half of the draw is current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, who will open her grass court season against Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja, the world No.107. Wozniacki, who comes into Wimbledon with 17 titles under her belt in what has still been a relatively short career, will once again be the focus of much attention on the lawns of SW19 as she attempts to win her first Grand Slam title.

But in order to do so, she will have to contend with Maria Sharapova, her opposite number in the top quarter of the draw. Viewed by many as a favourite for this year's title, Sharapova is deemed to have finally fully recovered from the shoulder injury that has blighted her for the past two years, and comes into Wimbledon fighting fit and full of confidence at what is one of her favourite Grand Slams. She opens against fellow Russian, world No.50 Anna Chakvetadze.

Should Sharapova triumph, she will face the winner of world No.77 Angelique Kerber against former junior Champion Laura Robson, awarded a wild card into The Championships this year. Fellow Brit Heather Watson, who broke into the top 100 last week, is also in the top half of the draw, meeting world No.64 Mathilde Johansson, as is British No.1 Elena Baltacha, who plays a qualifier. Emily Webley-Smith faces Klara Zakopalova.


French Open champion Li Na joked that she would be forgotten in China if she doesn't do well at Wimbledon, and so she should be pleased at a first-round match up with world No.70 Alla Kudryavtseva. But danger lies in the prospect of a second round meeting with the in-form wild card Sabine Lisicki, quarter-finalist at The Championships in 2009, who won the warm-up event at the Edgbaston Priory Club last week.

Ana Ivanovic, who plays American Melanie Oudin, Marion Bartoli, who meets a qualifier, and Agnieszka Radwanska, who will face Olga Govortsova, are other notable names in the top half of the draw.

2010 finalist Zvonareva occupies the top spot in the bottom half of the draw, as the No.2 seed, and will open against talented American Alison Riske. The world No.118 broke onto the scene at last year's AEGON Classic in Edgbaston, qualifying and powering her way to the semi-finals, so could provide a brief speed bump for the Russian. Last year's surprise semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova is also in Zvonareva's section, as is five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, seeded at No.23. Williams meets Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan in the first round, with Britain's Katie O'Brien or the ageless Kimiko Date-Krumm a potential second-round opponent.

Speaking of British players, Wimbledon will be guaranteed at least one "local" in the second round as former British No.1 Anne Keothavong and wild card Naomi Broady meet in the first round. The winner could play Petra Kvitova, the exciting Czech prospect who battled her way to the 2010 semi-finals, in the second round. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic also feature in the lower quarter of the draw's bottom half.
2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone could have a handful to deal with when she takes on Jelena Dokic, no stranger to causing an upset at SW19, while 2010 Eastbourne winner Ekaterina Makarova against highly-touted American Christina McHale is certainly one to watch.

The in-form Daniela Hantuchova meets a qualifier, while fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, the highest seed in the third quarter, will have to get past Magdalena Rybarikova.Witty German Andrea Petkovic, talented youngster Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and shock 2010 quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi are other seeds to watch out for.

The bottom half of the women's draw are scheduled to play their first-round matches on Monday, with the top half due to commence on Tuesday.

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A weary Rafa Nadal had his Wimbledon warm-up cut short when he was beaten 6-7 6-4 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Queen's Club championships by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.

The Spanish world number one, who claimed a record-equalling sixth French Open title on Sunday, looked on course for the semi-final when he took an opening set tiebreak but appeared to run out of steam as fifth seed Tsonga seized control.

A full-length diving volley helped Tsonga earn two break points at 4-4 in the second set and, when Nadal hit long, the match began to slide away in the evening sunshine.
Tsonga broke Wimbledon champion Nadal's serve at the start of the deciding set and for once there was nothing left as he slumped to defeat.

Tsonga will play British wildcard James Ward or fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino for a place in Sunday's final.

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Frenchman Gael Monfils walks off court after losing quarterfinal match to Roger Federer.

Just one day after the French Open's No. 9 seed, Frenchman Gael Monfils put on an incredible display of tennis in his defeat of  Spaniard David Ferrer, the beat was turned around and Monfils was made to dance... to the tune of Roger Federer. Switzerland's tennis wonder put on a clinic for which Monfils could not find a response.

Roger Federer celebrates QF win.

Monfils had chances in the match, but could never get enough distance between him and Federer in set or seize any type of real momentum in the match on a windy day on Philippe Chatrier. He did lead 3-1 in the first set and the crowd pulled for him with all their worth, but he was inconsistent with his serve and off the ground, barely winning over 51 % of his service points and committing a whopping 53 unforced errors while nailing only 24 winners.

"My biggest weak point was I couldn't serve at all. It was serious handicap," Monfils said. "With more serves I would have been more dangerous."
The 2009 Roland Garros champion had chances to steamroll through the third set, but Monfils hung tough and forced it into a tiebreaker. But there, Federer committed only one unforced error. He whacked two forehand winners to open sudden death and then closed Monfils out with a big serve and a forehand down the line.

"He changes the pace, and he changes the pace so quickly," Monfils said. "This hurts. He's the only one almost to hurt you that much, that quickly. All of a sudden he strikes the ball."

"Roger is always present and has a lot of ambitions still," Monfils said. "But Novak plays so well, it's going to be an incredible match. I'll be the first one to watch it."

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Frenchman Gael Monfils celebrates 5-set win over Spaniard David Ferrer.

ROLAND GARROS - Gael Monfils has a flair for the dramatic, and the last French contender in the men's singles certainly provided plenty of excitement in a charged-up 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 1-6, 8-6 win over Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer on Monday.


Monfils needed four match points to close the match out, but even though the Spaniard is known as one of the toughest men on tour, the 24-year-old out-gutted him when it mattered most.



He fought off a break point in the 13th game of the final set and after flubbing his first two match points with nervous ground strokes and watching Ferrer nail a flying down-the-line forehand winner on the third, Monfils played a brilliant final game and took the match with sliding forehand winner. The Parisian went wild, as did the sell-out crowd on Suzanne Lenglen.


"It's one of my best matches of my career," Monfils said. "Every time I have a tough fight here and I play five-setters here."



Rocky Road

The match was suspended for darkness after three hours on Sunday with Monfils leading 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 0-2. He had twisted his ankle in the final game but, after a rocky fourth set where he was not moving comfortably at all, he recovered nicely in the fifth.


Ferrer, who was attempting to reach his first Roland Garros semi-final, said that failing to convert the break point at 6-6 in the decider was crucial in the outcome of the match. "Maybe a bit of a stress and anxiety," said Ferrer. "I had three forehands that were off the court and also I was not perhaps focusing enough. I had this break point which unfortunately I couldn't control. I wanted to win this point, but I didn't do it."


Monfils had spent two months battling a wrist injury in the winter and early spring, but has been a force at Roland Garros almost regardless of his condition. He seems to have set up residence at Suzanne Lenglen court where he has pulled off some monumental victories.


"I don't know if it's my favourite court - I like them both - Chatrier and Lenglen," he said. "But whatever the time, whatever the court, whenever I'm in Roland, I love playing."



Big Test To Come

Monfils will face no.3 Roger Federer in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, to whom he lost in the semi-finals in 2008 and in the quarter-finals in 2009. While he knows that he has a huge task ahead, Monfils did score a win over the Swiss great last autumn in Bercy.


"It's a different match altogether," he said. "People don't talk about Roger a lot, but he's had very easy wins against all his opponents since the beginning of this tournament. So it's going to be a very difficult match, even more difficult than the ones I played in the past.


"It does matter for me, knowing I managed to beat him here in [Bercy]. It's going to be favourable because it's going to help me relax more. This is something I knew in the past, but I also thought he played better than I did. I was also younger in my head, so it's going to be a bit different this time."

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Spaniard David Ferrer

ROLAND GARROS - 9:30 p.m. Play Suspended - But what drama before. Monfils took a tumble at deuce on his own service, twisting the front of his left foot as he got caught up in the clay. Ferrer asked if he was ok, LaMonf gave him the thumbs up, got up, served and Ferrer broke. So we'll come back tomorrow at 2-1 Monfils in sets, but Ferrer serving at 2-0.




 

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Dustin Brown is one of those players who doesn't quite fit the mould. After recently playing under the Jamaican flag, the German world number 109 hired best friend and car-crash survivor Daniel Puttkammer to be his coach as he prepares for his first ever French Open appearance.

With his red vest and flying dreadlocks, 26-year-old Dustin Brown looks slightly out of place training out on court no.14. Complete with shaved head and baggy basketball shorts, Coach Daniel Puttkammer strikes an equally unorthodox figure, so it is hardly surprising the pair have built up a reputation on the tour for standing out from the crowd. Puttkammer admits the accusation: "It's true, but Dustin's the one who's really different. With the way he looks and plays on court, he's got something new. Dustin likes being a showman, not just for the fans, but for himself. He needs it. And tennis needs more people like him!"

The player with the huge talent, big attitude and frequent outbursts also goes by the nickname Dready, and he also pleads guilty as charged. "I like getting people worked up, I like feeling the energy from the stands. I feed off it. It's good, because I get the feeling that's what the French crowd likes."

After making it to the quarter-finals in Johannesburg and Newport, and defeating Stanislas Wawrinka in Munich this year, Brown, ranked world no.109, now feels he is ready to break through into the highest echelons of the game. It is even written on his website: "A man with the desire to do something… can do anything!"

"Dready" and his camping car

That has been Brown's motto from an early age, and the 26-year-old has shown remarkable determination on his path to the ATP circuit.

After learning the game in Jamaica, Brown criss-crossed Europe in a camping car for years in search of ranking points. According to his coach, who is also his best friend, "He had no support, no money. It was rough."

Puttkammer and Brown met at a tennis academy near Hanover. At the time, 18-year-old Puttkammer was one of the top 100 players in Germany, dreaming of a professional career. That dream was shattered one fateful day, when the youngster was involved in a terrible car crash, tore his spleen and ended up with three litres of blood in his stomach. "I nearly died. The doctors said it was a miracle," he explained. Three weeks of hospital and a year of physiotherapy later, he picked up his racket, but not where he left off...

A reunion of old friends

Meanwhile, Dready was making progress. After taking the Futures tournaments by storm in his camping car, he progressed to the Challengers and entered the top 100 with something approaching flamboyance. It was then, in September 2010, that he decided to put his prize money to good use and give his old friend Puttkammer a call. "I'd never had a coach before, and I thought maybe it was time to get one," recalls Dustin. "Who better to call than an old friend?"

Puttkammer's dream is now becoming reality - even if it is vicariously. "It's great to experience this with Dustin. And two pairs of eyes are better than one. I see things he doesn't see. He has so many strong points, it's easy to build an arsenal. No-one is faster than him when he hits off one of his cannonballs. He just needs to be more consistent."

Brown's racket speed is out of this world, and his volley more than acceptable. He has a feel for the game, and always gives it everything. Now he just needs to keep his focus, and with a tough match against Argentinean Leonardo Mayer on Monday, he will be put to the test. "After that, the draw is open - anything's possible," says Dready. For this very Jamaican German, it is about living up to his motto.

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Smiles and easy conversation go hand in hand for Sloane Stephens. The Floridian with the sunny disposition has qualified for her first main singles draw in a major event. As luck would have it, not only is it a Grand Slam, it is also her favourite tournament. "Americans usually don't like clay but I like it a lot. Also, here, I have to share my good moments with my worst moments and that stays with you," explains Sloane. For example, this year "it's my high school prom, which breaks my heart. I am missing so many important events, but I guess the more I miss, the better it is for my career"

Patience and confidence

Two years ago, Sloane had to deal with the death of her father who had been absent from her life until she was 13 years old, and this has made her even more sensitive to missing important family events. "I am missing my brother's baseball games, which makes me sad but that's the way it has to be," she confides.

After studying at Evert Academy, she decided to concentrate on her tennis and is now coached by former pro Roger Smith, who like her is a doubles specialist (Sloane has three wins in the juniors at Grand Slams). She is new on tour and approaches everything with excitement, like talking to the media ahead of her first round tie against Elena Baltacha. She answers questions with humour and an ease that lets one imagine that she would be just as comfortable doing stand-comedy up on a stage as she is hitting her two-handed backhand on the French clay.

Straight-talking

Being confident does not mean that Sloane Stephens is not realistic. She is a fan of Kim Clijsters and the Williams Sisters, and the Belgian recently complimented the world no.138. Sloane simply talks about patience and hard work. "Fulfilling my potential may take time, but it will happen. There is a lot of pressure and expectation, but this is true for all the other young American players. Right now, no one really believes in us, and we know it. I also know that when I start having good results, the same people will say that they supported me from the start and they knew I could do it." She is travelling with her aunt, who she says is "my good luck charm because since she's been with me in Europe, I haven't lost."

Stephens certainly does not shy away from telling things like they really are. "I'm on a mission, but so are all of my friends because we all have to face the critics. In the US, no one believes in us and some have even questioned our work ethic. Some even say that there is no hope for professional women's tennis in the medium term..." said Stephens, firmly but without losing her trademark smile. "I'm really happy though," she continues, as well she might be after winning the 50,000 dollar tournament at Reggio Emilia on 15 May. She is reaping the rewards of a "really intensive week of work in Barcelona with Francis Roig (one of Rafael Nadal's coaches) in early May". Stephens has now entered the big leagues, but "one thing is certain, and that's that I'll be home on 4 July to celebrate the holiday with my family." In the meantime, she will have settle for going out to dinner with her aunt in Paris, with a thought for her father, as always since September 2009.

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An nearly perfect day for French players turned a little cloudy when Stanislas Wawrinka came back from two sets down to stun Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-7)(3), 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-3.

Before that, Gael Monfils had crushed Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 and Richard Gasquet dispatched Thomaz Bellucci 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Those two wins bookmarked a fantastic effort by their WTA counterpart Marion Bartoli, who edged Julia Goerges in three sets.

Unfortunately for the partisan home crowd, it was not to be for Tsonga, who played so well in the first two sets against the flying Swiss, controlling the match with a booming serve down the tee, a big forehand and effective net approaches. Wawrinka began to play more inside the court from the third set onwards however, cutting off hard balls to his one-handed backhand, serving big himself and staying strong in forehand rallies.


He broke Tsonga to 5-3 in the final set when the Frenchman erred on a forehand, and then he won the contest on his third match point with a screaming inside-out forehand winner. Tsonga said that Wawrinka simply zoned on him in the last three sets. "I felt that he was making no mistakes at all. If I wasn't hitting the ball very strong and putting it in the corner, I would not win a single point," the no.17 seed said. "And then the ball didn't bounce anymore, so I hit the ball as hard as I could. I couldn't make any winning points. The one who loses the third set is in a much more difficult situation. I put everything in the battle in the third set to try and close the match. That's what tennis is about. It's a mental thing, and today he clearly was stronger than I was throughout the match… He simply played a superb match."

2008 semi-finalist Monfils played a near-faultless match against Darcis, despite the fact that, as is often the case at his home tournament, he is coming in lacking in match practice due to illness and injury.

"It was not easy in terms of my game," said the no.9 seed. "And now this is a new week, a new tournament. Of course I'll play against stronger players. Otherwise, I'll perhaps change the way I play a little. I'll have to be much more aggressive, but apart from this, I'm happy."Monfils knows that against David Ferrer in the Round of 16, he faces a tussle against an accomplished clay courter. "I'll turn the page immediately, because as I told my coaches, I think I have survived. I've lived on what I know - how to defend myself on the court. But next week I'll have to go up a level and enhance my performance. Even today I was not totally relaxed when I was hitting the balls - I was not fluid enough in my forearms. The winning shots were not good enough. Too many of these little things that I don't have at present (if I want) to go further."

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ROUND 1


WOMEN

Singles

Stephanie Foretz Gacon, FRA defeated by Heather Watson, GBR

Sloane Stephens, USA defeated by Elena Baltacha, GBR
5-7, 2-6

Doubles


Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
Kristina Barrois, GER and Johanna Larson, SWE


Stephanie Foretz Gacon, FRA and Claire Feuerstein, FRA
Yung-Jan Chan, TPE (13) and Monica Niculescu, ROU (13)
6-2, 4-6, 1-6



Singles

Gael Monfils(9), FRA defeated Bjorn Phau, GER

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(17), FRA defeated Jan Hajek, CZK

Dustin Brown, GER defeated by Leonardo Mayer, ARG




MEN


Singles

Gael Monfils(9), FRA defeated Guillaume Rufin, FRA

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(17), FRA defeated Igor Andreev, RUS



MEN


Singles

Gael Monfils(9), FRA defeated Steve Darcis, BEL
6-3, 6-4, 7-5

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(17), FRA defeated by Stanislas Wawrinka(14), SUI


MEN


Singles

Gael Monfils(9), FRA vs. David Ferrer(7), ESP

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