Black Tennis Pros

Baroness Thatcher and her daughter Carol in the Royal Box at The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, London. Photo: PA

The daughter of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher has lost her job on the BBC One programme after making the comment backstage to presenter Adrian Chiles and guest Jo Brand.

She was discussing the Australian Open, in which Tsonga lost to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals.

Tsonga, 23, shot to international attention last year when, as an unseeded player, he reached the Australian Open final, beating Andy Murray along the way. He scored a stunning 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal in the semi-final, eventually losing to Novak Djokovic.

Fans have long pointed out his resemblance to boxer Muhammad Ali. He was marked out as a promising talent when he won the US Open junior title in 2003, only for injury to put him out of the game for the next two years.

He is mixed race, born in Le Mans to a white French mother, Evelyne, and a black Congolese father, Didier. Sporting talent runs in the family - his father, who moved to France in the 1970s to study for a chemistry degree, was a handball international and his younger brother, Enzo, is a basketball player.

Asked in a recent interview if he had ever experienced racism in the tennis world, he replied: "I cannot say I have. However, I have seen on many occasions, especially in soccer, expressions of racism. At the end of the day, stupidity cannot be controlled. You can only hope to contain it."

Tsonga is known on the circuit as a polite, serious man devoted to his family. He has said of his upbringing: "From my mother I've inherited my coolness and my serenity. From my father I've inherited respect for the rules and respect for the people around me."

His second cousin is Charles N'Zogbia, the Premiership footballer recently embroiled in his own controversy over "offensive" remarks. He refused to play for his club, Newcastle United, after manager Joe Kinnear called him "Insomnia" during a television interview. He signed for Wigan Athletic on Monday.

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In an interview Blake said, "Monday's going to be a lot of fun. I did an exhibition with him last year, and we had a really good match. He's obviously one of the great champions we've ever had in the sport if not the greatest. It's a lot of fun being around someone like that, a great tennis mind. Someone who can still teach you plenty.

You know, it's not really pressure packed, we're just having fun. He still obviously has the game that he can compete, you know, for one match or two matches at a time. I think what's gotten him the most is he wasn't able to do the grind all year, playing three out of five sets every other day and playing match after match and getting on the practice court and putting in the time. But on a given day, he can put up a pretty good fight."

Top-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to his first semi-final of the 2009 ATP World Tour season after defeating seventh seed Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 6-4, 6-1 at the SA Tennis Open on Friday. The 23 year old dominated on serve in the 73-minute encounter, hitting nine aces and winning 90 per cent of points on first serve. He has not dropped a set this week at the Montecasino in northern Johannesburg.

Tsonga improved to 10-2 on the 2009 ATP World Tour season, that includes three quarter-final exits at Brisbane (l. to Gasquet), Sydney (W/O vs Nieminen) and the Australian Open (l. to Verdasco). Vliegen, 26, could only convert one of five break point opportunities and drops to 3-3 this year.

Althea Gibson, the first African-American to win a grand slam title, which happened to be Wimbledon, is one of 13 inductees chosen for the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

The winners were chosen by New Jersey residents, who had months to pick their favorites online, and by the hall's voting academy, made up of 100 state organizations. All inductees have deep ties to the state.

"This group of hall of famers embodies the spirit of New Jersey, a combination of drive, determination and creativity that has led them to greatness," Governor Jon S. Corzine said in a statement.

The remaining 12 that will accompany Ms. Gibson are Paul Robeson, Walt Whitman, Guglielmo Marconi, Carl Sagan, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Jon Bon Jovi, Jerry Lewis, Shaquille O'Neal, Phil Rizzuto, F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Carlos Williams

The induction ceremony will be held in May at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

New Jersey Hall of Fame

Travelling via police escort, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie headed to Soweto (South Western Townships) on Wednesday to meet and coach some of the sprawling township’s kids at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in White City, Jabavu.

Tsonga and Coetzee/Moodie, the SA Tennis Open singles and doubles No.1 seeds respectively, spent more than an hour running through basic training drills with the youngest kids, while hitting with or coaching the future generation of South African tennis players, some of whom had never picked up a racquet before.

At the end of the clinic, youngsters from the Jabavu and neighbouring areas broke out in song in appreciation and moments later the broad-smiling Muhammad Ali look-alike tennis pro started dancing, even throwing in the odd Ali-shuffle in his routine.

"As a kid I never had a chance to go to clinics which were conducted by the world's top players," said Tsonga. "It's really great for them although I think many of them do not know the players here. But I would like them to go home and dream about becoming professional tennis players one day. They've got to be able to dream about it because that could be the start of great things for them. It's so important that they are able to dream."

Tsonga, whose father was born in Pointe Noire, Congo, has always been proud of his African heritage and prior to his arrival in Johannesburg he had been at pains to make the point that he has long had an emotional attachment to the African continent. He was clearly at home among the children and it seemed Tsonga's enjoyment was at its greatest when he was putting the smallest toddlers through their paces with basic drills.

Tsonga said, "It's extra special for me because I am part African. Hopefully by coming here today I can build on the legacy that the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre has started. It was an important opportunity for me to come here to Soweto. As tennis players we are really well looked after, so the chance to give something back to the community is very important and I am glad that I was able to play some tennis and muck around with the kids and hopefully I can inspire more kids from Africa to play tennis in the future."

South African Wesley Moodie was clearly impressed with the kids and identified the Soweto as a region that can also provide future tennis stars. He said: "It was great. I was on the court with kids who had never played tennis before and I was pleasantly surprised how good some of them were. It just shows what type of potential can come from Soweto and if they have the right funding and the right guidance stars can be produced from there."

Moodie’s doubles partner, Jeff Coetzee, also enjoyed the opportunity to continue the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre legacy as well.

"I think it’s such a great thing," said Coetzee. "Arthur Ashe was such a great legend and to have something like that at that stadium - and I know they are going to have a Challenger there in a couple of months - and just to get tennis going, especially in Soweto, is going to be phenomenal. Hopefully people will come and support it and get tennis growing again in South Africa and in development areas.

"I enjoyed it, obviously giving back to development. You know I come from that kind of thing and it’s nice to see. I was lucky to hit with some players that had never touched a ball and I was very impressed. If they keep doing what they are doing there might be some guys and girls coming through hopefully in the near future somewhere."

Coetzee is also excited to have an ATP World Tour event back in his home country. "Geez it’s been a while. I thought I would not be on the (ATP World) Tour again before it happens. I grew up a little bit in Johannesburg and I have a bunch of friends who are going to come support me, but it’s great for tennis in South Africa, and also where we are in Davis Cup, it’s gonna help, and hopefully tennis can just grow and grow because now it is at the lowest it has ever been but now we are going towards the right direction in South Africa," enthused Coetzee.

Having the SA Tennis Open back in South Africa has helped the South African Tennis Association with its proactive campaign to develop the sport across the entire country, particularly in Soweto.

"It’s great. We have a big development program in Soweto. To have Wesley and Jeff there, as well as a player like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has an African connection with his father being from the Congo, it was very exciting for the young kids to see a player like him in their midst and I hope it inspires them to get up. It’s just a wonderful event and I thank the ATP for helping us out," said Ian Smith, SATA Chief Executive Officer and SA Tennis Open Tournament Director.

Unfortunately, I'm not the least bit surprised at the way things went for Russian Dinara Safina in the women's final of the Australian Open this morning. The new World No. 1, American Serena Williams, was going to bring far too much physical power and will power for Safina to mount any type of credible challenge for the title. Safina was pulverized 6-0, 6-3.

For Serena, this is her 10th grand slam title earned in her 10th year of playing the Australian Open. Along with sister Venus, the two had already earned the doubles title yesterday.

For Safina, it was a sad sight to see. I just wanted to cry for that baby mid second set; she looked so defeated. She couldn't even muster a bravado for the crowd. Yet, it is these types of beat downs in life that generally raise your level...I hope that's what it does for her.