Black Tennis Pros

Something must be in the air in Indian Wells, not Big Jo!

Truth is, in a featured match on Monday evening at the BNP Paribas Open, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was ousted by Russian Igor Andreev 7-5, 6-4.

Six aces and a moderate serving day were not sufficient to keep the powerful Frenchman in California. And to make matters worse, Andreev served worse than Tsonga! However, Andreev was able to capitalize on a couple of breaks of Tsonga's serve.

Oh well, next...

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Press Release

Los Angeles, CA – The Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Academy located at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center of L.A. will begin its next 8 week Wednesday night adult group tennis classes on March 25. For eight (8) Wednesdays beginning March 25 through May 13 between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., adults of all levels can enjoy the sport of tennis in a group class while working off those pounds before bathing suit season hits. With instruction from master tennis instructor Le George Mauldin (as seen on KNBC-TV Channel 4), classes are one hour and rackets are provided. All classes will take place at the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex located at 5001 Rodeo Boulevard in Los Angeles. The eight (8) week session is $88. Limited space is available. For more information or to sign up, please call Le George Mauldin at (323) 392-6864 or email info@tenniswithlegeorge.com. Additionally, the Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Academy is open seven days a week with instructors available for private, semi-private, and group lessons. Online at www.tenniswithlegeorge.com

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Teamed with another American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Mashona Washington has reached the doubles quarterfinal round of the BNP Paribas Open. Washington and Mattek-Sands took out the very formidable team of Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova and Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

Washington and Mattek-Sands are scheduled to play Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears were defeated by Iveta Benesova and Barbara Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 1-6, 5-7.

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INDIAN WELLS, CA - MARCH 16: Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India play Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian of Argentina at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2009 in Indian Wells, California.

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Sorry to see American Angela Haynes have to make her exit in the third round, she's put in the work on this one. Angela prevailed in the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw and has been playing well.

I was definitely concerned when I saw that she was scheduled to play Italian Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta can be a force to be reckoned with on any given day. Although Angela was able to take the first set off of Pennetta, she wasn't able to mount enough game to hold on through the next two sets. Pennetta took the win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Hopefully we'll be seeing more of Angela in upcoming tour tournaments.

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Maaaan!

While you can't win 'em all, you can at least 'act' like you want to be there. American James Blake lumbered around the court with the appearance of very little interest in the match, especially in the second set. He played as if it was a foregone conclusion that he would lose. Something smacked the fight right out of Blake today; and it wasn't Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.

Gonzalez definitely played well, but he didn't present anything Blake hasn't previously faced. The 7-5, 6-1 defeat sounds as if he took Blake to the woodshed, not so. Blake wasn't available to be taken to the woodshed, he was out to lunch somewhere.

This is Blake's 7th straight loss to Gonzalez.

“I think my serve was a big difference,” said Blake. “I think I probably got about two, maybe three free points, in the whole second set on the first serve wasn't coming in. And when it was coming in, it wasn't hitting its spot. If I'm not getting any free points off of that, and he's as confident as he was playing after winning that first set, then it's going to be tough for me.”

"This was just a bad day, it hurts. It makes me want to get back on the practice court."

Perhaps our dear Mr. Blake needs a mini vacay. Oops, he took one today.

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Where oh where is Benjamin Sisko?


Jean-Luc Picard?


Yes good people, I am a Trekkie - and proud of it!!

However, I'm not sure that I'm feeling this latest movie. The need to appeal to a "new" audience may have corrupted the integrity of my space peeps. We'll see.

Here's the latest trailer:

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Wow... I totally didn't see this coming.

In second round play at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California today, world no. 9 Gael Monfils of France was ousted by American John Isner, currently ranked at world no. 147. Isner defeated Monfils 7-6(5), 6-1, 6-4.

Monfils did not muster much defense or offense as Isner did not face any break points on serve, and broke Monfils three times in the one hour, 58 minute match.

This is the first time that Isner will advance to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

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