Black Tennis Pros

American Donald Young at 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

NEWPORT, RI (AP) — Michael Russell beat fellow American and seventh-seeded Donald Young, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, Monday in the opening round at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

The tournament, the only one held on grass courts in North America, features a number of Olympians from 10 countries scheduled to play before heading to the London Games on Wimbledon’s grass surface later this summer.

Young, the 57th-ranked player in the world entering the week, is part of the US Olympic team.

Young dominated the opening set, winning 10 of 11 first-serve points and 16 of 18 service points overall. He closed the set in 25 minutes before the 96th-ranked Russell changed his attack.

‘‘It’s difficult on a grass court, it’s almost like you’re hitting and you keep waiting to see who’s going to get a bad bounce first,’’ Russell said. ‘‘I thought I was playing a little more aggressive in the second or the third set. Even when I did miss, I thought I was playing with the right style of play.’’

In the final set, Young fought off three match points in the ninth game before Russell closed it out when Young hit a backhand service return into the net on the final point.

‘‘Obviously I wanted to close it out when he was serving,’’ Russell said. “But like I said, in the third set I felt really comfortable in my serve and was able to serve it out, which was nice.’’

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French No. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga headed back to London for 2012 Olympics.

AFP - The French Tennis Federation (FFT) said world number five Tsonga, Gilles Simon (13), Gael Monfils (15) and Richard Gasquet (19) were selected thanks to their status as France’s top-ranked players as of June 11 this year.

The 27-year-old Tsonga suffered a miserable third-round exit from Queen’s Club last Thursday, and his agent Morgan Menahem said afterwards thoughts had immediately moved to treating his finger ahead of Wimbledon, where he was a semi-finalist last season.

Tsonga missed out on the 2008 Olympics because of a knee injury while Gasquet skipped Beijing to prepare better for the US Open that year.

Monfils reached the quarter-finals in Beijing before losing to Serb Novak Djokovic, who went on to win bronze and is now world number one. Simon reached the last-16 before losing to American James Blake.

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American sisters (L)Venus and (R)Serena Williams display the gold medals won in Women's Doubles at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

Returning to the lawns at Wimbledon for the 2012 Olympics, 2008 Doubles Gold Medalists Venus and Serena Williams will join Coach Mary Joe Fernandez, Varvara Lepchenko, Christina McHale, and doubles specialists Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond.

The Men's team will consist of Coach Jay Berger and teammates Andy Roddick, John Isner, Ryan Harrison and Donald Young, along with doubles specialists none other than the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan.

We are without a doubt sending the necessary muscle and talent to the games, hopefully our gold medal count will continue to rise - GO USA!!

The official Olympics start date is Friday, July 27, with the tennis portion of the games running July 28 thru August 5. It will be interesting to see how the opening and closing ceremonies compare to those in Beijing which were nothing short of spectacular.

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(R) American Taylor Townsend and Canadian (L) Eugenie Bouchard celebrate their 2012 Wimbledon Girls Doubles Title.

The 16-year-old from Georgia teamed up with Eugenie Bouchard of Canada to win the Wimbledon girls' doubles title on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Belinda Bencic and Ana Konjuh.


 Earlier this year, Townsend won the singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open.

"This is my first Wimbledon," she told USTA.com correspondent Craig Gabriel. "It really means a lot to me."

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2012 Wimbledon Champion Serena Williams made her arrival to Stanford, California for the Bank of the West Classic today and was welcomed with lots of sweet treats celebrating her fifth Wimbledon Championship title.

Serena will begin defense of her Bank of the West Classic title during the Day Session on Wednesday, July 11 at the Taube Family Tennis Center on the campus of Stanford University.

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American sisters Venus and Serena Williams display their Wimbledon 2012 Doubles Championship trophies.

Serena Williams may have defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 earlier in the day to lift her fifth Wimbledon Crown and 14th Grand Slam singles title but she was forced to delay any plans for celebration.

There was the small matter of the Ladies' Doubles finals to contest with older sister Venus. By the time the siblings strolled on court to do battle with Czech duo- Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka the clock was showing 9.30pm – the hold-up caused by a particular men’s doubles final involving a chap called Jonathan Marray.

However, it was worth the wait. Exactly one hour and 18 minutes later Venus fired down an ace to secure a 7-5, 6-4 victory earning the sisters their fifth Wimbledon ladies doubles title and 13th Grand Slam ladies doubles win together.

Of course the pair are no strangers when it comes to accruing Grand Slam titles but this particular victory was made all the more special given the health scares they have both experienced over the past two years.

“For me it's been definitely a journey,” Venus said after the match. “ I'm sure it still will be. But I'm definitely very inspired by her [Serena] and everything that she's done. Like I said, we're not into the whole getting defeated thing; we're into the conquering thing."

The Americans faced tricky opponents in the form of the Czech duo, who last year won Roland Garros together. Until the 11th game the match proved to be close, hard hitting affair with both pairs producing sparkling grass court tennis involving thunderous serving and impeccable net play. But a break in the 11th game of the first and the fifth game of the second proved to be the sixth seeds' undoing.

The Williamses have never lost a Grand Slam doubles final together. Venus believes this stems from the fact they get on so well. “I think we just stay really relaxed when we play with each other because we believe in each other so much it helps the other one to stay relaxed.”

Their formidable style of play also helps. “Serena and I both put so much pressure on our opponents with our serves, and our returns are also, you know, very good,” she added.

However, Venus’s greatest inspiration is her younger sister, who suffererd a life-threatening condition last year in the form of a pulmonary embolism.

“I wouldn't be doing this without her. I mean, I feel like Serena was my role model. I couldn't have done any of this without her because she showed me how to win. I think it was a match made in heaven basically. We couldn't have done this without each other,” Venus said.

The sisters both came into the tournament unranked and unseeded and now leave with a doubles ranking between No.40 and 45, Serena a fifth Wimbledon crown and a singles ranking of world No.4. Now at least the party can begin.

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