Black Tennis Pros

That was quick!

On Day 9 in the quarterfinal round of 2019 U.S. Open, Serena Williams summarily dismissed Qiang Wang of China in 44 minutes, to the tune of 6-1, 6-0.  Ouch!

Wang clearly had a clinic run on her, however, it appears that she could use some additional weapons in
her game.  Her ability to defend Serena's tremendously offensive game was unfortunately very inept.  Given Wang's recent record, perhaps nerves or something got the better of her this evening.

This quarterfinal match acquired so much more than a spot in the semifinals against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.  In front of a staggering crowd, celebrities and her family, Serena earned an incredible 100th match win at the U.S. Open.

"I love what I do, I love coming out in front with you guys. It's so special, I never want to let it go.

When asked if she felt like she should sing the Elton John song, "I'm Still Standing," Serena gave the interviewer a peculiar look, "Oh God, I thought you were going to ask me to sing. Listen, I'm not trying to lose fans, I'm trying to keep them on my side."

"Being American, and being able to play at your home grand slam is always interesting and fun. I grew up watching the U.S. Open and I grew up always wanting to get here and then I watched so many great champions come, and then Arthur Ashe Stadium opened and I played on it. It's like a dream come true, it's the first place I ever won one of my 23 grand slams, so it's always something special to come out on this court."

An interviewer stated, "As a parent, I've wondered if you have a new appreciation, or a deeper appreciation for what your father envisioned and the goals he set for you."

"Yeah, my Dad is amazing, personally I could never have done what he has done, not only with myself, but with Venus.  It's shocking, and as a parent, to do something every single day is very difficult, and, I can't do something with my daughter every single day.

"I remember being young, and everyday we went out and we trained and we practiced and we didn't miss a day, and to have that discipline actually makes me look at myself as a player, as a parent, and just really appreciate my dad so much more than I ever have in the past.  It just makes me see it totally different.  And, I love him to death, and he's watching all my matches, he's probably already texting me right now, like, you know Serena, you need to do this a little bit more', and I'm like okay dad I got this..."

"I'll see what he says today, but I always still take his advice. You know, he's my dad and I love him to death.

 

Read the rest of this post...........

Serena Williams looked relaxed at Eastbourne as she prepared to play her first competitive tennis since winning the Wimbledon crown last year.

Her hair streaked with Wimbledon purple and wearing a striking pair of stripy leggings, Serena and sister Venus brought excitement to a normally sedate tournament on the south coast.

When the sisters compete in the AEGON International next week, it will also be Venus's first competitive tennis since the Australian Open in January.

The pair hit for an hour each on an outside court at Devonshire Park. Venus was up first before then taking pictures of her sister on her phone and signing autographs for the dozen or so people watching.

Serena looked in particularly good form, amazing for someone who had emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from her lung in March.

Both looked in decent physical shape as they were coached by father Richard, though Venus, with a strapped right wrist, took a tumble on the damp grass.

The venue will take some getting used to for the world stars, with the changing rooms' basic facilities in some old squash courts and rain forecast for much of next week.
Eastbourne was alerted about the sisters' participation by a confidential email which arrived in the middle of the night last Saturday.

Read the rest of this post...........

LOS ANGELES, CA – On Saturday, July 18, 2009, The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Academy introduced California’s newest sister act in tennis at their annual community Wimbledon celebration. Held in celebration of Serena Williams 3rd Wimbledon title, the Academy introduced rising tennis junior sisters, Elizabeth Profit, 12, ranked No. 2 in the USTA Southern California Division’s Girls 12s, and Mary Profit, 10, ranked No. 8 in Girls 10s. The event took place at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Courts located at the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex in Los Angeles and was attended by over 200 people. For more information about the Profit sisters, please visit www.theprofitsisters.com.

The Venus and Serena Williams’ Tennis Academy is housed at the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex located at 5001 Rodeo Boulevard in Los Angeles. Additionally, the Academy is open seven days a week with instructors available for private, semi-private, and group lessons for both adults and children. For more information, please call (323) 299-4631.

Read the rest of this post...........

Read the rest of this post...........

Read the rest of this post...........

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) -- Venus and Serena Williams say they've seen little of each other the past week because of their busy schedules. That will change Thursday night, when they meet in the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open.

The 20th showdown between the sisters ensures a finalist from the family Saturday. The Williamses have won eight of the past 11 Key Biscayne titles.

"I believe we are the best in the world," Venus said. "I enjoy playing Serena because we challenge each other the most."

"I'm always going to be up for V, because she's playing really well and always playing me super tough," top-ranked Serena said.

She advanced first Wednesday, overcoming a dismal start to beat unseeded Na Li 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2. Five hours later she was joined in the semis by No. 5-seeded Venus, who beat No. 26 Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-4.

Venus leads the Williams family rivalry 10-9. She has won the past two meetings and has a 2-1 advantage at Key Biscayne.

"Playing her, it's like I have to automatically be on a different level, because she's already playing on a different level," Serena said. "Her balls are harder and her serve is way bigger. And it's super fun to hit these serves that are like 120 mph. It's frustrating but at the same time fun."

If Venus wins, she'll knock her kid sister out of the top ranking. Serena must reach the final to keep No. 2 Dinara Safina from overtaking her.

Venus has three titles in the tournament, but the most recent came in 2001. Serena seeks her sixth Key Biscayne title, which would break the record she shares with Steffi Graf.

The bid nearly ended against Li, who raced to a 5-0 lead while Serena looked lethargic in the 80-degree sunshine. Several times she declined to chase shots that seemed within reach.

"Wake up!" one spectator shouted.

"Maybe I was tired, but that's still not an excuse really," Serena said. "I definitely wasn't moving my feet at all. I just wasn't doing anything that made a lot of sense at all."

Midway through the first set, Richard Williams left his seat in the stands and positioned himself courtside near the baseline. He's the sisters' coach as well as their dad, and while he said little, he lifted Serena's spirits.

"I just felt like he was there really supporting, and I felt the support more when he was up close as opposed to in the stands," she said. "I just felt like I could take it up to another level."

She did, moving better and punctuating her shots with more emphatic grunts as the match slowly swung her way. There were no service breaks in the second set, but the unseeded Li failed to convert six break-point chances. The last came at 5-all, and Serena erased it with a service winner.

Li made things easy for Serena in the tiebreak by committing six unforced errors. As the third set began to slip away from Li, she vented her frustration by slamming a ball against the backstop on the far end of the court.

"I gave her the tiebreak," Li said. "I couldn't focus in the final set. After she won the second set, I didn't think I had a chance."

Li double-faulted on break point to fall behind 2-1, part of a stretch where Serena won 16 points in a row en route to a 5-1 lead. Serena closed out the victory with a service winner.

"The whole match is still an F," she said. "I'm glad to have gotten through."

Venus' victory was more straightforward, although she had a brief lapse in the second set when she fell behind 3-love. Smacking serves at up to 120 mph, she hit eight aces and won 21 of 26 first-serve points.

"I rely on my serve a lot -- sometimes too much," Venus said.

She's 15-1 this year, while Serena is 20-2 and won her 10th Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open. Venus has been the more consistent Williams in the past week, while Serena managed the curious feat of reaching the semifinals despite losing five consecutive games three times in her past two matches.

"I need to be more consistent in my play," Serena said. "I don't have to be out there going three sets. That's what I think it tells me more than anything."

She improved her record at Key Biscayne to 51-5, with one loss since 2001 -- to her sister.

Photos by Getty Images

Read the rest of this post...........

Note: Near the end of this article, after stating that Venus Williams has not changed her mind about playing Indian Wells, the article implies that the sole reason she and Serena are not playing is because they were booed after Venus defaulted with an injured knee.

If you recall, the sisters and their father, Richard Williams, have stated that they encountered racist behavior in Indian Wells.

In a November 2008 interview with the New York Times Serena Williams stated:

“I’m not going to be playing at Indian Wells. I’ve had some extremely life-altering things that happened to me there. So I told Larry Scott there are things that happened there that he understands shouldn’t happen, especially me being African-American. We’ve been struggling for so long. I try to stand up for what I believe in. I won’t be able to say anything positive about Indian Wells. If they really want me to promote it, then honestly, I don’t know what to say.”

AP/New York: Venus Williams wants to play her top-ranked sister when women's tennis returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time in nearly nine years.

Williams will join Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic on March 2 in the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup. They will compete for $1.2 million in prize money.

"I'm hoping for an all-Williams final," Venus said Wednesday during a conference call. "That would be most exciting for us and, of course, for the fans. I love playing with Serena, against her and in doubles."

The single-elimination exhibition will feature three players who won Grand Slam titles in 2008. Ivanovic won her first major at the French Open, Venus won Wimbledon and Serena won the U.S. Open and this year's Australian Open. Jankovic held the No. 1 ranking for part of last season.

The draw will be held later this month, and they will compete in a one-set, no-ad scoring semifinal. The winners will play a best-of-three final.

In her only appearance at Madison Square Garden, Venus lost in the 1999 WTA season-ending tournament.

"There is an unbelievable amount of tennis tradition there for the women," she said. "It was the pinnacle of the season. I feel honored to be playing."

The Garden hosted its final WTA season-ending championships in 2000. Williams captured her first season-ending event last November in Doha, Qatar.

Roger Federer and Pete Sampras played an exhibition match last March at the Garden, the first men's pro tennis competition there since 1996.

The Williams sisters last faced off at the Wimbledon final. They've combined to win the last three Grand Slam singles titles, so the goal is to stay healthy throughout the season.

"As long as that happens, I really play good tennis," said Williams, who teamed with Serena to win the Australian Open doubles title. "I love the challenge. If it wasn't challenging, we wouldn't love it as much as we do."

Williams will compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships, which begin Sunday. She hasn't changed her mind about skipping the tournament next month at Indian Wells, Calif., one of the mandatory events on the WTA schedule. In 2001, Venus defaulted with a knee injury before a semifinal match against Serena and they were booed by the crowd.

She said King, an investor in the Indian Wells tournament, hasn't tried to persuade her to play.

"I don't think that's her job or her aim," Venus said. "With Billie, her whole intention has been if I'm OK and happy more than anything else."

Venus said she hasn't been paying close attention to the recent steroid revelations in baseball. She considers tennis "a completely different sport."

"You have to hold your nerve, and I don't know if there's a drug for that," she said. "Tennis has a pretty good record and we continually test."

The showdown will be broadcast on HBO. It's part of "Tennis Night in America," an effort by the U.S. Tennis Association to get youth signed up to play.

Read the rest of this post...........

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Richard Williams grinned slyly recently when asked to discuss the offseason training of his daughters, Serena and Venus, the Nos. 2 and 6 seeds at the Australian Open, which begins Monday (Sunday night ET) in Melbourne.

"We don't do a lot of training," Williams says, after stifling an attack of the giggles. "We try to start a good regimen of training about 13-14 days before the Australian. Even then, they won't train every day because I believe you need a healthy mind, as much as you need a healthy body to guide you through it."

Williams says his daughters, the only siblings to be ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the Open era, spent the offseason pursuing other interests, something he's always encouraged them to do.

"Venus is crazy about her design work, and Serena finished a TV movie and just got back from (Africa) a venture she was on," Richard says. " I wanted them to understand that there's life beyond the baseline, and it's good to work on that life while you're young, so when your tennis career is over, you just transition to something you've been working on all the time."

The Williams sisters pursued college degrees while competing on the women's tour. Despite a less-than laser-like focus on their tennis careers, Williams believes that his daughters again will become Nos. 1 and 2 in the world. This time, he says, Venus, not Serena, will finish the year at the top.

"I told Venus that she's only 594 points from No. 1, and if she wins the Australian Open, she can take No. 1," he says. "Right now, Venus is the best mover on the tour, and that's why I think she can win the Australian Open, be No. 1 again. The only one that can stand in her way is Serena, if her ankle is OK. And Serena needs a little more patience."

Though often criticized for decisions he's made throughout their training and development, Williams says he has no regrets about the path he chose for his daughters, who continue to rely on him and his former wife, Oracene, to guide their careers. In her 14-year career Venus Williams has won 39 singles titles, including seven majors (five Wimbledons and two U.S Opens), earned nearly $22 million in prize money and an estimated four times that amount in endorsements. In 13 years, Serena Williams has 32 singles titles, including nine majors (three Australian Opens, one French Open, two Wimbledons and three U.S. Opens), earned about $22 million and an estimated four times that amount in endorsements.

"I wouldn't let them get by without an education," Richard says. "The thing I realized that if you're out there playing a tennis tournament every week, you don't get to even know yourself. And if you don't know yourself, you can go out there and be hurt on the court and don't know how to pull back. You might keep running like a wild horse until you fall dead. I was not going to let them go out there and kill themselves because I think you should think about longevity, even if you don't play a long time."

Read the rest of this post...........

There's really not much to say here. American Serena Williams took her third U.S. Open Championship Sunday night in the Arthur Ashe Stadium by defeating Serbian Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5. It was a well contested match on both sides.

When asked which title was the most exciting, Serena said "every one is so exciting, believe me. This is cool because I'm at No. 9. I'm pushing the doors closer to double digits, which of course I want to get to."

"I think this title meant more to Serena than any title she's ever won," her father and coach, Richard Williams said.

At the net, Serena said to Jankovic, "I'm sorry I got so excited."

The photos say everything else.

Read the rest of this post...........

Thunderous applause from the spectators in the Arthur Ashe Stadium could not compare to the leaps of joy by American Serena Williams when she defeated Russian Dinara Safina 6-2, 6-3, at the U.S. Open on Friday.

Serena is now into the Womens Single's final of the 2008 U.S. Open. It's been a while and it's a joy to see her in the upcoming final.

"It's so awesome," said Serena.

"You know, it's been just an awesome summer you know, I'm just happy to be, you know, finally back in the finals for once, you know, an American in the finals here, so...I'm really excited."

The former and potentially upcoming world no. 1 proved to be a seasoned pro. To accommodate a very windy day, Serena slowed down her power game and played a very controlled match. Safina, not quite so seasoned yet, seemed to want to play her regular game and consequently, with an assist from the wind, sprayed balls everywhere.

When asked about combating the wind and keeping her unforced errors to a minimum, Serena said, "I don't know, you know I thought okay, if it's so windy then I'm not gonna you know, go for as many winners and just stay out here and do what I can."

Marat Safin's younger sibling became very frustrated with her inability to play as she has been over the rest of the tournament. So much so, that when one of Serena's shots hit her in the chest, she appeared to call Serena a female canine. Serena attempted to apologize, but Safina wasn't trying to hear it at that point. But it was all good at the end of the match. Serena again apologized during their handshake at the net and Safina appeared to genuinely accept it. Phew! With the world no. 1 on the line a lady can get hostile!

No worries Safina, your day will come.

Serena is now set to play Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the final. When asked about the match up, Serena said, "you know I think she's playing really well and she's just having so much fun...she has nothing to lose, and neither do I, so it'll be a really good match."

Serena had friends and family in the stands supporting her, including quarterfinal opponent sister Venus Williams.

Read the rest of this post...........