Black Tennis Pros

NEW YORK (AP) — A memoir by Serena Williams will be released in 2009 by Grand Central Publishing, which beat out a handful of other publishers bidding for the life story of the No. 1 ranked women's tennis player.

"Serena Williams is one of the world's most remarkable athletes," Grand Central editor Karen Kosztolnyik said Tuesday in a statement. "We've watched her rise to No. 1 despite physical and emotional setbacks, and her hard work and determination have inspired legions of fans young and old. Serena will give her memoir a strong motivational slant."

Financial terms for the book, currently untitled, were not disclosed, although a publishing official with knowledge of the negotiations said bidding reached at least $1.3 million. The official, citing the confidentiality of the negotiations, declined to be identified.

Williams, 26, has won nine Grand Slam titles and, with sister Venus Williams, won a gold medal in women's doubles at the recent Olympics in Beijing.

Grand Central Publishing is a division of the Hachette Book Group.

Source

Well, at least you can't say that American James Blake gives rotten gifts. What is a more gift for a professional tennis player friend than a ticket to the fourth round of a grand slam tournament...not much.

American Mardy Fish beat Blake 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in the Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open on Saturday. The good friends played until nearly midnight.

Post match Blake said, ``it's a tough feeling out there when you're the favorite, and you're expected, and you're not playing your best tennis, and can't summon your best tennis. There are some days you go out there and you feel like you can't quite string the points together that you need to, and can't make enough first serves and things don't seem to be going your way.''

Blake didn't try to cop out with the fact that he had just played in the Beijing Olympics. ``It wasn't Beijing, I don't think. It was Mardy playing some of his best tennis.''

Whatever the reason for his loss, he'll get to eat a good meal at the expense of Fish. Prior to the match Blake said that the winner had to buy the loser dinner, I don't think that Fish will mind forking up the cost of this meal.

Here's a nice bit of information that is new to me. I heard this song prior to Venus' match on Tuesday, but I wasn't aware of its origin. HCFoo of HCFoo's Tennis Blog - The Asian Tennis Blogger stopped by yesterday, and when I paid her a visit in return she had written the following post.

Thanks for sharing HCFoo, I'm loving this song already!


Wyclef Jean has recorded a track for Venus Williams that will serve as theme music for the tennis player throughout her appearance at the U.S Open tennis tournament.

The track, entitled 'Venus (I’m Ready)’was recorded as a tribute to Williams who recently won a gold medal with her sister Serena in the women’s doubles at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The recording came about after the pair met during the taping of a fourth season episode of 'Iconoclasts'.

Williams said "I was so happy to meet Wyclef and work with him on our 'Iconoclasts' episode but not even in my wildest imagination, did I expect that such a beautiful song would be one of the outcomes from meeting Wyclef.”

"He is an amazing human being and it is truly an honour for me to be recognized in such a wonderful way by such a gifted musician and exceptional person."

Click here to go to Wyclef's website and listen or download the song.

(Via wyclef.com, mtv.co.uk)

In just as beautiful and spectacular style as the 2008 Beijing Olympics opened, China's Closing Ceremony had the same incredible grandeur. With 49 gold medals and number two in the overall medal count (the U.S. is number one), China seems to have hosted a very successful Olympics.

I'm a few days late with this, but I had to express my joy in seeing the Williams sisters win gold again. Venus and Serena are so incredibly accomplished and it is a pleasure to continue to watch them grow and achieve.


While I definitely wanted to see at least one of the ladies take individual gold, seeing them on the podium during the award ceremony with the other doubles winners resolved my previous disappointment.

The utmost pleasure that I get from supporting and watching the Williams sisters comes not from their power, amassing of grand slam titles over the years or even Olympic gold, but from their connection as sisters. I have an older sister who is just my bestest and mostest (sisterly english) in this world. We don't have Olympic gold between us, but everything else in spirit and love is there. I understand and believe them when they say that winning the gold medal with one another is better than anything else. It is simply one more eternal bond they will share.

I've read a number of articles and heard a couple of commentators speak to the Williams sister's "failure" at the Olympics. We're all entitled to our individual perspectives of the outcome of the games. However, if this is "failure," I'll take a truck load.

Here are some of the beautiful photos from the awards ceremony:

Making some trades (pins) with Venus.

Venus, Mike and Serena ham it up.

Team spirit.

Getting ready for 10:30 a.m. match.

Former President George H.W. Bush comes out to support U.S.A. tennis.

Serena and Bob make a trip to the famous Beijing silk market.

Serena, the master negotiator.

A silk spinner.

© Bob's iPhone

BEIJING (AP) — James Blake could shrug off the three match points he failed to convert, and even the misfire on an easy forehand that would have given him a berth in the Olympic final.

What stuck in his craw was the notion his opponent didn't play fair.

Blake came up one shot short Friday, losing in the semifinal to Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. Afterward he accused Gonzalez of failing to fess up on a disputed point two games before the finish.

"I've spoken all week about how much I've enjoyed the Olympic experience, how much I love the spirit of it," Blake said. "That's a disappointing way to exit the tournament, when you not only lose the match, but you lose a little faith in your fellow competitor."

Actually, the No. 8-seeded Blake remains in the tournament. A first-time Olympian at 28, he'll play for a bronze Saturday as the last hope for a U.S. medal in men's or women's singles.

Gonzalez, seeded 12th, will play in Sunday's final against Rafael Nadal, who clinched his first Olympic medal by beating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

Venus and Serena Williams won twice to reach the semifinals in doubles, but the U.S. team lost its other matches. Top-seeded Mike and Bob Bryan were beaten in the semifinals by Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, 7-6 (6), 6-4. The Swiss team clinched at least a silver — the first medal for Federer in the three Olympics he has played.

Americans Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber were eliminated in the doubles quarterfinals.

The incident that upset Blake occurred with Gonzalez serving at 8-9 in the final set. On the first point, Blake hit a backhand passing shot long but contended the ball ticked Gonzalez's racket before landing, as TV replays confirmed.

Blake appealed in vain to the chair umpire, and said Gonzalez should have conceded the point. Blake went on to lose the game to make it 9-all.

"Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be considered a gentleman's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself," Blake said. "Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it."

Gonzalez said he was uncertain whether the ball hit his racket.

"I didn't feel anything," Gonzalez said. "I mean, it's just one point. There is an umpire. If I'm 100 percent sure about it, I mean, I will give it. But I'm not sure."

Blake described Gonzalez as a great player who does everything in his power to win, "usually" within the rules.

"Whatever he wants to say is fine," Blake said. "Whatever is going to get him to have some sleep tonight, then that's fine."

New No. 1 Jelena Jankovic lost in the women's quarterfinals to No. 6 Dinara Safina of Russia, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Safina won her 14th match in a row and will play Li Na of China in the semifinals Saturday.

The other women's semifinal will be an all-Russian matchup between No. 5 Elena Dementieva and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva.

Nadal came to Beijing assured of earning the No. 1 ranking for the first time next week, ending Federer's 4 1/2-year reign. Now the Spaniard is one win from adding an Olympic title to the French Open and Wimbledon championships he has already claimed this year.

It was after midnight when Nadal closed out his latest victory in dramatic fashion. On match point he scrambled to retrieve two overhead slams by Djokovic. When the flustered Serb shanked a third overhead, Nadal collapsed to the hard court in jubilation.

"When I arrived here, I didn't expect for sure to be in this final. I arrived very tired," Nadal said. "But when the week is coming, I felt better and better. I'm very happy to have this experience in my life."

Federer, eliminated in singles Thursday by Blake, kept alive his bid for a medal by winning a rain-interrupted match with Wawrinka over Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India 6-2, 6-4. Six hours later the Swiss team defeated the Bryan brothers.

"Having beaten the best in the world and going for gold, it's an incredible scenario," Federer said. "This is a big moment in my career."

The Williams sisters, both eliminated in singles Thursday, completed a suspended second-round doubles match and beat Ayumi Morita and Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 7-5, 6-2. The Williamses then defeated Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-0.

Davenport and Huber lost to Anabel Medina Garriguez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 5-7, 7-6 (6), 8-6.

Blake and Gonzalez played the first match on center court, and there was tension between them as early as the second set, when Gonzalez slammed an easy forehand at his opponent's head from point-blank range.

Blake glared at Gonzalez, who apologized. Afterward Blake said he was upset only in the "heat of the moment."

As for the later point of dispute, the match wouldn't have reached that stage had Blake converted one of his three match points after Gonzalez fell behind 5-6, love-40 serving in the final set.

At 10-9 it was Gonzalez who struggled to convert match points, but on the fifth one he smacked a service winner for the victory.

"It was really one or two points, and who played those one or two points better," Blake said. "Today he did at the end."

After beating Federer, Blake showed no sign of an upset hangover. He served well, winning 15 consecutive service points at one stretch, and repeatedly negated the big-swinging Chilean's forehand by pinning him deep in baseline rallies.

Blake even pulled off a nifty trick shot, retreating to retrieve a lob and hitting a back-to-the-net, between-the-legs forehand. Gonzalez was so startled he dumped an easy forehand into the net.

Three times in the second set, Blake was two points from victory. But the best opportunity came in the third set, when he went for a winner on his first match point and sailed a forehand long.

Gonzalez then hit four winners in a row to hold for 6-all, and eight games later he was thrusting his arms to sky after clinching a medal.

The ITF Tennis.com Olympic Tennis Event site has found it necessary to differentiate between a Williams sister and the other players.

On the "As It Happens - Day 1: Sunday August 10" page, the writer makes the following entry:

"2:40pm: World No. 47 Olga Govortsova is about to start against Serena Williams. The formbook and history suggests this shouldn't prove too hard for the American. For those of you who like this stuff and I know there's plenty of you, she's wearing a very fetching red headband and 'normal' white dress. She also looks very focussed."

Now, this person mentions Samantha Stosur, Alize Cornet, Caroline Woznacki, Francesca Schiavone, Marta Domahowska and other women as well. In not one instance did he refer to anything about any of the other women as "normal."

If ITF Tennis.com is going to use such terms, I believe that it is only fair that they share with us what their sense of normalcy is so that we can know what they are talking about. And if this is a 'personal' assessment and not tennis commentary, then state it somewhere else where this can be clearly distinguished.

The games have just begun, let's play nice now.

Well, play has been called for the day. The weather would just not cooperate with the Olympic scheduling. I tried "rain, rain go away, come again some other day," but it didn't work.

Hmmm, anybody know any other weather magic?

Now that's what I'm talking about!

American James Blake announces the arrival of Team USA with a straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Australian Chris Guccione.


The match began late after a serious downpour of rain this morning. After it finally subsided and the grounds crew dried the courts, the opening match began.

Opening Day of the Olympic Tennis event will see American Serena Williams Centre Court at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning against Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

James Blake will also be on court in first round action against Australian Chris Guccione.

Venus and Serena are seen here practicing, and seem to have run into Roger Federer in the process.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Venus Williams

From inception to production, the spectacular event that was the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was beyond compare.

I have NEVER seen the conceptualization of anything so brilliantly put to movement, lights, pyrotechnics and costuming. From beginning to end each and every aspect of this 'experience' was without flaw. I am in awe of the depth and degree of life and energy invested into bringing this concept to fruition.

The event's creator manifested 5,000 years of history right before your eyes. If you know anything of China's history, you literally saw it evolving with each act of the performance. Most impressive in that evolution was the fact that with the exception of the fireworks, everything was people driven. From their numbers, to their talent, to their costumes, the people of China that performed for this event put their hearts into every movement.

When the performance portion concluded, I thought that the parade of countries was going to be just that, the parade of countries. It was then that the real beauty of the Opening Ceremony kicked in for me. Looking into the faces of all of those beautiful people from every corner of the world in their cultural dress waving their countries flag was just a heart warming spiritual moment. I think that I've somewhat dismissed this moment or taken it for granted in years gone by. The current state of the world helps you put things into perspective when you see such a conglomeration as was seen last night.

If nothing else was accomplished, I do believe that China set a beautiful tone, and opened a few hearts and minds to the possibility of their theme "One World, One Dream."

BEIJING (AFP) — Everything about the Beijing Olympics is on a huge scale and organisers intend to start as they mean to go on judging by their plans for Friday's opening ceremony, a three-hour 'spectacular'.

But the longer the performance, the greater the chance of something going wrong and, having invested so much time and effort in bringing the Games to China, officials will be desperate to ensure their grandiose plans go off without a hitch.

Some 15,000 performers are set to take part, with 29,000 fireworks due to be released into the night sky.

The ceremony is also due to see Chinese pop star Liu Huan, together with British singer Sarah Brightman, sing a specially commissioned theme song in the closing 'artistic' section.

Yet for many genuine sports fans around the world, the opening ceremony of the Games are something of a puzzle, delaying the serious business of competition for little obvious benefit.

However, ever since athletes first walked in behind their flags, which were expected to be dipped before Britain's King Edward VII, at the 1908 Games in London, the opening ceremony has increasingly become an opportunity for the host nation to say something about its culture.

That is all the more true in an era of mass television with China, a country which once prided itself on being closed to prying eyes, now keen to show itself off to a global audience of hundreds of millions.

Given all that, it is no surprise that film director Zhang Yimou, best known in the West for his Oscar-nominated movie "House of Flying Daggers", has been entrusted with overseeing the ceremony.

Zhang explained this week that the event "would showcase "the ancient and long history of the Chinese nation".

He added: "The performance will reflect the cultural aspects of Chinese society and showcase what modern China and its people are all about."

But even before Friday's show starts, carefully-laid plans were upset when a film crew from South Korea's private station SBS sneaked in and filmed a rehearsal and then broadcast parts of it on Tuesday before posting it on the Internet.

However, one thing has remained secret and that is the identity of the person who will light the Olympic flame after China President Hu Jintao declares the Games open.

Basketball star Yao Ming who carried the Olympic torch through Beijing's Tianamen Square on Wednesday, had been tipped for the honour.

But tradition dictates that a person can only carry the torch once in the run-up to a Games.

Officials remained tight-lipped, saying only the flame-lighter had been selected for their "sporting achievement" and "social influence".

Photos AP, AFP and Reuters
Header CBS.com