Black Tennis Pros

American Venus Williams turning heads on day one action with her play and her outfit. In an updated 'cancan' style, Venus took the Court Suzanne Lenglen by storm.

The key to being able to wear such an attention grabbing outfit is to assure that it does not take center stage - win your match; and Venus did just that. She defeated Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-3, as pretty much expected.

Venus shared that her look was "about illusion ... a lot of my motif this year..." as it relates to her clothes design.



French top tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga didn't let the home crowd down as he hold off German Daniel Brands' strong challenge at the opening day of French Open to win the first round in five sets on Sunday. Tsonga, eighth seeded, defeated his unseeded rival in 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-5, setting up a second-round encounter with compatriot Josselin Ouanna.

"It was a long match, but I have two days to rest. I think I should be okay," said Tsonga. "I'm happy I won. The number of guys who have won a tournament having a difficult first round or even had to save match points, I mean, that's very often the case. So, I mean, it's not a big deal."



Fellow Frenchman Josselin Ouanna took his opponent Lukasz Kubot of Poland to task in a 7⁷-6⁵, 6⁴-7⁷, 6-2, 6-4 defeat to set up a second round match with Tsonga.

How ridiculous is that? Amazing how the two are so close together in the draw where one will be immediately eliminated ... incredible.

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Thursday morning brought back the suspended match of the French Open's Wednesday night session between American Venus Williams and the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova. When the match was called due to darkness, Safarova was up one set 7⁷-6⁵.

Safarova continued her aggressive game this morning, a lesser player than Venus would probably have fallen. Venus defended her turf like the pro that she is. She was all over Court Suzanne Lenglen running down Safarova's shots.

Venus eventually had to save both a break and a match point to finally toss Safarova out of there. She took the final two sets 6-2, 7-5.

"Yesterday, I think I did too many things wrong. She just was firing for every shot and making them. Obviously, with the delay, there was a lot of things to think about beforehand, what I could do different, and just tried to be as aggressive as I could.

"The last two sets, you know, it was close. But these kind of matches are really rewarding, and she was playing well. But I felt like I deserved it."

Go Venus, Go Venus, Go Venus!!!!

I'm loving these shots that the photographers are getting of Venus in action:

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On Court Suzanne Lenglen Wednesday night American Venus Williams and the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova had to shut down their one-set match for the night due to darkness.

When the match was called for the evening Safarova had taken the first set 7⁷-6⁵.

Venus will have to wrap this one up in straight sets if she is to continue her quest ... she's done it a thousand times.

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