Black Tennis Pros

It's a slow tennis news day today, so I'm going to take off my tennis shoes and put on my political hat.

Hillary Clinton is getting on my nerves.

When this campaign began I thought wow, this is incredible. We have two brilliant people in the persons of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I was so very proud just to be able to see that the potential to hold the highest office in the land is truely available to two people who look like me, an African-American and a woman, awesome. The beauty in this vision is that it's real. Not only are they candidates, but one of them will become the leader of the free world, because Democrats far and wide are going to ensure that we do not have to endure the political incarceration that another Republican president will surely bring.

I also felt so awful that here is an incredible African-American man who, if elected, will probably bring unparalleled heights of dignity to the presidency, and God knows we need it. Unfortunately, I was not going to be able to vote for him because I supported Hillary Clinton. But thanks to Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama too, I will now be voting for the latter.

I am so sick of Senator Clinton's "strength" and "day one readiness." What does that mean? It means how ordinary she is in a time that we need an extraordinary person in the Oval Office. Why ordinary? What does Hillary continue to allude to as her "test of strength or great trial? Bill Clinton cheating on her! Yes it happened, yes it happened in front of the world and right under her nose. It was indeed a bigger and more humiliating cheat than most women who are cheated on suffer, but it still boils down to marital infidelity. Well, I've been cheated on, I'm still standing and life is better now than ever, should I declare my candidacy?

"Ready on day one," what the hell does that mean? From Fortune 500 CEO's to the cashiers at McDonalds, based upon their resumes they are hired. On day one of their job they get up, shower, dress and hit the new job, ready on day one. What the world will bring their way on day one is unbeknownst to them, but they are there and ready. This too could describe the very ordinary Hillary. For all of her legal expertise, first lady expertise, and genuine other accomplishments, unless Dionne Warwick has told her something different, she knows no more about day one as the leader of the free world than I do. Being married to a former president does not transfer any special abilities to her.

Lastly, Senator Clinton's "kindergarten teacher" routine this weekend was a major turn off. "Shame on you.......every Democrat should be outraged" she yells in reponse to a mailing by Senator Obama's office. Doesn't it just bring to mind your kindergarten teacher telling one of the bad kids, "shame on you, now you have cost the rest of the class their play time." Trying to drag the rest of the class to her side so that they'll be angry at the bad kid and perhaps that will make him straighten up and fly right in the future. Good Lord, give me a break.

Well, I'll give Senator Clinton kudos for one thing, she has concocted the cure for my and a lot of other African-Americans attachment to that family. It was nice while it lasted, but I'm over it.

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."