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.

United States Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe named Andy Roddick, James Blake, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan tp the four-man roster that will play Sweden in the September 21-23, Davis Cup semi-final at Gothenburg.

"The guys always circle these weeks as big events for them," said McEnroe,who has held the position for seven years. "I think they know we have a real good chance to go all the way this year."

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.

Let me just start out with a hearty yay for the ladies! Now that's what I'm talking about, two great players playing a fantastic match and having good spirits about it at the end. You rock ladies!!

Yes, I am extremely happy that Venus won, but more than anything, those of us who love tennis tune in for a great match. We want whomever we're pulling for to win, but we want a battle 'till the end, and that's what American Venus Williams and Serbian Jelena Jankovic gave us tonight.

Jelena came out smokin'! I think she put her prior match record against Venus, which was 3-0, in the forefront of her mind and figured she could do the same thing this time and keep it rolling. Jelena really played well, and while Venus held her own, she made a lot of mistakes in that first set. As a matter of fact, Venus had 56 unforced errors for the entire match -- yowza!

The tables turned in the second set though, and Venus, rockin' more 'Eleven' shawt shawts, came out smokin'. She was moving forward and swatting balls out of the air like crazy. Jelena kept looking at her moms whom I guess she thought could help her, but it didn't work. Venus allowed Jelena only 1 game.

The third set was toe-to-toe, and it was only fair that it came down to a tie-break which Venus won 7-4. The overall score for the match was 6-4, 1-6, 6-7(7/4).

Post match Jelena (while smiling) stated "I am really disappointed now, but I am talking to you guys. I had such a great time playing in front of you. I have to wish Venus great luck the rest of the tournament." What sports"womanship!"

Post match Venus said "I was hoping that I don't come out here and make errors, and I did."

"I have never had support like this at the Open before, it's amazing!"

When asked about the house being sold out, Venus said "The ticket situation in my box, honestly, I don't even deal with it...whoever can get a ticket gets a ticket. It's like musical chairs."

When asked how she brought her game together after the 1st set, Venus stated "I don't know, it went so fast. I was hoping the 3rd set would go like that too, but Jelena is an unbelievable competitor. However, when headed to the women's locker room, she was heard to say, "I want to kill myself." Awww, no need, we still love ya.

When asked about Serena's loss last night, Venus stated "I wasn't happy with the result at all, to say the very least. I was sad that Serena lost because I didn't like to see her so upset. I definitely have to try to win for Williams."

The parents of the ladies were in the stands of course.







Venus's mom and dad and Jelena's mom Snezana Jankovic.

Celebs were on hand just as they have been for the entire U. S. Open. Tonight they included Ted Brokaw, Ile Natase, Grace Jones, Jerry Seinfield and his wife, Larry David and Natalie Portman to name a few.






Oh, and least I forget the great Andre Agassi was in the house helping the commentators out. He looks great.