Black Tennis Pros

American sisters Venus and Serena Williams opened their bid for the Sony Ericsson Open title with victories over Israeli Shahar Peer and American Alexa Glatch.

Serena is currently tied with German Steffi Graff as a five-time title holder of the Sony Ericsson Open tournament. Should she defend her title, she would set a record at six.

As expected, Serena's match with Glatch posed little difficulty. In just over an hour she took the match 6-2, 6-3.

“I think Alexa played well today. I thought she had a really good game to watch, a really different game. You don't see that type of tennis being played too much, since a few years, or several years. I think she has a really good game. She's really young, so she has a bright future.

“I think I played okay. I definitely think I could have played better. But just a little jitters going out there, the first round no one wants to go out.”

Later on big sister Venus hit the courts and had to work a bit before she got into her stride, Peer initially went up 3-0.

Post match Venus said, "At that point I'm thinking I've got to get started. It was only one break, and I haven't played in almost four weeks, so just a little bit of a slow start. But I always felt confident."

Venus and Serena are on opposite sides of the draw, but in the same half, which sets up the possibility of them meeting in the semifinals.

Of that potential meeting Venus said, "she's obviously a great player and if I can beat her, then that means I'm on top of the game, so I hope we can meet in the semifinals."

Photos by Getty Images

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The always heavily gunned Frenchman Gael Monfils pulled out a well contested match against American qualifier Michael Russell at the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday. Monfils rode nine aces, along with six double faults, to a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory.

Fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made quick work of his opponent Argentine Agustin Calleri. In just under an hour Tsonga defeated Calleri 6-1, 6-1.

Keeping the numbers even in just over an hour, American James Blake defeated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4.

The three gentlemen advanced to the third round where Monfils will face Russian Marat Safin, Tsonga will oppose American Robert Kendrick and Blake's opponent will be Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

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MIAMI (Reuters) - World number one Serena Williams has won her second WTA Player of the Year award, the tour announced on Thursday at a ceremony.

Williams, who did not attend the event, won the U.S. Open last year and reached the Wimbledon final. She also claimed a gold medal with sister Venus in the doubles at the Beijing Olympics.

In her career, the American has claimed ten grand slam titles and she was also the WTA Player of the Year in 2002.

"Winning the Player of the Year award for the second time in my career is a great personal achievement," Williams said in a statement released by the WTA.

Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of South Africa won the doubles Team of the Year award.

Russia's Dinara Safina was Most Improved Player of the Year after finishing the season ranked second while China's Zheng Jie was awarded Comeback Player of the Year, after returning from injury to climb over 100 places in the rankings.

Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki was Newcomer of the Year after picking up three wins on tour while Serbian Ana Ivanovic was named Humanitarian of the Year for her work with the United Nations Children's Fund.

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KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP)—Outgoing WTA Tour chief Larry Scott says he began thinking about leaving tennis when his proposal for a merger with the men’s tour was rejected last year.

Scott will become Pac-10 Conference commissioner this summer after six years as chairman and chief executive officer of the WTA Tour.

Long an advocate for merging the women’s tour with the men, Scott met with the ATP board of directors in December to discuss his plan.

“For a variety of reasons it wasn’t accepted,” he said Wednesday. “It’s clear that tennis, for whatever reasons, isn’t ready for that vision to be realized.

“And then I realized, you know, I’ve done most of the major things that I could want to do. And if this coming together of the men’s and women’s tours is impossible right now, maybe it is a time to think about what else I could do that could be gratifying.”

Scott’s departure on July 1 was announced Tuesday. With three small children, he said the amount of travel was another reason for his decision.

“This Pac-10 opportunity really affords me the opportunity to sort of put away my passport for a little while,” he said.

Several top players said they were sorry to see Scott leave, and they praised his leadership in the growth of the sport. The women’s tour says revenue has increased 250 percent under Scott.

“We’re all sad,” Venus Williams said. “He had a special vision and the personality and character and talents and abilities to carry it out. It takes someone special like him.”

Scott said his greatest achievement was equal prize money for men and women at the sport’s 10 biggest events, including the four Grand Slam tournaments. He said he leaves the women’s tour in good shape financially despite the recession.

“All our major revenue contracts are long-term agreements that aren’t coming up soon,” he said. “We haven’t lost any tournaments or title sponsors. I think women’s tennis is holding its own extremely well compared to other sports.”

Speaking at the Sony Ericsson Open, Scott said he favors a merger of the tours because he believes both are hurt by differences in rules, branding and sponsorship.

“The easier we make it for fans to follow tennis and understand, the more following there will be, and the stronger we’ll be commercially,” he said. “We would present the sport in a less fragmented way if it was together.

“An example: This tournament, if you’re a fan in Europe, you watch the men’s matches on one channel, the women’s matches on a different channel. That can’t be the smartest way to present the sport.”

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CORRECTION: This is NOT Russian Dinara Safina. While the photo houses have it labeled as such, the very sharp eye of Facebook friend Molly James correctly identified the photo as Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.


Whoaaaaa!

I usually upload these photos, publish the post and that's that. However, an entire day later I am still looking at Russian Dinara Safina. When I originally posted the photos I was reluctant to put her name under the picture because I didn't think that it was her.

This young lady totally morphed into a glamazon! Her glam squad deserves every nickle. She even made sure not to have the "sock feet" that a number of other ladies neglected to address, and you all know who you are.

Very impressive - kudos Safina!

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MIAMI - MARCH 25: Sony Ericsson Open players and others arrive on the red carpet of the Liv Nightclub at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami, Florida.

Rafael Nadal, Spain

Serena Williams, USA

Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland

Producer Wyclef Jean

Jelena Jankovic, Serbia

Vania King, USA

Novak Djokovic, Serbia

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA

Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia

Maria Sharapova, Russia

Actress Megan Goode and football player Thomas Jones

Mary-Joe Fernandez, U. S. Fed Cup Captain

Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark

Fernando Verdasco, Spain

Singer Santigold

Ryan Sweeting, Bahamas

Photos by
Marc Serota/Getty Images for Sony Ericsson
WireImage

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MIAMI, March 25 (Reuters) - Serena Williams believes the United States needs to get more tour events if it is to address the lack of American women in the top 100 -- and she could be willing to play a role in bringing about that change.

The world number one is followed by her sister Venus, number six in the rankings, but the only other American women in the top 100 are Bethanie Mattek (37) and Jill Craybas (85).

The anticipated flood of talent following the emergence of the high-profile Williams sisters has not happened with the rankings dominated by East Europeans -- or as Serena puts it: "It seems like there are 12 Russians in the top 10".

"I just think, when I was growing up there were lots more tournaments in the United States, a lot more American players, now there are five or six tournaments and no American players.

"You don't see the players, they are in Europe and Asia which is where all the players are coming from," Williams told Reuters in an interview arranged by the WTA Tour's sponsor Sony Ericsson.

In recent years, a popular WTA tournament in San Diego has been dropped and Williams said this could have a knock on effect on attracting young girls to the sport.

"We have got to get tournaments back, like San Diego which was well established but was cancelled. Those tournaments were the ones I grew up watching. I grew up going to (the event at) UCLA because it was close to me. My Dad would take us there and I wanted to be a tennis player because of going there," she said.

ENTICE TALENT

The 27-year-old Williams said she could be interested in a role, after her playing days are over, trying to entice tournaments back to the U.S and developing young talent.

"That could be interesting it would be fun to get a lot of support back -- that is the only way we will get the players," she said.

Williams though has not completely given up hope on the next generation of players making the breakthrough.

"There are a few American players coming up, they are really, really young and haven't got attention yet and you never know.

"I didn't get much attention when I was very young, I came out of nowhere. I am hoping the same thing can happen," she said.

Despite her sadness at the decline of U.S. tennis, Williams boycotts one of the biggest events in Indian Wells -- where she was jeered by the crowd in 2001 after Venus pulled out of a semi-final clash with her sister.

Although that event has become one of the new mandatory tournaments, with penalties for non-attendance, Williams skipped this year's edition and says she has no intention of ever returning.

"I don't play Indian Wells, I haven't played it for forever and I will never play it again. After that bad experience there is no need for me to go back, I've been there and I left in glory," she said.

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Serena Williams announced this week that she's partnering with the Home Shopping Network (HSN) to launch her new line of accessories and clothing called Signature Statement.

The collection will feature a wide range of jewelry, handbags and knits, starting around $29.95 and topping out at $100.

"I always want to make a statement both on and off the court," Williams told Women's Wear Daily. "One of my dreams has always been to share gorgeous gifts of fashion and luxury with the world. Off the court, my passion is fashion. Signature Statement is my own line of accessories and fashion, complete from jewelry to dresses."

The collection will be available April 30 and be exclusive to HSN. Williams has already been running her Aneres clothing line for the last five years, which is available in most department stores.

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