Black Tennis Pros

Wicked! Wicked! Wicked!

A very clean shaven American James Blake appears to be taking no prisoners in Paris at Roland Garros. Blake is cocked, locked and ready to rock!

Playing German Rainer Schuettler today, Blake was focused and had both rockets, forehand and backhand, firing on all cylinders, it was a thing of beauty. His 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Rainer Schuettler made him the first American man to reach the second round at Roland Garros since 2006.

Blake won the first set on the first break of serve in the match, and then raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second set. In the third, Blake led 5-1 but his German opponent won five straight games to go ahead 6-5. Unfortunately, to no avail. Blake won the next set and then took the tie-break.

Way to go Blake!!

Thanks to a good match, good food, and good friends (all of which were in different areas of the country), watching Serena Williams win the 2008 Family Circle Cup was a great time.

Joining me yesterday for a live blogging experience was BlogPassion of "We Need To Stop: Black Blog On African American Issues, News, Celebrity Gossip And More," Harlem Writer of "Harlem Writer", Dave of "Welcome Back Rosenthal," Aunk (The Cultural Health Guy) of The "Cultural Health News Blog," Cooper, of "Wonderland Or Not," and Hasheem.

Thank you all so much, it was such a fun time! We will be doing this periodically throughout the tennis season, I look forward to it.


"I feel like I have some momentum behind me and I just want to keep going." The words of the lady of the hour post match.

Serena Williams and her first Family Circle Cup Championship in five attempts. It was a rocky match for Serena. She had a very worthy opponent in Russian Vera Zvonareva, who came out with every intention of becoming the title holder too.

Serena seemed to be very unsure of herself and not present in the first set, although she can have a tendency to start slow. The problem was, Zvonareva was firing on all cylinders, and that reality could not be taken lightly. Nonetheless, Serena took the first set.

Into the second set, Serena's game took an even deeper lull, and enabled Zvonareva to get back into the match and take the set. Serena was suffering true struggles.

As she has done so many times before, Serena picked herself up, dusted herself off and got back into the groove in the third set. It wasn't perfect, but she did what she needed to do to pull out in front of Zvonareva and ride the winning set in at 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

"I just wanted to get that first set under my belt, and thank God I did because I lost the second. I've played her a few times, so I really know her game and she's a real fighter and she never stops."

"She never made a mistake when I was up," Zvonareva said. "I think I could have done a little better job about holding my serve, which I wasn't able to do."

"She always puts pressure on you, so you always have to go for a bigger serve and eventually your serve percentage goes down," said Zvonareva, who ended with eight double-faults. "I accepted I would have some double-faults today and I knew it was going to happen when I was coming into the match. It's just too bad to have two of them in a row."

Serena won $197,000 and a crystal cup at the $1.3 million tournament.

Jamie Murray narrowly missed out on his second doubles title of the year as the Scot and partner Kevin Ullyett were beaten 6-2 4-6 10-8 by Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the final of the Estoril Open.

Murray's regular partner Max Mirnyi, with whom he won the title in Delray Beach in February, was on Davis Cup duty with Belarus but Zimbabwean Ullyett proved a more than adequate replacement.

The pair did not get off to the best of starts however, as top seeds Coetzee and Moodie broke Ullyett's serve twice in the first set.

American Serena Williams may have looked and played a bit tentatively during the first 15-20 minutes of the quarterfinal match at the $1.34-million 35th Anniversary Tournament of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, but from then on out, it was on.

Both Serena and Russian Maria Sharapova produced a variety of wicked shots in the first and second sets. Shots that led to Serena capturing the first and Sharapova the second. Once the ladies hit the third set, it was all over but the shouting for Sharapova, she was defeated 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

Serena moved into another gear for set three and there was nothing Sharapova could do to alter the course, she was going down. Sharapova made some efforts to get back into the set, but they were futile. She did manage to hold one game, it's better than a goose egg.

"It was definitely emotion," Williams said on her third set form. "I think I was more focused. I was ready to get off the court at that point, and I just was ready to play. I felt like I wasn't even playing before - I was just out there."

"I think she's playing really well on the clay; she's sliding better than she was last year, so it's good for her," Williams said. "I think I'm doing well on the clay too. It was a different experience than on hard or grass, obviously."

Serena will meet the winner of the Frenchwoman Alize Cornet and Hungarian Agnes Szavay match in Saturday's semifinals.

Cornet, an 18-year-old in her second season on the tour, also reached the semifinals at Amelia Island last week. Ranked No. 40, she has never faced Williams but watched her play Friday.

"I said 'Oh my God, if I play Serena tomorrow, I hope not to be ridiculous,'" she said. "I think I will do what I do usually. I will use my topspin forehand. I will run everywhere I can and I will just do my best and fight on every point."

I am now convinced that it is American James Blake's sole responsibility to bring the fire to the USA's Davis Cup matches. But how much can we stand?

Both James Blake and Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu were up to the task during Davis Cup play at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina today. It was whip here, whizz there, ace here, lob there, and whatever else you want to call some of those shots. It was remarkable.

At the same time, if you were cheering for the USA, James Blake losing that fourth set was the onset of a coronary. Enduring a fifth set was just almost unthinkable. But you couldn't really complain because neither Blake nor Mathieu was doing anything wrong. They were just both in their own zone.

James Blake saved two match points to win the five-set epic in this quarterfinal encounter. Blake defeated Mathieu 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in three hours and 48 minutes to post his third five-set win in 11 played.

Blake was greeted with a huge ovation by his team, a long hug from his mother and brother and a roar from the American crowd to honour his achievement.

“He was serving so well,” said Blake. “I wanted to give myself a chance, to get those returns in place and then take advantage of any opportunity that I had. He made an error on one of them and, before I knew it, I was back in it. And once you get that feeling of confidence, you feel like you can do anything. You get a second wind.”

“There were so many ups and downs during the match,” continued Blake. “Against a player of a very similar level, 12 in the world, it came down to one-two points, who is at home, who has the surface that’s right for them, down to confidence.”

“There is no better feeling in the world than being up 2-0 and watching the Bryans, sitting back and watching them with their energy and their ability,” added Blake. “No better feeling.”

A victory by the Americans tomorrow would put them into the semifinals against the winner of the Germany/Spain quarterfinal. Spain leads Germany 2-0 and Rafael Nadal and company would relish a chance to play the Americans in a reprise of the 2004 Final.

It was a fight to the finish today when American Serena Williams and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova battled it out on the tennis court in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open. In the end Kuznetsova got knocked out 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Serena has been back on the money with regard to her fitness and preparation. She's playing this tournament with the prowess that originally took her to the top.

"I don't feel tired or sore or anything," Williams said 90 minutes after the match. "I feel like I'm really fit. I've been working really hard."

There were some portions of the match though that just were not pretty, and Serena's game was error filled, but she got the job done regardless.

For a brief moment she slowed to where it appeared that she was about to be overtaken by Kuznetsova. Serena took an injury timeout during which she received treatment from the trainer for what was later described as a back injury.

"Once she came out it got better, like straightaway, and it got even better after that."

A win in the final would be a fifth title at this event for Serena. "I haven't won anything five times, except I win all the time in Uno, I don't think that counts."

"I love playing here, all my friends come out. I promised tickets for Saturday, so I was like, `I can't lose. I've got to stay in there a little bit longer.' It was mainly my motivation."

In the words that one of the fans yelled from the stands, "Serena, this is your house"

As if he had done it a hundred times before, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga walked into Rod Laver arena and pummeled Spaniard Rafael Nadal into submission to win the 2008
Australian Open semifinal 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

After sprinting to the back of his side of the tennis court subsequent to the coin toss, nothing else looked familiar to Nadal. As opposed to running his opponent's tongue out with the left-handed spin he usually puts on the ball, Nadal was the one chasing blazing shots from the other side of the court.

France's latest delicacy commanded last night's semifinal match with the prowess and calm of a seasoned veteran. The difference is that this is the first time Tsonga has ever played this deep into a grand slam event. The 22-year old world no. 38, which he obviously won't be after this event, came into Australia totally under the radar and took out experienced opponents round after round after round. And today, he awaits the winner of the Roger Federer Novak Djokovic semifinal match to set up the final.

"It's unbelievable, three sets, it's just amazing," Tsonga said.

"I don't know what to say. Today I played unbelievable, and nothing can stop me and I am just happy.

"It's like a dream. Every day, this like a dream. I can't believe it's true, just amazing."

What the French Toast was that?! American Venus Williams and Serbian Ana Ivanovic put on one of the worst grand-slam tournament matches I've ever seen in my life! I felt like I was moving in slow motion. It was terrible. By the time that match was over I didn't care who won, just make it stop....please!

There is a reality to it and that reality is, after a total of nine double faults, 69 unforced errors and nine breaks of serve, Ana Ivanovic "won" the match, "defeating" Venus 7-6(7/3), 6/4.

Good Grief! Skee Stylus, I'll gladly take the hit for this call.

"I have to give a lot of credit to her," Williams said. "She played really well, made a lot of good shots. She's definitely improved on everything in her game. That's really what it takes at this level. You want to keep improving and playing, because we're all improving."

"And I think Serena and I, we don't have anything to prove. We get out there and we play our best ... I don't get too caught up in what the next person thinks."

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has just BLOWN by everybody and is sitting pretty in his first career grand-slam semifinal.....YAY!!!

Tsonga is playing effortlessly and looking better in his matches than most of the seeds that I've seen, some of which have already gone home.

Even though Tsonga has been playing well and had made it to the quarterfinals, none of the commentators would give him any kind of edge over Russian Mikhail Youhzny, but it has come to pass. Tsonga defeated Youzhny in straight sets 7-5, 6-0, 7-6.

I am just so thrilled for him. His reward for making it to the semifinals? Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Welcome to the bigs Tsonga!

Tonight both Americans Venus Williams and James Blake won their round of 16 matches and are firmly seated in the quarterfinals.

First up was Venus Williams playing Polish player Marta Domachowska. Domachowska came out firing on all cylinders and quickly broke Venus' serve. Venus adjusted her game as necessary and won the first set. In the second set Domachowska's game began to slowly unravel and Venus just kept forging ahead eventually beating Domachowska in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

Next up for Venus, Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

Up next, James Blake opposite Marin Cilic of Croatia. Cilic did what he could, but the match was all Blake all the time. Blake has been playing so well with such confidence and ease that his matches are almost boring. Blake defeated Cilic 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Keep it up James, bore us clear to the final!

Next up for James, world no. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is rolling full steam at the 2008 Australian Open! Tsonga took one step further tonight by knocking off compatriot, good buddy and one of my favorite players, Richard Gasquet. The score was 6-2, 6-7(7/5), 7-6(8/6), 6-3. It's safe to say that these two know each others games well, not simply because they're French, but because they practice and play together. The duo just recently teamed together to beat the world no. 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan.

"It's never easy, but it's okay when you are on the court, it's over," Gasquet said. "You have to play your friend. I prefer to lose against a French player, and it's not a big problem for me to lose against a friend. Next time." Tsonga stated, "on the court, we are not friends."

Tsonga and Gasquet definitely played the match that I expected from the two of them, powerful and stylish. They can swat that ball with flair that you would only find in Vogue Magazine, it's beautiful.

Tsonga has entered an entirely new chapter of tennis and tennis talk for himself, the quarterfinals of a grand-slam. The Frenchman's opponent will be Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. I expect to see fireworks in this match, both of these guys are playing burning hot tennis. Let the games begin!


American Serena Williams was up next opposite Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic. Both ladies came out powering serves and returns down the line like there was no tomorrow. I actually thought that this match would go toe-to-toe until the bitter end, but surprisingly, to me at least, it didn't. Vaidisova seemed to get just a touch unraveled and errors began to creep into her game. This is a major no no playing Serena Williams. Serena defeated Vaidisova 6-3, 6-4 in roughly an hour and fifteen minutes. While fairly competitive, you never got the impression that Serena was in trouble.

Serena's opponent for her quarterfinal match has not yet been determined. She will play the winner of the match between Serbian Jelena Jankovic and Australian Casey Dellacqua.

India's Sania Mirza definitely had a plan in mind when she and American Venus Williams finally hit the court, but it was really irrelevant. Mirza was defeated 7-6 (7/0), 6-4.

Roger Federer's five-set, 4½-hour match against Janko Tipsarevic played havoc with the night schedule Saturday at the Australian Open.

That delayed the match between Venus and Mirza by two hours at Rod Laver Arena, and the pair opted not to move to another court to accommodate the next match featuring Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis. The Hewitt-Baghdatis showdown didn't start until 11:47 p.m.

"The tournament did ask if Sania and I would consider playing at Vodafone or playing tomorrow," Williams said. "Both of us didn't want to. We felt like our match was important. We also felt like we wanted the schedule to go as planned."

Venus continues to power through her matches even though she's making a lot of errors. But like her opponents game plans, the errors are irrelevant too, and when you wrap it all up, the win is all that really counts. Go Venus!!

The last 24 hours seemed as if a deep wound of red white and blue was opened and bled tennis players left and right! Sam Querry, Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick and on and on and on.

In comes American James Blake with a bandage! In a wonderful five sets of tennis James Blake overcomes a 2 set 4-1 game deficit to defeat Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(7-5), 6-2. Blake looked a bit lifeless in the first two sets, but in the third he somehow revived himself and there was no looking back. It was inspiring.

"That's got to be my biggest comeback," Blake said, referring to his second victory after nine straight losses in five-set matches. "Just seemed like every time there was a mountain to climb ... couldn't have been a better feeling than to accomplish what I did."

Congratulations James!!

James will be playing Croatian Marin Cilic, who took out Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, in the fourth round.

American James Blake continued to roll over his opponent with power and excellent shot making. Today he victimized fellow American Michael Russell. Initially it appeared that the match might be competitive as Russell broke Blake's serve. But midway through the first set Blake turned the beat around and never looked back. I hate to see a fellow American take a beat down, but that's the name of the game! Russell's beat down came in at 6-3, 6-2, 6-2......Yeowches!

Next up for Blake is Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.





Earlier American Venus Williams defeated Camille Pin of France 7-5, 6-4. Venus still isn't showing that totally fabulous game of hers yet. Pin was able to break her serve several times. Hopefully these are just some early hiccups and we'll see her game evolve into the wonder that it usually is.

Next up for Venus is India's Sania Mirza.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has come to Australia to play! Tsonga fired off 14 aces, as he moved through round 2 with ease and flair while defeating American Sam Warburg 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. There hasn't been much commentary about Tsonga going into the Australian Open, but he just may be the second week surprise this year.

Tsonga will meet Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in round 3.

Tsonga spent some time off court with members of the Australian Kangaroos Football team.








American Serena Williams had her hands full with Meng Yuan of China. That modest sized woman can with every intention of moving on to the third round. Yuan came through the qualifying rounds, but you would never have known it. Yuan played as well as any of the seeded players that we've seen thus far, and had she not have been playing someone with the skills of Serena Williams, we'd be seeing her in round 3. Unfortunately for her, she did run into Serena and was defeated 6-3, 6-1. That score may sound like it was a walk in the park for Serena, but it wasn't, she had to break out the big guns to take Yaun out. But post match she said "it was fun!"

Serena will meet Victoria Azarenka for her round 3 opponent.

Venus Williams had a few hiccups in her first round match with China's Zi Yan, but they were minor. Yan played a very competitive match and gave Venus almost as good as she got. But Yan was no match for the power of Venus, which is what eventually overwhelmed her. Venus defeated Yan 6-2, 7-5.

For her second round match Venus will meet Frenchwoman Camille Pin.

During the match commentary Pam Shriver, Mary Joe Fernandez and Chris Fowler all had some funky remarks regarding the length of Venus' shorts, which they thought were too short. Chris Fowler stated (alluding to Venus' 'EleVen' line of clothing) "well what do you expect for $20?" And of course that got a nice bit of laughter. What they should do is stop at a store that carries the 'EleVen' line and pick up a few pieces, it looks far better than anything I've ever seen them in.

World No. 38 Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has cast the first big blow in the men's singles draw. Tsonga has dispatched world no. 9 Brit Andy Murray from the 2008 Australian Open in the first round, Ouch!

Tsonga and his powerful shots won the first two sets 7-5, 6-4. At the beginning of the third set it appeared that he was having some sort of foot problem. Murray was able to capitalize on whatever the problem was and took the set 6-0. This obviously appeared as if the rest of the match was going to be a wash for Tsonga. Not so. It was a back and forth match for both of the players and Tsonga continued to hobble around. In the end, Tsonga took the fourth set 7-5 It was great!

Tsonga may still be riding high on that doubles win that he and fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet recently had over Bob and Mike Bryan. The French pair defeated the world no. 1 American twin brothers 4-6, 6-4, 11-9.

If the last couple of matches are any indication of Tsonga's season for 2008, it appears he'll have a pretty sweet year!