Black Tennis Pros

Could the big four international grand slams someday become the big five? The Soweto Open in South Africa certainly would like to make that happen. The famous township, a symbol of the anti-apartheid fight where Nelson Mandela lived, has started its own.


Hopefuls Get Chance To Play In Soweto Open

The South African Tennis Association (Sata) has announced a pre-qualifying tournament for the upcoming Soweto Open men's and women's events for players from previously disadvantaged communities.

The tournament will be played at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex in Jabavu, Soweto, from April 3-5. Finalists will earn wildcard spots in the qualifying draw of the Open with the losing semi-finalists playing out for third and fourth place.

Following his controversial decision to play in the SA Open at Ellis Park in the 1970's, the legendary Arthur Ashe sponsored the tennis complex in Soweto in order to assist budding young black tennis players.

Sata chief executive Ian Smith said: "This is one way of making sure that the late Arthur's dream becomes a reality. We are calling out to all those interested to register for the event.

Selection will be in accordance with current national rankings

"One of the South African Tennis Association's main objectives is to develop tennis players in communities that were previously disadvantaged"

To participate, players must be 14 or older. Selection will be in accordance with current national rankings in open and age categories. A R10 fee is payable at the registration desk at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex between 8am and 9am on Friday.

The Soweto Open will be the first major international tennis tournament to be staged in South Africa's most populous and renowned township.

For more information on the pre-qualifying tournament contact the South African Tennis Association on 011-442-0500 during office hours.


Soweto Deals Four Wildcards

Three South African tennis players and a Frenchman have been given wildcards into the Soweto Open beginning at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday.

Fabrice Santoro, who was forced to withdraw from the recent SA Open at Montecasino for personal reasons, was keen to make up for that by playing in this event.

However, according to ATP World Tour regulations, a player ranked in the top 50 may not enter directly into a Challenger and has to be given a wildcard in order to participate. Santoro, ranked exactly at number 50, fell into that category.

The three South Africans who have been given direct entry into the tournament are Izak van der Merwe, Raven Klaasen and Andrew Anderson.

Van der Merwe, ranked 271st in the world, narrowly missed out on making the main draw directly. He is a member of the South African Davis Cup team and won both of his matches in the recent 5-0 clean sweep over Macedonia.

Klaasen, ranked 338, reached the second round of the SA Open after beating Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, but then lost to former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-3, 7-5.

Anderson qualified for the SA Open and also went down to Baghdatis, in his case in the opening round.

Fritz Wolmarans, who has been plagued by a string of injuries lately, will need to go through the qualifying process in order to get into the main draw.

"Fritz has not played much due to injury. He needs match practice and playing in the qualifiers will benefit him if he goes through,'' said SA Tennis Association chief executive Ian Smith.

"It is great for us to have a player of Santoro's stature at this event, especially in his final year on the tour.

"It should also benefit Izak, Raven and Andrew to get the chance to improve their rankings at an event in their own country.''

The Soweto Open is the first ATP World Tour tournament to be staged in this sprawling township and is sponsored by the City of Johannesburg.

Entrance is free and the qualifier for the event will be played on Saturday and Sunday.

Photo by Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

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CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Defending champion Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Family Circle Cup because of an injury to her left leg.

The world's No. 1 player announced in a statement Tuesday that she still plans to attend some tournament events.

Williams said she originally hurt her leg at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka earlier this month.

Azarenka withdrew from the Family Circle Cup on Tuesday because of an injured right shoulder.

Williams' sister Venus and No. 3-ranked Elena Dementieva are among those slated to play in the tournament.

Qualifying play begins Saturday.

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No, not a law firm, but a significant doubles match between four Americans.

Top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan survived a match tie-break against close friends James Blake and Mardy Fish before advancing Friday night to the final of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston. The Bryans rallied from a break down in the second set to force a tie-break, but ultimately had to go the distance to close out a 5-7, 7-6(5), 10-4 win after saving six of seven break points.

The Bryans improved to a 25-3 match record on the year and now are one win away from their fourth title of the year and their second title in Houston (2007).

The twins improved to 3-0 lifetime against their countrymen and now will play the first all-American doubles final in Houston since 2004 against Jesse Levine and Ryan Sweeting, who defeated Australians Ashley Fisher and Jordan Kerr 3-6, 6-3, 10-4.

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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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