Black Tennis Pros

Serena Williams, left, pulls New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's jersey out of a box, before putting it back, while making a Super Bowl prediction during a Fed Cup tennis news conference in Worcester, Mass., Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Williams, who is part of the Fed Cup team competing against Belarus this weekend in Worcester, decided to pick the New York Giants. At right is US captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

Members of the US Fed Cup team pose with jerseys as they make each make a Super Bowl prediction during a news conference in Worcester, Mass., Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. From left to right is Christina McHale (New York Giants), Serena Williams (New York Giants), Mary Joe Fernandez (New York Giants) and Liezel Huber (new England Patriots)

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2007 USA Fed Cup Team (l-r) Vania King, Lisa Raymond, Venus Williams, Serena Williams

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Venus Williams will return from illness and her sister, Serena, will play Fed Cup for the first time in nearly five years after being selected to the U.S. team to meet Belarus in a Feb. 4-5 World Group II match at Worcester, Mass.

U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez announced the team, also containing Christina McHale and Liezel Huber, late Tuesday.

"I am looking forward to having Serena and Venus on the team for the first time since I became U.S. Fed Cup captain," Fernandez said. "They bring so much to this team, not only for what they can do on court, but the influence they will have on Christina and the rest of the team."

It will be Venus Williams' first appearance in a sanctioned competition since the U.S. Open, when she revealed she had Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain.

Serena Williams, who lost in the fourth round at the Australian Open, has not played Fed Cup since 2007.

The 19-year-old McHale, ranked a career-high No. 42, will be making her second consecutive appearance and third overall for the American team. Her highlights last year included a win over No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki at Cincinnati and a run to the third round of the U.S. Open.

South African-born Huber, 35, has won six of her eight career matches for the U.S. Fed Cup team.

The winner of the Worcester match will advance to the World Group playoff and a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title in 2013.

Victoria Azarenka, who is expected to lead the Belarus team, will face defending champion Kim Clijsters in the Australian Open semifinals on Thursday.

"Victoria is playing the best tennis I have seen from her, so we are excited to be facing Belarus in our first match in the United States in two years," Fernandez said.

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American Shenay Perry has been replaced on the US Fed Cup Team. World No. 215 Christina Mchale has been called in for the replacement.

Perry, ranked 148th, is suffering from a wrist injury and US Captain Mary-Jo Fernandez decided to call up the 17-year-old Mchale.

Fernandez stated, "Due to Shenay's wrist injury, I felt it would be best to (choose) Christina. Christina has had a great week of practice."

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The U.S. Fed Cup Team is in Lievin, France this week to open its 2010 season against the French team. U.S. Captain Mary Joe Fernandez is leading a team of Liezel Huber, Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Shenay Perry in what the team hopes will be the first victory on the way to the 2010 Fed Cup crown. During the days leading up to the competition on February 6-7, different team members will be blogging each day about practicing, their daily adventures, team bonding and more. After Huber started the week off, Perry follows in the second blog as she talks about the first team practice, the clay court and playing Charades. Check back each day to see who is writing next!


Shenay Perry - February 3, 2010

Hi Everyone! After Liezel's great leadoff blog yesterday, it is my turn today. The entire team has now arrived here in Lievin – we got here yesterday – and today was the first day of team practice, which I thought went pretty well. It was short this morning but we did do a few two-on-ones so it was a good, productive hit. I hit with both Melanie and Liezel and we did a few one-on-one circuit drills as well when one of us took a break.

This is the first time I have played Fed Cup since 2006 and my first with Mary Joe as captain but for me the team had already meshed before we even got here. This was the first day we have all been together but Bethanie and I both attended the same tennis academy as teenagers so we have been friends for a long time and I know both Melanie and Liezel pretty well. So I think it is going great so far with our team bonding.

Today was my first day out on the clay court at the stadium. It is indoors, which is a good thing since it poured rain yesterday and today. I think the surface is pretty similar to the one at Roland Garros. It plays a little quick, which I think will be good for us, and it had some good bounces for a clay court. As a whole, I feel all right on clay, I guess my results speak for themselves as I have played pretty decently on clay in my career. As long as I have the results, I feel comfortable!

I know the team has a tradition of playing Charades and/or Pictionary during Fed Cup week and I am a little nervous about it. I am just hoping someone will pick me for her team and if they do that I do not get booted for being too bad! I have heard there are plans in the works to play tonight for the first time so it looks like I will probably be forced into it. Wish me luck!

Shenay

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Serena Williams is back on the U.S. Fed Cup team for the first time since 2007.

Surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin is also on the roster announced Tuesday by the U.S. Tennis Association for the Nov. 7-8 final against host Italy.

Williams leads active women with 11 Grand Slam singles titles and is 4-0 in Fed Cup singles matches over her career. Her sister Venus is not on the team.

Top-ranked doubles player Liezel Huber and Alexa Glatch round out the roster.

U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez says she strongly believes her team can win the Fed Cup title, something the country hasn't done since 2000.

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Firey player, passionate player, entertaining player, all adjectives that I've heard applied to the likes of tennis bad asses John McEnroe, Jimmie Connors, Jennifer Capriati and others over the years; but not Saturday night in the case of American Serena Williams while playing her semifinal match at the 2009 U.S. Open against Belgium's Kim Clijsters.

According to Commentator Dick Enberg, "champions don't act like that." Now, according to Wikipedia, Enberg was born in 1935, which suggests to me that he has witnessed some of the most outrageous on court shenanigans that have been displayed by champions and non-champions alike.


Earlier in the day, prior to the Williams vs. Clijsters match, CBS was ironically showing one of Jimmie Connors matches because of the rain delay. Connors was acting a stone, cold, fool! But this match was worthy of repeating to fill rain delay time.

The WTA, ESPN, CBS and whomever else owns and broadcasts women's tennis currently enjoys the silence of a multitude of tennis fans who support both Venus and Serena Williams among other tennis players and want peace, while irreverent commentators speak of them as if they are not in the room or on the court; well not on this issue. On this one I've already seen fans bringing the noise and the funk!


All implications from the commentary booth on Saturday evening were as if Serena Williams had initiated a new standard of bad behavior. Serena can't even begin to touch the behavior of some other tennis players who have built their careers on the backs of those whom they have lambasted and treated like dirt while on court.

With regard to this incident, while serving at 5-6, 15-30, the line official called a foot fault on Serena on her second serve, thus awarding Clijsters double match point, 15-40. However, Serena became upset with the call and began jawing at the official. To her misfortune, she had already been given a warning earlier in the match; which now combined resulted in a point penalty, thus costing her the match.

Post match Serena said, "I said something and they gave me a point penalty. Unfortunately, it was on match point. You know, today was a tough day. I didn't play my best. I think I had more errors today than all of my other matches combined. It was really tough for me out there."

"I think Kim played really well, and I think she came out with a really big plan. I saw her play in Cincinnati and she played incredible. It's really good to have her back on tour. Maybe we can get together and have some calming lessons."

With regard to the foot fault call, Serena said "I'm pretty sure I did. If she called a foot fault, she must have seen a foot fault. I mean, she was doing her job. I'm not going to knock her for doing her job."

It's going to be interesting to see and hear how this shakes out over the next six months or so. I've got a pretty good idea what it's going to look and sound like.

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Italy is hoping the Williams sisters decide to skip the Fed Cup final in November. Either way, though, the 2006 champions plan to host the United States in the best-of-five series on the slowest clay they can find.

"I hope the Williams sisters don't come," Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "If they do come, we'll try to beat them. It's not impossible on clay. (Flavia) Pennetta has already beaten Venus more than once."

The 14th-ranked Pennetta beat Venus Williams twice last year _ including a victory at the French Open _ although Venus won their last two meetings.

Italy beat Russia 4-1 and the United States edged the Czech Republic 3-2 in the semifinals last weekend. The Williams sisters _ Venus and Serena _ skipped the trip to Brno, and Fed Cup rookies Alexa Glatch and Bethanie Mattek-Sands lined up for United States captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

The Nov. 7-8 final immediately follows the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, and Barazzutti expects the Williams sisters to play there. Italy would like to host the final in the south to play outdoors on slow clay to soften the impact of the Williams sister's fierce groundstrokes.

"We're definitely going to play on clay _ very slow clay _ and if possible, outdoors," Barazzutti said. "First we need to determine if we can play outdoors, then we'll choose the most uncomfortable setting possible. Uncomfortable in the sense that it suits us and not the Americans."

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