Black Tennis Pros

EA Sports News Alert

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - April 9, 2009 - Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that tennis stars John McEnroe, Roger Federer and Serena Williams will be the North American* cover athletes for its new tennis franchise, EA SPORTS™ Grand Slam^® Tennis. Eight different regional player partnerships will be announced soon. McEnroe, one of the sport's most recognizable figures, was recently confirmed as exclusive to the game. Federer and Williams are among the biggest names in tennis and the most accomplished; having won 23 Grand Slam singles titles between them. Williams becomes the first woman to grace the cover of an EA SPORTS simulation product.

"It's very exciting to be on the cover of EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis. This game not only shows EA's enthusiasm for tennis but for also women's tennis, said Williams. "I know from experience how tough and gratifying it is to win all four Grand Slams so I hope people will enjoy the Grand Slam experience that is offered in this game."

EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis is being developed under the EA SPORTS brand by EA Canada in Vancouver, B.C. Designed first for the Wii™, it ships to North American retailers on June 15^th, one day earlier than the previously announced ship date. Worldwide it ships on June 26^th with the exception of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Spain and Australia, where it ships on June 12^th.

This fall EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis will also be served up for the PLAYSTATION^®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. With stunning realism, it will feature innovative control systems and robust online** capability. Classic matches from the past will be recreated, along with simulated dream match-ups that weren't possible before.

EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis for the Wii has been rated "E" by the ESWRB and "3+" by PEGI and has an MSRP of $49.95 USD in North America. For more information log onto www.easports.com/tennis. Media can find screenshots and video of the game at http://info.ea.com.


*In addition to select other global territories
** INTERNET CONNECTION required for online features. See product pack for details.

Contact:

Paula Kim
Senior Publicist
604-456-3179
pkim@ea.com

Jen Riley
Manager, Public Relations
604-456-5081
jriley@ea.com

David Tinson
Sr. Director, Public Relations
605-628-5189
dtinson@ea.com

Game Screenshots:

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American Serena Williams may have left the Andalucia Tennis Experience tournament, but not Marbella, Spain. According to the tournament website, she is fully taking advantage of her days in Marbella to get to know the Andalusian culture first hand. In a day dominated by sun and great climate, Serena did not want to miss the chance to follow a performance by horses from the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and enjoyed the dance of these thoroughbreds on the beach. Serena was delighted by their beautiful dance and didn't hesitate posing for a pictures with them.


In the evening, flamenco was a central part of the official party of the Andalucía Tennis Experience first edition. During the performance, Serena was thrilled with how the dancers moved and accompanied them with hand clapping. Other famous faces to attend the show were Serbian, Jelena Jankovic, the Spanish medal winners in Peking, Virginia Ruano and Anabel Medina.

Jelena Jankovic, Serbia (far right)

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Not only did American Serena Williams lose in the first round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain on Wednesday, she will also fall out of the World No. 1 spot come Monday, April 20; Russian Dinara Safina will take over. Serena lost to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Serena's left leg remained taped as it was in the Sony Ericsson Open Championship match on Saturday. Her movement appeared to be the same, and I can't imagine that the change of surface with very little practice helped. Although, had Serena been one hundred percent, she still would have had to contend with a very well prepared Zakopalova who was not having any trouble with the clay surface. Zakopalova's shots were nowhere near as powerful as Serena's, but her movement was better, and shot placement more accurate.

Afterwards Serena said, “I am very sad about my defeat, in every moment I wanted to play my best tennis, but due to my injury I could not perform better”.

Serena also stated that at no point had she regretted coming to the tournament and she profoundly regretted saying goodbye to her numerous fans in Spain.


Serena Williams Shopping In Marbella

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Top-seeded Nadia Petrova beat 14-year-old American Madison Keys 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of The MPS Group Championships on Wednesday night.

Petrova, ranked No. 10 in the world, won nine of the last 11 games to beat Keys, who was playing in her first WTA Tour event in the season-opening clay-court tournament.

"At the beginning of the match I didn't know what to expect," the Russian said. "She caught me by surprise."

The match was tied 3-3 in the first set before Petrova won three straight games.

"I had to make some adjustments," she said. "I was trying to go for too many winners early, trying to blow her away and just had to slow down."

Despite the loss, Keys was pleased with her play.

"When I hit a good shot she hit a good shot back," she said. "I feel pretty good about going 3 and 2 with a top 10 player."

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American Serena Williams getting practice in on Tuesday prior to her first round match on Wednesday at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain.

American Danielle Mills with coach Alex Kodacs during qualifying.

American Madison Brengle defeated Mills in the second round of qualifying.

Photos by AnDrele From Spain

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This evening, in the first round, American James Blake was eliminated from the singles competition at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston, Texas. Blake lost to Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-4, 6-4.

"It turned on a few key points . . . at times I beat myself out there,” Blake said. “I made too many errors. He kind of forces you into that with how well he plays defense, but there’s really no excuse for those errors, especially the ones I made at key times.

"If you expect to win matches and tournaments, you’ve got to play better on those points. I would have liked my chances if I’d gotten that last break.”

Having recently fallen out of the world's top ten, Blake is now ranked #17 on the ATP World Tour.

Photo by Getty Images

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American Scoville Jenkins advanced to round 2 of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston, Texas today. Jenkins took out Austrian Alexander Peya 0-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Jenkins is currently ranked on the ATP World Tour at 202.

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Past champions James Blake and Mardy Fish rallied to defeat wild card duo Amer Delic and Robert Kendrick 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 in an all-American first round match Monday at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament.

Blake and Fish clinched the Houston title on their team’s event debut in 2004 (d. Leach-MacPhie), and were also semi-finalists in ’06. The two are playing together for the second time this year; they reached the semi-finals in February at San Jose, but withdrew prior to the match due to Blake’s right ankle injury.

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