Black Tennis Pros

David and Joyce Dinkins






Liza Minelli performing 'God Bless America'







Jim Courier with his smooth on







Christie Brinkley
(Workin' the hell out of being over 50.)







Dustin Hoffman








Catherine Zeta Jones

Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower






Robin Williams







Ralph Lauren

Completing his TWELFTH Grand Slam title, King Roger showed the new kid on the block Djokovic, 'yeah, you're good, but I'm Roger Federer.'

The match was great! Djokovic gave it all he had and with just a little more, the match could have been his. But that little more was on the racquet of Roger Federer who came up with everything he needed, exactly when he needed it.

Congratulations Roger! Well played.

Personally, prior to reading reports of Venus possibly having been ill during her semi-final match at the U. S. Open, I thought that she was looking a bit sluggish the entire match. She seemed to be making mistakes and not calculating returns as she had been earlier during the tournament.

Yesterday there were a number of reports stating that Venus was possible suffering from the return of an anemic condition that she had been dealing with, and that her health was not what it should have been for her to even be playing in the Open.

An hour after the semi-final match, Venus was seen leaning on her boyfriend, PGA Tour golfer Hank Kuehne, hobbling to the women's locker room. Venus's mom, Oracene Price was there, obviously very concerned about her daughter. She revealed that Venus had been diagnosed with anemia when she began to experience dizzy spells during a tournament in San Diego three weeks after her Wimbledon victory.

Instead of Venus returning to her home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Venus's mom insisted on an immediate series of extensive medical tests at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

“Today I guess the anemia came back,” said Price. “Venus feels like the ground is moving beneath her feet. Things aren’t right and we have to find out what’s wrong.”

I hope that Venus feels much better soon and I'm glad that her mom is around. Short of God's blessings, mama love is the next best cure.

A very sluggish looking Venus Williams went down in defeat today to the Belgium Justine Henin, 7-6(7/2), 6-4. What a disappointment.

Though Venus began the match reacting slowly and making mistakes, I thought that she would pick up her game, which she did sporadically, but insufficient to prevail throughout the match. As was true on Wednesday in her match against Jelena Jankovic, Venus's game was riddled with unforced errors, today she made 35 to 26 winners and served 4 double faults.

Venus managed to break Henin at the necessary times in the 1st and 2nd sets, but ended up being broken at the same point in the 2nd set to hand her the loss.

In the post match interview regarding not feeling well, Venus said, “I’m not sure what’s wrong with me...... But, you know, credit to her for playing well.” Asked whether it was unfortunate that two players of their caliber faced in the semi's, she replied, “It is what it is,” adding she was happy to be playing in the Open after missing it last year. “I don’t see any unfortunate circumstances in anything in life. I just feel fortunate to be here.”

Well folks, with the possible exception of Girl's Junior Asia Muhammad, that's all she wrote for Black Tennis Pro's at this year's Open.

Cheers to all of our players for their accomplishments and their efforts, we're very proud.

There's a lot more tennis to be played for the remainder of the year and I'm looking forward to that!

WTA Tour Players

Venus Williams, USA vs. Justine Henin, BEL


USTA Jr. Girls Doubles

Asia Muhammad, USA and Kristy Frilling, USA vs
Ksenia Milevskaya, BLR and Urzula Radwanska, POL


For further U. S. Open schedule information click here.

WTA Tour Players

Venus Williams, USA vs Jelena Jankovic, SRB

For further U. S. Open schedule information click here.

Unfortunately, my outlook was not that bright for Serena today. Of course I hoped that she'd win, but she really has not been in top form this entire Open. She's been able to pull wins out of the air as only Serena can, but it's been by the skin of her teeth.

During her last match she looked better, so I thought that she might bring that form to her match with Henin, but it didn't happen. Serena was defeated by a score of 7-6 (7/3), 6-1. The 6-1 ought to tell you something about just how out of form Serena was. Her fight was not up to snuff, and she had only 17 winners.

"I really don't feel like talking about it," Williams said. "I can't explain that [result] right now.

"I just think she made a lot of lucky shots, and I made a lot of errors."

When asked about being disappointed about the loss, "No," I'm very happy."

When asked about the lack of match plays, "No," she said. "I don't think it affected me. I mean, I don't think it did. Maybe it did. "You guys, I think, watched it. Maybe you can analyze it better."

I usually post the photo of both players cause I got love for all the players, but ever since Henin's lyin' behind has refused to admit that she held up her hand during the 2003 French Open, I have declared that she shall never disgrace the pages of Black Tennis Pro's. It's one thing to make a mistake, it's quite another to own an ongoing lie about it. You had to be blind in this and your next life to not have seen her hold up her hand. Yet she's the one the commentators are always calling professional -- yeah, a professional what.

WTA Tour Players

Venus Williams, USA vs Jelena Jankovic SRB

For further U. S. Open schedule information click here.

Note: Somebody at the U. S. Open jacked up the schedule today, Venus did not play. The correct schedule included:

Serena Williams, USA vs. Justine Henin, BEL

In the Arthur Ashe Stadium on this Labor Day Monday, it was a match worthy of a final. The fellas went toe-to-toe for the most part, but somebody had to lose, and unfortunately it was the No. 6 seed, American James Blake. Once again I just knew that he would be able to pull a win out, but not so.

No. 10 seed Tommy Haas of Germany defeated Blake in Blake's second 5-set match this week by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(7/4).

I'm at a loss for words, I'm going to get a drank.

ATP Tour Players

James Blake, USA vs. Tommy Haas, GER

For further U. S Open schedule information click here

Venus and Serena took no prisoners on the middle Sunday of the U. S. Open. The American sisters treated their opponents to some tennis lessons today!

Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli and Serbian beauty Ana Ivanovic looked in serious need of further practice when the Williams sisters were through with them today.

Both sisters convincingly dismantled the games of their opponents. The two young women looked more like target practice than learned opponents. I didn't have any expectations of Bartoli, but I did expect Ivanovic to put up much more of a fight than she did. I believe that she became intimidated and didn't know what to do. I guess not many people would the way Venus graced the court yesterday.

Serena's win came in at 6-3, 6-4, and Venus 6-4, 6-2.

Commenting after the match, Richard Williams said, “Serena reminds me of a pit bull dog and a young Mike Tyson, all in one. Venus reminds me of a gazelle that’s able to move, prance and jump. Venus looks as if she is really enjoying herself out there more than Serena is right now. If they get by everyone and meet each other, it will be an interesting match.”





Nadal takes out Tsonga



World No. 2 Raphael Nadal showed why he's world No. 2 even with a bad knee. He came out and put the pressure on a battle worthy Tsonga and barely won the first set in a tie-break. After that the Spaniard didn't look back. He moved well and took command of the court. eventually beating Tsonga by a score of 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-1.

WTA Tour Players

Serena Williams, USA vs Marion Bartoli, FRA
Venus Williams, USA vs Ana Ivanovic, SRB


ATP Tour Players

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs Rafael Nadal, ESP

For additional U. S. Open schedule information, click here.

The middle Saturday of the U. S. Open is proving to be costly for some brand name players. American Donald Young has been the latest of a new crop of talented players to bite the dust at the U. S. Open today. Spaniard Feliciano Lopez proved that experience is the greatest teacher. After succumbing to Young's precision play in the first set, the Spaniard had to fight it out, but prevailed over the next three sets to defeat Young by a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(7-5), 5-7.

Another of the youngsters to fall was American John Isner who lost to world No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland by a score of 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

On the Arthur Ashe stadium in front of a sold-out crowd, 18-year old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland had no fear of defending champ Russian Maria Sharapova and took her out with a score of 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.

Radwanska began the match letting balls fly off of her racquet and breaking Sharapova's serve with a passion. Sharapova's serve was iffy at best for the entire match. She served 12 double faults and made 49 unforced errors.

Radwanska easily took the first set. Sharapova played much better in the second but had to entertain a revised Radwanska in the third.

When asked about her strategy of coming in so close on Sharapova's second serve, Radwanska said "I know she doesn't like people moving when she serves, so whenever I got the chance, I did it."

Where's your Polish joke now?

ATP Tour Players

James Blake, USA vs Stefan Koubek, AUT
Donald Young, USA vs Feliciano Lopez, ESP

For additional U. S. Open schedule information, click here.

Decked out in yet another ensemble from her new 'EleVen' line of clothing, 27-year old American Venus Williams took her high-power game to Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine and easily defeated her by a score of 6-1, 6-2. Venus now advances to the round of 16. In her post match interview, Venus had a few things to say.

"I just want to take that experience from Wimbledon and bring it here."

"I've done it a couple of times here before and I want to do it again."

"I definitely would like to have a higher first-serve percentage, but it's not something I'm worried about," she said. "I still feel like I can get my serve in. My second serve nowadays has a lot of kick. So it was a good day."

Over the years we've all seen Serena Williams sit down during the changeover and consult her notes to either stick to, or modify her game. In yesterday's match with Russia's Vera Zvonareva she did the same thing and pulled out her pink notebook for a quick study. What happened next, that was a surprise.

Chair umpire Damian Steiner told her to put it away. Even scolded her!

"He told me I couldn't use my notes," Williams said after a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win that put her into the fourth round. "I was like, 'Well, it's not like I'm Harry Potter and my dad can magically give me notes to read.'

"It's something that I write myself. Just little things. What if I were to take a paper on the court and write something, what's the difference?" she said.

Shortly thereafter, Steiner relented.

Hmmmm, somebody had a very itchy bug up his butt yesterday. We'll let him slide just this once, perhaps he needs more fiber in his diet.

Serena moved on to the round of 16 at the Open regardless.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga effectively guaranteed that Great Britain's Tim Henman would not win a Grand Slam Tournament in his tennis career lifetime by defeating him yesterday by a score of 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Prior to the loss, Henman had already decided that this would be his last ATP Tour Grand Slam Tournament. The soon-to-be 33-year-old Englishman only has his country's Davis Cup clash with Croatia at Wimbledon next month to follow.

"Relief is not quite the right word but I am ready to get on with the next part of my life," he said.

"I've had a fantastic career - but there are a lot of exciting things ahead of me - two young kids and another on the way.

"I feel so clear in mind that time is time and that a couple of good matches at the Davis Cup and I will leave this sport a happy man."

Tsonga is also a happy man! He moves on to the 3rd round of the Open.