Black Tennis Pros

Way to go Donald... great performance!

American Donald Young persevered in a four-set match with Belgium's Christophe Rochus that saw him down a set from the jump. Donald put it in gear though and took the next three sets with a win coming in at 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4.

Donald said “If he would have played the whole match the way he did that first set, he would have got me again. He couldn’t miss.”

After having come through the qualifying event to enter the main draw he states, “When I’m feeling good about myself, I play better, when I’m down I don’t play as well.”

American Venus Williams cruised past Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic easily, defeating her her 6-2, 6-2. Post match Venus said, "I feel like I have so much left in my strings to accomplish, I love playing. I want to win each tournament I play. I want to win the majors, play doubles, and be in the Olympics."

Always being asked about age and retirement as she approaches 30 this year, of playing younger players Venus says, "To be honest, when you're on the court, age doesn't matter. So far, I'm fast and strong and maintaining that is great."


Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has continued his love affair with the Australian Open, sailing through to the second round after a straight-sets win over Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky on Hisense Arena on Tuesday.

The Frenchman, seeded No. 10, put on a powerful and athletic display that entertained the sizeable crowd. Showing no signs of the wrist injury that afflicted him in the lead-up to the tournament, he prevailed 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 51 minutes.

American James Blake continues to look like a man on a mission in his 7-5, 7-5, 6-2 defeat of Frenchman Arnaud Clement. Blake seems so much more poised and focused as he begins his 2010 campaign - impressive.

Blake himself is pleased with his current serve execution, “I only got broken once in three sets against a guy who puts so many returns in the court … a good feeling - got a few free points and served at a high percentage for me. I am pretty proud of the work we did on my serve in the off-season.

American Serena Williams made quick work of her first opponent, Poland's Urszula Radwanska who also has a big sister on the tour (Agnieszka). Serena pummled Radwanswka for a little over an hour to arrive at a decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory.

“I was happy to get through,” Serena said. “The scoreline seemed to be easy, but there were tough points. So I was just happy to get it over with.

“She plays really well. I think her game has definitely come on. I feel like she's more consistent. You know, it's a different score than Wimbledon, but still I think that she's more consistent and a little better ‑ a lot better.”


Frenchman Gael Monfils completed his rain-delayed match against Australian Matthew Ebden, winning the match 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.


American Shenay Perry was unable to find a solution for her match with Serbian Ana Ivanovic. She was defeated 2-6, 3-6.

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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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