Black Tennis Pros

American James Blake in full swing as he captures his 350th match win at the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Thirty-two-year old American James Blake earns his 350th career win in round one of the BB&T Atlanta Open on Tuesday after a 2 1/2 hour rain delay.

Rock it out Blake!


Blake, who took out the No. 6 seed Ryan Harrison 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, comes into the Open with with a world ranking of 110, an injured shoulder and is recovering from knee surgery.  Blake said, "My knee hasn't been that far off, but it's been far enough off that it's affected me.  When that starts getting better, my shoulder starts giving me problems, and it makes me realize I'm not 20, like Ryan, anymore."

Welcome to the club Blake.


We'll just have to wait and see what the former World No. 4 can muster during the rest of the Open, but for now, its nice to see him get the win.

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Serena Williams during quarterfinal play in Stanford, California at the Bank of the West Classic

2012 Wimbledon Women's Singles Champion Serena Williams is through to the US Open Series Bank of the West Classic semifinals in Stanford, California.

Though quite fatigued from just winning her fifth Wimbledon crown, as well as not sleeping through last night, Serena out played South African Chanelle Scheepers 6-4, 6-0 making it through to the semifinals in her quest to defend her 2011 title here.


In her post-match interview Serena said that "this is where it all began last year..." as she was coming off of various injuries and serious health related issues. She also said "I said I would come... and that is why I am here."

On Saturday Serena will meet Sorana Cirstea of Roumania. Cirstea defeated Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0.

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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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