Black Tennis Pros

American Donald Young lost to Germany’s Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4


Sloane Stephens, ranked and seeded No. 18 at Wimbledon, was beaten by No. 109 Maria Kirilenko, who was ranked No. 10 in the world just a year ago. Plagued by shoulder and knee injuries, Kirilenko is on the comeback trail now—apparently with a vengeance.

“She's done well here in the past. I knew it was going to be tricky, but that's like every other Grand Slam first-round match,” Stephens said of the 6-2, 7-6 (6) loss.
This loss could drop her out of the Top 20 by the end of Wimbledon.


Court 12 was so brimful with charisma when Marcos Baghdatis and Dustin Brown faced one another in the first round that you wondered if there would be room for all that magnetism and the tennis too.

Brown came into this match on the up after his spectacular demolition of Rafael Nadal on the grass of Halle earlier this month, and many would have favoured him to down the former world No.8, who is now ranked 119 and needed a wild card to secure his place in the draw. But in the event a typically flamboyant display from the 6ft 5in German came at too great a price. It was Baghdatis who won 6-4, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(4).



Eighteen-year-old American Taylor Townsend enjoyed a wonderful spell on the red clay of the French Open last month, reaching the third round before bowing out to No.14 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, but was not able to fare as well at Wimbledon.

Townsend lost 7-5, 6-2 to Klára Koukalová of the Czech Republic, but is determined not to dwell on the loss.

“I definitely am not pleased about my match, but it's just a learning experience really,” she insisted. “I'm just going to take what I've learned over the past two slams. I'm going to go back home. I'm going to work extremely hard and get ready for the US Open Series. I have tons of tournaments to look forward to and a lot of great things are ahead, but it's time to just put my head down and work again.

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EASTBOURNE, England -- Madison Keys claimed the first title of her career on Saturday when she defeated Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to win the Aegon Championships.

Playing in her first final, the unseeded 19-year old is the first American to win the event since Chanda Rubin won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003, and she is the youngest American to win a singles title since Vania King (17 yrs, 254 days) triumphed in Bangkok in October 2006.

Keys' triumph also marks the first time that two American women have won titles in the same week since 2002, following Coco Vandeweghe's win, also on Saturday, at the grass-court Topshelf Open in the Netherlands.

It is the second defeat in the final for fifth-seeded Kerber, who fell to Tamira
Paszek in 2012, and the third time she has lost a final this year after defeats in Sydney and Doha. She was seeking her first title came winning Linz in October 2013.

"I'm so incredibly happy," said Keys, who on Monday should be ranked in the top 30 for the first time. "You know, it's one of those things where when you're training and you don't want to be there, you're tired or everything hurts, it's one of those things where you think of this moment, and, you know, it really helps push you through all the hard times.

"My serve was definitely a weapon today, and it really helped me through the entire time."

Keys' win came after she fired 17 aces and struck a serve clocked at 126mph, the fastest this year on the WTA Tour and one that if confirmed would establish her as one of the top five fastest servers since records began in 1989.

Most of the rallies were short and just one break of serve decided the first two sets, with Keys breaking to lead 3-1 in the first and Kerber 2-0 in the second.

"It's always not easy when somebody is serving like she did the whole match," Kerber said. "She played at a really high level."

Kerber fought off two break points as she served out the second set, and games went with serve in the third until the dramatic 12th game. Kerber held two game points to take the set to a tiebreaker before Keys claimed victory on her fourth match point.

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source: wtatennis.com

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ATP Pro Circuit player Gianni Mina of France reached the semifinals of the French challenger in Blois, France this week. Mina was unable to reach the final however, he lost the semifinal to Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-2, 6-1.

But his "YEAAAAAH!" face is priceless!

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We all know that Colin Kaepernick can pass, Serena Williams can serve, and Gabrielle Douglas can stick a landing. But did you know these athletes are working with First Lady Michelle Obama on a new program within her Let’s Move! initiative: Let’s Move! Active Schools? These athletes teamed up with First Lady Michelle Obama on the July cover of Sports Illustrated for Kids to promote bringing physical activity back to American schools and inside, First Lady Michelle Obama discusses her passion for helping the next generation grow-up healthy and active.

Joined by some of the sport industry’s most influential stars, Michelle Obama launched the Let’s Move! Active Schools initiative in February of this year. With less than 10% of U.S. public schools offering daily physical activity, this initiative seeks to remind the country of the crucial role that exercise and physical activity play in children’s educational development. Obama explained further, saying:

There are a lot of kids who shy away from activity because they think, "Well, I'm not coordinated." But the truth is that movement is pumping your arms, it’s dancing, it's touching your toes, it's identifying your physical strengths and not comparing yourself to your classmate, because we are all different. So we want to make activity fun again for kids in schools. Let's Move! Active Schools is an initiative to find champions throughout schools.

Be sure to help make your school a part of the Let’s Move! Active Schools movement by signing up now at http://www.letsmoveschools.org! You can be a crucial part of getting you and your classmates active, and you might even learn a game or two along the way. Also, check out the full Sports Illustrated Kids article here!

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