Black Tennis Pros

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Saturday, October 6, 2007

Hey everyone,

Unfortunately, I lost to Razzano in the final today. She managed to play really well at all the right moments, so congratulations to her. I wasn't tired - I was feeling pretty fit. It's a very good win. She's having a great year. I was having a problem with my right hip - it started in the first set, and finally in the third set I had to take a medical timeout to get taped or something. I kept playing though, because I really wanted to win. I fought hard. She was just playing really well.

Anyway it's past midnight and I really need to get some sleep, because I fly out to Bangkok in the morning. But I'll try my best to talk to you all from there...

xxx

Venus

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By virtue of trophy size, Japan definitely wants you to know who won and who lost don't they?

France's Virginie Razzano rallied from a set down and defied match points against her to defeat top-seeded Venus Williams 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 and win the Japan Open.

Williams had three match points in the tiebreak of the second set but couldn't finish off the fifth-seeded Razzano, who won her second straight WTA tournament.

"I'm very happy to win," said Razzano, who won the Guangzhou International Open on Sunday for her first WTA Tour singles title. "Venus is a great champion, she's not in the top 10 by magic."

Williams, No. 8 in the WTA rankings, was down 5-2 in the second set but fought back to tie and then broke Razzano to take a 6-5 lead.

Razzano broke back to force a tiebreaker and then came back from being down 6-3 in the tiebreak to win it 9-7.

Williams won the first game of the third set but took a 10-minute injury timeout and came back with her right thigh wrapped.

"It started to hurt in the first set," said Williams. "I wanted to play because I wanted win, then in the third set I couldn't get my leg up on my serve so I had to get it taped."

Both players struggled with their serves in the final set. Williams broke Razzano to tie the set 4-4 and Razzano broke Williams to take a 5-4 lead.

Razzano held serve in the final game and won the match when Williams' forehand went into the net.

"I wasn't tired," said Williams, who won the Korea Open on Sunday. "She managed to play good at the right moments so congratulations to her, she's had a great year."

Razzano, who came into the match 33rd in the WTA rankings, said she was fatigued by the end of the match, which lasted 2 hours, 48 minutes.

"I'm very tired," said Razzano. "I've played a lot of tennis in the past week and this was a difficult match."

The above picture shows Marion Jones crying during her press conference subsequent to her plea to two counts of making false statements to federal agents a' la Lil' Kim. Marion Jones is one of those athletes who I had a bit of faith in, and honestly believed that she just happened to be caught up in a sting gone haywire.

As a person, Marion Jones's admission today does nothing toward how I feel about her, the woman, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. "He who goes without sin, let him cast the first stone." The greatest cost of Marion Jones's lie is to herself. She will pay in humiliation and dignity, and that's a high price to pay. Fortunately it appears that she has loved ones who love Marion, not Marion Jones the runner, and that kind of support is priceless. It will be the rock upon which she can stand throughout the days to come.

As a supporter of Ms. Jones, I'm definitely disappointed. She protested loudly and fervently that not only was she clean, but she also defied the agents to show one ounce of proof that she had been using steroids. Yet today she confesses with tears in her eyes. Why? Were the feds closing in on her lies? Or did they actually have the goods on her and she wanted to be the one to tell us before federal agents did?

Whatever brought Ms. Jones to this point today, at least it's over and she can begin to move on with the rest of her life. She retired from the sport of track and field in her press conference today, apologized and asked for forgiveness. I guess she did pretty much all that she could do in light of the situation.

I hope that her tomorrow is better than today.

Frenchman Jo Wilfried Tsonga assisted Briton Andy Murray in reaching his first ATP Tour semi-final since March. Murray defeated Tsonga 6-3 6-3 at the Moselle Open.

Murray has had a barren second half to the year after injuring his wrist in Hamburg in May, but he was near his best against Tsonga. Murray broke three times in the first set and a single break was enough to take a tighter second.

Murray will face second seed Guillermo Canas in the last four.

Serena Williams was unable to turn whatever advice she may have received from sister Venus into a win. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Serena 6-3,6-3.

Kuznetsova served better and made fewer errors in beating Williams, who was playing in the tournament for the first time since 1999. Three straight backhand errors by Williams allowed Kuznetsova to win the last game, with the American hitting the last shot wide.

"I made so many errors, my balls were just flying and there was no wind," Williams said. "There were hardly any rallies. It was hard to get any rhythm because I was making so many errors. I was just spraying balls all over."

Friday, October 5, 2007

Hey everybody,

I didn't have the greatest start to the day. First of all, I woke up to my mom pounding on the door like it was the police - I thought something bad happened or maybe I slept through something and it wasn't either of those! Although I'm never really on time for anything. I only wake up on the nick of time and rush to everything - to breakfast, to the courts - and I'm normally running late. I should have packed my bag last night, too, because when I got out to the courts in the morning I realized I'd forgotten half of my outfit in the hotel room. I'll usually bring two full outfits just in case something goes wrong but all I had today was one skirt. Fortunately, I had a white, sleeveless warm-up shirt with the EleVen logo on the back so I wore that, and nobody really noticed... Pretty smooth!

My match was challenging, what can I say? My opponent, Caroline Wozniacki, got a couple of breaks but I got them back, and she got a lot of balls back too. I had to conquer a really good opponent today. She fell and twisted her ankle at one point but she got back up and everything seemed to be fine after that. And she was still tough. What was working for me today was my will to win, to just hit the ball and play every point. As a professional I should be able to do that, right?

I was thinking of going to the Imperial Palace this afternoon, but my mom told me I should go back to the hotel and that was the end of it! So I ended up not going anywhere I wanted to. I guess I could have gone if I really wanted to, but I was tired so I saw it as an opportunity to get some of my work done. What am I working on... well, I finished my swimsuit drawings yesterday and today I have been finishing up quick sketches of my children's wear ideas. Now I'm thinking about my board concepts and have started on those. I'm really getting into it.

I started a new book today and someone has already died. But, it's much better than the other book because I'm sure not everyone dies. One person dying I can deal with! It's called "The Righteous Men" by Sam Bourne. I didn't pick it for any particular reason, I just pick 'em as I see 'em and just hope for the best. I was in the airport and saw this one and decided I would try to read it.

Tonight I'm just going to keep working on this - I've been doing work for four hours now which is an improvement from me, so I'm very excited. I'm just going to take it from here. I'm not caught up, though. I slacked off a lot this week and last week in Korea so I'm going to have to punish myself on the next plane ride by doing some more. Usually I like to sleep on the plane, but not this time...

I'm flying to Bangkok on Sunday for another week in a row of tennis. Usually I injure myself or can't play this many weeks in a row for some reason, and this is just awesome for me. I've been really careful lately to not get injured. At night tomorrow we may go out, maybe find some more karaoke... my favorite song from when we went last week was definitely "Call Me" by Blondie - it's totally in my key (I sing pretty high) - but we did everything from Guns N' Roses to 4 Non Blondes to Nirvana, Tears for Fears, Ciara, just everything. My mother LOVES Nickelback so when "This Is How You Remind Me" came on she was so happy. She's a great singer, actually. Isha likes R&B. The funny part was that last week my calves were hurting but I didn't care at the karaoke, I just got up and danced, even though I'd just had an ice bath... probably not the best decision from me. But oh well. I hope we don't have too much fun tomorrow, because ultimately, I have another tournament coming up. I have to be serious and keep my energy. It will hopefully be another five matches and another final - we'll see!

I also wanted to set something straight. People have been reading the blog and have been telling me I've said this, I've said that... and in one of the first ones I said I was like one of those girls who sits with the guys and can't get a boyfriend; I just want to say I actually do have a boyfriend now and we have great times, and I am one of those girls that has a chance to get one!! People asked about eating the cow tongue too - I'm really trying not to think about that one anymore! But it's nice to know you guys are reading my blog this week - it's nice to know you guys are really feeling it.

I'm hoping to just relax tonight here, just eating some grapes (purple), really just getting rested for tomorrow morning's final. I'm playing Virginie Razzano for the title. I think she's a very good player. She played so well against me in San Diego. It'll be important for me to play aggressively, and just take it to her - that will definitely be on the agenda.

I'll talk to you all again tomorrow night!

xxx

Venus
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Venus Williams ended a spirited challenge from Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki on Friday to reach the final of the Japan Open tennis tournament.

The Wimbledon champion, powered her way to a 6-3, 7-5 victory to move to within one match of back-to-back tour wins after last week's Korea Open triumph.

In Saturday's final Venus will take on fifth seed Virginie Razzano of France, who defeated eighth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

"It feels good. It's great to be in the finals," Williams said.

"I was like, 'can I do this? Is it possible?' But it is, so it's exciting."

After losing the first four games in a row and eventually the first set, Wozniacki went ahead 2-0 in the second set and then 4-2, taking advantage of Williams's two double faults in the sixth game.

But Venus steadied herself to make it 5-5 -- thanks to a questionable line-call -- before winning the last three games to finish off the 97-minute match.

"Four-two is definitely not the set, it's just one break, so winning one game is always pretty much even," said Williams.

"I was trying to win one game at one time. I was very confident. I was trying to focus on making less errors," she said.

The 17-year-old Wozniacki said she could not cope with Williams once the Wimbledon champion returned to form in the second set.

"Venus played really well, she just smashed winners in the corners, so I couldn't do anything," she said.

"I was trying to keep my tactics, just tried to make her run, but at 4-2 she really raised her game until four-all and she just did a lot of winners, so I couldn't really do anything.

"It's tough to break her serve even though I broke her serve three times in the match," said Wozniacki.

Tiya Rolle stood patiently on one of the lower courts Wednesday afternoon, helping grade-school children from the Pike County Housing Authority learn how to strike a tennis ball.

Rolle knows what it's like to be a small child looking for a sport at which she could be competitive.

“I started playing when I was nine,” she said. “And I'm 21 now.”

Hers is an athletic family, with sister Asha leading the way. Asha has won the USTA Tennis Classic of Troy twice, and made it to the third round of the 2007 U.S. Open.

“There's no jealousy there,” proud mom Sharon Rolle said. “Tiya, I think, is more of the coordinator when they're together.”

Rolle agreed.

“We're different people. There's not any jealousy,” she said. “When she (Asha) wins, I feel her success, too. When she loses, it hurts me.”

Rolle bowed out in the qualifying rounds of the singles matches for the Troy tournament, but she and partner Margot Carter are in the quarterfinals of the doubles draw.

This is my first time playing with Margot,” Rolle said. “She saw that I was looking for a partner to play doubles, and we went out there and won.”

Right now, 21-year-old Rolle is working on a more rounded game.

“Tiya's trying to add diversity to her game, work on the transition to the net game to be a more complete player,” Sharon Rolle said.

Rolle sees playing on the professional tennis tour for about three more years. After that, she has plans outside tennis.“

I'm going to continue to do this while I study law online,” Rolle said.

It takes a lot to get two daughters onto the pro tour, Sharon Rolle said.

“It takes a lot of work,” she said. “For them, it's the physical work - getting out there and practicing and working out. But it takes a lot of support, too, whether that's helping them while their traveling or making sure they're eating right or getting the right coaching.”

Rolle and Carter play the winner of Maria-Fernanda Alves/Stephanie Dubois and Angela Haynes/Mashona Washington today.

Source - The Messenger (Bobby Matthews)