Black Tennis Pros

The ITF Tennis.com Olympic Tennis Event site has found it necessary to differentiate between a Williams sister and the other players.

On the "As It Happens - Day 1: Sunday August 10" page, the writer makes the following entry:

"2:40pm: World No. 47 Olga Govortsova is about to start against Serena Williams. The formbook and history suggests this shouldn't prove too hard for the American. For those of you who like this stuff and I know there's plenty of you, she's wearing a very fetching red headband and 'normal' white dress. She also looks very focussed."

Now, this person mentions Samantha Stosur, Alize Cornet, Caroline Woznacki, Francesca Schiavone, Marta Domahowska and other women as well. In not one instance did he refer to anything about any of the other women as "normal."

If ITF Tennis.com is going to use such terms, I believe that it is only fair that they share with us what their sense of normalcy is so that we can know what they are talking about. And if this is a 'personal' assessment and not tennis commentary, then state it somewhere else where this can be clearly distinguished.

The games have just begun, let's play nice now.

Well, play has been called for the day. The weather would just not cooperate with the Olympic scheduling. I tried "rain, rain go away, come again some other day," but it didn't work.

Hmmm, anybody know any other weather magic?

Now that's what I'm talking about!

American James Blake announces the arrival of Team USA with a straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Australian Chris Guccione.


The match began late after a serious downpour of rain this morning. After it finally subsided and the grounds crew dried the courts, the opening match began.

Opening Day of the Olympic Tennis event will see American Serena Williams Centre Court at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning against Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

James Blake will also be on court in first round action against Australian Chris Guccione.

Venus and Serena are seen here practicing, and seem to have run into Roger Federer in the process.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Venus Williams

From inception to production, the spectacular event that was the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was beyond compare.

I have NEVER seen the conceptualization of anything so brilliantly put to movement, lights, pyrotechnics and costuming. From beginning to end each and every aspect of this 'experience' was without flaw. I am in awe of the depth and degree of life and energy invested into bringing this concept to fruition.

The event's creator manifested 5,000 years of history right before your eyes. If you know anything of China's history, you literally saw it evolving with each act of the performance. Most impressive in that evolution was the fact that with the exception of the fireworks, everything was people driven. From their numbers, to their talent, to their costumes, the people of China that performed for this event put their hearts into every movement.

When the performance portion concluded, I thought that the parade of countries was going to be just that, the parade of countries. It was then that the real beauty of the Opening Ceremony kicked in for me. Looking into the faces of all of those beautiful people from every corner of the world in their cultural dress waving their countries flag was just a heart warming spiritual moment. I think that I've somewhat dismissed this moment or taken it for granted in years gone by. The current state of the world helps you put things into perspective when you see such a conglomeration as was seen last night.

If nothing else was accomplished, I do believe that China set a beautiful tone, and opened a few hearts and minds to the possibility of their theme "One World, One Dream."

BEIJING (AFP) — Everything about the Beijing Olympics is on a huge scale and organisers intend to start as they mean to go on judging by their plans for Friday's opening ceremony, a three-hour 'spectacular'.

But the longer the performance, the greater the chance of something going wrong and, having invested so much time and effort in bringing the Games to China, officials will be desperate to ensure their grandiose plans go off without a hitch.

Some 15,000 performers are set to take part, with 29,000 fireworks due to be released into the night sky.

The ceremony is also due to see Chinese pop star Liu Huan, together with British singer Sarah Brightman, sing a specially commissioned theme song in the closing 'artistic' section.

Yet for many genuine sports fans around the world, the opening ceremony of the Games are something of a puzzle, delaying the serious business of competition for little obvious benefit.

However, ever since athletes first walked in behind their flags, which were expected to be dipped before Britain's King Edward VII, at the 1908 Games in London, the opening ceremony has increasingly become an opportunity for the host nation to say something about its culture.

That is all the more true in an era of mass television with China, a country which once prided itself on being closed to prying eyes, now keen to show itself off to a global audience of hundreds of millions.

Given all that, it is no surprise that film director Zhang Yimou, best known in the West for his Oscar-nominated movie "House of Flying Daggers", has been entrusted with overseeing the ceremony.

Zhang explained this week that the event "would showcase "the ancient and long history of the Chinese nation".

He added: "The performance will reflect the cultural aspects of Chinese society and showcase what modern China and its people are all about."

But even before Friday's show starts, carefully-laid plans were upset when a film crew from South Korea's private station SBS sneaked in and filmed a rehearsal and then broadcast parts of it on Tuesday before posting it on the Internet.

However, one thing has remained secret and that is the identity of the person who will light the Olympic flame after China President Hu Jintao declares the Games open.

Basketball star Yao Ming who carried the Olympic torch through Beijing's Tianamen Square on Wednesday, had been tipped for the honour.

But tradition dictates that a person can only carry the torch once in the run-up to a Games.

Officials remained tight-lipped, saying only the flame-lighter had been selected for their "sporting achievement" and "social influence".

Photos AP, AFP and Reuters
Header CBS.com