It was a day of upsets among the female tennis players at the 2009 Tokyo Open .  All kinds of top-seeded players were eliminated opening the way for up-and-comers to steal the spotlight.
While Maria Sharapova, who went into the event unseeded, managed to make it to the next round, big names like top-seeded defending champion Dinara Safina, second-seeded Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova were sent packing.

Safina lost her match against qualifier Kai-Chen Chang (pictured celebrating above) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 which lasted 2 hours and 44 minutes.  Wow!
Meanwhile, Williams couldn’t get past yet another qualifier, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and lost 7-6 …read more

As if dominating the tennis world isn’t enough, Venus and Serena Williams have made their way into a new sport – the sisters have become part owners of the Miami Dolphins NFL team.
While no announcement has been officially made, Serena did mention the deal last week during the Rogers Cup: “there have been preliminary talks, and hopefully it’ll work out.  That would be a great opportunity for both of us. You never know. We’ll see what happens.  There’s always so many opportunities out there, and Venus and I are always trying to expand our brand and do the best that …read more

Talk about a shocker!  Both Venus Williams and her younger sister, Serena Williams, were eliminated from the third-round at the Cincinnati Open after playing miserably.  It was painful to watch, actually.
Venus took on Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and she made 38 unforced errors and just looked wild.  She kept dumping balls into the net and ended up losing 7-6 (2), 6-4.

If you thought that was bad, you’ll be shocked to learn that Serena actually fared worse.  On the very same court just hours later, a second Williams sister was eliminated after making 44 unforced errors and ended up losing to Austria’s …read more

Venus Williams made her Cincinnati Open debut and was predictably brilliant despite the fact that the evening’s only single match was delayed by 90 minutes because of rain earlier in the schedule.  She faced off against qualifier, Olga Govortsova, and the third-seeded Williams easily won 6-2, 6-2.
Things weren’t as smooth for top-seeded Dinara Safina who seemed to struggle to get control over her game early in the match against unseeded Roberta Vinci.  I don’t know if this had anything to do with the cut to the left hand that Safina suffered opening a coconut last week in Los Angeles but …read more

A day after her younger sister, Serena Williams, was eliminated at the Bank of West Classic, Venus Williams moved on to the $700,000 final and will face Marion Bartoli.  Venus was able to easily push aside Russia’s Elena Dementieva with a final score of 6-0, 6-1.

Venus is no stranger to victory in Stanford.  She captured the title at this event in both 2000 and 2002 and was the runner-up in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2005.  It’s very possible that she could win this title again.
She and Bartoli do not have a long history but it’s still meaningful – they have …read more

I’ve always wondered what professional athletes thought about their sport being adapted to a video game.  While they are out grunting and sweating, we’re at home pressing buttons.  Hardly seems fair, right?
Tennis great, Venus Williams, tried EA Sports’ Grand Slam Tennis (as herself, I’d presume!) and she had a lot of things to say about how different it was to play on the Nintendo Wii.

“I was pressing buttons to hit the ball when I first played the game because it’s hard to let go of that mentality. But you then realize motion control is better for tennis games” Williams said.  …read more

Venus and Serena Williams were spotted on the red carpet at last night’s taping of the 2009 ESPY Awards which was filmed at the Nokia Live Theater in Los Angeles, California.  Serena is nominated in the “Best Female Athlete” category and is up against Natalie Coughlin (Swimming), Nastia Liukin (Gymnastics), Maya Moore (NCAA Basketball) and Candace Parker (WNBA).
The ESPY Awards will be hosted by Samuel Jackson and is scheduled to air Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 9pm on ESPN.
Here are a couple pictures of Venus (left) and Serena.  They look so different when they are all glammed up.  They’re gorgeous!
…read more

Serena Williams won the women’s singles championship at Wimbledon and her sister, Venus Williams, was her runner up but the ladies were not content to let their winning streak end there.  Yesterday, the two paired up to take the top prize in the women’s doubles final.

The American tennis stars beat Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (4), 6-4 to clinch their fourth Wimbledon title together.  “There’s nothing like winning a title with your sister,” said Serena. “It’s really a good feeling. I’m really excited to have doubles titles.  I rack ‘em up.”
“One out of two’s not bad,” Venus …read more

For the eighth time in 10 years, one of the Williams sisters has been named the women’s Wimbledon champion.  At the All England Club today, Serena Williams beat Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 and won her third Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam championship.
I’m sure it’s strange to play against each other (and even difficult since they are both so skilled and competitive) but I’m also sure that it felt great for Serena to beat her big sister in the fourth all-Williams final.
Venus could have become the first woman to win the tournament for three years in a row since …read more

It will be a one-two finish for the Williams sisters as Venus Williams and Serena Williams square off in the ladies final at Wimbledon for the fourth time on Saturday.  It feels like a repeat of last years finals.  Venus won 7-5, 6-4 so I’m wondering if kid sister, Serena, will top her this year.

Venus took down Dinara Safina in a predictable semifinal match. Venus Williams has won 35 straight sets for an incredible record – she hasn’t lost on Centre Court since 2004.  That’s unbelievable!  Meanwhile, 23-year-old Safina incurred 16 unforced errors in the lopsided 6-1, 6-0 loss. At …read more