Venus dominates Doha: Wins Title

Venus holds the Billie Jean King Cup whilst standing next to Billie Jean King after her three set victory against Vera Zvonareva of Russia in the final during the Sony Ericsson Championships at the Khalifa Tennis Complex. Venus defeated Vera 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.

All I can say is WOW!! This is Vee's FIRST season-ending Sony Ericsson Championship title. I do not know what Venus had this week (to play the way she did) but I'll take two please. Venus EARNED and DESERVED this title. If Venus carries this form over into the new year, to everyone on the WTA Tour, be afraid.....BE VERY AFRAID!

Noteworthy: Venus did not lose a match during the Championships and took out the year's best players. She defeated (Olympic Gold Medalist) Elena Dementieva, (Olympic Silver Medalist) Dinara Safina, (U.S. Open Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist doubles partner and Wimbledon Champion doubles partner) Serena Williams, (World #1) Jelena Jankovic, and (Olympic Bronze Medalist) Vera Zvonareva.

Obama victory inspires Williams Sisters

The Williams sisters embraced Obama's victory during the WTA Tour's season-ending tournament in Doha.

"America is a wonderful place. I love my country, and I love living there. I love my passport. But also it's a country that almost since its beginning, it was supposed to be a place where people were escaping intolerance. It became a country that was really intolerant of different minorities and skin colors," Venus said.

"My dad grew up in Louisiana, a place where he was called 'boy' and shown no respect. Where he couldn't say anything. His mother was a poor sharecropper," she said. "So I think it's amazing that America has the opportunity to have someone who is a minority of mixed race or whatever you want to call it. Hopefully, it will just give more people opportunities and more people will work hard and say, 'Yeah, I can be my best, too, no matter what my background is'."

Serena saw it the same way. "It's just everything that I think African Americans have been through, I mean even 40 years ago, even 30 years ago, and even today still. It's just a great time to be black right now in the United States," she said. "Everyone's proud."

Serena said she was almost speechless to think of the Obama family in the White House. "I got choked up. I was just thinking about everything - Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and all the pioneers … Althea Gibson, why I'm playing tennis today. All of these people. Arthur Ashe, who led the way for us … it's amazing, she said.

Doha: Serena watching Venus vs Jankovic (Semi)

Serena watched her sister, Venus Williams, as she reached the final of the WTA Tour's year-end event for the first time in her career beating world number one Jelena Jankovic (after 2 hours and 11 minutes) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. The way Venus has played thus far at the Sony Ericsson Championships is even better than her display en route to her 5th Wimbledon title earlier this year.

Venus has not lost a match at the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships and has beaten four of the Top 5 players in the world: (1) Jelena Jankovic, (2) Dinara Safina, (3) Serena Williams and (4) Elena Dementieva. Venus is truly on another level right now and is taking no prisoners! If she continues to play at this level, she will return to the Top 5 if not Top 3 sooner than some expect. Having said that, I predict that Venus is poised to win her 1st Sony Ericsson Championship title.

Doha: Serena withdraws w/ stomach injury

Serena Williams' chances of ending the year on a high note evaporated unexpectedly when she withdrew Friday from the Sony Ericsson championships with a stomach muscle problem. The younger of the two world-beating sisters had been in tears during her oddly one-sided 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Venus Williams during their round robin match Thursday - and it emerged that she may have suffered the injury then.

"I had zero pain last night," Serena said of her post-match experience. ""I felt like I didn't serve well, I had a lot of double faults. Looking back, I think maybe that's why I was doing it, because I didn't feel it at the time. I think I might have been overcompensating. I did feel pain last night,'' the U.S. Open champion said. ``I was still in pain just getting out of bed. I have had this before and so when I felt this it was like a red flag. I went to see how I felt in practice yesterday, and it was hard when I was hitting ground strokes. I didn't want to risk it."

Serena was challenged by a British journalist who suggested that sometimes in a major tournament such as this she should play through the pain for the sake of the event and for the sponsors. "I think what I should do is make you work out for 22 years, have a severe stomach strain and play for the sponsors," she chided. Later she explained: "I had this once in LA and played through it and I was out for six to eight weeks. So when I had these symptoms I thought I must start the new year well. I can't afford to be out for so long.

Williams declined to say whether she would play next year at Indian Wells, California, one of the Tour’s nine top tournaments. The Williams sisters haven’t played there since 2001, when the family was booed after Venus withdrew just before a semifinal match against Serena. “We’ll see. Who knows,” Serena said. “We’ve had a lot of discussions with a lot of people. I don’t want to get into that right now. I just want to keep focused on other things.”

Doha: Round Robin Friday (3rd Rnd) - Do or Die

3rd Rnd - Round Robin

Serena Williams (USA)[3] vs Elena Dementieva (RUS)[4]
Serena leads Head-to-Head 4-2
2nd Match of the day at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex

* The Winner of this match finishes 2nd in the Maroon Group and advances to the Semi-Finals. Venus Williams leads the Maroon Group going 3-0 in Round Robin action.

Venus SLAMS Serena!

Venus defeated Serena 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 to reach the semifinals of the WTA Tour's season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships. I believe this was the WORST match that I have ever seen Serena play. After only playing one match since the US Open, today's match is what I would have expected in the first round. Rust, rust and more rust. To top it all off, she left her serve at yesterday's match. Serena survived the first set by the skin of her teeth and could have won the first set 6-3. Now, having said that, Serena can still advance to the semifinals if she wins her next match against Elena Dementieva.

Serena started to unravel early in the second set. "I just couldn't keep a ball in play," she said. "Everything was off." Serena dropped to 1-1 in Round Robin play. The sisters are 9-9 in career matchups. Serena defeated Venus in the U.S. Open quarterfinals en route to the title this year, and Venus won their title match at Wimbledon. Serena also defeated Venus in a three-setter earlier this year during Serena's title run at the Bangalore Open.

Venus stayed composed throughout the match, using her powerful serve to frustrate Serena, but refrained from celebrating after winning."It wasn't the happiest match," Venus said. "The best part is that she still has an opportunity to qualify." Both sisters played their trademark power tennis in the first set before the rallies turned shorter in the second, with Serena growing increasingly frustrated by her errors. Venus is match tough and played three tournaments after the US Open while Serena only played one match after the US Open, prior to winning yesterday against Safina. In my honest opinion, when fit and focused, Serena is unstoppable. If she does not take too many "extended" breaks she can rule the roost in 2009.

"I didn't even look like a top-eight player today. Maybe top 600, in the juniors," said Serena, who has won nine majors and is making her fifth appearance at the season-ending championships. She won the event in 2001. Serena has put herself in a must-win situation in tomorrow's Round Robin play. She has a track record of turning things around and I trust that she can do it again. One more thing, VENUS is playing some phenomenal tennis and is currently playing like the Champion she is.

Doha: Round Robin Thursday (2nd Rnd)

2nd Rnd - Round Robin
Serena Williams (USA)[3] vs Venus Williams (USA)[8]

Serena leads Head-to-Head 9-8

2nd Match of the day at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex

Doha: Serena defeats (World #2) Safina

Serena thrashed Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-1. Safina committed 10 double faults. The match was a rematch of the US Open semifinal, which Serena won 6-3, 6-2, en route to her ninth career Grand Slam title in New York.

Williams is making her fifth career appearance at the Championships. She is a one-time champion at the event in 2001, and a two-time runner-up in 2002 and 2004. In her only other appearance, which came last year, she injured her left knee during her first round robin match and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. She had also qualified three separate years - 1999, 2000 and 2003 - but withdrew injured before each tournament began with a variety of injuries.

Off Topic: The People Have Spoken......

What a historical and monumental moment! I will never forget Nov. 4, 2008. I am so earthly proud of Barack Obama! CHANGE has truly come to America! Now let us come together and support our President-elect, Barack Obama and the First Family.

Doha: The Elite Eight (Pic #2)

Doha - Round Robin Wednesday (1st Rnd)

1st Rnd - Round Robin

Serena Williams (USA)[3] vs Dinara Safina (RUS)[2]
Serena leads Head-to-Head 4-1
3rd Match of the day at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex

Championships on TENNIS Channel and ESPN2

Tennis Channel and ESPN2 will cover the 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships – the prestigious season-ending competition in women's professional tennis, featuring the world's top eight singles players and top four doubles teams – in their entirety Tuesday-Sunday, November 4-9. More than 30 live hours are planned from the event's inaugural run in Doha, Qatar, almost all of which will be telecast in high definition.

Combined, including replays, the networks will offer close to 70 hours of HD match coverage during the six-day Sony Ericsson Championships. Tennis Channel will carry 32½ hours of live competition, spread across each day of the event. The network's coverage includes all round-robin matches, singles semifinals and doubles play. ESPN2 will carry the singles final on Sunday, November 9, at 12 pm ET. Tennis Channel will follow its network's live coverage with daily encores of each match of the competition, in addition to a same-day replay of the singles final.

"The Sony Ericsson Championships conclude the annual women's professional tennis season. Singles competition initially takes place within two groups of four players each. Every player has one match against each of the other three women in her group, with the top two players in each group advancing to the single-elimination semifinals and subsequent championship. Thus tennis fans are assured of seeing each of these eight stars play at least three matches during the week.

When not watching the Sony Ericsson Championships on Tennis Channel and ESPN2, viewers can keep up with the season-ending competition online at espn360.com, which offers 24 hours of live, round-robin coverage November 4-7, and tennischannel.com, which will feature tournament draws, scores and news, as well as a veteran reporter's previews in Steve Flink on Tennis and updates at popular fan blog LaRosa's Sweet Spot.

Tennis Channel's and ESPN2's 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships Schedule:

Tuesday, Nov. 4th / 9am - 3pm EST: Round-Robin Action (TC)
Wednesday, Nov. 5th / 9am - 3pm EST: Round-Robin Action (TC)
Thursday, Nov. 6th / 9am - 3pm EST: Round-Robin Action (TC)
Friday, Nov. 7th / 9am - 3pm EST: Round-Robin Action (TC)
Saturday, Nov. 8th / 5am - 8am EST: Doubles Semifinals (TC)

Saturday, Nov. 8th / 9:30am - 1:30pm EST: Singles Semifinals (TC)
Sunday, Nov. 9th /7am - 8:30am EST: Doubles Final (TC)

Sunday, Nov. 9th / 12:00pm - 2:00pm EST: Singles Final (ESPN2)

Tennis Channel (TC) will also offer same-day replays of the singles and doubles finals on Sunday, Nov.9: Doubles Final (3pm - 4:30pm EST); Singles Final (7pm - 9pm EST).

Eyes on the prize

Photos courtesy of the Official Sony Ericsson WTA Tour site (photo gallery)

Are you looking for a Hero?

Serena Williams at the press conference for the Sony Ericsson Championships at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Doha, Qatar.

Williams Sisters in Doha

Venus and Serena Williams at the Pearl Conference center in Doha for the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships draw ceremony.

A race to the season-ending Championship

DOHA, Qatar - The eight singles players set to compete in the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008 can now prepare their match strategies for the round-robin phase, with the White and Maroon Groups allocated at the official draw ceremony on Sunday. The four Russian women in the draw - Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva - are evenly split between the two Groups. Kuznetsova and Zvonareva are in the White Group and Safina and Dementieva - who squared off in the Olympic final - are in the Maroon Group.

There's nothing split about the allocation of the remaining players. Both Serbian stars - world No.1 Jelena Jankovic and No.4 Ana Ivanovic - were randomly selected to be in the White Group, while the Serena and Venus Williams are both in Maroon. However, this doesn't rule out either an all-Serbian or all-Williams final. After the round-robin phase, with each player meeting the other three in her pool between Tuesday and Friday, the top players in each pool play the second-placed player in the other in the semifinals. The winner of each semifinal advance to Sunday's final.

When asked about being in the same Group as her sister, Serena Williams joked: "It doesn't bother me at all; we're always in the same half of the draw, so I'm used to it." That of course wasn't the case at Wimbledon, where Serena lost to her older sister in a high-quality final that gave Venus her fifth title at the All-England Club. The Group colors were in honor of the flag of Qatar, the hosts for the Tour's year-end event for the next three years.

The Doha 8 (The White and The Maroon)

White Group: Jankovic, Ivanovic, Zvonareva and Kuznetsova

Maroon Group: Safina, Dementieva, Serena and Venus Williams

(Maroon Group) ROUND ROBIN MATCHES

Dinara Safina (RUS) vs Serena Williams (USA)
Dinara Safina (RUS) vs Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Dinara Safina (RUS) vs Venus Williams (USA)
Serena Williams (USA) vs Elena Dementieva (RUS)
Serena Williams (USA) vs Venus Williams (USA)
Elena Dementieva (RUS) vs Venus Williams (USA)

(White Group) ROUND ROBIN MATCHES

Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
Jelena Jankovic (SRB) vs Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) vs Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) vs Vera Zvonareva (RUS)

Serena's thoughts on Doha....

“In some respects I am going into the unknown because I don’t even know where Qatar is on the map. Somebody told me it’s Kuwait. However, I am fit and ready and enthusiastic and fully aware of what awaits me out there on the tennis court. Right now I am just so eager to compete. The will to play is just so strong at the moment and that excites me.”

--- TimesOnline

Serena’s different strokes

The highest earner in women’s tennis this year has plenty of other projects to occupy her -- by Barry Flatman

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article5062364.ece

SERENA has arrived in Doha!!

Photo courtesy of Aaress @ On the Baseline Tennis News (www.onthebaseline.com)

Boardwalk festivities on Pearl-Qatar to kick off ceremony of top women's tennis championship. The main draw ceremony for the 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships, Women's Tennis Association (WTA), will be held at the Pearl-Qatar, at 3pm tomorrow November 2.

The World's top eight women champions will be present at the ceremony which marks the start of the tournament, which is played annually at the end of the season, and takes place in Doha from November 4 to 9. The draw ceremony to decide how players will be divided into groups will happen at the Pearl-Qatar's showplace - the Oyster, a 3,500 square meter designed to showcase the Island's development. The event takes place with the launch of three month festivities of live music, performance and acts across the boardwalk of Porto Arabia.

Present at the draw ceremony will be Larry Scott - CEO, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Karim Alami -Tournament Director Sony Ericsson Championships, (himself an ex- tennis champion who beat Sampras in Doha in 1994) and Mr. Abdulrahman Saad Al-Shathri, President of the Qatar Tennis Federation. There will be representatives from over 80 international media organizations and a billion households are expected to view this ceremony around the World. The boardwalk will have live music performers and acts up and down the boardwalk for three months between 4-9 daily. Access to these events require specialised passes that can be obtained by registrering at the oyster.