Black Tennis Pros

The 2009 French Open isn't until the end of May, but qualifying has officially begun in Boca Raton this week.

Eight U.S. men and 11 women are competing for a wild card spot into the main draw as part of a reciprocal agreement with the French tennis federation in which two Americans get slots at Roland Garros and two French players get spots in the U.S. Open.

Jesse Levine, a 21-year-old from Boca Raton, is giving his friends and family plenty to cheer about as he reached Thursday's final against top seed John Isner. Levine, the No. 2 seed, beat Donald Young 6-1, 6-3 in Wednesday's semifinal and Isner knocked out Scoville Jenkins 6-3, 7-6 (7-1). The matches are being played on the clay at the Boca West Country Club.

Levine reached the final of this playoff last year before losing to Weston's Wayne Odesnik. He is determined to clinch the spot this time around, but realizes it won't be easy against 6-9 Isner, who is ranked 17 spots ahead of Levine at No. 113. The two players are friends off the court and know each other's games well, dating to their college days.

Levine played one season for the University of Florida in the spring of 2007 and snapped Isner's 46-match winning streak at the University of Georgia. They have played three times since turning pro, and Levine leads 2-1. Isner won their last meeting. Both players plan to compete at the French Open regardless of the result of the playoff match, but one will have the advantage of a main draw spot while the other has to go through the qualifying rounds there.

''John's serve is unbelievable,'' Levine said. ``He could have games where he serves four aces, so you have to focus on the things you can control against him. I'm very excited because I've played main draw of the three other Slams, but never made it at the French.''

The other four men who competed for the men's wild card were Evan King, 17, of Chicago; Michael McClune, 19, of Irvine, Calif.; Nathan Pasha, 16, of Atlanta, and Rhyne Williams, 18, of Knoxville, Tenn.

Eleven women are vying for a wild card: Kristie Ahn, 16, of Upper Saddle River, N.J.; Gail Brodsky, 17, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Beatrice Capra, 17, of Ellicott City, Md.; Lauren Embree, 18, of Marco Island; Nicole Gibbs, 16, of Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Madison Keys, 14, of Boca Raton; Christine McHale, 16, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; Asia Muhammad, 18, of Henderson, Nev.; Sloane Stephens, 16, of Fresno, Calif.; Stacey Tan, 17, of Lakewood, Calif., and CoCo Vandeweghe, 17, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.

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According to the Metro.co.uk, Sarah Gronert, who was born with both male and female genitalia, has been cleared to compete as a woman.

I honestly thought that this was one of the most extreme gender cases that I've heard in awhile. Holding this young woman hostage while you 'verify her gender' has been absolutely ridiculous and obscene.

I have a very good friend and former work associate who was born with the same issue; if she had not shared the fact with me, I never would have known. This woman's parents had the surgery performed at a period in her life when when everyone involved believed that they were making the correct determination and she is leading a life in the gender that she believes she was born into. Because her surgery was performed so much earlier, she has avoided the potential situation that Gronert has been victimized by, but feels her pain as we have discussed this many times.

This is such a victory for Gronert, and potentially others like her, especially in light of having to endure situation so publicly.

Sarah Gronert is free to face the world's best players after the sport's governing body ruled there was 'sufficient independent and verifiable evidence' she was eligible to play women's tennis.

The 22-year-old, who had her male genitalia removed three years ago, had to have 'gender verification to determine sexual status' under Women's Tennis Association rules.

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In preparation for the upcoming European clay court season, including the French Open starting May 24, Serena Williams today arrived at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy/IMG Academies to train with Nick on the campus’ clay courts.

Williams, who is ranked No. 2 in the world, has worked with Nick in the past and wants to again find the magic on clay that led her to a French Open singles title in 2002.

Nick Bollateri's Tennis Academy Blog

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Two of the hottest tickets on the ATP World Tour are Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils. As the world rankings shifted on Monday, April 27, these two each bumped up one spot - Monfils to World No. 9 and Tsonga to World No. 10.

Fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon also ascended from World No. 9 to 7. The wind seems to be blowing very nicely towards France.

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I absolutely LOVE this campaign, it is too much fun!

In this first video you see DSRL coaches Eli and Peyton Manning and Venus and Serena Williams put their 'twist, lick and dunk' coaching skills to work as they develop team strategy. Listen to the hard charging 'DSRL theme song' that's playing - this is serious!





In this video during DSRL activities, the Manning coaches show the Williams coaches that they have a bit of game on the tennis courts too.

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In a battle of the Frenchmen, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet played a first round match held over from Tuesday because of rain at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia/ATP World Tour Masters 1000, Rome, Italy.

In close to two hours, Gasquet defeated Tsonga 7-6(2), 6-4.

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On Tuesday afternoon at the Boar's Head Inn, Charlottesville, Virginia, the Boyd Tinsley Women's Pro Tennis Tournament began. American Angela Haynes and Croatian Mirjana Lucic were the marquee match for the first round of this event.

Lucic, a 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist, defeated second seeded Haynes 6-4, 6-2.

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