Black Tennis Pros

PARIS (AP) — Out of breath and out of sorts, Venus Williams played her way right out of the French Open on Friday with her most lopsided Grand Slam loss since 2001.

That the No. 3-seeded Williams would exit in the third round at Roland Garros is not quite so extraordinary, perhaps, considering she now has left this particular Grand Slam tournament at this precise stage in four of the past five years.

That Williams would lose the way she did — 6-0, 6-4 — and to the player she did — 29th-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary, whose resume boasts a lone major quarterfinal appearance — was anything but ordinary.

"I'm used to beating people 6-0. I'm not used to my shot not going in and losing a set 6-0," Williams said. "So it completely was foreign ground for me."

The red clay of Paris often feels that way to the older Williams sister, whose seven Grand Slam singles titles were earned at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Based on seeding and name, her departure qualifies as by far the tournament's most significant.

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American Serena Williams hit the clay courts at Roland Garros in much better form on Thursday. Serena's game and persona were much more confident and composed as she easily worked through her defeat of Spainard Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0. Serena joins sister Venus in round 3.

"Everything clicked for me today, finally," she said. "It was just a better match. I'm not nearly as upset as I was the other day."

Asked about her comfort level on clay Serena said, "I grew up on the clay a lot. I'm totally fine on the clay. My results haven't been where I wanted them to be, but from, like, 9 to 14, I played nothing but clay-court tennis. I actually love it, and it's really one of my favorite surfaces, because I love to slide."

About her game now as opposed to her earlier years Serena says, "I think I'm wiser. I think I'm just a more mature player. Back then, it was more nitty-gritty. And now it's more composed and planned-out playing."

Serena also talked about what she does in between matches and her home in Paris, an apartment that she's currently redecorating.

"I just stay in my apartment, I live in a really cool area so, whatever I want.... Right now I'm kind of remodeling my apartment little by little, so I just bought a new couch and now I'm looking for rugs, I want a really nice rug.

It's interesting because it's like a totally different lifestyle for me, but it's really really fun."

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The gentlemen who are playing at home in France truly put on electric performances on Thursday at Roland Garros.

Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils showed up and showed out!

Monfils was a series of shot making expertise on Court Suzanne Lenglen against Romanian Victor Crivoi at roughly the same time that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was experiencing a battle royale with Argentine Juan Monaco on Court Philippe Chartrier. It is more than obvious that the next gen of French players has arrived.

Monfils said, "The new generation is always playing all right, I think, in the French."

In one of the best match points at net that I've seen, Tsonga ended the explosive contest against Monaco 7-5, 2-6, 6-1, 7¹⁰-6^8. Make no bones about it though, Monaco gave as good as he got.

"That was a great win for me against a real clay courter - a serious competitor," said Tsonga. I played with my heart and with the public getting behind me like that it was so emotional."

While Monfils' match did not end in the fire of Tsonga's, the match overall showed Monfils in his acrobatic glory - fabulous!

Between Monfils, Tsonga, Simon and Ouanna, the French will definitely be holding their own at home.

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Thursday morning brought back the suspended match of the French Open's Wednesday night session between American Venus Williams and the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova. When the match was called due to darkness, Safarova was up one set 7⁷-6⁵.

Safarova continued her aggressive game this morning, a lesser player than Venus would probably have fallen. Venus defended her turf like the pro that she is. She was all over Court Suzanne Lenglen running down Safarova's shots.

Venus eventually had to save both a break and a match point to finally toss Safarova out of there. She took the final two sets 6-2, 7-5.

"Yesterday, I think I did too many things wrong. She just was firing for every shot and making them. Obviously, with the delay, there was a lot of things to think about beforehand, what I could do different, and just tried to be as aggressive as I could.

"The last two sets, you know, it was close. But these kind of matches are really rewarding, and she was playing well. But I felt like I deserved it."

Go Venus, Go Venus, Go Venus!!!!

I'm loving these shots that the photographers are getting of Venus in action:

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Lesser know Frenchman Josselin Ouanna is making excellent use of his wildcard at the 2009 French Open. Today he ended Marat Safin's French Open career with an epic five-set victory on Wednesday evening.

The very tempered but stragetgic Ouanna held on in a tight 4 hour and 34 minute match to take out Safin in a 7⁷-6², 7⁷-6⁴, 4-6, 3-6, 10-8 victory.

Safin, who has vowed to retire at the end of the season, lost the first set on a tie-break and the pattern repeated itself in the second.

The Russian appeared to have the mental edge after he saved four set points while serving at 5-6 but Ouanna stayed focused in the breaker to open a two-set lead.

However, Safin's famous temperament was held in check as he launched a fightback.

A single break of serve in both the third and fourth sets saw him level match - Ouanna missing six break points in the process.

Safin, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2002, looked set to roll on to victory when he broke early in the decider, but he allowed Ouanna to hit back and level at 3-3 - Safin slamming a ball into the stands in disgust and picking up a warning in the process.

The Russian saved match points at 4-5 (with an ace) and at 5-6 (with a brilliant forehand winner) but when Ouanna fashioned more chances at 8-9 he finally cracked.

One was saved but when Safin sent a forehand wide on the next it was all over.

Ouanna progresses to a third-round meeting with Fernando Gonzalez, the 12th seed.

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Although their first round doubles match currently stands suspended due to darkness, sisters Venus and Serena Williams plan to return on Wednesday and complete what they began on Tuesday.

Playing on court No. 2 at the 2009 French Open, the sisters took the first set 6-1, only to have that reversed in the second set when the Czech pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka won 6-3.

The teams currently stand one set all, four games to three third set, Williams sisters.

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PARIS (AP) — James Blake has lost in the first round of the French Open to a qualifier making his Grand Slam debut.

The 15th-seeded Blake was upset 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-2 on Tuesday by 93rd-ranked Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

Blake has never been past the third round at Roland Garros. The American made more than twice as many unforced errors as Mayer.

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Talk about a painful match to watch!

Both American Serena Williams and the Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova agonized throughout their match on the Suzanne Lenglen Court at the French Open today, with Serena taking the bigger brunt of the pain even though she went on to win the three-set match 6-3, 6⁵-7⁷, 6-4.

"I was just desperate for a win," the second-seeded Williams said, "and I think it pretty much showed in my game."

Serena described today's performance as "horrendous." She then added, "I just played junior tennis — or even worse."

Throughout the error laden match Serena looked to gain more pain with each error.

After the 2^1/2 hour match was finally won, she joined sister Venus for a round of doubles. That match is currently suspended because of darkness until Wednesday.

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Given that he was highly doubtful about his ability to play in the 2009 Roland Garros because of a knee injury, Frenchman Gaël Monfils has begun the tournament very impressively.

“I’m not thinking too much about my injury,” said Monfils. I decided to play. I’m going to stop talking about being hurt or not hurt. I’m in the tournament, and for once, I started at a high level. Now it’s a question of how I can build on it.”

Monfils’s impressed the crowd in the Suzanne-Lenglen court with his 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Bobby Reynolds.

“I feel strong, and I was hitting strong,” said Monfils. “After a few more matches and with a bit more confidence, I’ll be hitting even harder. And I tell myself, why not take things further?”

“I didn’t have to dig too far into my reserves today,” Monfils said. “But I could see in the rallies we had that I was there and I hadn’t lost too much of my game.”

In the next round, he faces the Romanian Victor Crivoi.

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Long overshadowed by compatriots Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Josselin Ouanna finally appears ready to claim his rightful place among the French tennis elite.

For a long time Josselin Ouanna was almost invisible. Naturally shy, he was like an introverted teenager who dared not look anyone in the eye.

New attitude

Times have changed. Ouanna pulled off his t-shirt, showing off his bare chest for our camera, a symbolic gesture for a player who is almost sure of himself now, and increasingly confident of his physique and his strength.

It is also the type of attitude the 23-year-old has begun to display on court as he takes his game to the next level. Take Sunday, for example, when the 136 world-ranked Ouanna took a more aggressive approach than usual against Spain’s Marcel Granollers, a player fully 40 points higher than him in the rankings. The new and improved “Joss” went on to win his first Grand Slam match. In five sets no less.

Reminiscences

Still visibly moved after watching the match, Ouanna’s first coach Fabrice Loustalot spoke to the press about his former protégé’s transformation. “Joss has changed his attitude. He’s really developed his character. During the match he showed some emotion, pumped his fists. It was beautiful to watch. Perhaps that’s what was missing from his game.” Loustalot trained Ouanna from the ages of 7 and 13 and remembers him as a “super talented boy who was extremely shy and almost never spoke.”

Ouanna is clearly coming into his own then. A victory at the Rennes challenger, followed by a quarter-final spot in Lyon, are proof of a burgeoning talent. Joss himself commented on his recent progress: “I’ve improved at my own pace. I know I have what it takes. Perhaps I had less self-confidence than Jo or Gael and of course my injuries didn’t help. It wasn’t easy seeing my friends winning matches on TV, but it in the end it certainly motivated me to go meet them at the top!”

With the help of his current trainer Jerome Potier, Ouanna is working his way up in his own way and at his own speed. And when he faces Marat Safin in the second round he will get the chance to show the world his new attitude and prove that Tsonga and Monfils may not be that hard to catch after all…

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In a fairly uneventful match at the French Open just a short while ago, American Venus Williams, all decked out in a very Springy 'EleVen' creation, halted any possibility for fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands by taking her out in a three-set defeat.

Venus served well and basically cruised through the first set, taking it 6-1. In a slight turn of events Mattek-Sands stepped up her game in the second set, started to return better and made a competitive set out of her 6-4 win.

Mattek-Sands winning ways were short-lived though. Venus turned the heat right back up in the third set winning it 6-2.

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After placing much concern in the hearts and minds of his fans globally and especially at home in France, Frenchman Gael Monfils confirmed on Sunday that he will indeed compete in the 2009 French Open. Monfils has been suffering from a painful left knee injury.

After his sky high jump out of the stands on Saturday during an exhibition match, I pretty much took his playing as a given.

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Advancing to the second round of Roland Garros today, Frenchman Josselin Ouanna put his fighting spirit on display.

After winning the first set against Spaniard Marcel Granollers 7-5, Granollers took the next two sets 6-2 and 6-3. Ouanna fought back through a fourth set tiebreak 7⁷-6² to finally take the fifth set and the match 6-1.

Way to go Ouanna!

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Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils participated in the traditional Benny Berthet Day which included charity exhibition matches and an auction. The entire ground was opened to the public who also had access to all courts, as well as the corporate boxes on court Phillip Chartrier.

Various exhibition matches were played throughout the day on Philippe Chatrier, Suzanne Lenglen and No. 1 courts with the proceeds going to five charities which are partners of the event.

Despite the overcast weather, there was a good turnout with fans enjoying some spectacular tennis, including appearances from local favorites and others.

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For a recent change of pace, American super sisters Venus and Serena Williams are in separate halves of the draw at the 2009 French Open with No. 3 seed Venus on a path to meet Russian Dinara Safina in the semi-finals.

Younger sister Serena, the tournament's No. 2 seed, has the more clay-specialist half of the draw, with the likes of 14^th seed Flavia Pennetta due to face her in the Round of 16 and 7^th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarters.

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From all appearances American Scoville Jenkins was definitely getting his clay court game on in his match against German Daniel Brands. Unfortunately it was not enough to claim another victory in the second round of Roland Garros qualifying.

Jenkins was defeated by Brands 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

On the women's side, American Angela Haynes was also handed a severe ousting by Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-2.

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