Black Tennis Pros

American Serena Williams is free of the hamstring issue that caused her to withdraw from the Hopman Cup and has begun training in preparation for the Australian Open Series Medibank Sydney International Tennis Tournament at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Center, Sydney, Australia, set to begin tomorrow.

BRISBANE, Australia: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recovered from a disastrous start to overcome Finland's Jarkko Nieminen and lead a posse of Frenchmen into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.

Tsonga failed to win a game in the first set but came back to win the last two sets in tie-breaks to ensure four Frenchmen made the final eight.

He closed out the match 0-6, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5) to join Richard Gasquet, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Florent Serra in the quarter-finals.



Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will square off in the Doha quarterfinals on Thursday. The winner will meet either Andy Roddick or Victor Hanescu in the semis.

Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils will do battle for the fourth time in their careers on Thursday when they meet in the quarterfinals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Nadal holds a 3-0 edge in the head-to-head series, but only one of the victories came on hard courts. He won 6-3, 6-2 on the clay courts of Rome in 2005, 6-2, 6-2 on the Monte-Carlo dirt in 2006, and most recently 6-3, 6-2 at last season's Master Series Paris.

Monfils erased Jan Hernych in the first round but struggled with countryman Nicolas Devilder for two hours and seven minutes before outlasting him 7-5, 7-6(4).

HONG KONG (AP)—Venus Williams and Coco Vandeweghe of the United States lost in straight sets to Team Europe at an exhibition tournament on Wednesday.

Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal beat Team Americas 6-4, 7-5.

Williams will play Jankovic in singles on Thursday.

Photo Getty Images

Watching American Meghann Shaughnessy stand there as returned balls whizzed by her was as painful as a root canal! I can't count the number of times that I yelled, "what the hell are you doing?" I'm still shaking my head wondering who thought that this was a bright idea.

When is the last time that this woman won anything significant? Surely there had to be SOMEBODY else available who is at least seemingly on the upswing. And to make matters worse, she is returning from an injury. Oh good gracious.

Now, I realize that Hopman Cup isn't a tour tournament, but come on! Shaughnessy has lost each of her singles events and barely assisted in the mixed doubles events.

When Serena pulled out at the end of last year, I was definitely disappointed since she and Blake are former title holders and the USA is the defending champion, but I at least thought that someone with an ounce of game would be selected to replace her.

James Blake has literally been a one person Hopman Cup team...I wonder if that's a first, hmmm.

Yet, I continue to torcher myself by watching this madness nightly. Oh well...

Photos Getty Images

The hard charging Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and his newly close cropped doo brought the pain to Argentine Agustin Calleri today during the first round of the Australian Open Series at the Brisbane International. Tsonga defeated Calleri 6-2, 7-5.

Post match, after learning that the no. 1 seed, Serbian Novak Djokovic, had been beaten by Latvian Ernests Gulbis, Tsonga wasn't very surprised. “For me it was not really a surprise. He is going to be the man who is going to make a surprise this year,” Tsonga said.

“Every match he played better and better. For me it was not a surprise to see this result.”

As one who seems to have a bit of Djokovic's number, Gulbis should take this compliment from Tsonga to heart.

HONG KONG (AP) — Despite watching some of her biggest rivals hang up their rackets in recent years, five-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams says she still has plenty of goals in tennis.

"I love my job. I love hitting balls, running, jumping, chasing after that ball. I love what I do, so that's what keeps me motivated," the 28-year-old said Tuesday in Hong Kong ahead of a tuneup exhibition tournament for the Australian Open.

While many of her contemporaries, like Belgians Justin Henin and Kim Clijsters, and Switzerland's Martina Hingis have left the WTA Tour, the elder of the two Williams sisters said she's still hungry for more.

Williams has won at Wimbledon five times and the U.S. Open twice, but has had less success at the two other Grand Slams. She reached the final at the French Open in 2002 and the Australian Open in 2003.

"I haven't won the French or the Australian (Opens), although I've come pretty close, so those are definitely on my list," Williams said, adding that reclaiming the No. 1 ranking this year is a realistic goal.

Williams, ranked No. 6, enjoyed a strong season in 2008 with wins at Wimbledon and the season-ending WTA Championship in Doha, Qatar and said she's feeling healthy after a four-week break from tennis.

"Nothing to complain about right now," Williams said.

The American is playing in Hong Kong starting Wednesday in her only preparation for the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 19.

She will captain the Americas squad in a team-format which also features Serbian and world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, Russians Vera Zvonareva and Anna Chakvetadze, Hungarian Agnes Szavay, China's Zheng Jie and India's Sania Mirza.

Williams also said she will sparingly use new WTA Tour rules that allow on-court coaching starting this year.

"I'll probably call the coach if my opponent calls the coach ... I'll be watching to see what she does," she said.