Black Tennis Pros

Jennifer Hudson has been spotted out and about getting in shape for scheduled appearances at the Super Bowl and the Grammys. Nice to see her moving forward.

In round one of doubles action at the Australian Open today, a capacity crowd watched American powerhouse sisters Venus and Serena Williams very easily dispatch the Russian team of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. In just over an hour the Williams sisters defeated them 6-3, 6-1.

I'm probably late on finding this out, but my favorite Russian dish of tennis player is currently playing his last season on the ATP Tour. Twenty-eight year old Marat Safin says that he's had enough stress.

I've always enjoyed watching Safin play, you never quite knew what to expect. When he's on, he's on, and vice versa. A lot of players I probably wouldn't even notice if they left, but Safin...this guy I'll miss.

Here's some of what Safin had to say regarding his impending retirement:

"I don't want to get stressed, I don't want to plan anything," he said.

"I want to play and be relaxed, no stress. Whatever comes, comes.

"It's great for me. Just try to be in shape, be able to run around the court. Like this it's much easier to play tennis.

"At least I want to enjoy it. I don't want to suffer anymore, I don't want to get stressed, I don't want to feel bad on the court anymore."

"It's not easy because you're under continuous tennis pressure, which is traveling around the world, practising every day, be in shape, try to be a little bit more responsible what you're doing outside the court," he said.

"It's getting tougher and tougher with the age, especially with the injuries I've had throughout the years.

"It's not an easy game, let's put it this way, especially if half of the time you've been injured."

"When you are young, 20 years old, 19 years old, you're coming, everything is new, it's exciting to come and play the big matches," he said.

"With the years, you start to feel the pressure.

"A little bit you start to be unsure in certain moments of the match, hit it down the line or play a little bit cross-court.

"So you start to feel a little bit uncomfortable on the court, and this is what makes you have doubts.

"Eventually it comes to the errors. The young boys are not scared anymore. They will eventually be scared with the years, but it's tough to play against them in such conditions."

But when asked about when he would eventually walk away, as he has previously indicated, Safin would not be drawn.

"No, I'm enjoying it, it's just a different way of enjoying myself," he said.

"(But) you need to keep yourself fully committed to the tennis -- it's getting tougher and tougher."

Adios, Aloha, Hasta La Vista Baby, Kick Rocks, Catch You On The Rebound, Don't Let The Door Knob Hit You..., Make Like A Banana..., Sainara, Au Revoir, Whatever...