Black Tennis Pros

2019 BNP Paribas Open 3rd round contender Venus Williams takes out fellow American Christina McHale.

The 2019 BNP Paribas open becomes more watchable with every match in which the legendary Venus Williams prevails. There will never be any forgetting of the power, precision and dedication that she brought to the game when she originally hit the pro circuit, and to see her effect any measure of her tremendous talent in 2019 is pure joy.

In a relatively balanced match against American Christina McHale, Venus exercised a level of shot placement throughout the match that lead her to a 6-2, 7-5 win.

Next up for Venus is World No. 97 Mona Barthel of Germany.

Keep it movin' Venus!!

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Serena Williams leaving court after retiring from 3rd round match against Garbine Muguruza.

Serena Williams retires after the first game of the second set while being affected by something curtailing her ability to play. 

Playing against World #20 Garbine Muguruza of Venezuela, Serena began the match quickly getting to 3-0, giving all the appearances that she came to seriously compete. Unfortunately she slowly began to play with less effect and called for the trainer until she eventually retired.

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Saturday, March 9, 2019 - Gladys Knight watches Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova play in the 2nd round of the BNP Paribas Open in Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. (Jared Wickerham/BNP Paribas Open)

BNP Paribas Open - Empress of Soul and Williams sisters’ superfan Gladys Knight has long been a tennis devotee. Not only does the Midnight Train to Georgia singer, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and winner of seven Grammy Awards revel in watching the sport, she plays it often, too. BNPParibasOpen.com caught up with the Pips’ frontwoman in Indian Wells.


What is it about tennis that draws you to the sport?

I love the fact that it has the element of exercise, for me, because I need to keep it moving! [Laughs.] This game has helped me so much. The competition of it is something that I really respect. On top of that, what the players have to go through to get prepared, to get fit, the thought process. Am I going to hit it left, am I going to hit it right? All of those things are exciting to me. It’s just so fun to watch.

Can you relate to that? Because you’ve got to put in a lot of preparation when you’re recording, performing.

Absolutely. The preparation is just as strenuous in our industry. You’ve always got to be fit. As far as your material is concerned, you have to be very specific about who you’re performing for, where you’re performing. I’ve been blessed to travel all over the world. It’s been an amazing journey for me. Tennis, for some reason, brings all kinds of people together. When you look around at a tennis event, you wonder why the rest of the world can’t get it right. Nobody’s out there talking about this person, that person, where they’re from, how they look. That’s another thing I admire and respect about this sport.

I think I know the answer to this already, but who do you go out of your way to watch?

Now you know it’s got to be Serena and Venus. [Laughs.] I’ve been on those girls since they were knee high. The family connection that they have — it was the same in my family. My mom and dad, aunties and cousins, grandmothers. It’s a great thing to come together around that. They’re pushing you into higher plateaus because of their support. Their whole family is involved. Their mom was some player, too. She’s so laid back, Oracene. The public doesn’t know a whole lot about her. They know their dad, Richard. But they don’t know the strength of their mom. Ooohh, she’s got it going on. We’ve been doing this for many years, supporting each other. They come to my concerts, I go to their matches. That’s what it’s all about. Tennis is just an amazing journey.
Monday, March 4, 2019 – Serena and Venus Williams talk during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. (Michael Cummo/BNP Paribas Open)

Is Venus and Serena’s story underplayed?

Let me tell you one thing as far as family is concerned. That’s one of the things I love most, even though they are amazing athletes, is that it was a family affair. That’s how I got to be what I am and who I am today. I’ve been singing since I was four. Like them. They were just toddlers playing around on a tennis court. My mom was right there to teach me. She didn’t speak the language, but she taught me to sing Ave Maria in Latin phonetically. That’s the same thing that Venus and Serena’s parents did. You do it like this, you do it like that. They were respectful enough of their parents to follow those rules. Look at them now. I love these ladies. I think that’s the one thing that so many artists and celebrities have missed, that their parents sometimes see things a lot better.

They overcame the odds coming out of Compton, California, climbing to the top of this sport.

Absolutely. The same with me. I lived in Atlanta, Georgia. People were still marching, trying to have freedom. As we grew up, we came to know about those things. Because of our culture, sometimes when we go outside of our genre, our communities, you get teased. I know I did. I’m sure they did, too. Like the way they wore their hair. They teased them about it. We ain’t trying to be you — we just want to play tennis. Don’t tell me about beads in my hair! They were strong enough, respectful enough, to move to where people could be comfortable without really giving up their culture. I love those girls.

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Naomi Osaka and Kristina Mladenovic post match.

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA - Top seed Naomi Osaka got her BNP Paribas Open title defense off to a winning start after earning sweet revenge against Kristina Mladenovic, 6-3, 6-4.

The memory of the pair’s most recent meeting would have been fresh on Osaka’s mind - two weeks ago the World No.1 was stunned by Mladenovic in her opening match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, falling in straight sets to give the Frenchwoman the biggest win of her career.

Next up for Naomi will be American Danielle Collins.

Full article here.

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Venus Williams in 2019 BNP Paribas Open post-match interview.

Great match Venus Williams!!

Having been one of the 2018 BNP Paribas Open semi finalists, here at the 2019 tournament Venus Williams has maintained her fight and prevailed over World #3 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win.

In a 2 hour 27 minute match, with not one single ace, Venus managed to either keep Kvitova at bay, or come back from a single and double break down.

In her post-match interview she stated, "I think everybody felt those ups and downs with me, I could feel the collective sigh, or the collective roar, it's unbelievable, I never want to let you down".

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Venus Williams ended a roller coaster match today against Germany's Andrea Petkovic with words of wisdom during her post match interview saying, "Every day is not your best day out here, but it doesn't mean that the heart and desire isn't there".

Venus, currently ranked at #36 on the WTA Tour, had a rough day at the office at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA. Nonetheless, whether it was fatigue, or otherwise, she was able to work her way through winning the first set at 6-4, but then turned around and lost the second set 0-6, she then returned to sufficient form to take the third set and match at 6-3.

Hopefully Venus will be able to maintain form in the next round, as she is scheduled to play a great competitor in the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova.

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INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

The 18-year-old from Montreal crushed Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-2 in the first match on centre court on Thursday at the ATP Tour Masters 1000 event.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 58th in the world, had 20 winners — 12 more than the 48th-ranked Norrie.

The Canadian got 80 per cent of his first serves in and had the same percentage for first-serve points, well above Norrie's 59 per-cent success rate on the latter stat.

Auger-Aliassime converted on all three of his break-point opportunities and won all his service games.

The result continues an impressive stretch for Auger-Aliassime, who moved well inside the top 100 for the first time in his career after making the final and quarterfinals, respectively, in his past two events on clay in Brazil.

Auger-Aliassime will next face No. 9 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who got a first-round bye. The 20-year-old Tsitsipas made headlines in Toronto last year when he advanced to the final of the Rogers Cup.

No. 13 seed Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and No. 24 seed Denis Shapovalov will join Auger-Aliassime in the second round after getting first-round byes.

On the women's side, Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., was scheduled to play a first-round match later Thursday against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., had Thursday off after winning her first-round match on Wednesday.

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World No. 1 Naomi Osaka joins the group of powerful and inspiring women who are already part of Barbie’s “Sheroes” initiative.

 “Growing up, I’ve had a lot of role models and I think that’s really important because that’s sort of like a goal that you set,” Osaka explains. “I think having a really good female role model is really good for kids. I feel like it’s a really big responsibility, but in a way, I’m also really honored, and I won’t take it for granted.”

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So honored to be selected as a Barbie Role Model to help inspire the next generation of girls. Feels surreal because I played with barbies as a kid, never imagined to have one modeled after me 😳🙏❤️ @barbie #Barbie60 #youcanbeanything #barbie

A post shared by Naomi Osaka 大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) on Mar 7, 2019 at 9:58am PST

 “In athletics they have this statistic that girls drop out of sports quicker than boys, and for me I feel sad hearing that because of course I’m a professional athlete,” Osaka says. “I hope that girls feel inspired, and I hope they somehow see a lot of possibilities when they look at all the dolls.”

In conjunction with the release of Osaka’s doll, Barbie — which is celebrating its 60th anniversary — plans to donate $1 from any doll sold, up to 250,000, to the Dream Gap Project, an initiative that raises awareness about the limiting factors girls face when trying to accomplish their dreams. And when it comes to those dreams, Osaka wants young girls to know they should never give up, and never let society make them wonder “what if.”

“You wake up every day and you have a dream and you can only try to accomplish that dream,” she says. “For me, I just feel like I like to live without regrets and that’s always been my motto.”

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