Black Tennis Pros

The Oracle Champions Cup Presented By RBC Wealth Management at the 2019 Oracle Challenger Series in Houston, Texas was definitely worth coming out for.  The four legendary players that competed in the event, James Blake, Andy Roddick, Tommy Haas and Juan Carlos Ferrero, provided a very high spirited competition drawing in the crowd and entertaining them all through the night.




At various points during the evening, whether the players were entering or exiting the stadium, the crowd members that so desired got autographs, photos and sheer pleasure from simply being in the midst of these guys.

James Blake and Juan Carlos Ferrero opened the competition against one another with Ferrero taking the win.  Next up, Tommy Haas and Andy Roddick hit the floor with Tommy Haas taking that win.  Both segments were exciting and highly challenging, keeping the crowd cheering.

The Final competition pitted Tommy Haas against Juan Carlos Ferrero in a single set of action that would clearly earn the winner the Champions Cup.  And that winner was...  Tommy Haas.

This win placed Tommy Haas in an undefeated season on the Invesco Series QQQ circuit and claim the season-long points title on the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30.

Haas, the former world No. 2 and silver medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games, finished the 2019 Invesco Series QQQ season with a perfect 10-0 record, winning titles in Newport Beach, Calif, Maui, Hawaii, New Haven, Connecticut, Los Angeles and in the season finale in Houston Thursday played indoors at the Tudor Fieldhouse at Rice University. Haas is the first player in the 15-year history of the Invesco Series to be an undefeated year-end points champion.

“I didn’t really think about it,” said the 41-year-old Haas of his season-long effort finishing atop the Invesco Series QQQ rankings. “Every time I come out, I try to play as good as I can and I enjoy myself as well. If it ends up with a win, great. I try to just compete. If the other person is better than me then so be it. This year, it’s been working pretty good.”

Despite being retired from playing tennis full-time on the ATP Tour since 2017, Haas said that fitness is still important in his life, as he said it should be for all people to get out and exercise.

“Fitness, in general, is so important,” he said. “Even as you don’t play competitive sports anymore or whatever it is that you do, you have to keep doing something every day if you can. It’s easier said than done but even for me, I don’t go out and play tennis every day, but I try to do some kind of activity. The body just needs that otherwise you get stiff. You sit around all day; you don’t do anything. Especially when you want to come out here and try to move quite well. Line yourself up to the shot the right way and still try to have some core strength, and the leg strength, so you got to stay with it.”

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Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain

Former World No. 1 and 2003 US Open finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero upstaged No. 7 seed Gael Monfils in a thrilling contest on Louis Armstrong Stadium to reach the US Open third round with a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 victory.

In a match lasting four hours and 48 minutes, the 31-year-old Ferrero upset Monfils’ 25th birthday celebrations as he reaped the rewards of a more solid display, reining his unforced errors in at 52 while Monfils committed 81, and withstanding 81 winners from the athletic Frenchman

“He is very difficult because he is everywhere,” Ferrero said of Monfils. “He slides over there, he is at the net over there. It is very tough to win a point against him.”

Monfils may not have prevailed in his five-set tussle with Juan Carlos Ferrero on Thursday, but the Frenchman certainly left his mark on the court, in more ways than one, as he displayed all his athletic prowess. The Parisian ignored the fact he was playing on a hard court and readily threw himself into every point, quite literally.


When asked about his willingness to dive on a hard court, Monfils admitted, “I think some things just switch off in my mind. I just see the ball and I'm like, ‘Well, you have to do it’, and then I dive. Every time you're like, ‘Oh, no’.  I know the dive is so good for two seconds. Then you're like, ‘Oh, @!#%’, it’s still hard.

“It's really tough because I know all the people think I'm like elastic. I'm diving. If I stay a little bit longer on the floor, they're like, ‘He's acting’.  I'm not like X Man. For 30 seconds I hurt. But maybe something is missing upstairs because I go back to do it again. I think I'm kind of blessed because I never really hurt myself.  So I think I'm gifted with that.”

The crowd, appreciative of the outstanding play throughout the match, gave the players a standing ovation when it ended.

“It was like very lovely,” Monfils said. “It was a good feeling. Even though I lost the match, it was a good feeling.”

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In a very impressive display, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showcased his serving and shot-making ability against opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany at the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday.

After a seriously lackluster performance in the first set, Kohlschreiber made it a more competitive match in the second set; though nothing he did could bring a halt to the barrage of aces and powerful shots from Tsonga.

Tsonga inevitably won the match 6-2, 7-5.

Next up for the Frenchman in fourth round action on Tuesday is Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

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DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Frenchman Gael Monfils slammed seven aces and made three service breaks Thursday to knock world No. 1 and top-seed Rafael Nadal out of the Qatar Open .

Monfils, the tournament's fifth seed, disposed of the Spaniard in a little less than an hour and a half and moved on to the semifinals.

The Frenchman, who in three previous meetings had failed to win more than three games in a set against Nadal, produced some excellent tennis and broke the Nadal serve on three occasions in a match lasting 89 minutes.

It was Nadal's first defeat in a completed match prior to the semifinals since May 2008, when he fell to Juan-Carlos Ferrero in the second round at the ATP World Masters event in Rome.

The 22-year-old Monfils is bidding to reach his second final in Doha, having finished runner-up to Roger Federer in the title match in 2006.

Monfils will now face fourth seed Andy Roddick, who was dominant on serve as he defeated Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3 6-2.

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