Black Tennis Pros

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You know you are part of something special when eight of the world’s top tennis stars are under the same roof.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Aussies Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur united as a tennis family today by taking part in the Hit for Haiti fundraiser at Rod Laver Arena.

The 90-minute exhibition match was organised in less than 24 hours. The charity event proved to be a huge success, with a sell-out crowd. Representing the colours of the Haiti flag, Team Red (Federer, Williams, Hewitt and Stosur) defeated Team Blue (Roddick, Nadal, Djokovic, Clijsters, and late substitute Bernard Tomic) 7-6. Former Grand Slam champion turned tennis analyst Jim Courier was the chair umpire for the afternoon.

Spectators over the age of 12 paid $10 to watch the entertaining match, buying their tickets on the door. Russian star Maria Sharapova donated $10,000, while $20,000 was also collected in tin cans around the arena and around the grounds at a packed Garden Square. Today, $159,000 was raised through ticket sales and public donations alone.

It is very rare that you are given an opportunity to see Williams and Djokovic exchange banter from across the court or see Federer doing push-ups during a match, and the crowd lapped up every minute.

As soon as the gates to Melbourne Park opened on Sunday, thousands of excited tennis fans flocked into Rod Laver Arena for the charity event. From the moment the players stepped onto court, the crowd knew they were in for a special treat. The players were wearing microphone headsets, which meant the crowd were able to hear them joke amongst themselves and tease each other during the match.

After the opening game, Djokovic gave Roddick a shoulder rub when he sat down. It’s also not very often that you see defending Australian Open champion Nadal playing the role of a ballkid, handing out water bottles and towels.

Tournament Director Craig Tiley was delighted with the outcome of the charity event.

“It’s fantastic to see the tennis family from around the globe band together to help make a difference in this time of need” Tiley said.

“I would like to thank the players, staff and everyone involved in pulling off this event in such a short amount of time.”

Haiti was decimated by a devastating earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale last Tuesday. The United Nations has launched an appeal for hundreds of millions of dollars to try to help around three million people in need.

Donations can be made online to Partners in Health: www.pih.org

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SINGLES

Round 1

WOMEN

(1) Serena Williams, USA vs. Urszula Radwanska, POL
(6) Venus Williams, USA vs. Lucie Safarova, CZE
(Q) Shenay Perry, USA vs. Ana Ivanovic, SRB

MEN

(Q) Donald Young, USA vs. Christophe Rochus, BEL
(10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky, UKR
James Blake, USA vs. Arnaud Clement, FRA
(12) Gael Monfils, FRA vs. Matthew Ebden, AUS


DOUBLES

Round 1

WOMEN

Serena Williams, USA and Venus Williams, USA
vs.
Sophie Ferguson, AUS and Jessica Moore, AUS

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Sarah Borwell, GBR
vs.
Polona Hercog, SLO and Petra Martic, CRO

Shenay Perry, USA and Jelena Jankovic, SRB
vs.
Dominika Cibulkova, SVK and Michaella Krajicek, NED

MEN

James Blake, USA and Mardy Fish, USA
vs.
Marc Lopez, ESP and Santiago Ventura, ESP

Jeff Coetzee, RSA and Rogier Wassen, NED
vs.
John Isner, USA and Sam Querrey, USA

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American Shenay Perry fought the good qualifying rounds fight and is now entered into the main draw. She came through the third round match after winning a three-set match against Russian Vesna Manasieva 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

First up for Perry will be Serbian Ana Ivanovic. See you in round 2 Shenay!

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World No. 1 Serena Williams says she is happy with the condition of her knee ahead of her Australian Open title defense.

Williams suffered from knee soreness during her straight-sets loss to Elena Dementieva in Friday night’s Medibank International final in Sydney.

At Melbourne Park for a press conference this afternoon, Williams said her knee was much better and that the injury had not hampered her preparation for the year’s first Grand Slam.





“If anything, it helped. I played a lot of matches (in Sydney) in a row, you know, back to back. I had a long three‑set match. Eventually, you know, I had a quick turnaround time,” she said.

“But that was good preparation for me because I do plan on playing both singles and doubles here (at Melbourne Park).”

The American said she did not like to use injury as an excuse for her 6-3 6-2 loss in the Sydney final.

“I don't know if that would be very nice,” she said.

“I definitely wasn't at my best. But, you know, I feel like it's very comforting to know that I wasn't at my best in that particular match … I think Elena played well. She always plays me well. I think we always have really fun, tough, tough matches. With that being said, I thought she played amazing.

“What athlete really is at 100 per cent every time? Probably never.”

The top seed will begin her Australian Open campaign on Tuesday against Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, who she defeated at Wimbledon in 2008. Williams described her as a “tough cookie”.

“She's a tough player, and she's definitely no push‑over. She's a younger sister (of 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska), and younger sisters always want to play really hard and really tough. I know that for a fact,” she said.

“It's definitely not an easy first round.”

Talk inevitably shifted to the return of Belgian star Justine Henin, a player with whom Williams shares a fierce – and occasionally acrimonious - rivalry. However, the American said she was pleased to see Henin competing again.

“What an amazing effort and quality for both her and (fellow Belgian comeback queen) Kim Clijsters. It's so good to see two such good players back,” she said.

Williams will be attempting to win her fifth title at Melbourne Park, having previously lifted the trophy in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

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Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent an early warning to his rivals that he is again ready to challenge for the Australian Open crown after a sold warm-up at Kooyong.

The world number 10 was a surprise finalist in 2008 as he cut a swathe through the draw - including wins over Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal - before falling to Novak Djokovic at the last hurdle.

Tsonga showed no signs of the wrist injury that forced him to pull out of the first two tournaments of the year as he easily disposed of German Tommy Haas 6-4 6-3 in only 74 minutes at the AAMI Classic exhibition. He will take on Spanish world number nine Fernando Verdasco in the final on Saturday.

"My game is improving match after match, I'm playing better and better every day and I think I will be ready for the big event," said Tsonga, who will take on Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round at Melbourne Park.

"I feel good and I'm very confident."

Earlier in the day, Fernando Gonzalez - himself a surprise finalist in Melbourne in 2007 - beat Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 7-6 (9-7).

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Round 1

(1)Scoville Jenkins, USA defeated (WC) Jack Sock, USA

Nicholas Monroe, USA defeated by Marius Copil, ROU

(WC) Devin Mullings, BAH defeated by Juho Paukku, FIN

(Q)Marcus Fugate, USA defeated Bogdan-Victor Leonte, ROU
4-6, 7-5, 6-0

(WC)Evan King, USA defeated by Eric Prodon, FRA

Round 2

Scoville Jenkins, USA defeated Marius Copil, ROU
3-6, 7-6(2), 6-1

Marcus Fugate defeated Eric Prodon, FRA

Quarterfinal Round

Scoville Jenkins, USA defeated by Morgan Phillips, GBR

Marcus Fugate, USA defeated by Marco Mirnegg, AUT


Round 1

Mashona Washington, USA and Aurelie Vedy, FRA
Johanna Larsson, SWE and Stephanie Vongsouthi, FRA

Brittany Augustine, USA and Amanda Fink, USA
Eva Birnerova, CZE and Alina Jidkova, RUS

Angela Haynes, USA and Catalina Castano, COL
Christina Fusano, USA and Courtney Nagle, USA

Ahsha Rolle, USA and Tiya Rolle, USA
Jorgeline Cravero, ARG and Maria Irigoyen, ARG

Quarterfinal Round

Mashona Washington, USA and Aurelie Vedy, FRA
Eva Birnerova, CZE and  Alina Jidkova, RUS

Angela Haynes, USA and Catalina Castano, COL
Karolina Kosinska, POL and Teodora Mircic, SRB

Semifinal Round

Mashona Washington, USA and Aurelie Vedy FRA
Karolina Kosinska, POL and Teodora Mircic, SRB

Final

Mashona Washington, USA and Aurelie Vedy, FRA
defeated
Jorgelina Cravero, ARG and Maria Irigoyen, ARG
6-0, 6-2


Round 1

Nicholas Monroe, USA and Artem Sitak, RUS
Scoville Jenkins, USA and Gregory Ouellette, USA

(WC)Evan King, USA and Jack Sock, USA
Marcus Fugate, USA and Timothy Neilly, BAH

Quarterfinal Round

Scoville Jenkins and Gregory Ouellette, USA
Daniel Cox, GBR and Joshua Milton, GBR

Marcus Fugate, USA and Timothy Neilly, BAH
Denys Molchanov, UKR and Vladimir Obradovic, SRB

Semifinal Round

Scoville Jenkins, USA and Gregory Ouellette, USA
Stefano Ianni, ITA and Deniss Pavlovs, LAT

Marcus Fugate, USA and Timothy Neilly, BAH
Haydn Lewis, BAR and Daniel Yoo, KOR

Final Round

Marcus Fugate, USA and Timothy Neilly, USA
defeated by
Stefano Ianni, ITA and Deniss Pavlovs, LAT
2-6, 2-6

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