Black Tennis Pros

Venus Williams into the quarterfinals at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells.

Venus Williams proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she remains a fierce competitor on the WTA Tour at 38 years old. The legendary one went toe-to-toe and then some with Germany's Mona Barthel who also had some impressive moments during the match. Venus defeated Barthel 6-4, 6-4.

Venus has reached the quarterfinals at this event 3 times, and was into the semifinals in 2018.

Next up for Venus is the winner of the match between Angelique Kerber and Aryna Sabalenka.

Time and time again, @Venuseswilliams proves age ain't nothing but a number 👊 #BNPPO19 pic.twitter.com/EHSfpELfPm

— WTA (@WTA) March 13, 2019

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Frenchman Gael Monfils into the fourth round of the 2019 BNP Paribas Open

ATP Tour - Gael Monfils’ resurgence continued on Monday in Indian Wells, as the 18th-seeded Frenchman defeated Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-0, 6-3 to reach the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.

The 32-year-old, who advanced to the semi-finals in his past three events, is now 14-3 in 2019. He captured his second ATP 500 trophy in February at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

Thanks to his early-season efforts, World No. 19 Monfils is back inside the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since July 2017. He will face a stiff test in the next round against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber.

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2019 BNP Paribas Open 3rd round contender Venus Williams takes out fellow American Christina McHale.

The 2019 BNP Paribas open becomes more watchable with every match in which the legendary Venus Williams prevails. There will never be any forgetting of the power, precision and dedication that she brought to the game when she originally hit the pro circuit, and to see her effect any measure of her tremendous talent in 2019 is pure joy.

In a relatively balanced match against American Christina McHale, Venus exercised a level of shot placement throughout the match that lead her to a 6-2, 7-5 win.

Next up for Venus is World No. 97 Mona Barthel of Germany.

Keep it movin' Venus!!

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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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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!!

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American sisters Venus and Serena Williams celebrate after winning first doubles match of 2012 Olympics.

It was an especially good day for the Williams sisters in Olympic play at the All-England Club on Monday, as they went a combined 6 for 6 in sets won, including a straight set triumph in their first round doubles match.

After Serena beat Urszula Radwanska and Venus topped Sara Errani in singles, the 2000 and 2008 Olympic doubles gold medalists and reigning Wimbledon champions took on Romanians Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep. The serve proved the difference, as the Americans lost just four points when getting their first serves in and were not broken while converting on 4 of 6 break point opportunities on their opponents' serve.



The 63 62 triumph upped the Williamses' Olympic record to 11-0 and their grass court record to 39-2. The competition gets tougher on Tuesday, as they square off with fifth-seeded Germans Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki.

"It feels like we just got out of Wimbledon, and we are back at it again," Serena Williams said. "So it felt really good."


Serena even left the door open to playing a third event this week, as the deadline to sign up for mixed doubles is Tuesday. "We'll see at 11am tomorrow," she said. "I'll keep you guys on your toes."

source:  wtatennis.com

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While I was away from the office my favorite former Jamaican tennis player, Dustin Brown, returned to the place of his birth, Germany, the country that he will now represent on the ATP World Tour.

As I was posting the Australian Open 2011 draw, I was totally surprised when I saw "GER" attached to Dustin's name. While surprised at the news, given Dustin's tennis history in Jamaica, an alternative had to be on the horizon.

In 2008 I posted my "Conversations: Dustin Brown" article, at which time he shared the following:

Dustin: In Germany at the age of 5, we lived beside a tennis club, and the coach there was also Jamaican and a friend of my parents.

Dustin: No, I don't receive any sponsorship from Jamaican sources.

Apparently things had not improved over the last couple of years. Dustin played his first tournament under the German flag in November 2010.

Hopefully Dustin will receive much better support in Germany, and is able to advance his tennis career accordingly. I'll try to catch up with him and get an update.

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From all appearances American Scoville Jenkins was definitely getting his clay court game on in his match against German Daniel Brands. Unfortunately it was not enough to claim another victory in the second round of Roland Garros qualifying.

Jenkins was defeated by Brands 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

On the women's side, American Angela Haynes was also handed a severe ousting by Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-2.

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