Black Tennis Pros

France's (R )Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and (L) Michael Llodra awarded Silver Medals during 2012 Olympics Medal Ceremony for Men's Doubles

(L-R) Richard Gasquet, Julien Benneteau, Bronze Medalists, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra, Silver Medalists.

(L-R) Silver medalists Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra of France, gold medalist Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan of the United States and bronze medalist Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet of France pose on the podium during the medal ceremony after the Men's Doubles Tennis final match on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on August 4, 2012 in London, England.

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2012 Olympics Women's Doubles Gold Medalists USA's Venus and Serena Williams

Russians Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko, Americans Venus and Serena Williams, and  Lucie Hradecka, and Andrea Hlavackoa of the Czech Republic Photos by Getty Images

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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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2012 Olympics Gold Medal Winner American Serena Williams

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American Serena quickly dispatches Russian Vera Zvonareva on Day 5 of 2012 Olympics

LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN: Serena Williams needed just 51 minutes to crush Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-0 in the opening match on Centre Court and march on to the Olympic quarterfinals.

The five-time Wimbledon champion, who is seeking her first Olympic singles gold medal, totally dominated the match, breaking Zvonareva three times in both sets. Zvonareva, the Beijing bronze medallist, only managed to win seven points on Williams’s serve.

The match was a repeat of the pair’s 2010 Wimbledon final, but the result was even more devastating for Zvonareva. Then, Williams won 6-3, 6-2; today the Russian failed to get on the scoreboard after the third game. The Russian’s three-set defeat of Williams on grass at Eastbourne last year must have given her hope, but the nature of the American’s victory here proves again how much she saves her best for the big stage.

Williams broke Zvonareva’s serve in the opening game of the match and that set the tone for what followed. The Russian won her solitary game to get to 1-2, but after that it was all one-way traffic. Williams was too powerful, too consistent, and too accurate while her opponent struggled with her first serve. The American sealed the set with a forehand winner after just 25 minutes.

Zvonareva had chances in the second set but just couldn’t capitalise. She had two break points in the opening game but Williams held firm, winning the game with an ace. After that there were no more chances for the hapless Russian as her opponent raced away with the match.

Trailing 0-3, Zvonareva threw her racket to the ground in frustration, and even the non-Russian fans in the crowd did what they could to encourage her. Down 0-30 on her serve again in the last game, they gave her a spontaneous round of applause, but it failed to lift her and Williams got her first match point with a stunning service return. Zvonareva’s backhand found the net a point later and the American had won the match and handed her opponent the ignominy of a second set ‘bagel’.

Williams has yet to lose a set in three matches played in her quest to become Olympic champion and she looks in ominous form. She will meet either Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki or Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals.

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France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga celebrates after setting Olympic record.

Fifth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completed a remarkable second-round victory over Milos Raonic of Canada on Tuesday at the London 2012 Olympics Tennis Event.

Tsonga defeated Raonic 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in three hours and 57 minutes on Court One. "At the end, I was just very happy for my country," said Tsonga. "I did it for them, and that's it."

It was the longest set (48 games) in Olympics tennis history, beating the previous record (38 games) that took place at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in a women’s doubles match, when Canadians Carling Basset-Seguso and Jill Hetherington beating Mercedes Paz and Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina 7-6, 5-7, 20-18. It was also the most games (66) in a best-of-three sets men's or women's match at the Olympics.

Tsonga hit 17 aces and 60 winners, while Raonic hit seven aces and 76 winners. Tsonga converted two of his five break point opportunities, while Raonic could only convert one of eight. Tsonga committed 27 unforced errors to 40 for Raonic.

The match was suspended due to rain at 1:23 p.m. local time, with Tsonga leading 2-1, on serve, in the third set. The encounter resumed at 4:03 p.m. and the deciding set lasted exactly three hours.

“I don’t think I can say too much about it now,” said Raonic. He later joked, “Maybe next time, I will sort of ask my opponent, ‘Do you want to play a long match and let’s take it seriously from 26-26?’”

Raonic saved one match point at 15-16, 30/40. At 20-21, he fell to 0/30 and was forced to save another match point en route to levelling the score. At 23-24, the Canadian dropped to 0/40. He saved one match point with an unreturned serve, but on the next point he was unable to scramble up a Tsonga drop volley.

"I think it is something good," said Tsonga. "To have some good matches like this at the Olympics. It's good for tennis, it's good for sports and I'm just really happy with the way I played today."

In the the third round, Tsonga will play Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who used his greater grass-court experience, to beat ninth-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4 in 71 minutes.

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Donald Young, 2012 Olympics, London

Andreas Seppi, Italy

It's back to the drawing board for American Donald Young who is now the holder of a fifteen-match losing streak. The fifteenth loss came in a place where winners go to win... the Olympic Games. Italy's Andreas Seppi defeated Young 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of play.

Which is why I have to admit that I too was surprised when Donald's name was released as one of the US's 2012 Olympians. He had not been having a great year, so why the selection?

Then again, we all know that Donald is a very talented lefty, who soared as a junior, but has just not been able to capitalize on that talent since joining the ATP Tour. So, in addition to the fact that others who may have gone, who are injured or out for other reasons, we could've done a lot worse than Donald Young.

Thankfully, he's still a young man and the promise is still there. It is the proof that is lacking.

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July 24, 2010 New York Daily News headline.

Dear New York Daily News/Staff Writer Filip Bondy:

Over an hour ago I had the misfortune of reading the headline of an article dated July 24, 2010. That headline reads:

"Serena Williams comes to Olympics with millions in her pockets while Sarah Robles raises $20,000 to fly coach to London. Venus joked that she rarely shops in London, because the pound remains too strong a currency. That’s probably not a joke. She should try on the shoes of Robles, who has different kinds of money problems."

I sat in my "and???..." wonderment for a little while before returning to read the article in its entirety, hoping that the article backed off of the tone of the headline, an all too common ploy used to grab the readers attention, then the body of the story changes its tone, or reads entirely differently - but not here.

While the body does not completely fulfill the insinuation of the headline, it never substantiates that the disparity in the financial wherewithal between the American sisters and their compatriot weightlifter Sarah Robles has anything to do with fault, luck, favoritism or anything of the sort - which is what the headline intimates.

While I believe that it is common knowledge that two little African-American girls growing up in COMPTON, California learning to play the sport of tennis from their father on public tennis courts squarely negates a privileged upbringing, the fact that their talent, perseverance and hard work now affords them better choices in life should definitely be noted when their finances are being used as the base of a comparison against someone who has not yet achieved that level of financial success.

Wittingly or not, the underlying suggestion in the headline that the monetary disparity being discussed here is anything other than the bounty of career success, is a very unnecessary, bewildering, really cheap shot.


Shelia Johnson-Chatmon

P.S. Oh, and Mr. Bondy, I noticed that you were honored by the United States Tennis Writers Association, belated congratulations.

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American Donald Young

American Donald Young has not fared too well in the first round of his last two tournaments.

Last week we saw the twenty-two-year old get knocked out of the first round of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships by fellow American Michael Russell 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.

American Steve Johnson

On Monday night at The BB&T Atlanta Open, wildcard Steve Johnson was also able to send Young packing in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Young, who is currently ranked 58th in the world, will join the USA Olympic team in London next week.

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American Donald Young at 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

NEWPORT, RI (AP) — Michael Russell beat fellow American and seventh-seeded Donald Young, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, Monday in the opening round at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

The tournament, the only one held on grass courts in North America, features a number of Olympians from 10 countries scheduled to play before heading to the London Games on Wimbledon’s grass surface later this summer.

Young, the 57th-ranked player in the world entering the week, is part of the US Olympic team.

Young dominated the opening set, winning 10 of 11 first-serve points and 16 of 18 service points overall. He closed the set in 25 minutes before the 96th-ranked Russell changed his attack.

‘‘It’s difficult on a grass court, it’s almost like you’re hitting and you keep waiting to see who’s going to get a bad bounce first,’’ Russell said. ‘‘I thought I was playing a little more aggressive in the second or the third set. Even when I did miss, I thought I was playing with the right style of play.’’

In the final set, Young fought off three match points in the ninth game before Russell closed it out when Young hit a backhand service return into the net on the final point.

‘‘Obviously I wanted to close it out when he was serving,’’ Russell said. “But like I said, in the third set I felt really comfortable in my serve and was able to serve it out, which was nice.’’

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