Black Tennis Pros

Since I can't even begin to describe what happened to American James Blake in his defeat by German Nicolas Kiefer, here are the quarterfinal highlights.

MONTREAL — Wimbledon champion Venus Williams has withdrawn from next week's Rogers Cup women's tennis tournament with a knee injury.

Tournament director Eugene Lapierre said Friday Williams did not want to risk aggravating the tendinitis in her knee ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

She was the lone late withdrawal from the tier-1 event before the draw on Friday.

This year's tournament boasts seven of the world's top-10 players.

Today in Toronto, Canada in the second week of the Olympus U.S. Open Series at the Rogers Masters, American James Blake will play German Nicolas Kiefer in a quarterfinal match in the Rexall Centre.

Blake has the historical upper hand over Kiefer whom he has defeated three times. I am hoping that along with his talent, he will use that mental edge to come out on top of this match.

Last week in Indianapolis Blake made it to the semifinal round, but was knocked out by Dmitry Tursunov. Yesterday Blake knocked Tursunov out of the third round of the Rogers Masters. I wonder "whose got next" between these two?

Blake will have to be on his p's and q's tomorrow. Keifer may not be ranked nearly as high, but I've seen him play many times and he can definitely present a serious battle for any opponent.

Top seeds and two-time Rogers Cup champions Bob and Mike Bryan opened their title campaign in Toronto by defeating Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.

They next face Croat Mario Ancic and South African Jeff Coetzee, who reached the quarterfinals with back-to-back wins Thursday. They needed 54 minutes to get by Fernando Gonzalez and Andre Sa 6-3, 6-2 in their first round match, and then ousted Czech No. 8 seeds Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner 6-4, 6-3. Vizner won the Canada title last year with Indian Mahesh Bhupathi.

On July 14, 2006 the following announcement was posted on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour site:

Tour To Trial On-Court Coaching

Rogers Cup in Montreal and Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven to launch test of latest groundbreaking innovation designed to make game more fan friendly and entertaining for TV and in-stadium viewers

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced today the launch of an historic on-court coaching test at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Montreal and Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Michelob ULTRA in New Haven tournaments that will add to the entertainment value and intrigue to viewers of women's professional tennis. The test represents the first time in women's Tour history that on-court coaching has been trialed, and follows on the heels of the 2006 introduction of a series of groundbreaking innovations designed to enhance the entertainment value of women's tennis to its global television and live viewing audiences. Full Article Here.

Today, according to an article on Reuters, this trial has been halted indefinitely.

I'm not sure that anything was accomplished during this trial, either for the players or the viewing audience. One of the worst aspects for the viewing audience (at least for me) was that most of the coaches and players did not want their conversations to be overheard. They either removed their microphones or spoke in their native languages.

If the trial meant as much to you as it did to me, I doubt that you will miss it.