Miss France Universe Open To Trans Contestants

The Miss Universe Pageant system has been open to trans contestants since 2013, but only one trans person, Spain's Angela Ponce, has won her national pageant and made it to the Miss Universe pageant stage.

Since Canada's Jenna Talackova attempt to make it to Miss Universe, other trans women from around the world have entered their national Miss Universe qualifying pageants in Belgium, Mongolia, Puerto Rico, Norway and most recently Chile but failed to capture crowns. 

There are some notable Miss Universe pageant nation holdouts such as Venezuela, Mexico and surprisingly Thailand and the Philippines.   Those two nations obstinate refusal to do so is even more puzzling considering they are home to major trans beauty pageants.

Another one of those surprising to me holdout nations was France.  The Miss France pageant is a popular television event that draws 7.4 million viewers every December.  It also has a long history of iconic trans women who called France home during the 50's and 60's

Jacqueline-Charlotte 'Coccinelle' Dufresnoy and Marie-Pier Ysser performed in Paris' legendary Madame Arthur and Le Carousel transgender cabarets along with Britain's April Ashley and later Caroline Cossey.

Dufresnoy not only turned down a lucrative offer to join Bob Hope's touring troupe, she blazed human rights trails  for French trans people until her death in 2006.

The national director of the French pageant, Sylvie Tellier, recently conducted an interview with the local  Le Parisien newspaper.   She confirmed that contestants between 18-25 will no longer have to be AFAB (assigned female at birth) people, and the rules have been changed to reflect this change.

Teller was a former Miss France herself who won the crown in 2002.   She has been director since 2007, but believes France is not ready for a trans woman to wear the Miss France crown.   She also thinks a trans woman would have little chance of winning the crown.

Au contraire Madame Tellier.   Never underestimate what a trans woman can or cannot do.  I hope that somewhere in France right now is the trans woman who will make that history and make you eat crow in the process.     

USA Women Are The Four Time FIFA World Champs

Looks like Dolt 45 has a decision to make after the USA women handled their soccer business and completed their run to back to back titles for the first time in program history by defeating the Netherlands 2-0.

This was Team USA's fourth FIFA world championship, and they left no doubts about the fact they are the world's best team despite a stiff challenge from the Netherlands, the reigning European champions who were playing in their first FIFA women's World Cup final. 

The Netherlands was riding the hot goalkeeping of eventual Golden Glove winner Sari van Veenendaal, who kept the USA scoreless until  Alex Morgan drew a penalty in the 61 minute that led to Megan Rapinoe's sixth goal of the tournament.   That snapped van Veennedaal's scoreless streak at 314 minutes, and seven minutes later Rose Lavelle sent a scorching shot from 18 yards out past van Veenendaal to make it 2-0 and start the party in Lyon for te American fans there and back in the USA. 

Rapinoe not only captured the Golden Boot  award for the tournament's top scorer, she also snached the Golden Ball (MVP) trophy as the tournament's best player. 

Take that Donald Trump!

The Netherlands along with England and Sweden did walk away from this tournament knowing that they have qualified for the 2020 Olympics..    Sweden also won the Third Place game 2-1 against England.

But all hail the queens of the FIFA soccer pitch.    Will they threepeat in 2023?   We'll have to wait to find out the answer to this question.

2017 Williams Watch- Venus Is Out At 2017 French Open

Aww, I was hoping with all the upsets that included defending 2016 French Open champ Garbine Muguruza, that 10th seeded Big Sis would get to make a serious run at winning her second French Open title, but it was not to be,

She got off to a great start against 30th seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, taking the first set of the match, but you have to win two to advance to the next round, and it fell apart for her.  

Venus lost 7-5, 2-6, 1-6 to end her run at Roland Garros.

Oh well, 'Williams'-don starts on July 3,  Maybe she'll have better results on the other side of the Channel  when they go to her and Serena's personal tennis playground at the All England Club.

We'll see in a few weeks .    

2017 Williams Watch- Venus Rising

Since Little Sis announced that she was pregnant, and won the 2017 Australian Open title while with child, me seeing Serena complete a calendar year Grand Slam sweep is over for 2017, so I wasn't paying attention when the French Open started at Stade Roland Garros back on May 22.

While Little Sis is counting the days until she has her first child, I forgot for a minute that Big Sis is still playing, ranked number eleven in the world WTA rankings, and at age 36 (until June 17) is still kicking butt and taking names while repping the greatest tennis playing sister act of all time.

Venus started this 2017 edition of the French Open in search of her second title and her first since 2002 as the tenth seed in this tournament.

As usual in Paris, some big name seeded players on the women's singles tennis side have already been knocked out and are looking to have better luck across The Pond at The Championships.

Number one seeded Angelique Kerber, Johanna Konta (7), Coco Vandeweghe (19), Lauren Davis (25), Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (22) and Roberta Vinci (31) all were one match and done in the first round.

The second round at Roland Garros claimed sixth seeded Dominika Cibulkova, Madison 'I'm Not Black' Keys (12), Petra Kvitova (15), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (16), Kiki Bertens (18), Barbora Strycova (20), and Ana Konjuh (29)

The seeded players that fell in the third round are ninth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, Elena Vesnina (14), Daria Kasatkina (26), Yulia Putintseva (27) and Zhang Shuhai (32).

But back to French Open tenth seeded Big Sis and how she's doing in this edition of the French Open who is in section four of the top half of the women's draw which has been decimated by the upsets and presents an opportunity for Big Sis to possibly win this title.

In the first round she dispatched China's Qiang Wang in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to set up her second round match with Kurumi Nara of Japan.  

Big Sis sent Nara quickly packing with another straight set 6-3,  6-1 win to propel her into the third round against Belgium's Elise Mertens, who also got sent to the Roland Garros sidelines in that same straight sets 6-3, 6-1 score.

That win over Mertens sets up her fourth round match with 30th seeded Swiss miss Timea Bacsinszky.  Should Venus prevail, she would face off in the quarters against the winner of the match between 2016 defending French Open champ Garbine Muguruza (4) and French homegirl Kristina Mladenovic (13)

Good luck the rest of the way Big Sis!
   

Valentina Sampaio Is Vogue Paris' First Ever Trans Cover Girl

'But only when a transgender person poses on the front cover of a fashion magazine and it is no longer necessary to write an editorial on the subject will we know that the battle is won.-Emmanuelle Alt, French Vogue editor

The French edition of Vogue magazine was founded in 1920, and despite the long list of stunning French trans women like Coccinelle, Marie-Pier Ysser, Marie-Pierre 'Bambi' Pruvot and most recently model Ines-Loan Rau, I was surprised to discover that Vogue Paris has never had a trans woman on the cover of their magazine until now.

The trans woman who has made that breakthrough fashion and French magazine history is Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio.  She recently graced the cover of Elle Brazil, and has starred in an ad campaign for L'oreal Paris.

"This month we are proud to celebrate transgender beauty and how models like Valentina Sampaio, who is posing for her first ever Vogue cover, are changing the face of fashion and deconstructing prejudice."said Vogue Paris on their Instagram account and pic of the historic cover.

The 21 year old Sampaio is also set to rip the runway for Saint Laurent soon, and will be on the March cover of Vogue Paris that hits newsstands on February 23.  It is the first time ever that a trans feminine woman has graced the cover of any French magazine.

The translated French title from the cover reads:  Transgender beauty; How they're shaking up the world.

We most certainly are.  It's also just another day and another historic accomplishment checked off the list for my sisters here in the US and around the world who are part of the long stylish line of trans models.
Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt said,"Valentina is on the cover of Vogue this month, not just for her looks or her sparkling personality, but because despite herself she embodies an age-old arduous struggle to be recognised and not to be perceived as something Other.”

Alt also said in her editorial that, “Trans people, the ultimate symbol of a rejection of conformity, are icons that Vogue supports and chooses to celebrate."

We transwomen around the world deeply appreciate you Vogue Paris for doing so.

But Alt also recognized that we have a long way to go to get to the point that seeing a trans feminine person on the cover of a fashion magazine becomes a mundane event.

I'm looking forward to speed up the day that we don't even have to find it necessary to say or argue the point that trans is beautiful, and trans women in all shapes, sizes and skin tones are beautiful in many ways.

I'm hoping that day comes along with all my sisters, and I'm here to witness it. 

2016 Williams Watch- Serena To The French Open Finals!

It has been a French Open at Roland Garros in which they have battled through rain delays, cold temperatures and the field being decimated by upsets and injuries, but Serena Williams has survived.

She dispatched the red hot Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in straight sets at Court Philippe Chatrier to punch her ticket to the French Open finals 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 but she had to fight for it.

Trailing 4-2 and noting that Bertens was hobbled a bit by a strained left calf, Little Sis zeroed in on that to flip the match script.  While everyone on tour knows that she can hit with power and is undeniably the best shotmaker in the women's game, many people forget that she can also hit an amazing deft drop shot, and she repeatedly deployed it against Bertens to get back in the match..

Like the great champion she is, Serena survived and advanced.  She's now made it to her 27th Grand Slam final and her second consecutive French Open final.  Serena is also playing for her 22nd Grand Slam title to pass Steffi Graf and get her closer to Margaret Court's 24 Grand Slam titles.

Standing in her way of making more tennis history is number four seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who dispatched 21st seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in the other semifinal at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

If that name sounds familiar, she was the player responsible for shockingly knocking Serena out in the 2012 French Open second round in lopsided fashion, which Little Sis beating her in last year's Wimbledon final in straight sets.

But tomorrow Williams will be playing her fourth straight match while Muguruza will be playing her third straight one  because of all the rain delays.  

Will she handle her business tomorrow and make this business trip to Paris a successful one?   We'll see.

2016 Williams Watch-Serena To The French Open Semis!

It took her three sets, but number one seed Serena Williams fought through a bad day at the office and a short rain delay  to prevail over a determined Yulia Putintseva  5-7, 6-4, 6-1 to punch her ticket to the French Open semifinals.

Serena got off to a slow start in large part to the 24 unforced errors she sprayed all over Court Philippe Chatrier in the first set.  Despite that display of error infused tennis, she was serving at 5-5 in the first set up 40-love but got broken, then Putintseva took advantage of the huge gift to serve out the set and become the first person in this edition of the French Open to take a set from the tournament's number one seed.  

Williams ended up with 43 unforced errors to just 16 for Putintseva, but offset that with 36-16 advantage in winners.  Little Sis woke up just in time at 4-4 to rally and take that second set with some timely assistance from Putintseva.  She was down two break points but held serve to take a 5-4 lead, then broke Putintseva to take the second set to even the match when Putintseva double faulted.

Serena then found her A game and blew out Putintseva in the third set to take the match.

She will face the red hot Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, who is on a roll and has taken down four seeded players in number 3 Angelique Kerber, number 25 Daria Kasatkina, number 15 Madison Keys and number 8 Timea Bacsinszky on the way to the semifinals and qualifying for the Dutch Olympic tennis team .

 Fourth seeded Garbine Muguruza and 21st seeded Samantha Stosur will square off in the other women's semifinal.match

2016 Williams Watch-Time For The French Open

We are still in the month of May, and that means it's time for the second Grand Slam tournament on the professional tennis calendar.  It's the 2016 French Open, and the clay courts of Paris' Roland Garros await as the tournament is scheduled to run from May 22-June 5

The big story as usual is world number one Serena Williams and her attempt to win her 22nd Grand Slam title.  Little Sis has unfortunately been upset in her last two attempts to get that title, falling in the 2015 US Open semis and in this year's Australian Open title match.

So you know the defending French Open champ is ready and eager to get this milestone done and over with Williams-don and the Rio Olympics looming.

She's seeded number one in this 115th edition of the French Open, and Serena kicks off her title defense with a first round match against Serbia's Magdalena Rybarikova.   should she handle her tennis playing business she gets the winner of the Teliana Pereira- Kristyna Pliskova match.

Venus Williams is also in this tournament, and she's seeded number 9.  She faces off in the first round against Estonia's Anett Kontaveit.   Should Big Sis win this opening round match, she'll face the winner of an all-American first round battle between Louisa Chirico and Lauren Davis.

Unfortunately the Williams sisters are in the same half of the draw, and would potentially meet in the semis should both sisters go on extended runs during their time at Roland Garros.

Here's hoping my fave tennis playing siblings have a successful business trip to Paris, and Serena finally gets her 22nd Grand Slam title to tie her with Steffi Graf and add another Coupe Suzanne Lenglen to her trophy case..

2015 Williams Watch-Serena Has Flu, Makes Opponent Sick

The French Open women's semifinals were earlier today, and Serena was playing Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky for a spot in the finals.against Lucie Safarova.

She was hoping to avoid a troubling pattern in this French Open tournament in which she has dropped the first set, but roared back to win the next two and the match.  

With her quarterfinal straight set dispatching of Sara Errani, it looked like she was back to being the brutally efficient and dominant player she usually becomes when a title is in her reach.

What people didn't know before this match was that Serena was battling a nasty flu bug, and it showed in the first set that she dropped 4-6 to Bacsinszky.  But trailing 2-3 in the second set, coughing and struggling during the changeovers, Serena summoned once more that tremendous will to win that set her apart from most of the women on the tour and kicked up her game another level..   

She won not only the next game to even the second set at 3-3, but the next nine consecutive game to close out the second set and even the match at 6-3, then closed out the third set to win it and the match 6-0.

She said in a post match interview with Darren Cahill:

"I don’t think I’ve ever been this sick – I didn’t expect to win that, and I can’t believe I won.  I got the flu after my third-round match and I haven’t been getting better. Hopefully this is the worst and I’ll get better.  I really thought I was going to lose, and I thought: if I’m going to lose, I might as well go for winners. I was so tired, and I just fought for every point."

Serena may have been ill, but the only one who is probably sick at the lost opportunity to knock her out of the French Open and get to the final is Timea Bacsinszky.

Serena will have a day off to rest, and will be playing for all this history on Saturday.   If he pulls this off, it will be her third career French Open title and her 20th career Grand Slam title.   That will put her only two behind tying Steffi Graf..  

Speaking of two, she will be halfway to a calendar year Grand Slam, with her fave tournaments 'Williams'don and the US Open coming up.on the Grand Slam calendar.    It will also be the third straight Grand Slam she has won since the 2014 US Open.and put her one away from a 'Serena Slam'

Speedy recovery Serena and hope you make that happen.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena Rolls To The French Open Semis!

Serena Williams Roland Garros business trip is a step closer to a successful conclusion, but she had another slow start that almost derailed it.

She entered her fourth round match with Sloane Stephens mired in a puzzling pattern of getting of getting off to a slow start that puts her in a bind, then clawing back to win the match.

And once again, Serena dropped the first set 1-6 to Stephens, who hadn't beaten Williams since the 2013 Australian Open quarterfinal upset.

Serena woke up after trailing 0-2 in the second set to take it 7-5, and even the match, then punched her ticket to the quarterfinals by taking the third set 6-3 to close out another comeback and face Sara Errani.

In her quarterfinal match with Errani, who has never beaten her, the world number one was determined to avoid the bad starts that had plagued her in her last three French Open matches.    Serena took only 63 minutes to overpower her 6-1, 6-3 in a match that included a 123 mph ace.

She's baaaaack....and that may be bad news for Williams' semifinal opponent Timea Bacsinszky.  Serena is closing in on her third French Open title, 20th Grad Slam title overall and her third straight Grand Slam since taking the 2014 US Open.

If she gets past Bacsinszky tomorrow, she'll face the winner of the other semifinal being contested between seventh seed  Ana Ivanovic and number 13 seed Lucie Safarova.

70th Anniversary Of D-Day Invasion

June 6, 1944 was one of the pivotal moments not only of World War II but of world history.  

70 years ago on this date on the shores of Normandy, the fate of the world was in the balance as the D-Day invasion to liberate France and Europe from the clutches of Nazi occupation began.

The largest seaborne fleet ever assembled sailed from southern English ports laden with 156, 000 British, Canadian and American troops, tanks and other weapons to land at five code named beaches along 50 miles of heavily fortified French coastline. 

The 5000 ship amphibious invasion fleet was protected by a massive air umbrella of over 11,000 airplanes that flew ahead of the ships speeding south to not only drop paratroopers behind the invasion beaches but attack any German forces moving toward them by road, canal or rail.  

While the British and Canadian troops landing at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches and the Americans landing at Utah Beach encountered light resistance that morning, that wasn't the case at Omaha  Beach.   

Bad luck in terms of nothing going as planned for the American invaders and fierce German resistance at the water's edge caused over 2000 casualties and had General Omar Bradley briefly consider a withdrawal of troops from the tenuous beachhead. 

But the determined attackers pushed through, eventually made their way off Bloody Omaha and inland although not at the planned rate of advance.

It wasn't a good day for the German defenders either.   Their commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was in Germany celebrating his wife's June 6 birthday as his command staff was occupied at a military conference.   Indecision and confusion reigned from Berchtesgaden to the Normandy invasion front as the massive invasion caught them by surprise.  . Attempts to move German reinforcements to the area met savage air attacks by the Allied aircraft that ruled the skies. 
 

By the end of the day the Allies would be starting the liberation of France and Western Europe.  The five separate landing beaches would be linked into a single front containing a half million men by the end of the week being reinforced by thousands of tanks tasked for the breakout from the Normandy region in Operation Cobra.  Paris was liberated by August and nearly a year later, the European phase of the war ended as Germany surrendered. 

The stories of that day have been written in endless books, articles and told in documentaries and movies such as The Longest Day.    But without the ultimate sacrifices of these 9000 men that we remember 70 years later, the world might be a far different place.

Meet Girl LIke Us Model Ines Rau!

Trans feminine models have been strutting catwalks, rocking magazine covers and gracing print ads since Great Britain's April Ashley did so in the early 1960s. 

Now thanks to a steamy NSFW photo shoot with Tyson Beckford another name has been added to that distinguished list of trans models in 24 year old Paris born and New York based model Ines-Loan  Rau. 

The 5' 10 beauty is of North African-Latin descent, transitioned at age 16 and was discovered by French modeling scouts.  

According to a Models.com interview, she was inspired to come out as trans after reading Caroline Tula' Cossey's book I Am Woman twice.

After reading her book [I Am Woman] at least two times I realized how important it is to assume who you are with no fears. I am twenty-four years old and have done the change very young, at 16. Until now I wasn’t really out about it. I just woke up one day realizing that it’s enough, I need to embrace who I am and be loved for what I am and what I have been through- without the fear of being rejected.

And we're glad you did, Ines.  Looking forward to meeting you someday. 

2013 Williams Watch-Sweet Sixteen!

Serena Williams completed her relentless redemption march through the 2013 French Open women's field by subduing Maria Sharapova (again) 6-4, 6-4.  

She got off to a slow start trailing 2-0 in the first set until she broke Sharapova's erratic serve to take control of the set and eventually the match. 

Little Sis whacked 10 aces, including three in the final game that clocked out at 118 miles per hour, 121 mph and on double championship point at 128 mph to capture her first French Open title since she beat Big Sis for the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in 2002. 

Since that shocking first round loss in last year's French Open, Little Sis is 74-3, won 31 straight matches, 22-0 on clay, has captured the Wimbledon singles and doubles crowns, the Olympics singles and doubles title, the US Open singles title, the WTA Championship and has regained the world number one ranking.

And the way she's playing I wouldn't bet against her adding another title at 'Williams'-don in a few weeks. (June 24-July 7)

It is the 16th career Grand Slam title she's captured, putting her only two away from tying Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all time list.   Serena is also the fourth woman to win all four Grand Slam titles at least twice (Navratilova, Evert and Graf are the other three) and out of those women is the only one to repeat as an Olympic champion in singles and doubles.  

At 31 she's the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam since Navratilova captured the 1990 Wimbledon crown at age 33..

Serena was magnifique during this two week run at Roland Garros, and I wouldn't bet against her catching Evert and Navratilova before the year is out on the all time title list the way she's playing. 
 

2013 Williams Watch-On To The Quarters!

Serena Williams is still in the hunt for her 16th Grand slam title after taking only 70 minutes to breeze past 15th seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-3.   It was her 28th consecutive match win and puts her in the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time since 2010.

She's an unbeaten 20-0 on clay this year, but now faces the woman that knocked her out of the 2009 French Open and went on to win the title that year in Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova. 

The two time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova knocked off 8th seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets to punch her ticket to the quarters

Since losing in the French Open first round last year, Little Sis is 71-3 and has won the Wimbledon singles and doubles titles, the Olympics singles and doubles titles, the US Open singles title and the WTP Championship.

Should she get past Kuznetsova, she would make it to the semis at Roland Garros for the first time since 2003 and the way she's playing right now I wouldn't bet against her doing it.

2013 Williams Watch-Serena To Fourth Round

Serena Williams' march to her first French Open women's championship since 2002 continued as she took on Sorana Cirstea of Romania in her third round match on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Little Sis took 61 minutes to send the 26th seeded Cirstea to a 6-0, 6-2 straight set defeat with the first set taking the world's number one ranked player only 23 minutes to complete.

She has only dropped six games total in her three matches so far at Roland Garros, is on a career best 27 match (and counting) win streak and awaits the winner of the Roberta Vinci-Petra Cetkovska match which was in its third set as I compiled this post.

Meanwhile, the person who gave Serena her last loss in a Grand Slam singles tournament is lurking at the other end of the women's singles tournament bracket. 

17th seeded Sloane Stephens has yet to play her third round match with Marina Eracovik of New Zealand and is on a potential fourth round collision with defending French Open champ Maria Sharapova assuming she survives her match with China's Jie Zheng.

And you know after Stephens flapped her gums and dissed Serena  earlier this month, many of us in tennis world would love to see a rematch between the two in the French Open finals.  

But there's still a lot of tennis that needs to be played before that can happen and Sloane has a tougher draw with people like Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Sharapova still in it.  
  
The first weekend in Paris is shaping up to be a very interesting one for us tennis junkies. 

TransGriot: Update:  Serena will face Roberta Vinci in the fourth round. 

2012 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tourney In Quarterfinals

The 2012 FIBA Women's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament tipped off in Ankara, Turkey June 25 with our FIBA number 11 ranked Canadian neighbors being amongst the femme roundball teams trying to dribble their way into the London Olympic basketball tournament that starts a few weeks from now

Out of the 12 nations that started their quest for the five remaining spots to go to London only eight remain after they survived group play.  The host nation Turkey won Group A and will play Group B runner up and FIBA number 12 ranked Argentina. Group B winner and FIBA number 4 ranked Czech Republic will play Group A runner up and FIBA number 15 ranked Japan.  

Canada was in Group D with FIBA number 8 ranked France and Mali and got their tournament off to a rousing start June 25 by crushing Mali 89-23.  

The next day against France they brought their bricklayers union cards and got off to a slow start that resulted in a 57-46 loss and a 1-1 record in Group D play.  

Despite the loss they were still in great shape to qualify for the quarterfinals because of the blowout win over FIBA number 19 ranked Mali.   The only way they would be knocked out of the tournament is if Mali upset France and beat them by a 65 point margin in doing so. 

Umm no. France routed Mali 88-37 on June 27 to win the group with Canada finishing as the runner up.  France will play Group C runner up and FIBA number 9 ranked Korea for one of the Olympic spots.

The Canadians will play Croatia, the group C winner that has jumped 23 spots in the FIBA rankings to number 31 with a spot in the Olympics going to the winner and the loser moving on to play June 30 the loser of the Turkey-Argentina game.   The losers in the Czech Republic-Japan and France-Korea games would also battle it out on June 30 in the semis.

The winners of the June 30 semifinals would play July 1 for the final Olympic berth.  

I would think the Canadian women's b-ballers would rather handle their business today and be celebrating on Canada Day a trip to London rather than playing a nerve racking two additional must win games tomorrow and on Canada Day to get the final Olympic berth.

2012 Williams Watch-Short Stay In Paris

The French Open is being contested at Stade Roland Garros this week and next, but unfortunately my favorite tennis playing siblings are out of this tournament.

Out of all the Grand Slam tournaments, the French Open has been the one Venus and Serena have had the most problems with in terms of winning it.  Serena has 13 Grand Slam titles, but only has won on Roland Garros' clay courts once in her career in 2002, and she beat Big Sis to get it.  

Little Sis was looking for her second French Open title while Venus has never won it.

They won't win it this year either because their inexplicable Roland Garros troubles continued in 2012.

Serena took a 46-0 career record in opening round Grand Slam tournament matches into this tournament and was 17-0 on clay this season nut but fifth seeded Little Sis shockingly lost to French homegirl Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6 Tuesday.

She was two points from victory several times in the second set, including leading 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker. But Razzano won six straight points to force a third set, and then took control of the match.

"I made so many errors today, which isn't the game I was playing in the past," Serena said. "That's life."

Venus had better luck, ousting her first round opponent but on Wednesday Big Sis was ousted by third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in straight sets 2-6, 3-6 in her first major tournament since the announcement she has Sjogren's Syndrome.

Despite the loss, Venus will qualify for the US women's Olympic tennis team is she is still one of the top four ranked US women by June 11, the end of this French Open and is sitting in the fourth spot now    Serena is comfortably ensconced as the highest ranked US woman in the tennis world rankings, so her London spot is secured.

The next major before the 2012 Games is their favorite tournament.which will also be the tennis venue for the upcoming games in 'Williams'-don         

Coccinelle

Since I mentioned Coccinelle in a previous post, I thought it was only fair that you get to know who Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy was.

She was born in Paris on August 23, 1931. Her petite 5'3" frame and slight build led to many people questioning her gender identity. She was also aware of her gender issues at age 4 and began taking hormones in 1952.

A year later she made her debut as a transgender showgirl at Chez Madame Arthur where her mother worked selling flowers. She took the stage name Coccinelle (French for ladybug) as the show at Chez Madame Arthur became popular among Parisians and fascination about her metamorphosis grew.

She dyed her brunette hair blonde and later joined transgender showgirls April Ashley of Great Britain and Amanda Lear as a regular at the famed Le Carrousel de Paris nightclub as her popularity continued to increase.

Coccinelle usually arrived on stage wearing scarlet lipstick and wearing one of a number of outrageous mink coats dyed in different colors.

She'd already had rhinoplasty to further feminize her features, and in 1958 she traveled to Morocco and became the first European transwoman to undergo vaginoplasty by pioneering Casablanca based SRS surgeon Dr. Georges Burou.

When she returned to France, she became a media sensation like Christine Jorgenson several years before. She then remixed her look and her stage act to match the prominent sex symbols of that time period, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.

In addition to her new sexy image, she became appearing in various movies such as 1959's Europa di notte by director Alessandro Blasetti. More films followed, and she became the first French transwoman to become a major star in 1963 when she starred in a revue entitled 'Cherchez la femme' at the famed Paris Olympic Theater.

Coccinelle was a trailblazer and an iconic figure to transpeople who grew up in the 50's and 60's. After her operation France modified its laws to allow details on birth certificates to be amended following SRS, and she duly changed her name to Jacqueline-Charlotte from Jacques-Charles.

She also worked extensively as an activist on behalf of French transgender people, founding the organization Devenir Femme (To Become Woman). Devenir Femme was designed to provide emotional and practical support for persons seeking sex reassignment surgery. She also helped establish the Center for Aid, Research, and Information for Transsexuality and Gender Identity as well.



She was married three times, and her first marriage to sports journalist Francis Bonnet in 1960 not only was the first transsexual union to be officially acknowledged by the nation of France, she booked Notre Dame Cathedral for the ceremony. It also established a transgender person's legal right to marry in France.

Coccinelle toured the world for 25 years, and was a big hit in South America. Bob Hope was impressed by her show and offered her a tempting financial package to perform with his troupe, but she declined it. She even performed in front of the Shah of Iran and for 10 years appeared in a German cabaret run by transwoman Romy Haag. Her autobiography, Coccinelle by Coccinelle, was published in 1987 with her last public performance being done in 1990.

She later moved to Marseilles and ran her own cabaret there from 2002-2005 before being hospitalized in July 2006 following a stroke. She died on October 9, 2006 at age 75.

At her funeral, held at the Eglise Saint-Roch de Paris, Father Philippe Desgens reminded mourners: "All the children of God have a place in the Church", and noted that "by her marriage in church after her operation, and during her whole life, Coccinelle showed her faith."

Coccinelle is another of our iconic transwomen who will never be forgotten, and blazed a path that future French transwomen would follow.