Black Tennis Pros

For a fourth day in succession the French stepped out on court at Wimbledon, but only Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will return for a fifth. Having given in to bad light at 9-9 in the final set on Wednesday, the Frenchman finally found a way past Sam Querrey on Thursday to post a 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 6-3, 14-12 victory and book his place in the third round.

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A Frenchman and an American serving one another into oblivion as the sun sets over the All England Club; it all sounds a little too familiar, doesn’t it? Yet here we are again, trading John Isner and Nicolas Mahut for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sam Querrey. The duo will resume their second-round showdown on Thursday after play was suspended with proceedings all square at 9.21pm and the score teetering at 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 6-3, 9-9. Some matches are destined to go the distance.

The umpire announced the suspension of play at 8-8, but both the players and the crowd refused to budge. New balls were called for, and Tsonga attempted to finish the job before the ball disappeared in the twilight. He came close, bringing up break point, but Querrey stood firm, forcing a forehand error before serving his way out of trouble. The Frenchman also negotiated a dicey service game, which seemed enough to convince both player the time was right to call it a night.


source: wimbledon.org

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LONDON, June 7 (UPI) -- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dropped just one game Tuesday in sailing through his second-round match at the Aegon Championships in London.

Tsonga, seeded fifth in the grass-court tournament, was on the court just 47 minutes before finishing off a 6-0, 6-1 rout of Michael Berrer. Tsonga won 68 percent of the points in the match, including a healthy 63 percent off Berrer's serve.

Third-seeded Andy Roddick also advanced but in a much more difficult 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 match against Feliciano Lopez. Roddick managed just two breaks in the match -- both coming in the third set.

Wild-card entrant James Ward pulled the upset of the day, knocking off fourth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. But seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco topped Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-3, 10th-seeded Michael Llodra took out Julien Benneteau while defending champion and No. 13-seeded Sam Querrey defeated Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 6-3.

Ninth-seeded David Nalbandian got past Illya Marchenko 6-3, 6-4 and No. 12 Juan Martin del Potro beat Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-2 in first-round matches. Also in the first round 14th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic and No. 15 Kevin Anderson advanced with wins.

Unseeded first-round winners Tuesday were Matthew Ebden, Radek Stepanek, Adrian Mannarino, Michael Russell and Xavier Malisse.

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Catch them while you can. Wave your flags. Root, root, root for Andy Roddick and the Williams sisters. Do it now. Love 'em or not, take a snapshot because they're the last of a breed, the endangered species of American tennis champions.

After them, extinct. Gone. Done. Think dodo birds.

Or so it seems right now.

Roddick has won only a single Grand Slam, and it was so long ago (U.S Open, '03) we still thought housing prices could only go up and few people outside of Hyde Park had heard of Barack Obama. But Roddick remains the No. 8-ranked player in the world, and is still a threat to boom his way to a Slam, and he's married to a supermodel.

After Roddick, the highest-ranked American men are John Isner (No. 19), someone named Sam Querrey (No. 22) and German-born Tommy Haas (No. 23), who became a U.S. citizen this year. From there you won't find another American man in the rankings until Mike Russell (No. 82) and the still popular but fading James Blake (No. 83). Isner, Querrey, Russell and Blake have won 15 singles titles (none of them Grand Slams), but 10 of them belong to Blake.

Venus and Serena? They're history in the flesh (literally, at times). Baby and Big Sister, straight outta Compton, are the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world, the first siblings to achieve such a distinction since, well, Venus and Serena did it in May 2003. They have won 79 singles titles (19 of which are Slams), plus doubles and mixed doubles Slam titles. Most importantly, they've defined this generation of women's tennis. Since 2002 when Venus first reached No. 1, seven women not named Williams have been No. 1, and yet here Venus and Serena are, still thriving, lingerie outfits and whatnot, still at the summit of the game.

Which Americans behind them might reach such a pinnacle some day? Please. No one I see carrying the red, white and blue right now. The next-highest-ranked American woman is U.S. Open darling Melanie Oudin, at No. 37. Yet we've heard nary a peep since her coming out at Flushing Meadows last fall, when she became the youngest player since Serena to reach the quarterfinals, defeating fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova en route.

Then comes Vania King at No. 69. Neither survived the first round at Roland Garros.

Among the "next" American men, only Isner reached the second round. Querrey and Russell lost in the opening round, and Blake didn't play in the tournament. (Taylor Dent, Robby Ginepri and Mardy Fish, a trio of players with lower expectations and approaching 30, also won opening matches.)

So catch The Contenders now. Roddick is just 27; Serena is a year older. Venus turns 30 in June. Physically, they should be around for at least a few more years. But fatigue and other, sexier endeavors may tug them away sooner than you know, and when it happens, tennis in the U.S. will become, well, soccer.

No, it will be worse.

As soccer, the world's most popular sport, prepares for its quadrennial global orgy, it continues to gain steady footing in the U.S. among sports fans. American Landon Donovan is certainly higher on the buzz meter than any American male tennis player not named Roddick (did I tell you he was married to a super-swimsuit model?).

Meanwhile, save for a couple of torrid weeks in the fall, and the weekends when we watch the finals of the French and Wimbledon, tennis doesn't even register a blip on our radar anymore. Interestingly, grass-roots participation in the sport has never been higher. The 2009 TIA/USTA Tennis Participation study shows that total tennis participation tops 30 million players for the first time in the 22-year history of the survey.

On the flip side, television ratings are tumbling, even for the biggest events. When Americans Andre Agassi and Serena Williams won the 1999 U.S. Open men's and women's singles titles, an average of 3.5 million television viewers watched each telecast. Three years ago, when Sweden's Roger Federer and Belgium's Justine Henin won the titles, that average had slumped to just 1.9 million viewers. (Viewership was up last year.)

The impact of an American champion is perhaps most stark at Wimbledon, which no American man has won since Pete Sampras in 2000. That year, more than 4 million U.S. viewers watched the event. By 2006, that number had plummeted to 2 million. Even with a slight uptick since, the audience has remained below 3 million. Interestingly, American women (or rather, a Williams) have won eight of the past 10 Wimbledon singles titles, though it has not been enough to stem the overall decline in viewership.

Clearly, without Roddick and the Williamses to at least make us care, tennis stands poised to fall behind soccer in popularity in the U.S.

Oh, sure, someone could always have a moment of greatness. Any of our upstarts could snatch a magic carpet and ride it to a Slam final, maybe even a title. But who's the next Roddick, who won his Grand Slam at age 21 or the next Williams, who captured their first Slam singles titles at 20 (Venus) and 18 (Serena)?No one.

Why?

Let's face it, we stink at tennis. Really stink. Despite the USTA's best efforts (or worst, depending upon whom you're talking to) to discover and nurture the next generation of tennis stars, officials simply cannot manufacture greatness. Not when the sport has become more niche than even golf, which has Tiger Woods (don't laugh), Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim and other Americans who are a threat to be in the final pairing on any given Sunday.

Just recently, tennis icon John McEnroe announced he was opening an academy in New York. He shuns the "total immersion" model used by most of the more noted academies and is modeling his program after the one in Port Washington, N.Y., that helped build his game. Gifted players play regularly, but attend school independently from the academy. In other words, they have a life. He also hopes to draw kids from areas of the city, such as Harlem and Brooklyn, that have not traditionally been sown for tennis stars.

"People feel, put the kids in the middle of nowhere, isolate them, so all they can do is live and breathe tennis," McEnroe told The New York Times. "Me, I went to Florida with Harry Hopman, at 15 or 16, for one day and said, 'I've got to get out of here.' Never would I have made it if I had to do that. It would have been a form of torture."

I know the argument that our best athletes are playing other sports -- even relatively minor but booming ones like lacrosse. But can't we find, say, 10 kids (five boys, five girls) who can play this game at the highest level?

Sadly, no. The only kids picking up tennis racquets these days are kids whose parents play, and that's just not enough to produce champions.

And without champions -- or even potential champions -- our interest in the sport will continue to wane, especially as even the popular top foreign players like Federer, Rafael Nadal and Sharapova begin to fade due to time or injury.

Too bad. With names such as Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Don Budge, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Chris Evert and others so much a part of America's past glory, it's sad that tennis no longer gives us a thrill. But it happens.

It's happening. Faster than we know. Roy S. Johnson, a veteran sports journalist and media consultant, is the editor-in-chief of Men's Fitness. His blog is Ballers, Gamers and Scoundrels.

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Well, well, well now... Happy New Year to Frenchman Gael Monfils, American James Blake and Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui (whom I am very happy to see again) as all three kick off the 2010 ATP calender with first round wins as world class tennis returned to Brisbane for the first time since 1994, with the state capital of Queensland hosting the combined men's and women's event in the opening week of the 2009 season.

Monfils and Blake opened their seasons in Brisbane, while El Aynaoui found fortune in Doha, Qatar at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, one of two ATP World Tour events held in the Middle East.

At the Queensland Tennis Center, paired against American Taylor Dent, Monfils survived a tight match scoring 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.

There is no reason for me to rehash Blake's 2009 season, we all know it and are still smarting from it; so, moving right along with some potentially good news. While Blake got off to a slow start, losing the first set to fellow American Sam Querrey 4-6; in what I hope will be his standard mode of operation for 2010, Blake was able to press on and overtake Querrey winning the remaining two sets 6-3, 6-4.

In the first round match of what will reportedly be his 'swan song' tournament, El Aynaoui defeated American Ryler Deheart 7-6³, 7-6⁴.

Up next for the three victors will be Monfils taking on Frenchman Florent Serra and Blake up against another Frenchman, Marc Giquel, while El Aynaoui will meet Belgium's Steve Darcis.

The Gulf Times is reporting that El Ayanoui will announce his retirement at the end of this tournament - "El Aynaoui's Final Fling."

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On Tuesday at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis Tennessee, a very global group was handed their walking papers in the first round.

From Japan's Kei Nishikori, to American Donald Young, to the 2003 title holder American Taylor Dent, to Argentine Guillermo Canas, and others.... defeat was prevalent in some who I thought would at least make it past the first round. Did I mention that Sweden's Robin Soderling is also in this group?

Neither Young or Nishikori have been setting the courts on fire as of late, so I guess I'm more hoping that they will prevail. Dent and Canas haven't been on top of their game in awhile either, but these are two players who you expect to see beyond round 1.

A quartet of Americans will be front and center on Wednesday, James Blake, Andy Roddick, Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish. Let's hope they fair a bit better.

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PARIS (AP) — Top-ranked Serena Williams defeated Emilie Loit 6-4, 6-1 to set up a semifinal with Elena Dementieva for the third straight tournament at the Open GDF Suez on Friday.

Loit, only the second qualifier in tournament history to make the quarterfinals, broke Williams when she was serving for the first set at 5-3. Williams threw her racket on the ground but broke right back and cruised the rest of the way.

"Definitely a tricky match," said Williams, the Australian Open champion. "Definitely good to get through, you know? I don't play too many lefties.

"I definitely don't feel at my best," Williams added, "but I feel like I'm getting there."

Dementieva gave Williams her only loss of the year in the Sydney semifinals, but Williams avenged that in the Australian Open semifinals en route to her 10th Grand Slam singles title.


SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — James Blake beat fellow American Sam Querrey 7-6 (9), 6-3 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the SAP Open, setting up an intriguing meeting with doubles teammate Mardy Fish.

Blake hung on to win despite rolling his ankle with two points to go. He reached the semis shortly after Fish, his close friend and teammate, beat Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4, upsetting the world's seventh-ranked player.

After Fish and Blake meet in a semifinal match Saturday afternoon, they'll team up for a doubles match late that night. They won the doubles title at San Jose in 2004, and both say their games improve when they're working together.

"There won't be any hard feelings," Blake said with a grin. "There better not be any hard feelings, or there might be a serve to the back of the head. ... Hopefully, we can go out to dinner tonight, play each other tomorrow, and then go out to dinner again."

Frenchman Gael Monfils defeated fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6(4), 6-1 in an all-French quarter-final at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Next up for Monfils is World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Monfils handed Nadal his only loss thus far of the 2009 ATP World Tour tennis season, posting a quarter-final win at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Doha in the first week of the year. The Spaniard had won their first three meetings in straight sets.



Although Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga hit 26 aces, that's right count 'em 26 at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, he was still not able to topple Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Tsonga was defeated 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

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On Thursday No. 3 seed James Blake again used a strong serve to polish off another opponent, setting up an intriguing quarterfinal against fellow American Sam Querrey.

The most noteworthy moment of Blake's 6-4, 6-3 victory over Florent Serra came near the end, when then Frenchman got under Blake's skin by moving around while the American served. The two exchanged words and stares when the match ended. "He was doing whatever he could to win," Blake said. "Sometimes that resorts to a little gamesmanship and things we used to do as juniors. He's too good for that."

Through two rounds, not much has affected Blake. One day after he cruised past Vincent Spadea in 50 minutes, Blake needed just 66 minutes to oust Serra.

Blake might have to work a little longer today. All four of his previous matches against the sixth-seeded Querrey have gone to three sets, the tightest a 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4) loss two years ago in Indianapolis.

"Every time I've played him, he's improved," Blake said. "When he put it all together that time in Indianapolis, he was serving unbelievable. Then the next time I played him in Cincinnati, I felt like his serve wasn't on but the rest of his game was really effective. When he puts that together, he's going to be really dangerous."

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World No. 1 Rafael Nadal turned in a virtuoso performance to defeat American Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, to secure Spain’s place in the 2008 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final.

It wasn’t that Roddick, ranked No. 8 in the world, played badly; it was just that, on this occasion, he was outclassed by Nadal, who played almost faultless tennis, hitting 60 winners to Roddick’s 39 and committing ten fewer unforced errors in the 2 hour, 12 minute encounter.

“Today I play an almost perfect match and it is very, very exciting,” said Nadal after the win. “Today I played very well. I shocked myself with some of the winners I played, was near perfect tennis.”

Nadal Dominates From Start

The 21,000 strong crowd at the Plaza de Toros Las Ventas in Madrid waited out a 1 hour, 40 minute rain delay before Nadal and Roddick took the court. From almost the first point of the match, the world No. 1 dominated the American, who failed to convert any of the seven break point opportunities he had in the match.

Roddick seemed almost philosophical in defeat, laughing ruefully on the bench at the changeovers with USA Captain Patrick McEnroe:

“He’s possibly the best clay-courter ever so it’s tough, especially when he hits like he did today. He was going for his shots and not leaving much short.”

Roddick Gets The Fans On His Side

Having struggled with the mostly Spanish fans on Friday, Roddick got them on side when he raised his hands as if to ask them to cheer for a missed first serve during the third set. The fans responded by good-naturedly chanting “Roddick, Roddick” and the American player smiled up at the stands.

“Yeah, they’re only going to do that if your getting your butt kicked,” said a good-natured Roddick afterwards.

Nadal showed real emotion in victory but showed his respect for his opponents and his inate good manners by going first to the American bench, shaking every hand before he ran to his own team to celebrate. Carried on the shoulders of Feliciano Lopez, he was saluted by teammates and fans alike in this, his first event in Spain as the new world No. 1. No matador at the Las Ventas, the most important bullring in all of Spain, could have been greeted with more passion or affection than Nadal on this day.

Nadal had a 3-2 advantage in the career head-to-head with the American No. 1 but they had only met once before on clay in the 2004 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final won by the Spaniard in four sets. The pair played twice before in 2008, with a win for Roddick in Dubai and another for Nadal at Queen’s.

Serving Problems In First Set

From start to finish, the atmosphere at Las Ventas was electric and full of anticipation of a Spanish victory. Both players held serve easily to start the match despite a poor first service percentage. In the fifth game of the first set, Roddick’s serving woes continued but he staved off three break points against a determined Nadal but on his next service game, Nadal broke with a forehand passing shot down the line and the Spanish flags started flying. Nadal consolidated his break for 5-3 then, with US captain McEnroe exhorting him from the sidelines, Roddick held serve forcing Nadal, who took a spill running for a drop shot, to serve for the set.

After winning the first point, Nadal made three unforced errors for 15-40 giving the American his first break points of the match. A forehand error from Roddick and two forehand winners gave Nadal a first set point and with an emphatic ace, the Spaniard won the first set 64.

Nadal broke in the opening game of the second set with a forehand down the line winner and, with sublime ease, went on to win the second set 6-0. As in the opening set, the only break points he faced came when he served for the set and, also like the first, he won the set with an ace. This marked the first time that Roddick, who was serving well in the second set, had lost a set to love in Davis Cup and only the fifth time that this had happened in his career.

In the third, Roddick played steadier tennis but Nadal was just too good for him on the day. Although the American saved five match points on his serve for 5-4, the man from Mallorca made no mistake on the first opportunity on his own serve, converting his sixth match point opportunity into a win.

Feliciano Lopez defeated Sam Querrey 7-6, 7-6, in the dead rubber to make the final score 4-1, after which all the Spanish players and captain Emilio Sanchez spoke to the crowd and thanked them for their support.

Spain will travel to Argentina or Russia for November’s final. Argentina led that tie 2-1 overnight.

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World No. 1 Rafael Nadal was made to work hard by Davis Cup debutant Sam Querrey before wrapping up a 67 64 63 64 victory for Spain in the opening rubber of its semifinal tie against Spain in Madrid.

The 6’6” American matched the world No. 1 for the first two sets and then briefly threatened to extend the match into a fifth set before Nadal finally subdued him to put Spain ahead.

Nadal started slowly and was not as composed as usual. He struggled to put the ball out of reach of Querrey, who played thoughtful and patient tennis, choosing the moment when to strike with his big serve or an aggressive forehand and retrieving all that the world No.1 could throw at him.

“I’m happy to win. With his serve, it wasn’t easy to take control of the points,” said Nadal.

Few Nerves From Querrey

Querrey certainly wasn’t overawed on his debut and benefitted from the extra kick that Madrid’s altitude was giving to his serve and groundstrokes.

“I think I showed him that I can play a little bit,” said Querrey afterwards. “I played well. It was a tough four sets.”

The initial exchanges were tentative as the two players adjusted to the conditions in the Plaza de Toros Las Ventas, which was bathed in sunshine, noise – thanks to a four-man band playing in the stand between points - and the red and yellow national colours of Spain.

The two players matched each other through the first set as neither was able to set up a break point opportunity. Querrey earned the first minibreak in the tiebreak with a forehand drop volley at full stretch. Nadal got back on serve but then double faulted to set up two set points for USA. The four-time Roland Garros champion saved the first but on the second, but netted on the second of two huge forehands from Querrey.

Nadal On Backfoot

Nadal, who had dropped just three sets in his eight previous Davis Cup victories, was pushed even further onto the back foot as Querrey pounced on a poor Nadal dropshot to break in the opening game of the second set. The Spaniard upped his level, broke back and then struck again as Querrey served to stay in the set at 5-4.

“The break back in the second set was probably the turning point in the match. He just doesn’t go away. If you win the first set, it’s almost like having to start the match again,” said Querrey.

To the crowd’s delight, the Spaniard then took the lead in the match for the first time and broke for a 3-1 lead as Querrey struggled to maintain his bright start. The single break was enough for Nadal and he pocketed the third set to take control.


Nadal Comes Through Tough Fourth Set

There was an air of inevitability hanging over the fourth set especially as Nadal held his first two service games to love, while Querrey began to struggle on serve, coming through three deuces in the fifth game and saving two break points in the seventh.

The American was not done however and took Nadal to three deuces in the very next game, finding his previous form. Nadal regrouped once more and took eight successive points from 30-0 on Querrey’s serve to take victory.

“It’s very important to begin with a win. I was a little short of energy and strength today and I would like to thank the crowd for their extra support, “ commented Nadal.

David Ferrer is taking on Andy Roddick in the second rubber in the Plaza de Toros.

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Alright, I'm going to tell you all right now that you might as well get used to a multitude of photos and a whole lot of USA, USA, USA from me. Between my love for the Olympics and plenty of photos from Bob Bryan's iPhone, there will be Olympic overload here at Black Tennis Pro's.

Let me say this up front, while I love the players from all over the world when regular tennis tournaments are being played, they can kick rocks during the Olympics, lol. Right now it is all about Team USA. It's on!!

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