Black Tennis Pros

Rarely do Serena and Venus Williams step onto the court without an air of purpose about them.

Black Tennis Pro's has the pleasure of being able to give some lucky winner one of the beautiful designs from Serena's Signature Collection. The item is the Famous Pavé Dome Lucky Ring. The very same ring that Serena is currently wearing at the Australian Open.

The substantial ring stuns with a freeform center station, glistening with a blanket of pavé-set, round clear CZs (approx. 1.5mm). The shoulders flaunt an intriguing appeal with an open, split design. Lending presence, the ring towers with a domed interior.


Simply leave a comment with your email address on this post during the first two hours of AO play each day (7 pm - 9 pm Eastern). Comments without an email address WILL NOT not be entered into the drawing.

Entry begins on Tuesday, January 19 at 7:00 p.m. and ends at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 23. There will be a random drawing on Sunday January 24, and the winner will be announced on Monday, January 25.

GOOD LUCK!

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.

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

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