Black Tennis Pros

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Serena Williams will return to Centre Court almost exactly 50 weeks after she won her fourth Wimbledon title, opening her 2011 campaign against France's Aravane Rezai.

Williams, seeded seventh after the withdrawal of Kim Clijsters, won the opening match of her comeback in Eastbourne before losing out to Vera Zvonareva in a repeat of last year's Championships final, and will be closely monitored when she plays her first match on Monday.

The former world No.1 has faced the talented Frenchwoman just once in competition, rallying from a set down to defeat the current world No.56 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the pre-Australian Open tournament in Sydney in 2010. And so Rezai will not be a cakewalk for the four-time Wimbledon Champion, especially given the latter's lack of match fitness.


Sitting alongside Williams in the top half of the draw is current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, who will open her grass court season against Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja, the world No.107. Wozniacki, who comes into Wimbledon with 17 titles under her belt in what has still been a relatively short career, will once again be the focus of much attention on the lawns of SW19 as she attempts to win her first Grand Slam title.

But in order to do so, she will have to contend with Maria Sharapova, her opposite number in the top quarter of the draw. Viewed by many as a favourite for this year's title, Sharapova is deemed to have finally fully recovered from the shoulder injury that has blighted her for the past two years, and comes into Wimbledon fighting fit and full of confidence at what is one of her favourite Grand Slams. She opens against fellow Russian, world No.50 Anna Chakvetadze.

Should Sharapova triumph, she will face the winner of world No.77 Angelique Kerber against former junior Champion Laura Robson, awarded a wild card into The Championships this year. Fellow Brit Heather Watson, who broke into the top 100 last week, is also in the top half of the draw, meeting world No.64 Mathilde Johansson, as is British No.1 Elena Baltacha, who plays a qualifier. Emily Webley-Smith faces Klara Zakopalova.


French Open champion Li Na joked that she would be forgotten in China if she doesn't do well at Wimbledon, and so she should be pleased at a first-round match up with world No.70 Alla Kudryavtseva. But danger lies in the prospect of a second round meeting with the in-form wild card Sabine Lisicki, quarter-finalist at The Championships in 2009, who won the warm-up event at the Edgbaston Priory Club last week.

Ana Ivanovic, who plays American Melanie Oudin, Marion Bartoli, who meets a qualifier, and Agnieszka Radwanska, who will face Olga Govortsova, are other notable names in the top half of the draw.

2010 finalist Zvonareva occupies the top spot in the bottom half of the draw, as the No.2 seed, and will open against talented American Alison Riske. The world No.118 broke onto the scene at last year's AEGON Classic in Edgbaston, qualifying and powering her way to the semi-finals, so could provide a brief speed bump for the Russian. Last year's surprise semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova is also in Zvonareva's section, as is five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, seeded at No.23. Williams meets Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan in the first round, with Britain's Katie O'Brien or the ageless Kimiko Date-Krumm a potential second-round opponent.

Speaking of British players, Wimbledon will be guaranteed at least one "local" in the second round as former British No.1 Anne Keothavong and wild card Naomi Broady meet in the first round. The winner could play Petra Kvitova, the exciting Czech prospect who battled her way to the 2010 semi-finals, in the second round. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic also feature in the lower quarter of the draw's bottom half.
2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone could have a handful to deal with when she takes on Jelena Dokic, no stranger to causing an upset at SW19, while 2010 Eastbourne winner Ekaterina Makarova against highly-touted American Christina McHale is certainly one to watch.

The in-form Daniela Hantuchova meets a qualifier, while fourth seed Victoria Azarenka, the highest seed in the third quarter, will have to get past Magdalena Rybarikova.Witty German Andrea Petkovic, talented youngster Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and shock 2010 quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi are other seeds to watch out for.

The bottom half of the women's draw are scheduled to play their first-round matches on Monday, with the top half due to commence on Tuesday.

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American Serena Williams

American Serena Williams

Britain's Heather Watson

Italy's Francesca Schiavone

Serbia's Ana Ivanovic

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic

Germany's Andrea Petkovic

Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki

Britain's (r)Anne Keothavong and (l)Laura Robson

Russia's Maria Sharapova

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands

India's Sania Mirza

Romania's Sorana Cirstea

Germany's Sabine Lisicki

France's Alize Cornet

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American Sloane Stephens will not number among those in the 2011 Wimbledon Championships main draw. Stephens was knocked out by Nina Bratchikova of Russia.

Stephens has successfully come through several Tour level qualifying rounds this year, but unfortunately has not been able to make much headway during the tournaments.

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the latest player on the ATP World Tour to pose naked... for a good cause. The Frenchman can be seen in all his glory in the June issue of the U.K.'s Cosmopolitan magazine.

Tsonga is the third tennis player to bare all in support of the Everyman Male Cancer Campaign, following in the footsteps of Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco. The Everyman campaign raises awareness of, and funds research into, testicular and prostate cancer.

Cosmopolitan features different celebrities in nude centerfolds each month to aid UK’s leading male cancer campaign. Through its centerfolds, the magazine has helped raise vital funds for the 39,000 men a year diagnosed with male-specific cancer.

The World No. 19 did the photoshoot in Monte Carlo earlier this year. In the accompanying interview, Tsonga disclosed, "On a woman, I love beautiful eyes." As for what he likes most about his body, the Frenchman revealed, "My favourite part of my body is my buttocks, but I don't like my feet."

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EASTBOURNE, England - Venus Williams' WTA comeback came to an end on a windy Thursday afternoon in Eastbourne, as she was outrallied by Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals of the AEGON International, 62 57 62.

Williams, who had missed four and a half months of action due to hip and abdominal injuries, came back strong, beating No.11-ranked Andrea Petkovic in her first match back and No.18-ranked Ana Ivanovic in her second. But the No.25-ranked Hantuchova was in too much of a groove, winning 12 of her last 15 matches. Just a day before, she upset French Open champion Li Na, too.

"Obviously this is a great win and it's nice to be able to continue my good form from Paris and Birmingham," Hantuchova commented after the match.

More impressive: Hantuchova beat Williams for the first time in 11 tries.

"I was not thinking about our other matches at all. I was just focusing on my game today," she added. "I had a good win yesterday and I wanted to build on that. But I still feel there is a lot of room to improve. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I feel like I'm on the right way, which is pretty exciting for me."

"The wind didn't make it very predictable, but I give her credit for hanging in there. On a day like today, you have to just hang in there," Williams said. "I think Daniela had a lot of motivation - we've been playing I don't know how many years, and I am sure she has wanted a win against me for a long, long time."

Williams showed some flashes of the fighting spirit that has taken her to seven Grand Slam titles and the No.1 ranking, one minute facing a point for a 62 52 deficit and the next minute tucking the second set away. But the final chapter of the match was all Hantuchova - from 2-all in the third, she won 16 of 21 points.



"It wasn't the best luck today, but I feel good about my preparation," Williams said. "More than anything I was able to get a lot of great competition. This has been ideal. I would have liked to win here, but there are positives here too."

Hantuchova commented on the return of both Williams sisters to the WTA: "It's nice to see them back. I think they're great for the game. I was really looking forward to the match today and really pleased I was able to make it through."

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(AGI) Rome- Andreas Seppi has qualified for the AEGON International quarter finals. The ATP tournament is worth 462,075 euros in prize money and is being played on Eastbourne's grass courts.

In the second round, the Italian player won 7-6(1) 6-3, in an hour and twelve minutes of play, defeating U.S. player Donald Young, who had come through from the qualifying round.

The next opponent will be the winner of the match between Belgium's Olivier Rochus and Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.

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In a second round match, Czech Radek Stepanek knocked out top-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3. Tsonga, a runner-up Monday at The Queen’s Club, managed to win just 55 per cent of his service points and was broken four times during the 59-minute match.

Stepanek improved to a 15-12 season record, and recorded his first win over Tsonga in three meetings. The former World No. 8 next meets the winner between Japan’s Kei Nishikori and German qualifier Rainer Schuettler.

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