Black Tennis Pros

Your 2019 Women's Singles Champion, @Madison_Keys! 🏆👏#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/DsvRu8WrMC

— Western & Southern Open (@CincyTennis) August 18, 2019

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2018 U.S. Open Champion Naomi Osaka, Japan

Congratulations to a very determined, strictly business on the courts player, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka of Japan.

Watching Osaka grow and tune her game over the years has been wonderful. It has been very visible seeing her mental growth as she watches her opponents tactics and adjusts her own to amp up her game and whatever the outcome, continue to move forward.

Osaka's apparent introverted personality seems to keep her in a very working and focused mode during her matches, as it did today with the very unfortunate circumstance of her opponent, 23 Grand Slam title holder Serena Williams.

Osaka maintained her composure, continued with the same game before and after the incident, and I believe came out on top as she would have had the incident not occurred. As Osaka  played and prevailed in the first set, there was no doubt that her skill level and desire to take the match was on a level that could make it happen... and it did.

Though Osaka's win came in the midst of a controversy, it was incontrovertible and she deserves ever accolade, prize money and all the love that she receives.

She may be a quiet spirit, but it's a powerful, as well as graceful one.

KEEP IT MOVING NAOMI - GREAT JOB!

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2012 US Open Champion Serena Williams

There's not a lot more to be said about the winner in Serena Williams... she just is.

As both Venus and Serena Williams have done since the beginning, Sunday's 2012 Championship Match was not over, until it was over. Serena competed from the first to the last point. Aside from the fact that she is that caliber of a champion, her opponent, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka is no slouch either.

In what appeared to be yet another match that Serena would breeze through with the greatest of ease after the first set, it turned out to be anything but. After losing the first set 6-2, Azarenka turned her competitive level up a couple of notches and put Serena in the same defensive position that she had just endured. Thus enabling Azarenka to take the second set in the exact reverse 2-6.

The third set was just what it should have been, a battle for the title. A battle that Serena has faced on numerous occasions and come out on top. Here was where experience, confidence and an iron will made all the difference.

After surviving Azarenka serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, Serena switched into another gear and in very short order, an emotional Serena lay supine on the court wrapping her mind around earning a fifteenth Slam title.

Azarenka said that when the match was at 5-4, "There was no other choice for her to do. In the back of my mind, I had that coming ... So that maybe was a little bit of hesitation for me. But I have to say Serena produced some amazing tennis. I feel like I could have done a little bit better, but there was nothing that I did absolutely wrong.”

Serena said, “I was preparing my runners-up speech."

"Nothing is more exciting than winning such a tight match in a Grand Slam final. I wonder if I have had one this tight. I'm not sure.”

“I think I competed really well. I never stopped competing, no matter what, and I think sometimes if you can just go out and compete, then you can continue to do well.”

“My motivation is so up there,” she said. “I'm so motivated to just stay focused. I just feel like I'm ready for the next tournament. I really want to be focused and do well there and just keep the dream alive."

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