Black Tennis Pros

The latest forecast indicates worsening conditions with no projected breaks in the rain through the remainder of the day and into the night.  Due to this forecast, the USTA is cancelling the Tuesday, September 6 Day Session (session #17), and the Tuesday, September 6 Night Session (session #18).  Play will resume tomorrow, Wednesday, September 7 at 11 a.m. ET, gates open at 10 a.m. ET, weather permitting.

The USTA’s inclement weather policy is now in effect for both the day and night session of Tuesday, September 6.

For further information go to usopen.org.

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Umpire Carlos Bernardes, Brazil

Oooooooh, what was I thinking? You were calling Umpire Carlos Bernardes a "dumbass" because your dumb ass doesn't speak French. Okay then, that makes it alllllll better. NOT!!

During the 2011 U.S. Open day 8 Labor Day match against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga., Mardy Fish took it upon himself to be overheard saying, "I don't speak French dumbass" to whom I thought at the time was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (still think so).

However, since then, during his post-match interview after being knocked out, U.S. No. 1 Mardy Fish clarified that he was not talking to his opponent Tsonga, but to the umpire, who happened to be Carlos Bernardes of Brazil.


Fish went on to say with a smile and a smirk "I probably shouldn't have said that," as opposed to, I apologize for my dumb ass personal attack Mr. Bernardes.

You know Fish, you're a pretty well perceived guy, I know that I've always liked you and the person you "appear" to be, so since I saw you scratching your groin for half of the match, I'm going to chalk this foolishness up to jock itch and let it ride.

Mindsets about you can be reversed you know - watching and listening Mr. Fish, behave.

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Jo-Willie Tsonga, the No. 11 seed, imposed his bigger, higher-risk game on Fernando Verdasco and triumphed convincingly in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, in a marquee matchup of two sluggers known for their aesthetically pleasing, but also bruising, tennis.

The early Saturday evening match was technically the last of the day session, beginning roughly the same time as the Ashe night session, and day ticketholders packed the Grandstand to overflow, with lines stretching around the block to get in.

Surely, though, this will be Tsonga’s last match on Grandstand; next up, in the Round of 16, he plays the red-hot American Mardy Fish.


Despite her No. 28 seed, Serena came in as the consensus favorite and proved to be just that, dropping only three games in her first two matches against Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski and the Netherlands’ Michaella Krajicek, respectively. In the third round, the 29-year-old three-time Open champion looked poised to take a fourth, knocking out the No. 4 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 6-1, 7-6(5) on Saturday.

Next up, Serena will face No. 16 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, the 2008 French Open champ, who has also breezed through her matches in straight sets. The road from there should only get tougher as five top-10 seeds remain: No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, No. 7 Francesca Schiavone, No. 9 Samantha Stosur and No. 10 Andrea Petkovic.


In front of a boisterous and supportive crowd on Sunday, American Donald Young defeated the No. 24 seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. Young played smart, gritty tennis, matching Chela’s consistent baseline game when he needed to and employing more offensive firepower than his higher-ranked opponent. Young hit 46 winners to Chela’s 19, and converted on five of 10 break point opportunities to take a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 win.

This latest upset for the No. 84-ranked Young continues a roll like no other he's had in the pros. His three wins here equal the number of Grand Slam victories he’s had in his entire career, having won two matches at the 2007 US Open and one match at the 2010 Australian Open. It follows on the heels of his second round win over the No. 14 seed Stanislas Wawrinka, a match that saw Young score the first five-set victory of his career. His ranking had fallen to No. 146 as recently as this past February, but Young came into the Open with the highest ranking he's had since May of 2008, and after this tournament it will climb much higher.

"This is what you work for, this is what you dream of," Young said after his win. "I'm just excited to be able to do this in New York, in my home country's major."


Friday was a day of missed opportunities for James Blake. The American, a quarterfinalist here in 2005 and 2006, found himself with a break advantage in both the second and third sets against No. 5 seed David Ferrer, but couldn't quite capitalize in front of a boisterous home crowd.

Ferrer, the Spaniard, broke back in each of the last two sets, winning the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on Grandstand.

It was "The People's Court" to start the afternoon -- or at least seemed that way. Blake, once a top-10 player and a Harvard grad with New York ties, looked primed to capitalize on a maximum-capacity crowd that was loudly in his corner. 

For Blake, it was the first time since 2001 that he hasn't advanced past the second round at the Open. He has continued to climb his way back from a right knee injury this year and at one point was ranked as low as No. 173 in the world. He entered into the Open this year ranked 63rd.


American teenager Sloane Stephens lost in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 to Serbian Ana Ivanovic on Friday evening. She never really seemed able to find her footing, but did attempt to do so as the match went on. Unfortunately, sufficient response to give herself a fighting chance never materialized.

Post match she said “I was so caught up in being tight and nervous and not really handling the situation well to just freaking out, like, ‘What are you doing?’ ” Stephens said. “I was thinking like a 10-year-old. Everything kind of got to me at the end. I tried to fight it as best I could. But at some point, it catches up to you.”

“My serve is something that I usually can count on, and today it wasn’t there.”

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American Donald Young owned, and took control of his game today in a way that he hasn't previously. It was clear from the onset of his match with Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka that Donald was in a mode of focus that kept him sufficiently centered to see the match through no matter what the outcome.

The outcome, however, was nothing short of incredible. The 84th ranked 22-year old who received a wild card into the Open, literally took the match that appeared to be in Wawrinka's pocket mid fourth set.

The steadiness that Young embraced to win the fourth set, endure a bit of a see saw in the fifth and just dominate the tie-break to win this match was powerful to watch.

Taking the 7-6 (7), 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) win in 4 hours, 20 minutes set the Open up for a Friday that it could not have anticipated.

This win matches his best performance at a Grand Slam by reaching the third round, which he also accomplished at Flushing Meadows in 2007.

Donald's next opponent is World No. 24 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

Keep it moving forward Donald, what a win!!!

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Sergei Bubka, Ukraine

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga passed the test posed by Ukraine's Sergei Bubka on Thursday afternoon, earning a straight-sets victory 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to secure his spot in the third round.

With this win, Tsonga has yet to drop a set en route to the third round, and his tennis looks solid enough to propel him into week two of the US Open. The Frenchman hasn't been pushed in his early round matches, but that may change in his next contest, when he could potentially face No. 19 seed Fernando Verdasco.

Both men opened the match with fairly easy service holds, but in the eighth game on Bubka's serve at 3-4, Tsonga put the pressure on his opponent to reach break point at 15-40. A forehand that sailed wide from Bubka handed Tsonga the break and a chance to serve out the set, which he did handily.

The second set began just as the first, but a break point in Tsonga's favor came a bit earlier, at 2-2, and he converted to take the lead. But Bubka took the break right back in an exciting eighth game at 4-3. Bubka stepped up and produced a solid return game, exhibiting some amazing feel with touch drop shots that fell just out of Tsonga's reach. The crowd came alive when Tsonga charged full-speed the net to track down one of Bubka's drop shots, but when he couldn't reach it in time, he avoided a run-in with the net by leaping over it near the post.


A brief shift in momentum went in Bubka's direction, as his net tactics and aggressive offense allowed him to get back in the set with a 5-4 lead. But Tsonga would have none of it, and he, too, showed great hands at the net, breaking Bubka for a 6-5 advantage and closing out the second set on his serve.

Tsonga needed only 30 minutes to take the final set, breaking Bubka in the third game and never looking back.

Tsonga, who has never fallen before the third round at the US Open, is looking to susurpass his best result here, which was a round of 16 appearance in 2009 as the No. 7 seed. And as the No. 11 seed, his chances of accomplishing that goal are good, considering the high level of play he brings as he entered the event. Tsonga reached the semifinals at Montreal before retiring against Novak Djokovic with a right arm injury.

Bubka, a 24-year-old qualifier who packs a mean serve, leaves Flushing Meadows after having won his first career Grand Slam match here, a four-set win over Andreas Haider-Maurer. And considering this was only Bubka's first US Open main draw and fourth ATP Tour-level tournament, he can't be too disappointed with the early exit.

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Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain

Former World No. 1 and 2003 US Open finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero upstaged No. 7 seed Gael Monfils in a thrilling contest on Louis Armstrong Stadium to reach the US Open third round with a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 victory.

In a match lasting four hours and 48 minutes, the 31-year-old Ferrero upset Monfils’ 25th birthday celebrations as he reaped the rewards of a more solid display, reining his unforced errors in at 52 while Monfils committed 81, and withstanding 81 winners from the athletic Frenchman

“He is very difficult because he is everywhere,” Ferrero said of Monfils. “He slides over there, he is at the net over there. It is very tough to win a point against him.”

Monfils may not have prevailed in his five-set tussle with Juan Carlos Ferrero on Thursday, but the Frenchman certainly left his mark on the court, in more ways than one, as he displayed all his athletic prowess. The Parisian ignored the fact he was playing on a hard court and readily threw himself into every point, quite literally.


When asked about his willingness to dive on a hard court, Monfils admitted, “I think some things just switch off in my mind. I just see the ball and I'm like, ‘Well, you have to do it’, and then I dive. Every time you're like, ‘Oh, no’.  I know the dive is so good for two seconds. Then you're like, ‘Oh, @!#%’, it’s still hard.

“It's really tough because I know all the people think I'm like elastic. I'm diving. If I stay a little bit longer on the floor, they're like, ‘He's acting’.  I'm not like X Man. For 30 seconds I hurt. But maybe something is missing upstairs because I go back to do it again. I think I'm kind of blessed because I never really hurt myself.  So I think I'm gifted with that.”

The crowd, appreciative of the outstanding play throughout the match, gave the players a standing ovation when it ended.

“It was like very lovely,” Monfils said. “It was a good feeling. Even though I lost the match, it was a good feeling.”

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