Historic Face Of The Day

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The only black man to win singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.

Who's Ready For Bank?

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Venus Williams and Serena Williams present the Arthur Ashe Courage Award onstage during the 2009 ESPY Awards held at Nokia Theatre LA Live on July 15, 2009 in Los Angeles.

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A 32-player WTA draw with no byes for the top seeds.

Bank of the West Classic got it right.

Wimbledon champion Serena opens against Li Na, while Wimbledon runner-up Venus gets Canadian wild card Stephanie DuBois.

Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic are also in the field.

Maria Sharapova claims she's now 100% and lands in . Whatever that means. She landed in Venus' quarter.

After playing that elite event in Slovenia, the world No. 1 didn't bother with this event.

See the entire draw.

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BOOK REVIEW: Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis, Volume Two

(Originally published June 2008)

Perhaps the most important ingredient in a thorough overview of tennis history is examining the role that race, gender, class and region have played in setting the course of the modern global sport. That’s what Sundiata Djata argues in Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis, Volume Two (Syracuse University, 2008; 255 pages). It’s an ambitious and comprehensive examination of black achievement in one of the world’s most popular, yet, traditionally, white sports.

Continue reading (you may need to scroll down)...

History Lesson

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MMT puts it down:

I just hope people recognize the significance of [Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's victory at the South African Open]. It's the first time the tournament's been held since 1995, a watershed moment in the history of the country, as the first year of the first term of Nelson Mandela as president. He's the first black man to win there, and ironically the first man of African descent to win this tournament as well.

Arthur Ashe first applied for a visa to play this tournament in 1968 and was denied, even though he was the winner of the first US Open. It initiated a long held personal committment to ending apartheid. He didn't get to play there until 1973, where he lost in the final to Jimmy Connors, but made news by refusing to enter the court until the audience was full integrated, with no sections reserved for any race.

For Jo-Willy Tsonga, son of a Congolese handballer to win the first South African Open held in 14 years, and to be the first black man to win it in the history of the tournament, is great news, a really positive story in the history of tennis, and just generally a wonderful thing.

I can't wait to see the replays (blah!) on TTC tonight and tomorrow.

Sportsman Of The Year?

Jon nominates Rafael Nadal for Sports Illustrated's prestigious honor.

For 2008 Sportsman of the Year, I hereby put forth the candidacy of Spanish swashbuckler, Rafael Nadal. First the cold, rational facts: In 2008 Nadal became the first man since Björn Borg to win on both the clay of the French Open and the grass of Wimbledon, an extraordinary feat of versatility. Nadal beat his rival Federer each of the four times they played this year -- including their positively spellbinding Wimbledon final -- wresting away the No. 1 ranking in the process. He won titles on every surface and clinched Spain's spot in this weekend's Davis Cup final by beating Andy Roddick of the defending champion U.S. squad in September. To date he has won 82 matches this year against just 11 defeats, a Federerian winning percentage of .822.

What's that you say? In 2008 a prerequisite for the Sportsman of the Year consideration ought to be an Olympic gold medal? We almost forgot: Nadal won one of those too, taking the men's tennis event in Beijing.

Now the subjective: Nadal, 22, singlehandedly shatters the tired perception of the tennis player as a pampered, elitist pinhead. With a body that belongs in an NFL backfield (if not a UFC Octagon) he is all muscle, both bulk and fast-twitch, and, accordingly, his game is a devastating mix of power and speed. He doesn't stroke the ball so much as he pummels it, unfurling a lefty game that simply has no precedent. Yet his real strength is the mental variety. Nadal is that rare athlete whose game moves in lockstep to the stakes. In the fifth set of that episodic Wimbledon final, as darkness enveloped the court, it was Nadal who hit the biggest shots. ¿Como se dice: refuse to lose?

It's a valid argument. And a tennis player hasn't received the award since 1992 when Arthur Ashe won for dying. Nadal would be the first non-native American to win in 10 years when Sam Sosa shared the award with Mark McGwire.

Rafa will be tennis' easy pick for Player of the Year, but something tells me Michael Phelps has no competition for the Sports Illustrated cover.

Connections

One of our family of readers questioned why she would come to this blog and see an entry about the American presidential election.

Tennis is a global sport on the verge of some major change. Our nation's historic election is a global event ushering in major change. Look what I said about Tsonga's victory in France last Sunday. Look what I said about that race car driver. You think these things are unrelated?

They are not.

The more black and brown and red and yellow people believe that they can become anything they dream, anything at all, the better we will all be. Future world No. 1's in forgotten parts of the globe can envision winning Wimbledon. Do you think Barack Obama could exist without Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe?

The top WTA women, including two black daughters of the ghetto, are duking it out in Doha, a Middle Eastern center of the oil industry and host of the largest Asian Games in history.

These things are not unrelated.

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled program in a minute.

In the meantime, I rejoice in what this nation has achieved. The American Civil War has ended. Finally. I look forward to doing my part to reconstruct her glory.

BOOK REVIEW - Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis, Volume Two

Perhaps the most important ingredient in a thorough overview of tennis history is examining the role that race, gender, class and region have played in setting the course of the modern global sport. That’s what Sundiata Djata argues in Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis, Volume Two (Syracuse University, 2008; 255 pages). It’s an ambitious and comprehensive examination of black achievement in one of the world’s most popular, yet, traditionally, white sports.

Continue reading...

MadProfessah's Men's Final Preview

(Craig's note: Seems Mad didn't take the day off afterall. Enjoy...)

After youngsters Novak Djokovic (20) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (22) each had the biggest wins of their careers, they are competing against each other in the Australian Open Men's final Sunday night in Melbourne. Djokovic defeated world No. 1 and 12-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in straight sets in the second semifinal while Tsonga demolished world No. 2 and 3-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in the first semifinal. In the final we will see what happens when an unstoppable force faces an immovable object.

I'd like to think that although a Grand Slam title means more to Tsonga, there will actually be more pressure on Djokovic, because he is the world No. 3 (Tsonga is unseeded!) and the heir apparent to Federer. The two have never face each other before, so this is a again a "case of first impression." If Tsonga can play as well as he played against Nadal, he should win the first set easily while Djokovic tries to figure out how to handle his game and Tsonga is still far away enough from the actual win to become nervous.

Once Djokovic does start playing his best it will be interesting to see if Tsonga can maintain his brilliant serving and jaw-dropping volleying. If so, Tsonga can make history as the first Black male Grand Slam champion since Arthur Ashe in 1975.

PREDICTION: Tsonga, in 4 sets.