Black Tennis Pros

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Now that I'm back down to earth, I can truly say that when Bob and Mike Bryan win their doubles match tomorrow and clinch the Davis Cup for the USA, it will have been one of the most fulfilling tennis moments that I've ever had. Yes, I know that Bob and Mike Bryan are going to win tomorrow, no feeling, no intuition, no brag, strictly fact.....just watch and see.

Today however, both Andy Roddick and James Blake committed to their games and pulled out wins. Both of them actually scared me a bit, although Blake hit me with the fear of God. Roddick seemed so pensive throughout the first set, even though he won. He seemed to play a bit more aggressively in the second and third sets, either way he won. Blake was lightening charged in his first set against Youzhney, but came down quite a bit in the second. When he lost the third, that he should have won, I started having heart palpitations. When Youzhney broke back at 5-4 Blake in the fourth set, I took a drink and turned the channel at 9:57 p.m. I refused to turn back until 10:15 p.m. when only one of two things could be occuring, either James Blake and the entire USA bench would be jumping for joy, or it would be the fifth set.

When I turned back to Versus (VS) at 10:15 p.m. on the nose, a middle-aged man was sitting on a rock in some river talking about deer. I leapt out of my chair because it was off, over and Blake had pulled it out. So what I missed the big hug fest, I'd catch it later on The Tennis Channel and save myself some of life's breath!

This is what Davis Cup match victory looks like:


Post match Blake said:

"They've believed in me the whole year, so I wanted to prove them right, to be honest." Blake said of the U.S. team. "They've had confidence in me every time."

"Every time I came over I saw Patrick with a fist pump saying, 'Keep doing what you're doing,' That's the best feeling," Blake said. "That's the confidence I talked about that my teammates have, that if I play my game I'm going to give myself the best chance to win."

Roddick stated:

"It's kind of like 'so close but so far away.' There's no celebration," he said. "It's one match. The celebration will be saved for when we win, if we win."

"If there are 12-and-a-half thousand people behind you and you can use them to help you win a tennis match, you would be stupid not to, right?" Roddick said. "Other than cheating, I'll do anything I can to win."

Technorati Tags: Sports Tennis James Blake
Andy Roddick Bob Bryan Mike Bryan
Patrick McEnroe Davis Cup

At the last minute, today, Russia's Davis Cup Captain, Shamil Tarpischev, made a dramatic change in his lineup. He has, somewhat to my surprise, removed Nikolay Davydenko from the singles and teamed him with Igor Adreev for the doubles matches.

Now, this really shouldn't be shocking to anyone because Davydenko is having a whole host of issues from the mild physical to the very heavy mental. He's been dealing with the ongoing investigation into unusual betting patterns during a loss to Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina at a match in Poland in August. Betfair, an online gambling company, voided all bets on the match after unusually large amounts were wagered on the lowly ranked Argentine throughout the contest, even after he lost the first set 6-1. Davydenko retired with an injury in the third set.

Instead of Davydenko, Andy Roddick will now face Dmitry Tursunov in the opening rubber with James Blake following against Mikhail Youzhney. Tursunov and Youzhney are no slouches by any stretch of the imagination and present very serious competition for both Roddick and Blake. On the other hand, both Roddick and Blake are waaaay better than these two guys, they should murda 'em!

Thanks Tarpischev!

Technorati Tags: Sports Tennis James Blake
Andy Roddick Bob Bryan Mike Bryan
Patrick McEnroe Davis Cup

Black Tennis Pro's reader Unit6109 had the pleasure of meeting Venus Williams during one her Steve and Barry's 'EleVen' clothing line stops. This is the original comment she posted after meeting Venus:

"I met Venus Saturday at Steve & Barry's in San Francisco! My "sophisticated" self (nod to Sheila) was so excited to meet her! First of all, let me say that Venus is stunning! A beautiful young woman. The short hairstyle she's wearing is very becoming and she looked fab in her matching denim vest and jeans. She was so gracious and sweet. When I told her that if I hadn't been in S.F. visiting my daughter, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet her, she said they were going to look into getting a Steve & Barry's where I live. I took the opportunity to tell her how proud I was of her and how appreciative we are of her intelligence and her heart. I told her she was a "Rennaisance Woman" and I knew that she was going to contribute so much good to this world above and beyond tennis. She took both my hands and thanked me so sincerely, I almost burst into tears. She signed a beautiful photo for me while my hubby snapped a few pictures. I'm still so thrilled and tickled!"

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