Black Tennis Pros

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was tennis before baseball for President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Before heading off to St. Louis to throw the first pitch at the All-Star game, the president welcomed Wimbledon champion Serena Williams to the White House.

"It was amazing," Williams said before her World Team Tennis match with the Washington Kastles. "I love President Obama; he has such an unbelievable presence, and he seems to be so normal — and he noticed my shoes. I think that was the highlight of the whole day, was he liked my shoes."

Williams said she was wearing 5-inch heels for the presidential visit.

"He asked me, 'Should I be wearing high heels?' So I thought that was kind of funny because he may have been right," Williams said. "Because it is a job hazard for me, but I insist on wearing them."

Williams got to meet Michelle Obama and the rest of the first family.

"I didn't know she had such an amazing personality," Williams said. "She had me cracking up and laughing. I knew she was a great person, but now I really understand how important this first family is to the United States. And the kids were just so cute and sweet, and the dog was nice."

WASHINGTON - Life in the White House isn't keeping President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama from holding onto date night.

The president and first lady attended an Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance on Friday night at The Kennedy Center.

The show was sold out, but that was not a problem. The White House says the Obamas sat in the president's box.

The first couple attended the performance with their daughters.

In an interview before his inauguration, the president said he and his wife liked having Friday date nights.

Photo by Getty Images

At a meeting in the Roosevelt Room with business leaders to discuss the economy, President Obama asked to make an unrelated comment -- on the weather.

"My children's school was canceled today, because of what? Some ice," Obama said, and all at the table started laughing.

"As my children pointed out, in Chicago school is never canceled," he continued. He said that in their old hometown, "you'd go outside for recess in weather like this. You wouldn't even stay indoors."

The President said he would have to bring "some flinty Chicago toughness" to Washington.

Asked if he was calling Washingtonians wimps, Obama responded: "I'm saying that when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."

Time Magazine has posted some behind the scenes candids that photographer Callie Shell took prior to the inauguration. This photo in particular caught my attention and the lyrics to Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time" came to mind. I'd thought I'd share them here.