Black Tennis Pros

Well folks, as great as it would have been to see both Donald Young and Scoville Jenkins try and make a deep run at the U. S. Open, alas, 'twas not to be.

On Saturday when I sat down and took a long look at the final main draw, I was floored when I saw what unfortunate luck Scoville Jenkins had in getting Roger Federer as his first round opponent. Yes, it is an honor to play Roger, but the likelihood is, you're not going to beat him. And Jenkins did not today. He did make a pretty good show, but Federer took him out in straight sets.

As for 18-year old Donald Young however, he put on a worthy performance in his 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Australian Chris Guccione.

Young's ATP Tour luck had not been running so good prior to the Pilot Pen Tournament. "Obviously that goes through your mind when you lose 11 in a row," Young said of his ATP losing streak. "But I felt like...I would definitely win at least one. I knew I would get one. Sooner or later you don't play all the top players, you get to play some of the lower ranked players also. It was definitely different (today). I had won my first match. I wasn't 0-for-anything. I had a win. It was a big confidence booster."

"You have to be able to put the ball away sometimes," Young said. "But it throws people off when you can slice, drop shot, get to a lot of balls, just make 'em play."

I've seen Young get a real frustrated look on his face after blowing a point, but he says that he's largely in control of his emotions, but it doesn't always appear so. "(I'm) like a perfectionist, but no one can be perfect," he said. "I don't like to miss anything, but that's not the way it goes. I'm happy, but maybe not showing it, because I don't want to show it too early and end up losing."

Against Guccione today Young had a 61% serve rate to 63%, he equally served 9 aces, and had 1 less service fault than Guccione at 3.

See ya in the second round Donald Young!

As for Scoville Jenkins, 21, he came into the match ranked No. 320, and even with that discrepancy in achievement level, acquitted himself well. He served big, hit hard and competed well. But he has many miles to go before he'll be able to do sufficient damage to beat a player the stature of Federer.

Jenkins had a higher service rate than Federer at 67% to 60%, he had 9 aces to Federer's 13, and 7 double faults to 2. Jenkins unforced errors were 31 to Fededer's 12 and the score of 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 showed it.

After 1 hour 32 minutes at least Jenkins still had a wonderful attitude about playing the world No. 1. I look forward to seeing more of Jenkins in play the rest of the year.

Venus Williams and Serena Williams will play back-to-back matches on Opening Night of the US Open. They will compete following a historic tribute to Althea Gibson that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of her historic title victory at the U.S. Nationals (formerly the US Open).
Serena Williams was the first black woman since Althea Gibson to win the US Open.

Venus Williams was the first black woman since Gibson to win Wimbledon. Together, Serena Williams and Venus Williams have won 14 Grand Slam titles. Each has won the US Open twice.

“Opening Night will be one of the most historic nights in US Open history,” said Arlen Kantarian, Chief Executive, Professional Tennis, USTA.

“We can’t imagine a more fitting way to commemorate Althea Gibson’s achievements than seeing these two great champions -- and pioneers in their own right -- take the stage on Opening Night.”

“Althea Gibson opened the door," said Zina Garrison, U.S. Fed Cup Captain. “Venus and Serena knocked it down.”

The Opening Night Ceremony, entitled “Breaking Barriers,” will feature more than 15 African-American female pioneers from the fields of sports, entertainment, politics and the arts in a special on-court celebration of Althea Gibson’s life and career.

Serena Williams is scheduled to play Angelique Kerber of Germany. Venus Williams drew a qualifier for her first-round match-up.

Source -- USTA

WTA Tour Players:

Serena Williams, USA (8) vs. Angelique Kerber, Germany
Venus Williams, USA (12) vs Kira Nagy, Hungary
Jamea Jackson, USA (WC) vs Nicole Pratt, Australia

Note: Angela Haynes attempted to enter the main draw through the qualifying rounds, but was defeated in the 1st round by Pauline Parmenter of France, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.


ATP Tour Players:

James Blake, USA (6) vs Michael Russell, USA
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France vs Oscar Hernandez, Spain
Donald Young, USA (WC) vs Chris Guccione, Australia
Scoville Jenkins, USA (Q) vs Roger Federer

Note: Scoville Jenkins entered through the qualifying rounds. He defeated the following players:

Round 1: Oliver Patience, France 6-3, 5-7, 5-7
Round 2: Harel Levy, Israel, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
Round 3: Aisam-UL-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan 6-7, 6-2, retired

Excellent work Scoville Jenkins! And your reward? Roger Federer as your first round opponent. I am already in prayer. Bless you son.

Serena Williams

Chris Rock and daughter

Quddus

Sean Kingston

Lil Mama

James Blake lifts the winning trophy for his Pilot Pen victory.

Last night in New York City, Serena walked the red carpet to attend the US Open Official Player Party hosted by the USTA and Heineken at Ono in the Hotel Gansevoort.