Black Tennis Pros

After a very brief hiatus, the Coaches Corner will return tomorrow with an exclusive interview of the first Black female head coach at Harvard, Traci Green.

What a pleasure it was to speak with her and get a personal perspective directly from her.

Also, the Coaches Corner has received a little press recently, check it out:

SouthtownStar

Round 1 - Singles

James Blake, USA and Bjorn Pau, GER




Round 1 - Doubles

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Wesley Moodie, RSA
vs.
Bye




Round 1 - Singles

Milagros Sequera, VEN vs. Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP


Round 1 - Doubles

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Natalie Grandin, RSA
vs.
Bethanie Mattek, USA and Sania Mirza, IND


Eliminated in singles qualifying rounds:

Raquel Kops-Jones



Round 1 - Singles

Phillip Simmonds, USA vs. Jose Statham, NZL

Marcus Fugate, USA vs. Michael Yani, USA


Round 1 - Doubles

Phillip Simmonds, USA and Scott Oudsema, USA
vs.
Strahinja Bobusic, AUS and Greg Jones, AUS

Marcus Fugate, USA and Justin O'Neal, USA
vs.
G.D. Jones, NZL and Daniel King Turner, NZL



Round 1 - Doubles

Tiya Rolle, USA and Whitney Jones, USA
vs.
Romana Tedjakusuma, INA and Story Tweedie-Yates, USA

To most people, Venus Williams is the Amazonian tennis player, who has won Wimbledon four times, with a whomping serve and muscle-bound limbs that go on for ever. Yet, as a new book of photographs shows, she also has an astonishing elegance and beauty.

The book, Venus Williams, is a collaboration between the tennis player and South African-born photographer Koto Bolofo. The two first met four years ago when he spotted her walking down the street in London.

“I turned a corner in Covent Garden and there was this tall, beautiful black woman,” remembers Bolofo, “and I thought, ‘I fancy her!’ I’d never seen such a graceful woman. She was wearing a bright fluorescent pink raincoat and stood out like a sore thumb.” Bolofo contacted her agent, suggesting the project. He had wanted to photograph her ever since he watched her win Wimbledon on the TV. “There was such a strength of woman in her,” he says. “I had never seen anyone like this. She was like a gazelle, so pure. But I wanted to photograph her my way – not as a sports star with lots of muscles, but as a woman.”

“He wanted to work with me, a lowly tennis player!” is Williams’s self-mocking take on the matter. “He saw something in me that no one else has ever seen, the side that’s classic tennis player, with elegance and grace.”

The two became friends and did a few magazine shoots together, including one for Italian Vogue. But Bolofo wanted more: he wanted to do a book. He had “a vision”, Williams says, of doing a chronicle of her life.

Over the next three years, while Williams, now 27, toured the world, Bolofo tailed her, popping up in London, Istanbul, Paris and New York with photographic suggestions, a small team of helpers and a rack of clothes. He took inspiration from the Jacques Henri Lartigue photographs of junior tennis champion Suzanne Lenglen in 1915: the shot of Williams dancing round the court in a ball dress was one of the first they collaborated on. “Lartigue captured that sense of social class with a spontaneity and energy,” says Bolofo. “That was the foundation of the book.”

I'm usually a bit let down after my guy is defeated in a tournament. However, "La Monf" has put forth such a galliant effort in this tournament that his loss was not very painful on Friday.

Although Gael was not able to prevail against world no. 1 Roger Federer, he got the job done just the same. Gael injected some much need hype into the second half of Roland Garros this year and gave us some very unexpected excitement.

Federer defeated Gael 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5.

It is definitely worth mentioning that the Frenchman had some ocular issues.

"This morning I already had a pain in my eye and I think I broke my contact lens," said Monfils following his defeat.

"I couldn't see well, so I tried to put some eye drops in at the beginning of the match. Then it didn't work, so I asked the doctor to come on the court. That didn't work.

"I think part of my contact lens stayed, remained in my eye. I managed to take the other part out, but there was one part left."

"I am not trying to find any excuses, but it didn't help," said the 59th-ranked Monfils. "Each time I was trying to serve it was annoying me."

It's all good Gael, we're just glad to see you in this very positive finish. Keep it up!

I spotted this on Serena's official site today, you've just gotta love it! Too cute.

Although spring sprung rumors that Serena Williams and the rapper Common were an item, the tennis champ plays it coy when pressed for comment on the relationship.

"I think he's a great guy," Williams, 26, tells Ebony for its July issue.

"He's obviously a great artist who is timeless and classic. You can't beat that. But I have to focus on tennis because that's my goal in life."

Due to compete this summer in the Beijing Olympics, where she hopes to reclaim her title as the world's No. 1-ranked female player with the upcoming Grand Slam events – the French Open, U.S. Open and Wimbledon tournaments – Williams has also bought a home in Paris and is trying to learn French.

Beyond that, she says, her hot-weather plans include seeing the screen drama Wanted, based on the comic book and starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and Common – whose very name brings a smile to Williams's face.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing that film," she says.