Black Tennis Pros

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With a 17th pro season ahead of her and a third decade around the corner, Venus Williams is setting no timetable on when she might call it quits.

"As long as I'm playing great, I'm not putting a number on it yet," said seven-time major winner Williams, who turns 30 in June.

Williams spoke Wednesday by phone from New York for the Cup exhibition at Madison Square Garden in March.

STEPPING ASIDE: Former No. 1 Mauresmo retires

The $1.2 million, one-night event features Venus, younger sister Serena Williams, French Open winner and U.S. Open champ Kim Clijsters. No. 1 Serena beat Venus in last year's final.

"I love playing in New York, and I'm happy to be back," Venus said.

The 29-year-old American put together one of her more dependable campaigns in 2009, winning her 40th and 41st singles titles, reaching the final at the Sony Ericsson Championships in October and finishing the season at No. 6 for the second straight year.

For the first time since 2006, Venus failed to win a major, though she reached the final. Venus lost to Serena in a rematch of 2008.

"It's never fun to come that close and not win," said Venus, who said she put the loss behind her quickly and called her season "consistent" and "solid."

"I made a real effort to play all year," she added. "I want to be out there playing. I don't want to be doing anything else."

Venus declined to address her sister's record $82,500 fine and two-year Grand Slam probation. The International Tennis Federation handed down the punishment this week for the 11-time major winner's profanity-laced tirade in a semifinal loss to Clijsters at the U.S. Open.

"Serena is a great player and a great person and a real plus to anyone's life that she's in or that she's touched — mine and people that she doesn't even know," said Venus. "That's what I can say."

Asked if the penalty fit the crime, she said: "I don't get involved in all this commentary. I never have and I'm not going to start today."

Venus did voice an opinion about news this week that another tournament could be leaving U.S. soil. The ATP Tour's Indianapolis event in July could be removed from the calendar altogether if a new home isn't found, according to several reports.

"The tournaments have slowly shifted away from the U.S.," she said. "I've definitely started to miss playing here as much as used to. But we have to be in those markets that can support us at the moment. I'm sure in the future we can build more U.S. tournaments."

As usual, Venus will kick off her season at the Australian Open following exhibitions in Hong Kong and Thailand. She will play no tune-ups and is not looking to shake up her pre-season routine.

"It's the usual: Gym, practice and all the stuff in between," she said. "I have the right formula and I know how to do it at this point. It won't be anything new."

With so many new and old faces on the comeback trail from retirement, injury or confidence slumps, the women's tour in 2010 could again be full of surprises.

Along with new mother Clijsters, who won in New York in just her third tournament following a two-year layoff, the new season will feature the return of another Belgian, Justine Henin, who left the sport in 2007 when she was ranked No. 1.

Other former No. 1s — still Slam-less Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic, 2006 Melbourne champ Maria Sharapova, and struggling Ana Ivanovic — should be primed for a strong start in what is shaping up to be a wide-open season.

Any player with legitimate hopes of snagging the hardware will probably have to go through top-ranked Serena, a four-time Melbourne winner and the defending champ.

One plus for all the players is a longer offseason. As part of the so-called roadmap, the WTA Sony Ericsson Tour finished two weeks earlier than the year before and a full month before the men.

"The offseason definitely helps with injuries and gives an opportunity to heal," said Venus. "I'm healthy and strong."

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The singer will be featured in “Alicia Keys Live! One Night…One Voice… One Life at a Time…” an 8 p.m. ET performance tonight at the Nokia Theater in New York. The show will be recorded and streamed live on Keys official YouTube channel.

In recognition of World AIDS Day (today), Alicia Keys and American Express are bringing fans together for a special charity concert, so fans across the globe can also participate and donate to Keep A Child Alive, of which Keys is co-founder and global ambassador. American Express cardmembers and lucky contest winners from AliciaKeys.com, Facebook and radio will be attending this exclusive live performance where Alicia will share insight into her charitable work and perform some of her greatest hits as well as songs from her new album “The Element of Freedom,” set for a December 15 release.

All ticket proceeds will go to the organization, and you can do the same by visiting www.keepachildalive.com or by texting “ALIVE” to 90999 to give $5.

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5 things you can do to Respect & Protect

1. Find out the facts about HIV and talk to your friends, family and colleagues about HIV - make sure they know the reality, not the myths.
2. Know your HIV status: get tested if you have put yourself at risk.
3. Talk to all new sexual partners about using condoms. Using a condom during sex (especially vaginal or anal sex) is the best way to protect yourself and your partner from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
4. If someone tells you the are HIV positive, treat them with respect and don't tell others without their agreement.
   
5. Wear a red ribbon as a symbol of your support for everyone affected by HIV, and to raise awareness.
   

What Does Respect And Protect Mean?

"Respecting yourself and those around you by protecting yourself, both by using condoms and by educating yourself about the dangers of HIV."

"For me confidentiality is top of the list when I think of Respect & Protect. And it is important we respect each other and protect one another."

"Respect people whether they are HIV positive or not. And protect yourself from catching an avoidable disease."

If the man respects me they will be happy to protect themselves and me.

If one has respect for their body, they will respect others and protect themselves and other people from HIV.

It brings us knowledge about the realities of HIV - protecting ourselves and other people are paramount.

To me it means respecting other people who I might have sexual contact with, as well as protecting myself and others from transmitting HIV.

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"I am thankful that we now have closure on the incident, and we can all move forward," Williams said in statement released by her Los Angeles-based publicist. "I am back in training in preparation for next season, and I continue to be grateful for all of the support from my fans and the tennis community."

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Let the truth be spoken up front; American sisters Venus and Serena Williams have conducted themselves over the lifespan of their tennis careers in an exemplary manner and there are others who could learn a lot from them. That said, sure, Serena has always been the highly emotional fiery player that causes the fans to raise the roof in the stadiums - all within the confines of the sport and nothing contrary to it.

Serena Williams' choice to lash out at the linesperson in the manner that she did at the 2009 U.S. Open was without question an aberration in the behavior that she typically displays during matches. Poor judgement in the heat of the match? Unquestionably. A continuance of longstanding bad behavior? Absolutely not!

On its own merit, the decision of the International Tennis Federation to fine American Serena Williams a record $82,500 for the incident is certainly not as extreme as it could have been and let's face it, the payout won't even make a slight dent in her stash.

The funky portion of this decision comes with the probation and and the potential for Serena to be suspended if she has another "major offense" at any Grand Slam in the next two years. WHAT A LOAD OF BULL!!

Holding Serena to a standard FAR different than other players, male or female, is just beyond the pale. If the ITF wants to set a new standard and then hold all players feet to the fire, fine; but to take an isolated incident and now set Serena up as the gold standard in bad behavior and place punitive sanctions on her that establish new lows in parity is absolutely ridiculous.

Serena has been placed on a probation over the four major championships that occur in 2010-1011. If she has another "major offense" at a Grand Slam tournament in that time, the $82,500 fine would increase to $175,000 and she would be barred from the following U.S. Open.

"But if she does not have another offense in the next two years, the suspension is lifted," says Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock. Oh how sweet.

He stated that "Williams violated the "major offense" rule for "aggravated behavior." The Grand Slam committee - with one representative from each of the sport's four major championships - approved his decision Saturday.

Babcock said a "major offense" under Grand Slam rules is "any conduct that is determined to be the 'major offense' of 'aggravated behavior' or 'conduct detrimental to the game.'" There is no specific definition of what sort of actions constitute a "major offense."

He said the highest possible fine that Williams could face - $175,000, if she violates her Grand Slam probation - was chosen because it is the difference in winnings between reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals at the U.S. Open. The $10,000 Williams already was docked by the USTA will be counted toward that total; that's why she is paying half of $165,000 now.

Call it what you will, view it in your own light and subject this decision to your own scrutiny - there's one thing that's for certain, this decision would take on a totally different color if this were a white male player. The history of the game bares all of the truth of that statement.

What's good for one should be good for all - this sucks...

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Media Contact:

Jasmyne Cannick

(323) 839-0216

LOS ANGELES – Hundreds of local youth ages 12-17 came out and celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Venus and Serena Williams Tennis Academy Saturday, Nov. 14. The celebration took place at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Courts located at the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex in Los Angeles and included an exhibition of their students.

The Venus and Serena Williams’ Tennis Academy is housed at the Rancho Cienega Sports Complex located at 5001 Rodeo Boulevard in Los Angeles. Additionally, the Academy is open seven days a week with instructors available for private, semi-private, and group lessons for both adults and children. For more information, please call (323) 299-4631.

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