Black Tennis Pros

I am so pleased today. One of my favorite bloggers, Vanessa at Vanessa: Unplugged! passed along a little love to me. I, along with Invisible Woman, MarvalusOne, Karoli, Paula Neal Mooney and Linda, are receiving the "Spread The Love Award."

Vanessa said, "All of these ladies are shining examples of bloggers who uplift and inform. I am pleased to have them as blogging sisters and wish them many more blog posts to come."

I feel the love in that statement, I thank her for such a generous compliment, and in the same spirit I pass this award on to some bloggers who I feel the very same way about. They are, BlogPassion, Rhonda, FeFe, and Unit6109 (Unit6109 work this out with the hubby). Each of these people support, share and provide friendship that is very inspiring to me. I sincerely appreciate your presence. Stay wonderful!

Americans James Blake and Robby Ginepri went head to head in the quarterfinals at the SAP Open in San Jose, California on Friday. Ginepri defeated Blake 6-2, 6-2.

Last Week in Delray Beach, Florida the long-time friends were opponents in the semifinals, Blake defeated Ginepri in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.

"That was probably one of the best matches I've ever played in my career," Ginepri said. "From start to finish the whole night was just explosive. I attacked the whole entire match. ... When you feel that good out there it's a lot easier to go for your shots and take some chances and risks. The whole night I felt comfortable out there. You wait for matches like this."

Ginepri played a great game, but Blake helped him out throughout the match with his error filled game. In addition to consistently over hitting, Blake had a hard time holding serve and was broken in his first three service games.

"He looked a little off," Ginepri said. "I kept putting so much pressure on him. I don't think he had an answer for it. It's extremely frustrating out there when you don't feel you can do anything."

"I don't really enjoy matches like that when I just can't seem to find anything," Blake said. "Usually I'm able to find some sort of saving grace, either I'm serving well or I'm putting a lot of returns in the court or playing defence well or something. I couldn't find anything that was working for me tonight."

American James Blake is doing what he needs to do to win and he's also sharing a lot of photo time with his fans.

Blake, the No. 2 seed, defeated wildcard Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4 in the first of the evening matches.

Blake is scheduled to play good buddy Robby Ginepri in the next round.

"I have the benefit of knowing just how good Robby is," Blake said. "Some people might look at his ranking or his results in the last year or so and think that it might not be a tough match. But I know how tough it's going to be. I know how well he's playing again. I've practiced with him a ton of times. He's a very dangerous player, a guy who can play at a top-five level."

Sixth-seeded Venus Williams lost to Dominika Cibulkova on Thursday in the third round of the Qatar Open. In their first meeting, Cibulkova defeated Venus 6-3, 6-3.

"This is the best win of my career," the 18-year-old said. "Today I played my game and beat my favourite player. I admired her as a child."

Black Tennis Pro's has the pleasure of an exclusive interview with professional tennis player Dustin Brown.

I caused a little bit of a stir among some of my female readers a couple of months ago when I created a post entitled "Jamaica's Dustin Brown Has The Look." The post consisted only of photo's of Dustin, because at that point I had no firsthand information to accompany "the look."

Fortunately, Dustin uses the internet. He came upon the post and left a comment, when I saw it I contacted him immediately. He was on the road playing tournaments at the time, but was kind enough to work with me through email to provide an interview, for which I am very grateful. I would love to have followed up on some of his responses, perhaps next time.

American James Blake made easy work of fellow American Sam Warburg at the SAP Open on Tuesday. Blake defeated Warburg 6-3, 6-1, in as little as 55 minutes.

Blake will meet another American, Jesse Levine, in the next round.



Nice photo of Blake and little tennis fan.










American Donald Young, playing in the same event, was defeated in the first round by fellow American Wayne Odesnik 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

Young was originally scheduled to play Korean Hyung-Taik Lee. Lee withdrew from the event prior to the match with a back injury.

Wayne Odesnik slid in as a "lucky loser."

Venus Williams defeated Karin Knapp of Italy 6-2, 6-2 in windy conditions due to a sandstorm that hit Doha early Wednesday.

"It was good to win in the desert," Williams said. "It was interesting to win like this. She is a pretty strong girl who hits deep shots, but I am happy I won."

Eight-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams will play for the new Washington Kastles during the 2008 World Team Tennis Pro League season.

According to the Kastles, the D.C. franchise of the league co-founded in 1974 by tennis legend Billie Jean King, Williams will play one home match and three away matches. She is expected to play both singles and doubles.

Williams is one of the most well-known female tennis players in the world. Both Williams and her older sister, Venus Williams, are former No. 1 ranked players.

The Kastles will play their home matches at a location in D.C. soon to be announced. The league's 2008 regular season runs from July 3 to July 23, with the World TeamTennis' championship weekend set for July 24-27 in Roseville, Calif.

The Kastles will play in the league's eastern conference, along with five other teams including the Delaware Smash and Boston Lobsters. The western conference has five teams such as the defending champions, Sacramento Capitals.

The league features several generations of tennis pros, both men and women, competing in communities throughout the United States each summer. The Washington Kastles represents the first D.C.-based team in the league's history.