Black Tennis Pros

2019 Rogers Cup finalists American Serena Williams and Canadian Bianca Andreescu post match after Serena retired.

The 2019 Rogers Cup Final experienced a historic win by Canadian Bianca Adreescu and a very disheartened retirement, due to injury, from the legendary American Serena Williams.

Though Serena was extremely disappointed, she got a lift from the new Rogers Cup Champion.  Andreescu walked over to Williams and paid homage to the legendary player and what it meant to play her.

Andreescu, the first Canadian since 1969 to win the home title, brought a smile to Serena's teary face,  truly lifting the moment.  Andreescu let her know, "I watched you your whole career, you're a f--king beast."

During the post match ceremony Serena could barely speak through tears, but let everyone know, "...It's been a tough year, but we'll keep going."

Andreescu continued her praise of Serena during trophy presentation stating, "You are truly a champion, I have watched you play so many times.  You are truly a champion on and off the court."

The moments could not be beat.   

Read the rest of this post...........

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

The 18-year-old from Montreal crushed Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-2 in the first match on centre court on Thursday at the ATP Tour Masters 1000 event.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 58th in the world, had 20 winners — 12 more than the 48th-ranked Norrie.

The Canadian got 80 per cent of his first serves in and had the same percentage for first-serve points, well above Norrie's 59 per-cent success rate on the latter stat.

Auger-Aliassime converted on all three of his break-point opportunities and won all his service games.

The result continues an impressive stretch for Auger-Aliassime, who moved well inside the top 100 for the first time in his career after making the final and quarterfinals, respectively, in his past two events on clay in Brazil.

Auger-Aliassime will next face No. 9 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who got a first-round bye. The 20-year-old Tsitsipas made headlines in Toronto last year when he advanced to the final of the Rogers Cup.

No. 13 seed Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and No. 24 seed Denis Shapovalov will join Auger-Aliassime in the second round after getting first-round byes.

On the women's side, Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., was scheduled to play a first-round match later Thursday against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., had Thursday off after winning her first-round match on Wednesday.

Read the rest of this post...........

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in quarter final of the 2019 Brasil Open.

Serbian Laslo Djere and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime met in the Brazil Open quarter final five days after dueling for the title in Rio De Janeiro. Just like on Rio clay, Djere triumphed and eliminated the young Canadian 6/2, 3/6, 6/3.

Read the rest of this post...........

Welcome to the Top 100, @felixtennis! After his thrilling run at the #RioOpen, the teenager soars up the ATP Tour rankings to No. 60 (!!) in the world. #FélixRising

Canada now has the two youngest players in the Top 100 in Félix and @denis_shapo. The future is NOW. pic.twitter.com/rgFuuNuvck

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) February 25, 2019

Read the rest of this post...........

First ATP 500 quarterfinals!

And a change of kit 🇧🇷@felixtennis #RioOpen pic.twitter.com/t5VTaxp4at

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 21, 2019

Read the rest of this post...........

Eighteen-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at the 2019 Rio Open

RIO DE JANEIRO — Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 upset of second-seed Fabio Fognini on Tuesday at the Rio Open tennis tournament.

Fognini, ranked No. 16 in the world, is the highest ranked player to lose to the 104th-ranked Canadian teen. It's Auger-Aliassime's second win over a top-20 opponent after he defeated then No. 18 Lucas Pouille in the opening round of last year's Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Auger-Aliassime, a wild-card in Rio, is expected to move into the top-100 after the tournament. He will next face Chile's Christian Garin, ranked 91 in the world, in the second round.

Showing veteran poise, Auger-Aliassime fended off all five break points he faced while converting three of the five break point presented to him by his Italian opponent. The Canadian's return game was also strong, as he limited Fognini to one ace, and held the veteran to converting on 60 per cent of first serve points and just 45 per cent of second serve points.

Auger-Aliassime's matchup with Fognini was a potential Davis Cup preview. Canada is in a group with Italy and the United States to open the Davis Cup finals, which will be held November in Madrid.

Read the rest of this post...........

View this post on Instagram

Davis Cup preparations underway 🤜🏽🤛🏽 🇨🇦 #fellowship #letsgetdirty #bros

A post shared by Féliuger-Aliassime (@felixaliassime) on Jan 30, 2019 at 12:03pm PST

Read the rest of this post...........

Heartbreaking scene in New York as Felix Auger-Aliassime retires after heart issues at the #USOpen.

Starts to cry as he comes together at the net with his Canadian friend and teammate, @denis_shapo pic.twitter.com/Ik4wc3FQCM

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) August 27, 2018

After having a trainer visit two games into the third set of  the 2018 U.S. Open first round, eighteen-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime worked the court slower and slower and eventually retired from the match against his close friend and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Shapovalov came over to his teary-eyed friend and provided very admirable support. Courtside microphones picked up Auger-Aliassime telling Shapovalov: “My team said it’s just not worth it.”

 “What me and Felix have is truly incredible,” Shapovalov said. “It’s truly making the sport bigger in our country, and hopefully we continue to do that.”

Read the rest of this post...........

Twenty-nine-year-old Donald Young has made the US Open main draw every year for 14 years, and continued to do so this year in a very exciting way. Young came through the qualifying rounds with true grit and workmanship. So great to see him continue to move forward.

Keep it movin' Donald Young!!

Eighteen-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime also powered through the 2018 US Open qualifying rounds thereby obtaining a spot in the main draw.Unbeknownst to him, round one of the tournament would pit him against friend and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Win or lose, Auger-Aliassime is a sight to behold in the game.

Read the rest of this post...........

Francoise Abanda (Montreal) has advanced into the semifinals of the Junior French Open, ousting Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in the round of eight in Paris on Thursday.

After dropping the first set, Abanda tightened up her game considerably. While she was broken three times in the opener, the 17-year-old only gave up her serve once in the next two sets and didn't face a single break point in the third set. She clinched her second career junior Slam semifinal berth in just under two hours.

Standing in the No. 10-seed's path to the championship match is top-seeded Ivana Jorovic of Serbia, currently the No. 3-ranked junior girl in the world. Both competitors, who have never played each other before, will be attempting to make their first junior Slam final.

A member of Tennis Canada's National Training Centre in Montreal, Abanda also reached the semifinals of Junior Wimbledon as a 15-year-old in 2012.

Read the rest of this post...........

France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates after setting Olympic record.

Fifth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completed a remarkable second-round victory over Milos Raonic of Canada on Tuesday at the London 2012 Olympics Tennis Event.

Tsonga defeated Raonic 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in three hours and 57 minutes on Court One. "At the end, I was just very happy for my country," said Tsonga. "I did it for them, and that's it."

It was the longest set (48 games) in Olympics tennis history, beating the previous record (38 games) that took place at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a women’s doubles match, when Canadians Carling Basset-Seguso and Jill Hetherington beating Mercedes Paz and Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina 7-6, 5-7, 20-18. It was also the most games (66) in a best-of-three sets men's or women's match at the Olympics.

Tsonga hit 17 aces and 60 winners, while Raonic hit seven aces and 76 winners. Tsonga converted two of his five break point opportunities, while Raonic could only convert one of eight. Tsonga committed 27 unforced errors to 40 for Raonic.

The match was suspended due to rain at 1:23 p.m. local time, with Tsonga leading 2-1, on serve, in the third set. The encounter resumed at 4:03 p.m. and the deciding set lasted exactly three hours.

“I don’t think I can say too much about it now,” said Raonic. He later joked, “Maybe next time, I will sort of ask my opponent, ‘Do you want to play a long match and let’s take it seriously from 26-26?’”

Raonic saved one match point at 15-16, 30/40. At 20-21, he fell to 0/30 and was forced to save another match point en route to levelling the score. At 23-24, the Canadian dropped to 0/40. He saved one match point with an unreturned serve, but on the next point he was unable to scramble up a Tsonga drop volley.

"I think it is something good," said Tsonga. "To have some good matches like this at the Olympics. It's good for tennis, it's good for sports and I'm just really happy with the way I played today."

In the the third round, Tsonga will play Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who used his greater grass-court experience, to beat ninth-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4 in 71 minutes.

Read the rest of this post...........

American Venus Williams celebrating her 2012 Olympics round two win.

Wow! American Venus Williams hit the ground running this morning and did not stop until she was the victor. 

In a brief sixty-three minutes, Venus possessed  the steely eyed focus that we have seen her employ so many times over the years, and very cleanly sent Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak packing at the end of round two, as she heads to round three.

Wozniak's seven winners and two aces paled in comparison to the thirty-two winners and five aces that flew off of her opponent's racquet.

Wonderful to see Venus not just win, but looking happy and not as fatigued as she had become in recent times.  When asked how she was feeling out there, Venus responded, "I have Sjögren's Syndrome everyday, that is a part of my life. Some days I manage it, some days I don't... but I'm learning."

She also addressed something a tad less significant, she said "I broke a nail."

If that is what worries Venus post-match these days, we'll take it!

Next up for Venus in round three is Germany's Angelique Kerber.

GO VENUS!!

Read the rest of this post...........

Read the rest of this post...........

(AP) STANFORD, Calif. — Back from her post-Wimbledon down time, Venus Williams didn't need long to get warmed up at the Bank of the West Classic.

It wasn't always pretty.

While she looked far from sharp at times as she missed shots long and sent others into the net, the second-seeded Williams pulled out enough of her top shots to beat Stephanie Dubois of Canada 6-2, 6-3 in a first-round match at Stanford on Tuesday night.




Williams' sister, Serena, was set to take the court next at Stanford in the $700,000 event. They are also playing doubles together, which will be more of a focus for the duo in the coming months.

"We kind of have this secret goal I can't talk about," Venus Williams said.

After neither player held serve through the first three games of the opening set, Williams then cruised the rest of the way in the first meeting between the two.

"It was a great match to get my rhythm, hit a lot of balls and work on my shots," said Williams, who won titles here in 2000 and '02. "It's all about the mentality. I usually adjust pretty quickly. ... I do want to try new and different things."

Still a little spacey — she admitted to some "brain freeze" — after a few weeks of sleeping in and relaxation following her Wimbledon runner-up showing to Serena, Williams said: "We love playing in L.A. I'm sorry, not L.A., I mean California. It feels like home for us."

Read the rest of this post...........