Black Tennis Pros

In her first interview since suffering a pulmonary embolism, Serena Williams spoke with Matt Lauer on Today

"Every day is better and better. I'm not doing much. I really haven't left the house recently."

She recalled that on Feb. 18, she "had a lot of swelling in my leg, which really is a tell-tale sign of an embolism, and I could not breathe." She just thought she "wasn't fit," but went to the emergency room.

Doctors at first,couldn't find anything, she said. But then one ordered a CAT scan of her lungs. "That's when they found several blood clots. They told me they had to check me in immediately or it wasn't going to be a good result."

A week later, she walked the red carpets at Oscar parties. "I had been through so much. I really was kind of low on energy," she said, but wanted to "do something to get my spirits up. I wasn't doing so well mentally. ... I was feeling terrible." So she went out. And wound up in the hospital the next day, Feb. 28, because of a large hematoma in her stomach. A hematoma is a gathering of blood underneath the skin, Lauer explained.

"I'm on blood thinner injections. I inject myself twice a day," she said. "I apparently must have hit something, ... so what started out as a golf ball ended up being the size of a grapefruit." At the hospital she was told it couldn't be drained; it had to be surgically removed.

Did this all stem from her initial foot problem after stepping on glass last year? She said, "Yes, and not moving and doing as much as I normally do and flying back and forth a lot."

What are doctors telling her now? "I'm just taking it one day at a time. My lungs are fairly healthy and I'm on the road to recovering." She said she's still hoping to return to tennis this summer. "I want to come back and be able to do well."

The talents of American superstar Venus Williams know no bounds! Venus was recently captured participating in a Karaoke contest on a Carnival Cruise in the Caribbean hosted by the band "311."

Recently on Twitter Venus tweeted, "Been singin Karaoke around the world for years,Thailand, Japan, Korea,USA...hope this can prepare me for the biggest challenge ever...@311."

It appears that two of her sisters joined the singing tennis star for a seriously rocking performance... steps and all!

Go Venus!

MIAMI, Fla. (www.sonyericssonopen.com) – The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open announced its wildcard entries and this year it features former World No. 4 James Blake and former World No. 1 Dinara Safina. A total of five wildcard slots were granted to the men’s draw and also include Jack Sock, Ryan Harrison, Milos Raonic, and Bernard Tomic. While six were given on the women’s side which feature Heather Watson, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Madison Keys, and Coco Vandeweghe.

Women’s main draw begins on Tuesday, March 22, while the men’s main draw kicks off the following day on Wednesday, March 23. The qualifying rounds will be held Monday and Tuesday, March 21 and 22.

Tickets to the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open are on sale now and can be purchased by phone (305-442-3367) or via internet at www.sonyericssonopen.com. An electrifying two weeks of tennis conclude with the women’s final on Saturday, April 2 and the men’s final on Sunday, April 3.

Blake will make his return to Miami, hoping to improve on his career-best quarterfinal showings in 2006 and 2008. Safina made her last appearance on the purple courts in 2009 as the No. 2 seeded player advancing to the third round. She recorded her career-best finish in 2008 when she advanced to the quarterfinals.

Blake, always a fan favorite, earned his first ATP win in 2002 becoming the fourth African American to win an ATP title in the Open Era. In 2005, Blake grabbed the national spotlight at the U.S. Open when he played a thrilling five-set match in the quarter finals against his idol, Andre Agassi. From there, Blake’s career blossomed tremendously as he reached his career-high of No. 4 in the world in 2006 becoming the first African American to crack the top-10 since his role model, Arthur Ashe.

Safina made her professional debut in 2002. The Russian star recorded a breakout season in 2008 winning a career-best four singles titles. In 2008, she was awarded the WTA Most Improved Player, and was the first player in history to defeat three reigning World No. 1s in the same season (Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, and Jelena Jankovic). Safina reached a career-high rank of No. 1 in the world in 2009, and joined her brother Marat Safin as the first brother-sister combo to both achieve World No. 1 rankings.

In addition to Blake and Safina the tournament wildcards include many of the Tour’s next generation of tennis stars.

Men’s Main Draw Wildcards
James Blake
Jack Sock
Ryan Harrison
Milos Raonic
Bernard Tomic

Men’s Qualifying Wildcards
Gastao Elias
Filip Krajinovic

Women’s Main Draw Wildcards
Dinara Safina
Heather Watson
Madison Keys
Sabine Lisicki
Coco Vandeweghe
Sorana Cirstea

Women’s Qualifying Draw Wildcards
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Lauren Davis
Carina Witthoeft
Aleksandra Wozniak
Beatrice Capra
Sloane Stevens

Announcement posted on the new MWKF blog:


One of our supporters, Mrs. Mandy Gildersleeve has organized a Triathlon competition for our students! Our students will train for 2 months on the campus of the University of North Florida. Our students along with students from The Bridge of Northeast Florida will be swimming, biking and running. They will also receive an entry into the Jr. Gate River Run held March 12th.

All students who complete the Triathlon will receive a FREE bike, sneakers and swim gear!

Let’s root for our students as they compete in their first ever Triathlon competition!

WIMBLEDON, England -- Wimbledon is going 3-D.

The men's semifinals and men's and women's finals at this summer's tournament will be filmed in the new format and aired live by 3-D capable cinemas around the world.

The deal was announced Monday as part of the Wimbledon's multiyear partnership with Sony.

All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie says "Wimbledon is renowned for its heritage and sense of tradition. At the same time we are always looking for ways to improve the presentation of the championships by successfully blending that tradition with innovation."

Television coverage of the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, the most attended tennis tournament outside of the four major events, will be aired on ABC, ESPN2 and Tennis Channel, it was announced today by tournament director Steve Simon.

The tournament, to be held March 7-20 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, will be televised on ESPN2 on Friday, March 18, and on ABC on Saturday, March 19 and Sunday, March 20. Both networks, which signed a multi-year agreement with the tournament, will carry coverage for four hours each day. In addition, ESPN3.com will offer live streaming of the action from Saturday, March 12 through the finals on Sunday, March 20.

“We’re very pleased to bring this top-tier event back to ESPN and to have worked with ATP Media to expand the footprint of their events from coast-to-coast,” said Jason Bernstein, ESPN senior director, programming and acquisitions. “ESPN3.com continues to grow as a destination for tennis fans seeking the best players and events, and this agreement reaffirms ESPN3.com as the unquestioned home for live professional tennis.”

“We are extremely excited that we will be able to showcase our final weekend of tennis at the BNP Paribas Open on ABC and ESPN2,” said Simon. “Moving to ABC and ESPN2, continuing our relationship with Tennis Channel and having ESPN3.com stream all produced world feed matches, will allow us to provide consistent match coverage and ensure that viewers around the country can follow all the action.”

Tennis Channel, which signed a five-year agreement with the tournament, will cover the BNP Paribas Open from Saturday, March 12 through Thursday, March 17, for a total of eight days and 75 hours of live action, with more than 125 hours of encore coverage.

“Tennis Channel viewers expect to find the best players in the sport on our network every single week,” said David Scott, vice president, programming, Tennis Channel. “This multi-year agreement with the BNP Paribas Open is an important part of that programming strategy, and ensures that our audience will see the elite men’s and women’s tennis stars at one of the sport’s premier events each spring. We’re excited about the opportunity to put so much of this tournament on television.