Black Tennis Pros

I'm looking forward to this!!

Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils will go toe-to-toe in the semifinals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok. Tsonga and Monfils last met in France five years ago.

"I'm happy to be in the semifinals playing against my friend Gael," said Tsonga.

"I think it will be a good show! It's a very good feeling to be back. It was a lot of work to come back from injury."

World No. 20 Tsonga hit 13 aces and won 81 per cent of service points to beat No. 8 seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-2 in just 61 minutes. The La Rippe, Switzerland resident, who improved to 21-9 on the season, takes his place in a fourth semifinal (or better).

"I was focused and I played very good tennis today."

World No. 30 Monfils earned a gutsy 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over Philipp Petzschner of Germany to take a place in his third ATP semifinal this year.

"It's great to be in the semifinals, it gives me confidence. I'm playing consistently, which makes me feel good."

The 22-year-old Nyon, Switzerland resident has a 1-4 record in ATP finals, highlighted by a title-winning run at Sopot (defeated Mayer) in August 2005. He reached his last ATP final at Poertschach (lost to Monaco) in May 2007.

Photos Getty Images

Source

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Second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who took part in a Thai kick-boxing demonstration on Thursday, will meet eighth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. Tsonga has a 1-0 record against Melzer, after the Frenchman won their ATP Masters Series Miami meeting in March. Melzer knocked out last month's Washington finalist Viktor Troicki of Serbia with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory in 86 minutes. This season's Kitzbuhel finalist (l. to del Potro) improved to 27-22 on the season, while World No. 65 Troicki dropped to a 17-16 mark.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France poses with Thai kickboxing champion Somrak Khamsing.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gives a kickboxing demostration.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga poses with Thai kickboxing champion Somrak Khamsing.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga poses while kickboxing at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Source
Photos Getty Images

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Second-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who finished runner-up at the Australian Open final in January, earned a hard-fought 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(1), victory over qualifier Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic Wednesday for a place in the Thailand Open quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old Tsonga booked his place in a fourth ATP quarterfinal (or better) on the season after one hour and 59 minutes. The La Rippe, Swiss resident, hit 21 aces and converted two of four break point opportunities in a service-dominated match. The pair had previously met on the ATP Challenger circuit in Rennes two years ago.

Tsonga, who missed three months of the season due to knee surgery, is currently No. 18 in the ATP 2008 Race to Shanghai. He has a 20-9 record on the season, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) and two semifinal exits at Adelaide (l. to Nieminen) and Casablanca (l. to Simon). The 25-year-old Dlouhy, who was contesting his third ATP singles event this year, has a 2-4 season record.

Another Frenchman, fourth seed Gael Monfils, who could move into the Top 20 of the ATP 2008 Race to Shanghai if he wins the title this week, knocked out American Robert Kendrick 6-4, 7-6(4) in 75 minutes. Monfils had a 5-7 start going into Roland Garros, before turning his season around by reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal (l. to Federer) at Roland Garros, followed by a semifinal run at Nottingham (l. to Karlovic), a quarterfinal at the Beijing Olympics (l. to Djokovic) and fourth round performance at the US Open (l. to Fish). The 22-year-old improved to 21-13 on the season, while World No. 102 Kendrick dropped to 3-8.

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Barack Obama rejected the proposal -- put forward by John McCain today -- that the two presidential candidates leave the campaign trail, delay Friday's debate, and return to Washington to work on a bailout package for the economy,

"Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time," he said, "it is not necessary for us to think we can do only one thing and suspend everything else."

Expressing concern about infusing "Capitol Hill with presidential politics," Obama said it was his desire to see the debate go forward.

"With respect to the debates it is my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in roughly 40 days will be responsible for this mess," he said. "I think it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once. I don't see why we can't be constructive in helping with this problem."

Obama, who would not commit to taking advertisements off the air as McCain's campaign has, delivered his remarks hours after McCain announced the suspension of his campaign. The Arizona Republican insisted that it was time for the two candidates to return to work to help push forward a bi-partisan bailout package to deal with the financial crisis.

Earlier in the afternoon, Democrats in Congress were already calling out McCain for engaging in what was described, at various times, as a "Hail Mary pass" and a "deeply cynical" ploy.

"The debate should take place as scheduled," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with NPR to be broadcast this afternoon. "We have to be able to do a couple of things at once. That's what leadership requires."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement that McCain's move would actually impair negotiations over the bailout by introducing politics into the equation.

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John McCain woke up this morning and saw that he has now slipped nine points in the polls, Obama was on the phone taking the lead in unity on the principles of fixing this Wall Street mess, and he still had not done all of his economic homework. So what does he say, TIME OUT!

McCain chooses to suspend his campaign and asks that Obama do likewise so that they can return to Washington and bring compromise. PLEASE!

McCain is selling wolf tickets. There are enough people already on the Hill working on this bill. We have a president to elect, show us what you've got!

Nico Pitney at The Huffington Post writes the following:

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SINGLES

Round 1

Gael Monfils, FRA vs. BYE

Donald Young, USA vs. Jurgen Melzer, AUT

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. BYE


DOUBLES

Round 1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA and Fabrice Santoro, FRA
vs.
Novak Djokovic, SRB and Marko Djokovic, SRB

Gael Monfils, FRA and Viktor Troicki, SRB
vs.
Robin Soderling, SWE and Rogier Wassen, NED


SINGLES

Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated by Todd Widom
2-6, 1-6

Raven Klaasen, RSA defeated Michael Russell, USA
6-2, 5-7, 7-5

Phillip Simmonds, USA defeated by Ryan Sweeting, USA
1-6, 4-6


DOUBLES

Round 1

Raven Klaasen, RSA and Ivo Klec, SVK
vs.
Tim Smyczek, USA and Ryan Sweeting USA

Nicholas Monroe, USA and Alberto Francis, USA
defeated by
Raony Carvalho, BRA and Christian Rojmar, SWE
3-6, 4-6

Phillip Simmonds, USA and Greg Ouellette, USA
defeated by
Philip Bester, CAN and Peter Polansky, CAN
5-7, 1-6


SINGLES

Round 1

Marcus Fugate, USA vs. Sheeva Parbhu, USA


DOUBLES

Round 1

Marcus Fugate, USA and Nima Roshan, USA
defeated by
Daniel Andrus, USA and Aaron Yovan, USA
2-6, 7-6(2), [8/10]


SINGLES*

Round 1

Alexandra Stevenson, USA vs. Madison Brengle, USA

Angela Haynes, USA vs. Betina Jozami, ARG

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA vs. Shenay Perry, USA


*Eliminated during the singles qualifying rounds:

Whitney Jones, USA
Tiya Rolle, USA


DOUBLES

Round 1

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated
Soledad Esperon, ARG and Tetiana Luzhanska, UKR
6-3, 6-4

Angela Haynes, USA and Sunitha Rao, IND
defeated by
Liga Dekmeijere, LAT and Jelena Pandzic, CRO
3-6, 7-5, [10/12]

Whitney Jones, USA and Tiya Rolle, USA
defeated by
Madison Brengle, USA and Heidi El Tabakh, CAN
1-6, 0-6

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On Monday, August 26, at the U. S. Open we saw 19-year-old Donald Young, Jr. give fellow American James Blake all that he could handle before going down in defeat. Watching Young battle Blake for every last point was the best that I personally have seen of Young since he transitioned from the ranks of the juniors onto the ATP Tour.

A lot has been voiced about the current status of Young's game and whether he is where he "should" be at this point. Since having the legendary John McEnroe utter the words "...has hands like another lefty I know very well," expectations for Young have been what I considerably high. The coming of Donald Young out of the juniors has been loudly and consistently heralded. The problem with that kind of lead in is living up to it. When Young wins, it's expected; when he loses, he's not all that he was purported to be. I would imagine that the pressure of that kind of press and commentating has got to be burdensome. After speaking with Donald I am pleased to say that the news surrounding him has far less to do with him than it does with those who craft it.

I had no particular expectations for the type of personality that I would be speaking with when conducting my interview with Young, but it was a sincere pleasure to speak to someone as polite, courteous and respectful as he turned out to be. My thoughts immediately turned to his parents because his behavior was evidence of someone having been conscientiously parented.

I also had the pleasure of speaking with both Donald Sr. and Illona Young, it became immediately apparent where Donald, Jr. received such an affable nature. My conversation with Donald Jr.'s parents/coaches will be revealed in the Wednesday Coaches Corner on October 1.

Though Donald's schedule was busy, we managed to cover the essentials.

Shelia: Let's talk about you first. Tell me about your childhood and growing up.
Donald: I am an only child. I grew up in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. We lived there until I was 14. I definitely enjoyed the people, the weather wasn't that good.

Shelia: When did tennis begin for you?
Donald: At three years old.

Shelia: When did you know that you liked tennis? That you were good?
Donald: When I was five, six years old...I played my first tournament.

Shelia: Tell me about being coached by your parents. Do you find that there are advantages to being coached by your parents?
Donald: That you like playing cause your parents are watching you. From the beginning to now they've been there; no one else knows you better. People come in for a lesson, but you are with them 24/7 talking about it. You don't have to get to know them.

Shelia: Disadvantages?
Donald: When you don't want to do something you still have to be responsible with everything, and you have to work when you are playing, because they are worrying about your behavior and how you are representing your parents.

Shelia: Which parent is the toughest?
Donald: I guess it would be dependent on the subject. I would have to say, probably my mom; she's very detailed.

Shelia: Let's talk about the ATP Tour. After having so much success in the juniors, did the thought of transitioning to the men's tournament concern you?
Donald: I was playing some Tour and pro circuit tournaments before I was done with juniors. It was different knowing that I couldn't go back and play juniors, Kalamazoo.

It was different because I had to get into playing more weeks than we used to. It altered what you thought about tennis, how hard it is when as a junior thinking how some guy at 200, 100 or 80 in the world is, and then you play that someone and they are really good!

Shelia: Did you have friends of the same age that were making the transition at the same time that you were?
Donald: None of them kind of kept up with me, no. They either went to college, thought it was too hard or didn't play for other reasons.

Shelia: What do you think about the Tour now that you've been playing for awhile. Are you encouraged by your progress thus far?
Donald: It was different when I would go into the locker room and everybody was 28-30 years old and I was 17, 18. Some of the American guys were nice, Andy, James...And going to Davis Cup, Fish, Courier, McEnroe, Gullickson...

In general, the tour itself, this is what I wanted to do and I just want to keep getting better at it.

Shelia: With so few American men at the top of tennis and even fewer Black men, do you feel personal pressure on the tour?
Donald: When I am playing, and get off the court, I kind of just...I have to always look in the mirror everyday...when I'm playing, I don't think about that really. I will get it from other people and they will say it. I am pretty excited about it myself, personally, that they have that much confidence and faith in me. It doesn't really bother me, it brings support when I play.

Shelia: I was so disappointed to see you and James Blake paired against each other in round one of the U.S. Open. What were your initial thoughts when you saw the draw?
Donald: I was pretty upset playing the number nine guy in the world...unfortunate luck of the draw. Then I got excited to play in the Arthur Ashe Stadium at night with television coverage.

Shelia: I thoroughly enjoyed the match, and if you just had to walk away in round one, I thought that you walked away in good fashion. What were your thoughts immediately after the match?
Donald: If it had to be, it still worked out well, it was a win win situation...though obviously you want to win those matches

Shelia: What are your thoughts about it now?
Donald: I was pretty excited. I felt like I could have won. I realized that I can play big, I have to believe that I can do it.

Shelia: Did the match present you with anything that you will keep in mind for future matches?
Donald: I am excited. I took away that now I can actually play the ranking right now. I feel like now I have confidence.

Shelia: Tell me about your life goals in and outside of tennis.
Donald: I want to get back to making the main draw of the Australian Open. To win a title would be great for me. I want to get my ranking up to be one of the top players.

Outside of tennis there's not a lot of time. I don't have anything that I want to do right now outside of tennis. I do want to help kids, African-American kids, my parent's academy helps that.

When I am at home I participate with the kids. I've picked a couple of them up from school, they were excited for me to do so.

Shelia: Is there anything that you would like readers to know about you?
Donald: Just that I am working hard as I can.

Shelia: Okay, time for some fun facts. What do you enjoy doing during your down time?
Donald: Driving

Shelia: Your favorite foods?
Donald: Italian

Shelia: Your favorite book, and what are you reading right now?
Donald: The Da Vinci Code. I'm currently reading a book given to me by Allen Fox.

Shelia: Favorite Movie?
Donald: The Matrix

Shelia: Favorite type of music?
Donald: R&B and Hip Hop.

Shelia: What are you currently listening to on your iPod?
Donald: Trey Songz and Young Jeezy

Shelia: Favorite video/computer games?
Donald: Wii bowling

Shelia: Favorite sport outside of tennis? Team?
Donald: Basketball - Dallas Mavericks

Shelia: Favorite vacation spot?
Donald: Vacation?

Shelia: Favorite grand-slam tournament?
Donald: U.S. Open

Shelia: Favorite place to be?
Donald: Home

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