Black Tennis Pros

Venus Williams in 2019 BNP Paribas Open post-match interview.

Great match Venus Williams!!

Having been one of the 2018 BNP Paribas Open semi finalists, here at the 2019 tournament Venus Williams has maintained her fight and prevailed over World #3 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win.

In a 2 hour 27 minute match, with not one single ace, Venus managed to either keep Kvitova at bay, or come back from a single and double break down.

In her post-match interview she stated, "I think everybody felt those ups and downs with me, I could feel the collective sigh, or the collective roar, it's unbelievable, I never want to let you down".

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Venus Williams ended a roller coaster match today against Germany's Andrea Petkovic with words of wisdom during her post match interview saying, "Every day is not your best day out here, but it doesn't mean that the heart and desire isn't there".

Venus, currently ranked at #36 on the WTA Tour, had a rough day at the office at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA. Nonetheless, whether it was fatigue, or otherwise, she was able to work her way through winning the first set at 6-4, but then turned around and lost the second set 0-6, she then returned to sufficient form to take the third set and match at 6-3.

Hopefully Venus will be able to maintain form in the next round, as she is scheduled to play a great competitor in the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova.

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Serena Williams blitzed her way into the third round with a display that combined discipline and bravura in equal measure. She saw off the South African journeywoman Chanelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-1 in 49 minutes.

“I’m always the favorite,” acknowledged Serena afterwards. “It’s been that way for the last three years and maybe years before that. So it can create pressure. But it’s OK – I’d rather it was that way.”

“I’m trying to figure out when this [press conference] is going to end,” she said. “I’m really losing focus up here. The longer these interviews go... Maybe that’s why at Wimbledon they have them long. This is getting... The questions change from tennis to Novak and then Rafa. It’s no longer about the match. Is this the last question?”



American Madison Keys, a winner last week in Eastbourne, took her winning streak to seven matches thanks to her 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-2 dismissal of 31st seed Klara Koukalova, the slight Czech who was out-gunned in the power stakes but who kept herself alive in the contest on Court 12 with speed, guile and anticipation.

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American Donald Young lost to Germany’s Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4


Sloane Stephens, ranked and seeded No. 18 at Wimbledon, was beaten by No. 109 Maria Kirilenko, who was ranked No. 10 in the world just a year ago. Plagued by shoulder and knee injuries, Kirilenko is on the comeback trail now—apparently with a vengeance.

“She's done well here in the past. I knew it was going to be tricky, but that's like every other Grand Slam first-round match,” Stephens said of the 6-2, 7-6 (6) loss.
This loss could drop her out of the Top 20 by the end of Wimbledon.


Court 12 was so brimful with charisma when Marcos Baghdatis and Dustin Brown faced one another in the first round that you wondered if there would be room for all that magnetism and the tennis too.

Brown came into this match on the up after his spectacular demolition of Rafael Nadal on the grass of Halle earlier this month, and many would have favoured him to down the former world No.8, who is now ranked 119 and needed a wild card to secure his place in the draw. But in the event a typically flamboyant display from the 6ft 5in German came at too great a price. It was Baghdatis who won 6-4, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(4).



Eighteen-year-old American Taylor Townsend enjoyed a wonderful spell on the red clay of the French Open last month, reaching the third round before bowing out to No.14 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, but was not able to fare as well at Wimbledon.

Townsend lost 7-5, 6-2 to Klára Koukalová of the Czech Republic, but is determined not to dwell on the loss.

“I definitely am not pleased about my match, but it's just a learning experience really,” she insisted. “I'm just going to take what I've learned over the past two slams. I'm going to go back home. I'm going to work extremely hard and get ready for the US Open Series. I have tons of tournaments to look forward to and a lot of great things are ahead, but it's time to just put my head down and work again.

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It just doesn't get any better... American sisters Venus and Serena Williams celebrate yet another jewel in their crowns, 2012 Olympics Women's Doubles Gold.

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American sisters Venus and Serena Williams celebrate winning the Gold Medal in Women's Doubles

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Serena Williams relishes her role as copycat little sister. Even if it takes her 12 years.

Now, she has that remarkable Olympic double - just like Venus.

The overpowering American pair teamed to win the women's doubles title at the Olympics on Sunday, with Serena adding to the singles gold she won on Centre Court at Wimbledon a day earlier.

"Crazy," Serena said. "I'm always copying her. I forgot that she did it in Sydney and I do it here. We're the same doubles team, we just split this to singles, so it's cool."

The sisters beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 under the roof on a rainy afternoon at the All England Club. Venus - with her red, white and blue braids pulled back into a bun - closed out the match on the very grass she has long loved with a backhand volley winner after the Czechs saved a pair of match points.

"We all talk about this, 'We have so many medals,' but to be able to add to that, it's like an unbelievable feeling," Venus said. "You know that in that count, there you are. It feels amazing."

On Saturday, Serena beat Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 for the singles gold. She joined Steffi Graf as the only women to complete the Golden Slam - winning the Olympics and the four majors.

When the Americans in the crowd at Centre Court broke into a chant of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" as the players left the court, the sisters each pumped their fists, turned around to wave, then slapped a high-five. The medal ceremony had to wait for the outdoor bronze-medal match, which was delayed by rain.

With Bob and Mike Bryan capturing gold in men's doubles Saturday, make it three golds for U.S. tennis in two days.

"It's great because America's added three gold medals to our medal count just in the tennis," Venus said. "I feel great to be a part of this U.S. team this year."

Serena became tennis' first double gold medalist at an Olympics since Venus won singles and doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. The sisters also won the doubles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

With Sunday's victory, they each have a record four Olympic tennis gold medals, and the sisters didn't drop a set through their five matches at the London Games.

While Serena was thrilled to win on her own Saturday, with Venus rooting her on from the family box, the doubles is what she most cared about coming to the London Games.

Especially considering all the emotional and physical struggles for Venus, who was diagnosed last year with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.

"This is all I wanted," said Venus, who had all of about two months to raise her ranking and qualify for the Olympics. "Boy, was that a battle. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I really feel proud of what happened here at the Olympics."

But for years Venus has been comfortable on the lawn at Wimbledon, where she has won five of her seven Grand Slam titles.

"Venus has been going through so much and she's so strong and so she's so amazing," Serena said. "And to win this was my goal."

The Williamses also became the first tennis players to win Olympic gold indoors since the 1912 Stockholm Games, a match played in a pavilion on wood courts painted black.

On Sunday, they won the fourth game of the second set at love on Venus' ace, the first of three straight games in which they didn't lose a point.

Serena overcame two break points trailing 1-0 in the second set. She pumped her fist and cheered after a forehand winner down the alley past a poaching Hradecka, who was aggressive at the net all afternoon.

The Czechs held in four of their first five service games, including Hlavackova's first that went to deuce four times.

Venus Williams joins Conchita Martinez of Spain as the only tennis players to win medals at three different Olympics. Martinez's medals all came in doubles - silver in Barcelona in 1992, bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games and silver in Athens in 2004.

Gigi Fernandez and current U.S. coach Mary Joe Fernandez are the only others to win back-to-back Olympic tennis gold medals after they teamed for doubles titles in 1992 and 1996.

And the sisters insist they're not done yet.

"We're looking forward to Rio," Serena said, "and trying to get some sort of medal there."

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Lucie Safarova, CZE

 (Reuters) - A battle-tested Serena Williams booked her spot in the semi-finals of the Toronto Cup on Friday after overcoming a sluggish start to grind out a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win over Czech Lucie Safarova.

Williams, whose 11-month layoff with injury and health problems ended in June, was a shadow of herself in the first set but rallied with raw power and shot-making to wrap up the match without losing serve in the last two sets.

"I could have had a better chance in the first set but I lost some key points," Williams, who won the Stanford Classic last month and is on a nine-match winning streak, told reporters.

"It was all about maybe one or two points here that would've made a difference and some silly double faults that didn't make sense."


 
The third set went with serve until Williams broke world number 32 Safarova in an intense fifth game in which she unleashed several loud screams to get herself going.

The vocal strategy seemed to pay off as she wrapped up the match without conceding another game.

The former world number one, unseeded here because of her long layoff, faces her toughest test yet against Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who has not lost a set en route to the semi-finals and is the highest seeded player left in the draw.

Azarenka ended Kazakh qualifier Galina Voskoboeva's surprise run with a clinical 6-1 6-2 victory.

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WASHINGTON DC - Seventh-ranked Monfils, in his first US final and his first final of any kind since last year's Paris Masters, fell to 3-11 in ATP title matches, foiled in a bid for his first outdoor hardcourt crown and fourth career title.


"To be honest, I'm unlucky," Monfils said of his finals failure rate.

Monfils, who never managed a break point against Stepanek, also said he was a bit tired after his rain-hit semi-final finished only 14 hours before the final started.

"But when you step on the court you forget about this," Monfils said.

Stepanek came to the net for 29 of his 57 points. While connecting on only 37 percent of his first serves, he won 90 percent of those points, including all 12 in the final set, and took 63 percent of second-serve points.

"He didn't miss much," Monfils said. "I was a fraction slower as well. I couldn't hit many passing shots. He played a great match."

Fromn the start, Stepanek moved to keep Monfils on the defensive.

"I wanted to be in control," Stepanek said. "If I was going to go for it or miss it I wanted to decide all the points. It was my game plan to be aggressive and attack when I can. I was in control from the first point to the last."

Stepanek broke Monfils with a backhand winner down the line in the third game of the match and led 3-2 when rain halted play. A break in the rain allowed them to play three points, enough for Stepanek to hold to 4-2, before another downpour hit.

"He was very aggressive," Monfils said. "I expected that but he didn't miss a lot at the start, hit it pretty deep and fast. This was a bit tricky for me."

When play resumed, each man held twice, Stepanek taking the set on a service winner after 54 minutes.

Stepanek broke Monfils again to open the second set, the Frenchman racing down the Czech's forehand volley but netting a forehand. Stepanek made the break stand, serving out to win after 93 minutes with a forehand volley winner.

Stepanek, the oldest player in the world's top 100, became the ATP's oldest champion since France's Fabrice Santoro at 35 at Newport in 2008, Washington's eldest winner since a 35-year-old Connors and a top-30 player after starting the week ranked 54th.

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After a week that has shown a very focused Donald Young at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC, Young's run was halted on Saturday in his semifinal match against veteran Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

The 32-year-old Stepanek convincingly beat the 22-year-old American 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final.

Post match Young said, "He's a veteran... 10 years my senior."

Their post-match demeanors couldn't have been more dissimilar. Stepanek walked into, and out of, the interview room with a bored air, checking his phone for messages. Young sat with the body language of a teenager, baseball cap backward, one sneaker resting upon each other, not really making eye contact with his questioners.

"He had me quite flustered."

"I couldn't get set into the way I wanted to play. It wasn't that I was nervous, but more so he took me out of my game"

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American Donald Young defeated the Czech Republic's Rudolph Siwy 6-2, 7-5(5) in the final round of qualifying today to earn entry into the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, California.

Good luck the rest of the way Donald!

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Daunting site seeing Venus and Serena Williams put their heads together during doubles play. The opponents across the net might be in for any level of barrage.

On Thursday at Roland Garros the sisters did what they generally do when they hit the doubles court... win. They resumed a suspended match that left the sisters with a first set win at 6-1 and the Czech pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka winning the second set 6-3.

The sisters sealed the match by winning the remaining set 6-3.

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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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Although their first round doubles match currently stands suspended due to darkness, sisters Venus and Serena Williams plan to return on Wednesday and complete what they began on Tuesday.

Playing on court No. 2 at the 2009 French Open, the sisters took the first set 6-1, only to have that reversed in the second set when the Czech pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka won 6-3.

The teams currently stand one set all, four games to three third set, Williams sisters.

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ROME (AP) — Venus Williams needed three sets to win her opening match at the Italian Open on Monday, beating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

"I was OK with the match being a little longer," Williams said. "I just I want to hit balls. In a way it's not too bad to go three sets. "

She appeared to take control of the clay-court match in the first set, firing eight aces and as many winners in 28 minutes.

However, the American's service levels dropped and Safarova started playing her powerful groundstrokes deeper in the second set. Williams was broken in the third game and was unable to break back with Safarova serving out to win the set.

In the deciding set, the fourth-seeded Williams held serve in a crucial third game after saving four break points. She went on to break in the following game, as a forehand by the 22-year-old Czech went wide, and then again to close out the match.

Both players had 22 winners, but Safarova had 33 unforced errors, seven more than Williams.

"We both played aggressive," Williams said. "She's just going for every shot, for the lines."

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American Shenay Perry, a qualifier, upset 15th-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.

At the same tournament, 'can't stop won't stop' American Angela Haynes had her marathon of tennis halted by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 5-7, 6-0.

This is usually not a good thing, but in Haynes' case, the opportunity to rest just might be.

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Not only did American Serena Williams lose in the first round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain on Wednesday, she will also fall out of the World No. 1 spot come Monday, April 20; Russian Dinara Safina will take over. Serena lost to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Serena's left leg remained taped as it was in the Sony Ericsson Open Championship match on Saturday. Her movement appeared to be the same, and I can't imagine that the change of surface with very little practice helped. Although, had Serena been one hundred percent, she still would have had to contend with a very well prepared Zakopalova who was not having any trouble with the clay surface. Zakopalova's shots were nowhere near as powerful as Serena's, but her movement was better, and shot placement more accurate.

Afterwards Serena said, “I am very sad about my defeat, in every moment I wanted to play my best tennis, but due to my injury I could not perform better”.

Serena also stated that at no point had she regretted coming to the tournament and she profoundly regretted saying goodbye to her numerous fans in Spain.


Serena Williams Shopping In Marbella

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Na Li became the third successive Chinese woman to fall under the dominance of American Serena Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

This victory places Serena into the semifinal round, but it hasn't come easy. The Chinese women have been formidable opponents. Getting past Shuai Peng and Jie Zheng was no easy feat.

Today Na Li nearly toppled the world no. 1 player, but made some costly errors in the second set allowing Serena to set up a third deciding set. The decision came down to Serena defeating Li 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.

Serena now awaits a potential opponent in sister Venus who is scheduled to play Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

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INDIAN WELLS, CA - MARCH 16: Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India play Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian of Argentina at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2009 in Indian Wells, California.

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Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is congratulated by the French Davis Cup Captain Guy Forget and teammates after defeating Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (1). The first rubber, played by Gilles Simon, was lost to Tomas Berdych 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-7(2), 3-6.

Photos by AP/Getty Images

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