Black Tennis Pros

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Keep fighting Andy, you’re got a heart of pure gold! You’re most definitely one of the most liked and respected players on the tour. I know all of us girls in the locker room are in awe & so grateful for how you always fight in our corner! Thank you so much for that. You inspire me in so many ways and I don’t want you to go!! Stay strong and keep fighting 💛 it’s pretty nerve racking playing with you because you’re pretty gosh darn Awesome (with a capital A)😅 but jheez am I so grateful I have!

A post shared by Heather Watson (@heatherwatson92) on Jan 11, 2019 at 12:28am PST

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Huge cheers greeted the entrance of Gael Monfils onto Philippe Chatrier Court. The crowd barely registered Andy Murray’s arrival, save for a smattering of jeers.

Murray smirked as he walked onto the court, clearly accepting of his fate of having to enter a cauldron of vociferous Parisian support for a home-grown player. Perhaps he even relished the challenge. It seemed that way judging by his level of play, both early in the match and at its bizarre and dramatic end; he completed a 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-0 victory that sends him into a blockbuster semi-final against top seed Rafael Nadal.

Despite the somewhat hostile environment Murray immediately got to work, hitting crisply and consistently and always giving Monfils a look at an extra ball. The Frenchman could not match this level of steadiness – gesticulating and looking generally uncomfortable out there in the process – and Murray promptly broke service en route to a 3-0 lead.

The mercurial Monfils did settle, and despite the strong winds found his range. Cranking up the power on his forehand, 0-3 became 3-3, and now we had a contest. Games progressed on service until the tenth game, where Murray was able to extract some errors from Monfils’ racquet and score set points. On the second, they junk-balled their way through a mind-numbing 34-shot rally, ending only when Murray finally pulled the trigger on a backhand and played an inside-out forehand winner off the short reply.

Patiently working the ball around, Murray skipped out to a 2-0 in the second set. Monfils slapped a limp backhand halfway up the net to make it 4-0, and by 5-0 it was shades of the Frenchman’s fourth set fadeout against Fabio Fognini in the third round. His feet were not moving, his effort was suspect and he was simply rushing to the line to deliver services without preparing.

Down 5-1, Monfils at least made the contest a little more interesting in a dramatic seventh game. A ball fell out of Murray’s pocket mid-rally which drew whistles from the crowd and protests from Monfils, crescendo-ing to a level at which Murray conceded the point rather than playing a let. The seventh seed required five set points to finally subdue the more animated Monfils.

This new version of the Frenchman persisted into the third set. He was alive in all of the games, keeping his nose in front as the set progressed on service until 5-4. In that tenth game, Monfils’ relentless power extracted an error to give him two set points, and when Murray netted a backhand a few points later, Monfils was back in the match.

Monfils had all the momentum in the world following a service break in the fourth game of the fourth set. The Chatrier crowd was in full voice and he played to them, lapping up their energy and confidently hitting out. The lead was soon 4-1; Monfils had won 12 of the past 15 points. Murray, woefully despondent, now could not seem to clear the net, and soon the Frenchman had levelled at two-sets-all.

By this time it was 9:20pm, and in the fading light Murray requested the match be suspended. Amid the incensed whistles of the crowd his request was denied, and they played on.

Cue an outrageous momentum swing. Murray’s crucial hold – and subsequent celebration – in the first game seemed to completely take the wind out of Monfils’ sails. His forehand began flying as Murray found his range again; soon the Scot had a break, and consolidated it with the help of a blazing passing shot winner to move up 3-0.

So complete was Monfils’ capitulation that he would finish the set not even attempting to play Murray’s shots, and by winning just seven points to 24. The rollicking Chatrier crowd of just 20 minutes earlier now sat in stunned silence.

Monfils’ 61st unforced error saw the final stanza over in just 24 minutes.

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Andy Murray, GBR and Venus Williams, USA participate in the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay.

Along with Britain's Andy Murray, American Venus Williams holds the Olympic Torch in the All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon Stadium where she and Andy just participated in the Wimbledon Championships. Venus may be about to become the first American tennis star to feature in four Olympics, but she intends to keep playing until the 2016 Rio Games when she will be 36.


The torch relay is on its final leg of a 70-day journey, touring the neighborhoods of host city London before being taken to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony on Friday.


 The torch has visited the Channel Islands, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland and gone past national landmarks like Stonehenge and Mount Snowdon.

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Wimbledon is a happy place this fortnight, if your name is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The 26-year-old Frenchman has smiled his way through the first three rounds, apparently unperturbed by the small troubles life may put in his way.

He breezed his way to another contented win over the Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 and those who like their tennis quick will have relished this encounter as much as the No.12 seed himself. The entire joust was done in an economical 84 minutes.

In fact, parts of this match were so brisk, they verged on the bizarre. Neither of these two players is a chap to linger over personal pre-service rituals, with the result that the first set lasted 22 minutes, and it wasn't as if it was a whitewash. It was just that rallies on Tsonga's serve were a bit of a rarity and, besides, he had the necessary break in the bag at 3-1.

For those watching on No.2 Court, the constant risk was that they might sneeze at the wrong moment and find that they had missed some crucial passage of play. Glancing away for 10 seconds could leave spectators wondering how they missed half the set.

Tsonga, whose best Wimbledon was last year when he reached the quarter-finals, arrived at SW19 this fortnight with mixed form on grass. On the one hand, he brought the encouragement of being runner-up to Andy Murray at Queen's earlier this month; on the other, he followed it by losing to Radek Stepanek in the second round at Eastbourne.

As for 30-year-old Gonzalez, this was his first Grand Slam tournament since retiring in the first round of last autumn's US Open with a knee injury, itself caused by a previous hip injury dating back a further year. His ranking coming into Wimbledon was 478, and he made it into the main draw on a protected ranking because of this prolonged period out through injury. He did well to reach the third round, beating the No.22 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round.

At the start of the second set, Tsonga had the Chilean racing all over the court. He easily commanded three break points for 2-1 and converted the first as a matter of course. The next game was not atypical of the entire match. Tsonga served three aces, made one unforced error, and then made it a quartet of aces for good measure.

Umpire Fergus Murphy barely had time to announce the score in his trademark musical delivery before it was out of date and he was on to the next. At 5-3, Tsonga had two openings to break again and take the set, but in the event was obliged to cool his heels and serve it out.

Gonzalez had his chances, not least three opportunities to break early in the third set. But each time Tsonga dug his way out of the hole. Instead it was the Frenchman who broke in the next game, courtesy of a wild Gonzalez forehand at the net.

It was the same pattern as the set before, but this time when Tsonga had the chance to break again, it was to secure the win, and he took it. Even Gonzalez smiled back at Tsonga at the net.

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Lukasz Kubot, Poland

Gael Monfils was dumped out of Wimbledon before the second week for the fifth time in five appearances, losing his third-round encounter against Lukasz Kubot of Poland, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

The athletic Frenchman, who has achieved a Wimbledon-best three third rounds at The Championships since his first appearance in 2005, returned to No. 3 Court after his match against Kubot was delayed overnight after yesterday's rain interruption.

But although he had been recuperating some form during the match, recovering from a set down against the tricky Pole, the momentum all came tumbling down the wrong way. Dropping the third set 6-3, things went from bad to worse as Monfils, the former junior world No.1, fell 4-1 behind in the fourth set.

Unable to redeem the break, it was simple business for the Pole to serve out the match in four sets, and progress to only his second fourth round at a Grand Slam.

Despite producing less unforced errors and more aces than his opponent, it was Kubot's staggering 50 winners that cost the Frenchman dear, and also Monfils' inability to convert break points when he had the opportunity, managing just three out of nine.

Kubot will next meet Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round on Monday, the winner going through to meet either Andy Murray or Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals.

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Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his first match at the AEGON International Tuesday just over 24 hours after he finished runner-up to at The Queen's Club.

The World No. 19, who arrived in Eastbourne at 7 p.m. on Monday, said: "I feel good. I played well today, so it's good."

Tsonga dropped nine points on serve in a 40-minute first set against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, a semi-finalist last year in Eastbourne, before completing a 6-2, 7-5 win in just over 90 minutes.

Tsonga, who hit eight aces and won 67 per cent of service points, is making his tournament debut. He improved to a 22-12 match record on the season.

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The AEGON Championships website posted the following:

"Sunday's play at the AEGON Championships has been abandoned because of rain and the singles (Andy Murray vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) and doubles (Bob and Mike Bryan vs. Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes) finals have been postponed until Monday 13th June at 12:30 pm BST."

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James Ward

Frenchman Jo Wilfried Tsonga set up a meeting with Britain's own Andy Murray in the final of the AEGON Championships on Sunday at the Queen's Club when he beat British No. 2 James Ward in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(7).


After Ward failed to convert a couple of break points of his own, Tsonga was able to serve out the set. Even when Ward had a chance to level the match after breaking for a 4-2 lead in the second set, Tsonga broke back to force a tie-break.


Both players had chances in the breaker, but it was Tsonga who came through as Ward missed a passing shot on the Frenchman's second match point.

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INDIAN WELLS, California — Fifth seeded Andy Murray and sixth seed David Ferrer were joined on the sidelines by defending champion Ivan Ljubicic as all three lost their opening matches Saturday at Indian Wells.

American qualifier Donald Young upset world number five Murray 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the second round of the WTA and ATP Masters 1000 tournament.

Scotsman Murray looked rusty in his opening match at Indian Wells and in his first career meeting against the 21-year-old Young. Murray has now lost the last six sets he has played.

"I started the match well but then when it got close I didn't do anything to lift myself," said Murray. "The crowd was for him and then he started to play better and I didn't play my way back into the match."

It marked the first victory over a top-10 opponent for Young, who has a 3-3 record this year.

Courtside Donald Young said, ""It's by far the biggest win of my career."

Young advanced to the third round, where he will face Tommy Robredo of Spain who beat Mischa Zverev 6-3, 3-6. 7-5.

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American Donald Young earned his first win at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in three years as he came back to defeat Italian Potito Starace 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in just under two hours on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open.

The 21 year old fought off nine of 12 break points faced on serve, while delivering on four of his six opportunities against the 47th-ranked Starace.

Young, currently at No. 143 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, reached the third round at this tournament in 2008 with wins over Bobby Reynolds and Feliciano Lopez before falling to Rafael Nadal. He next faces World No. 5 Andy Murray.

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga provided little more than a sparring session for Roger Federer before the Swiss turns his guns on Andy Murray – and the exciting young Frenchman does not think much of the Scot's chances.

Federer was so totally in control after a brief tussle at the start that the scoreline of 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 disguised his dominance. He outserved Tsonga, he toyed with him from deep and at the net, he found little challenge in any but his few brief attacks in the first set and, generally, left feeling as good about his game as it is possible for the world No1 to feel.

If he played like that in the final, Tsonga was asked, was there anyone who could beat him? "I think ... nobody," he said.

What could Murray do to stop Federer? Longish pause, then: "I don't know, I don't know."

Did he have any advice for Murray, then? "Advice? Be ready to run."

If that is not a depressing report card for Murray as he works out a game plan for Sunday, nothing is. It reflected reality, too.

Federer was, as the Australians say, awesome. And he barely got out of third gear. From the moment he broke Tsonga in the first set the match turned from contest to punishment. Tsonga developed a stitch or some sort of stomach complaint when he found himself stuck deep in the trenches, but Federer was not concerned about the quality of his opponent or his hunger for the fight. This was a result, pure and simple.

"I didn't expect something even close to this kind of scoreline," Federer said. "The crowd was rather on the quiet side towards the end because they were also a bit surprised how fast it went."

The great man was fed a couple of sycophantic lines, and bit. Yes, he agreed, that he might be at "Federer-plus" now. "I'm hitting the ball well. I'm not panicking. Jo is a talented player, with a lot of potential. I'm sure we're going to see much more of him in the future. This is probably the last easy match I have against him.

"[There was] no wasted energy, that's for sure. I was very surprised the way the match went. He's got great potential, but tonight maybe he let his head hang a bit."

What of his motivation, though? With a record 15 grand slam titles to his name, would it be an effort to get himself up for a 16th? "I spent three weeks here," he said, "and I don't want to just give away a match. So, I will make it as hard, as tough as possible, for my opponent. I'm really where I want to be. Being back in a grand slam final is always an amazing thrill for me."

En route, it provided a frisson for Tsonga, one that passed in the blinking of an eye as a genius blurred in front of him. Federer's is in phenomenal shape. He has struggled briefly earlier, but this semi-final fine-tuned his tennis to threatening levels of all-round competence. Murray has his work cut out.

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PARIS -- James Blake of the United States beat French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Masters on Sunday.

The 36-year-old Santoro, who is playing his final season on the ATP tour, swapped jerseys with Blake after the match and did a lap around the court to warm applause from the crowd at Bercy indoor arena.

Blake broke Santoro's serve twice in each set, and afterward paid tribute to the Frenchman.

"He's a great competitor, such a classy guy. Someone I've had a lot of tough matches with," said Blake, who next plays fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain. "He's had a great career. It's unbelievable how much success he's had in singles and doubles and how well liked he is by his competitors."

Murray beat Mikhail Youzhny in the Valencia Open final on Sunday, winning his sixth title of the season in his first tournament back since injuring his wrist at the U.S. Open in September.

In another first-round match in Paris on Sunday, Benjamin Becker beat Michael Llodra of France 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. The German next meets sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.

Becker converted all three break chances, and saved two second-set break points and another in the decider. Both players served nine aces.

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LONDON (AP) — Andy Murray defeated James Blake 7-5, 6-4 Sunday to win the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club for his first grass-court title.

The top-seeded Murray became the first British player to win the tournament since Bunny Austin in 1938, who then went on to become the last Briton to reach the Wimbledon final.

"I was quite nervous," Murray said. "People were telling me that no (Briton) had won here for 70-odd years so that got the nerves going, especially when I was serving for the match."

Murray took an early lead with a break in the third game, but Blake immediately evened it with a forehand winner down the line. Both players then easily held serve until 5-5, when Blake missed a forehand on break point.



The second set was equally competitive until Murray broke for a decisive 4-3 lead when a fierce return forced Blake to net a backhand volley.

"I didn't quite know what to expect, but this is some of the best tennis I've played in my life," said Murray, who did not drop a set all week. "I'm a long way from winning Wimbledon, but I feel confident. I'll try and not get too far ahead of myself and focus on my first match there, but if I play my best like I did this week, I've got a chance."

Blake said he was beaten by a better player, but that he was pleased with preparation for Wimbledon, which starts June 22.

"I had a good week," Blake said. "Playing on the grass, I always have a lot of fun playing here. I feel great. I've been working with my coach and trainer, and I know I'm doing the best preparation possible for Wimbledon. I'll be ready to play and feel great about my chances."


It was Murray's fourth title of the year, following victories in Doha, Rotterdam and Miami.

The sixth-seeded Blake was playing his third grass-court final, after finishing runner-up here in 2006 to Lleyton Hewitt and losing the Newport final in 2002 to Taylor Dent. He was seeking his first title since August 2007.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the tournament to rest his knees ahead of Wimbledon.





On day seven of the AEGON Classic at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, England, Zimbabwean Cara Black and American Liezel Huber, the top seeds and No.1 pair in the world, won the doubles title in Edgbaston on Sunday afternoon.

Black and Huber retained the title they won together last year by defeating American No.4 seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 6-1 6-4 in under an hour.

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American James Blake advanced to the championship match of the AEGON Championships at the Queen's Club in London when fellow American Andy Roddick retired from the match at 4-4 in the first set because of an ankle injury.

When asked about Roddick's injury Blake said, "I think he was hurt before, I saw him pull up."

"It was unfortunate, but Andy is such a great player and he doesn't want to endanger the injury anymore. He normally moves so well and you could tell this wasn't the same Andy Roddick."

For the title Blake will play Britain's Andy Murray. To a lot of crowd laughter and clapping Blake said, "I realize that the crowd probably won't be behind me, but I have to remind you that I'm half British."

When asked if he would ever consider a change Blake said, "I've been asked about that but they (Americans) have been so good to me, I can't turn my back on them."





In women's doubles at the AEGON Classic, Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears defeated Italians Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci to advance to the championship match where they will play Zimbabwe's Cara Black and American Liezel Huber for the title.

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MIAMI - MARCH 23: American Venus Williams and Andy Murray of Great Britain play a game of traffic tennis on Ocean Drive prior to the Sony Ericsson Open on March 23, 2009 in Miami, Florida.

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