The 2016 Olympic Women's Soccer Tournament Draw Today

We're getting closer to the start of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and in a few hours, the USA women's soccer team will know who will be in their respective group during the Olympic women's tournament that starts August 3 and concludes August 19.

The FIFA number one ranked world champion USA women will be competing for their third consecutive Olympic title, and the road to the title match at Maracana Stadium begins with the draw scheduled to start at 8 AM CDT at that same venue..  

The 12 women's teams will be split into three four nation groups, designated Groups E, F and G.   The host Brazilians are in Group E.   Depending on whether they get drawn into Group F or Group G,  if it is Group t, they would play their first two group games in Sao Paulo and their third group match in either Salvador or Brasilia.  If they end up in Group G, their first two group matches would be played in Belo Horizonte, with the third group match being played in either Manaus or Salvador.

They are also split into four pots,.based on the March 25 FIFA world rankings.  The host nation and the top two FIFA world ranked teams are placed in Pot 1.  Brazil as the hosts are already assigned to Group E in the A1 position, with the USA and Germany being the other teams assigned to Pot 1..

Pot 1: Brazil, USA Germany
Pot 2: France, Australia, Sweden
Pot 3: Canada, China PR, New Zealand
Pot 4:  Colombia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

The draw is set up so that you don't have two teams from the same FIFA confederation playing each other in the group stage.  That means that we wouldn't be placed in the same group with Canada because they are fellow CONCACAF members,  the Germans wouldn't be placed in a group with France or Sweden, and Brazil wouldn't be in the same group with Colombia.

Once the groups are set, when the competition starts, the two best teams in each group and the two best third place finishers will advance to the knockout stages.

We'll see what the USA road to Maracana and a third consecutive Olympic gold looks like in a few hours. .

TransGriot Update:  USA was drawn into Group G, and will be facing number 3 FIFA world ranked  France, New Zealand and Colombia 

Moni's 2016 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

While I didn't have time to do my men's bracket in 2015, I definitely had a chance to do one for the women's tournament.  I started as part of Women's History Month compiling it in 2008 , and I have continued that tradition every year since.  

Since I just mentioned it, here are my 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 , 2014 and 2015 women's brackets.here

My record in picking the eventual women's NCAA champion is slightly better at 5-3, and I've also correctly picked all four women's NCAA  Final Four teams in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2015.  Also nailed last year's NCAA women's title game.

But it's a year later.  Can I get it right again and select the four teams that will be playing for NCAA women's basketball supremacy on April and 5?   Will UConn continue their dominance of the NCAA women's basketball ranks and their 69 game winning streak? Will they make NCAA history and become the first women's team to win a fourth straight title or will there be an upset for the ages?..

We're about to find out.

Bridgeport Regional
First Round
Connecticut, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Michigan State, South Florida, UCLA, BYU, Texas

Second Round
Connecticut, Mississippi State, UCLA, Texas

Sweet 16
Connecticut, UCLA

Bridgeport Regional Champ
Connecticut

Dallas Regional
First Round
Baylor, St John's, Florida State, DePaul, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Oregon State

Second Round
Baylor, Texas A&M, Louisville, Oregon St.

Sweet 16
Baylor, Oregon St.

Dallas Regional Champ
Baylor

Lexington Regional
First Round
Notre Dame, Georgia , Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Washington, Maryland

Second round
Notre Dame, Stanford, Kentucky, Maryland

Sweet 16
Notre Dame, Maryland

Lexington Regional Champ
Notre Dame

Sioux Falls Regional
First Round
South Carolina, Kansas State, Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, Tennessee, Arizona State

Second Round
South Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, Arizona State

Sweet 16
South Carolina, West Virginia

Sioux Falls Champ
South Carolina

Final Four
Connecticut, Baylor, Notre Dame,.South Carolina

Championship Game
Connecticut, Notre Dame

2016 NCAA Women's Champ
Connecticut

2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying- It's Canada And The USA To Rio!

The 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament has been going on in Texas since February 10 to determine who gets the two Rio Olympic soccer tournament slots allotted to CONCACAF.

The scene has shifted to Houston for the knockout rounds of the tournament, with the semifinals being played last night at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Group B winner Canada faced off against Group A runner up Costa Rica for one of the two Olympic slots, and thanks to their captain Christine Sinclair's two goals in the 17th and 51st minutes punched their ticket to Rio with a 3-1 win.

Costa Rica's Raquel Rodriguez added one from the penalty spot to cut the Canadian lead down to 2-1 in the 71st minute, but Deanne Rose scored in the 86th minute to put Canada comfortably back in front by two goals and secure their spot in the tournament finals on Sunday.

Two hours later it was the USA facing off against the surprise runners up of Group B in the Women Soca Warriors of Trinidad and Tobago, who clinched their spot in the knockout round with a 5-1 win over Guyana on February 16.

But playing Guyana and the world champion USA squad are two different tasks, and 12 minutes into the match Tobin Heath scored to put the world champs up 1-0.   Alex Morgan score the first of her three goals in the 30th minute to put the USA up 2-0, and Carli Lloyd scored in the 43rd minute to send the USA to the locker room at BBVA Compass Stadium with a 3-0 halftime lead.

Morgan completed her 3rd international hat trick with goals in the 71st and 73rd minutes to send the USA to the finals of this qualifying tournament on Sunday against Canada with the second CONCACAF Olympic qualifying spot nailed down.

It is the sixth consecutive time that the USA women's team has qualified for the Olympics, and they will be seeking their fifth straight Olympic title when they do get to Rio.

On Sunday the USA an Canada clash for the CONCACAF Qualifying tournament title in a game in which nothing is on the line but pride and a trophy.

The real fight will be starting on August 3 when the women's Olympic soccer tournament kicks off.

 

2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament Happening In Texas

While I have been busy with other events, on opposite ends of 1-45 we have had eight CONCACAF women's teams battling to get the two spots available from our FIFA region for the upcoming Rio Olympic Games women's tournament.

The tournament started on February 10 with the Group A teams, the USA, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Costa Rica playing their games at Toyota Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, TX while the Group B teams Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Guatemala started a day later at BBVA Compass Stadium here in Houston.

Team USA got their Olympic qualifying campaign off to a flying start with a 5-0 win over Costa Rica as Carli Lloyd scored the first of her two goals just one minute into the game to get the USA off to a 3-0 halftime lead in a match they never trailed in as Mexico was thumping Puerto Rico 6-0.

That set up a crucial clash on February 13 in which the USA prevailed 1-0 over Mexico thanks to the game winning goal from Carli Lloyd in the 80th minute on a penalty kick while Costa Rica recovered from their loss to the USA by spanking Puerto Rico 9-0.

The win also gave the USA the top spot in Group A with two wins and a +6 goal differential.

Yesterday Group A play concluded with the USA clinching the group and their trip to the semis here in Houston with a 10-0 win over Puerto Rico in which Crystal Dunn scored five goals.

In the battle between two 2015 World Cup squads to determine the runner up in the group, Costa Rica prevailed 2-1 in which Raquel Rodriquez scored two goals, with the game winner being on a penalty kick in the 57th minute to clinch the runner up spot in Group A and their ticket to Houston for the semifinals.

Group B play started on February 11 at BBVA Compass Stadium, with Trinidad and Tobago shocking Guatemala 2-1 and Canada behind an Ashley Lawrence hat trick spanking Guyana 5-0.

On February 14 Guyana sent Guatemala packing with a 2-1 victory as Canada clinched Group B with a 6-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago.

Later today while Canada closes out group play with homeward bound Guatemala, Guyana and Trinidad and  Tobago will play to see who will be the Group B runner up and get the unenviable task of taking on the world champion USA in a knockout round semifinals on Friday at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Canada will play this final group game knowing that they will face Costa Rica in the knockout round on Friday with an Olympic berth on the line.

The Friday semifinal game winners will get both CONCACAF berths to the Rio Olympic Games women's soccer tournament, and play each other on Sunday for the tournament title.

2016 Williams Watch - Going For Number 22

In a few hours we'll find out if Serena Williams will earn her seventh Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title win in her illustrious career.

That Aussie Open women's final will start at 2 AM CST.

She punched her ticket to this Australian Open final by taking out fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland for the ninth time in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.   She not only bumped her record against Radwanska to a spotless 9-0. she continued her impressive march through this Aussie Open women's field.

For the first time in her career, she has made it to an Australian Open final without dropping a set along the way.

Serena's reward or doing so will be to face Germany's Angelique Kerber, the 28 year old lefthander who idolized Steffi Graf growing up, and who will be standing in the way of Serena trying to tie her idol for Grand Slam title wins.  Kerber is also the first German player in 20 years to reach a Grand Slam final since you know who.

The seventh seeded Kerber knocked off #14 seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5 in the quarters and surprise semifinalist Johanna Konta 7-5. 6-2 in straight sets to get to her first ever Grand Slam final, and says she relishes the challenge of taking on the world's number one player.

We'll see if she feels the same way in a few hours.  Go get her Serena!

2016 Williams Watch- Serena To The Australian Open Semis!

The 2016 Australian Open keeps rolling to its conclusion, and Serena Williams is still on track to claim her seventh Australian Open title, her 22nd Grad Slam title to tie Steffi Graf overall, and start a run at a Golden Slam.

But standing in the way in the quarterfinal round was a woman she'd beaten 17 straight times in fifth seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia.   The last time she'd lost to Sharapova was in 2004, and since then it's been all Serena all the time

This one started out with Serena getting off to a slow start and dropping her initial service game to get into an 0-2 hole and get her haters around the wold salivating.  But she eventually got it to 4-4 and after a tense four deuce game held to take the lead and eventually break Sharapova to take the first set.  

Serena then kicked it into A+ level and rolled to a 4-0 lead before Sharapova broke the five game un by holding serve.  But Serena once again held her serve and broke Sharapova to win the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-1.   It was the 18th straight win for Little Sis and the seventh straight time in their non rivalry she'd beaten Sharapova in straight sets.

Next up in the semis for Serena is fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland who sent #10 seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain to the sidelines in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.

If she handles her semifinal business, these are the potential opponents who could be standing between her and her seventh Australian Open title.

That half of the quarterfinal bracket has #14 seeded Victoria Azarenka facing off against #7 seeded German Angelique Kerber, and giant killers Johanna Konta of Great Britain and qualifier Zhang Shuhai of China in the other quarterfinal.

The winners will face off in the semis to determine who that finalist will be.

TransGriot Update: The other semi will be Angelique Kerber and Johanna Konta.

2016 Williams Watch-Serena's Headed To The Quarters!

While I was in Chicago dealing with a drama filled Creating Change conference, I was comforted in the fact that Serena Williams was kicking butt and taking names on her way to hopefully her seventh Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title overall.

In her Australian Open third round match she played during the January 22 night session at Rod Laver Arena, she made quick 6-1, 6-1 straight set work of Russia's Daria Kasatkina.

Two days later on that Rod Laver Arena court she only took 55 minutes to efficiently send another Russian to the sidelines in Margarita Gasparyan.    Little Sis beat her in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal match with an opponent she hasn't lost to since the 2004 Wimbledon finals in Maria Sharapova.

Maria may be tired of hearing about it, but facts are facts.  You've lost 17 straight matches to the greatest tennis player of all time, and until you beat her, you'll get repeatedly reminded of it.

Should Serena handle her tennis business and make it 18 straight against Sharapova, she would face the winner of the Agnieszka Radwanska - Carla Suarez Navarro match in the Australian Open semifinals.

2016 Williams Watch- Good And Bad News From Melbourne

My fave tennis playing siblings are once again starting the New Year Down Under at the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2016 tennis season in the Australian Open.

And after the first round matches were completed in Melbourne, there's some good news and bad news to report.

First the bad news.  There were 12 players in the women's singles bracket that went down in first round upsets.  Number 2 seed Simona Halep, #16 seed Caroline Wozniacki, #17 Sara Errani, #22 Andrea Petkovic, #24 Sloane Stephens and #25 Samantha Stosur were some of the folks who went down in the first round.   #23 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova went bye bye in the second round.

Joining that list of one round and done players was Venus Williams.   8th seeded Big Sis is surprisingly done for this tournament after she was upset by Johanna Konta of Great Britain in straight sets 4-6, 2-6.   Venus has a great 2015 in which she reached the quarterfinals at last year's Australian Open and Wimbledon, and the third round of the US Open but had a bad day at the office at the worst possible time.  

Nothing in her game was working, including her usually lethal serve which was broken by Konta five times.  She was moved around the court easily in a loss that was considered a shock to tennis pundits

But she's out of the 2016 Aussie Open in the first round

Meanwhile on that same Rod Laver Arena court, Serena began the quest for her seventh Australian Open title by knocking off Camila Giorgi of Italy in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 to punch her ticket to the second round where she faced Hsieh Sui-Wei of Taiwan.

She took an hour to cruise to a 6-1, 6-2 straight set victory and move on to her third round match with Russia's Daria Kasatkina .

Going to be an interesting week Down Under, especially on the women's side.

2016 Williams Watch- It's Time For The Australian Open

The first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season is the Australian Open, and the 2016 edition of it will kick off in Melbourne later tonight (Monday Melbourne time) and run until January 30.  

All eyes as usual will be on defending women's singles champ Serena Williams after her bid for a Grand Slam came up just short after being upset in the US Open semis.  She's had four months to rest from it, but there is some concern after she withdrew from the Hopman Cup warmup tournament with a knee injury.

She says she's ready to play, and she'll need to be from the opening round.  Her draw for this tournament has the world and Australian Open's number one seeded player on a potential collision course with Caroline Wozniacki (16), Belinda Bencic (12), Agnieszka Radwanska (4) and Australia Open finalist Maria Sharapova (5) in her half of the women's singles bracket.

Serena starts her bid for her 22nd Grand Slam title and seventh Australian Open title with her opening round match with Italy's Camila Giorgi, who is ranked number 35 in the world..

Well, at least they don't have Venus on the same side of the bracket with her little sister this time.

Big Sis came on strong at the end of the season and finished ranked in the top ten.  She starts 2016 with her highest seeding in a Grand Slam tournament since 2011.

Venus is seeded number 8 in this Australian Open tournament, and kicks off her quest for her first Australian Open title since 2003 with an opening round match against Johanna Konta of Great Britain.

This tournament will be interesting for both sisters, and we'll see if this is the first step to a Golden Slam for Serena or Venus executes another deep run that ends up with her clashing with her sister in a Grand Slam final.
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Karma And Holly Holm Knock Out Rousey

I am not a fan of formerly unbeaten UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey because I've been more than a little pissed off about the transphobic comments she has repeatedly leveled at Fallon Fox.

And yes, you're reading that first sentence correctly.   Former UFC champion.

In Melbourne, Australia in front of a record crowd of 70,000 people as the main event for UFC 193, there was a shock the world WMMA upset Down Under as the 12-1 underdog Holm surprised and dominated the fight with the former champ from start to finish before she knocked out Rousey at 59 seconds in the second round.

No microwaved fight for Rousey in this one.   And if you see me walking around town with a huge grin on my face, now you know why.

Rousey suffers her first loss after 12 wins while the 34 year old Holm not only grabs the UFC bantamweight title belt away from her, but stays unbeaten at 10-0.

And once again, karma is a you know what..

2015 Williams Watch-Four Sets To History!

The US Open women's semifinals that were supposed to be played yesterday got rained out, so they were rescheduled for today and will be set up as a single daytime session.

It will start at 10 AM CDT with the match between number two seeded Simona Halep of Romania and one of the two Italian women left in the draw in Flavia Pannetta.

They are playing for their first trip to the US Open final.

Immediately following that match will be the highly anticipated one between the tournament number one seed Serena Williams and Italy's Roberta Vinci.  As you TransGriot readers know, Little Sis is just four sets and two match wins away from completing the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988 and capturing her 22nd career grand slam title.

Serena is 4-0 against Vinci, but as NFL analyst Herman Edwards has famously said, "That's why you play the games."  But you have to believe that based on her performance against Big Sis Wednesday night, if Serena is playing at her  A++ level, they may as well start engraving the trophy with her name on it now.

We'll see in a few hours how this shakes out.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena To The Semis!

For the 14th time in a Grand Slam tournament, the first time at the US Open since 2008, and the 27th time in their careers   But this prime time quarterfinal match had high stakes with a semifinal berth on the line.

Serena's pursuit of her fourth consecutive US Open singles title and the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988 was on the line,  Venus was working on trying to win her third US Open title and her first since 2001 when she beat Little Sis in the final to get it.

The match started with both sisters hitting hard, hitting winners and staying on serve until Serena gets the break she needed to go up 4-3 and close out the first set in 33 minutes.

Then it was Big Sis's turn to up her game as Serena suffered through a stretch of bad play that allowed Venus to close out the second set and even the match.

Then Serena as she has done all season reset, kicked her game up to A++ level and quickly reeled off three straight wins to seize control of the decisive third set and close out this emotional win with her 12th ace of the match to punch her ticket to the semifinals.

6-2, 1-6, 6-3  Five match wins down, two to go.

Her semifinal victim opponent will be Italy's Roberta Vinci who has been on the short end of her matches with Serena, having lost to her four times/

Don't think Thursday will be any different, but that's why you play the game..

TransGriot Update:  The Thursday women's semifinal matches got rained out, so they were rescheduled for Friday.

2015 Williams Watch- Which Sister Made It To The US Open Quarterfinals?

Today Venus and Serena were on the Arthur Ashe Stadium courts playing their fourth round US Open matches with quarterfinal berths at stake.

Which sister made it to the quarterfinals?   Both of them.

23rd seeded Venus got this Sunday afternoon of tennis at Arthur Ashe Stadium off to a great start with a dominating performance against Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, who was playing in her first US Open and got to the fourth round after beating Madison Brengle in three sets

Big Sis took only 50 minutes to efficiently punch her ticket to the quarters with a 6-2, 6-1 straight set victory over Kontaveit and set up her first trip to the US Open quarters since 2010.

The question then became who would Venus play in that quarterfinal?

Serena took the Arthur Ashe court moments later for what was expected to be by tennis pundits the tougher match of the afternoon against 19th seeded Madison Keys.  

Serena faced and beat Keys earlier this year in the Australian Open semifinals, and wasn't playing with the tennis youngling.   Little Sis was on her A++ game from the outset, but the 20 year old Keys was hanging with her booming serve for booming serve and shot for shot as both stayed on serve .

Serena got a critical service break thanks to Keys double faults and unforced errors to put her up 5-3 and allow her to close the first set on her racquet.

The second set was just as close, with both players staying on serve and amazing shots being hit until once again Keys got broken to put Little Sis up 4-3. Serena held serve to push the lead up to 5-3, and when Keys needed to come up with the clutch serve to save match point,  she double faulted to hand little Sis a 6-3, 6-3 straight set victory that took only 68 minutes to complete.

Four down, only three more match wins to tennis history    But that next match will be against her big sister.

At 7 PM EDT on Tuesday night, we should have a sold out Arthur Ashe Stadium and a huge television audience watching the first US Open quarterfinal between the Williams Sisters at Flushing Meadow since 2008 with huge stakes for both sisters.

Venus is playing for her third US Open title, Serena for the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1998.  Which sister will prevail?.


 

2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament Comes To Texas!

The venues for the 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament being hosted in the USA were announced on August 12, and both are in the Lone Star State!

CONCACAF announced that BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston and Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX will be the venues hosting the eight team tournament February 10-21 that determines which two teams from CONCACAF will be playing in the Rio Olympics in a few months.

Toyota Stadium will host the Group A matches from February 10-15, and BBVA Compass Stadium will host the Group B matches from February 11-16, the semifinal match on February 19 and final match on February 21.

The USA as the host nation has already qualified, and the world champs will be in Group A.  Canada and Mexico have also qualified, but their groups and which end of I-45 they will be playing on will be determined when the tournament draw happens

The other five nations competing will be determined by the results in the Central American and Caribbean Zone tournaments   Two will come from the Central American Zone tournament that runs September 30-October 4  and three from the Caribbean Zone. 

The Caribbean Zone tournament started August 21 and will be completed October 4.  Puerto Rico, Guyana and Jamaica are three of the four finalists in the knockout round as of this writing with the fourth finalist to be determined from a group that is composed of Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and host Saint Lucia.

Only two CONCACAF  teams will be left at BBVA Compass Stadium when it is over and it will be interesting to see which two teams will be punching their tickets to go to Brazil.
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2015 Williams Watch-On To The US Open Third Round

The world is watching the US Open to see if Serena Williams can win her fourth straight title and in the process, complete the first calendar year Grand Slam since 1988.  

One of the things we Serena fans know and worry about is that if she's going to get upset, it's going to happen early in the first week.  Once she gets zoned in and gets over her early round nervousness, she's tough to stop.

And in a US Open tournament that has seen ten seeded players exit the tournament in the first round, another in Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova get beat in straight sets in the second round, and Maria Sharapova withdraw before the tournament even started because of a leg injury, Little Sis as the world's number one ranked player and number one tournament seed is a prohibitive favorite to capture this final grand Slam tournament of the season.

Serena's opponent in this second round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium was Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, and in the first set Bertens gave an admittedly nervous Serena a stiff challenge that belied her number 110 world ranking.

Bertens promptly broke Serena's serve, and was serving for the set at 5-4 before Serena came back to force a tiebreaker.  Unfazed, the 23 year old Bertens sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker before Serena showed that heart of a champion once again,  She rallied to tie it at 4-4 with some self destructive help from Bertens, and eventually won  to steal the first set.

After that first set escape in which she had eight double faults, Serena took command of the match when she broke Bertens for a 3-2 lead and closed it out for the 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 straight set win.  

Two match wins down, five to go for the calendar year Grand Slam.

Next up for Serena will be Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who knocked off Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets after she upset Sloane Stephens in the first round.  In case you're wondering what Serena's record is against Mattek-Sands this year:  2-0

Meanwhile, Venus was playing fellow American Irina Falconi under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights , and it looked like Big Sis was going to romp to victory in straight sets.   But that disturbing tendency of Venus not closing out matches reared its ugly head again.   Up 5-3 and serving for the match, it started going  sideways for Big Sis as Falconi raised her game up another level, and broke Venus' serve twice to force a tiebreaker, then kept her momentum going to take the second set.

The reason for the up and down performance?  35 winners offset by 47 unforced errors for Big Sis. She recorded six aces against five double faults.

Big Sis regrouped, got off to a fast start and rolled to a 4-1 lead before Falconi recovered to close to 4-2.  After holding serve, she broke Falconi one last time to close out the match and get a hard fought 6-3. 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 win and punch her ticket to the third round.        

She will face Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, the 18 year old protege of Martina Hingis who was nearly ousted from the tournament by Misaki Doi of Japan in a drama filled three set match    Venus will attempt to get past the third round of the US Open for the first time since 2010.

But the question is will the oldest player in the tournament field (35), have enough to get past the precocious 12th seeded Bencic, and get one step closer to a possible quarterfinal match with her sister for the second straight Grand Slam tournament?

And will Serena keep rolling to tennis history? 

2015 Williams Watch- On To The US Open Second Round

The first day of the US Open was a successful one for both Serena and Venus Williams as they handled their tennis business and got past their respective opponents to the second round.

number on seeded Serena kicked off the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium by winning the first eight games of her match with Vitalia Diatchenko before the Russian retired due to injury 30 minutes later.  

6-0, 2-0 was the score at the time of her opponent's retirement, and Little Sis is now six more match wins away from tennis history and her seventh US Open title as she heads to the second round in an unexpected way.

Serena's opponent will be the Netherlands Kiki Bertens   If Serena handles her second round match business she would face the winner of the Bethanie Mattek-Sands - Coco Vandeweghe match.

23rd seeded Venus' day started a little earlier on the Arthur Ashe stadium courts as she faced Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.   She ended up in a three set slugfest with Puig, who fought off four match points to extend the match into a deciding third set before Venus turned it up another notch to get the 6-4, 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 win

Big Sis is trying to capture her third US Open title and her first since she beat Serena in straight sets in 2001 to get it.  Venus will face in the second round Irina Falconi, and should she get past her would face the winner of the Belinda Bencic- Misaki Doi match

It's possible that if both sisters keep winning in their sections of the draw, they would meet in the US Open quarterfinals.

Will be watching my fave tennis playing siblings to see how things progress at Flushing Meadow.

And Still Serena Rises

One of the things I'm absolutely sick of along with other African-Americans is the racist hatred and trans misogyny that flows from the mouths of vanillacentric privileged white peeps mad that their European tennis glamazons weren't up to the task (again) of beating the world's number one ranked tennis player in Serena Jameka Williams.

It's not a new problem.  I've written about it previously, but it still pisses me off to see it.

Serena earned that sixth title, going through a three set match with Victoria Azarenka in the quarters, beating down Maria Sharapova for the (ho hum) 17th straight time since 2004 in the semis and taking out a tough Garbine Muguruza to claim that 'Williams'-don crown and the Serena Slam

But y'all still hate on her.

I'm tired of this ongoing pattern of successful Black female athletes like Serena Williams having their femininity attacked because they excel at what they do.  It is part of the same four century old racist pattern of whiteness and white supremacy demonizing Black women and Black womanhood in general.

If Serena Williams had the same number 34 ranking as Sloane Stephens and the same number of Grand Slam titles won (zero) instead of being the World Number 1 ranked player with 21 Career Grand Slams (and counting), white folks wouldn't be saying jack about Serena.


Neither would they be saying anything if she were mixed race like 18th ranked Madison Keys trying to downplay the fact she has a Black father. Then again Keys, like Stephens hasn't won a Grand Slam either.   Keys was vanquished by Serena in straight sets in the 2015 Australia Open semis.

Serena clearly being the best women's tennis player on the planet, repeatedly kicking European tennis glamazon azz, staking her increasingly unassailable claim to being the greatest tennis player of all time while being unapologetically Black and a curvy dark skinned Black woman who got back in a sport with predominately white players is clearly setting some people free and has since 1999.

And I'm enjoying every nanosecond of Serena's tennis superiority as the vanillacentric privileged haters try to find a reason to not give her credit for her decade of dominance. . 

I didn't appreciate the problematic July 10 New York Times tennis body image article by Ben Rothenberg that insinuated in thinly racist tones that Serena's was the body the glamazons didn't want to have. 

Well, Serena's happy with it, Black women are happy with it, her fans and supporters are happy with her fine brown frame, and so am I

As one person who slammed the article on Twitter remarked about the description of Serena as 'animal-like said and I concur with that,“This black people as ‘beast’ thing needs to go down with the #ConfederateFlag.”

Even David Frum's tired behind tried to shadily slime her by throwing out the steroid accusation before retracting after getting called out about it.

FYI dog, since tennis is an Olympic sport, it uses the same IOC drug screening protocol.to the point that during last month's French Open, Serena was playing and beating all comers at Roland Garros while suffering from a cold.

David, ask the former East Germans or Shirley Babashoff what women on steroids look and sound like before you have several seats and some strawberries and cream flavored Haterade.

And still Serena rises.  And y'all hate it.

See y'all in New York at the US Open.

2015 Williams Watch-Serena Slam!

I repeat, how like her now haters?

Serena Williams ended her business trip to London on a successful note as she captured her sixth 'Williams'-don title, her 21st Grand Slam championship overall, and her second Serena Slam with a 6-4, 6-4 straight set victory over Garbine Muguruza of Spain.

But the 21 year old Muguruza, who knocked Serena out of the French Open last year in the second round and was confident she could pull off the upset again, and was determined to not roll over and hand the Venus Rosewater Dish to Little Sis.  

She was planning on making Serena earn the trophy, and she did..  Muguruza broke Serena's serve in the opening game of the first set and built a 4-2 lead before Serena kicked it up another level and won the next five games to take the set and go up 1-0 in the second set.


Williams built a 5-1 lead in the second set before the nerves and magnitude of what she was about to accomplish briefly affected her, and she dropped two service games with a chance to serve for the title as Muguruza fought to stay alive in the match.

Muguruza closed to 5-4 with a chance to serve to knot the set at 5-5.   But Serena would wake up and build a 40-0 lead and watch Muguruza hit a forehand shot wide to get the break and her sixth Wimbledon title.

In addition to winning her fourth straight Gland Slam title since the 2014 US Open, she is now seven wins away from capturing her first calendar year Grand Slam, tying Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam title wins and only three Grand Slam title wins from catching Margaret Court. 

The queue for the strawberries and cream flavored Haterade forms to the left.  

See y'all in New York next month for what may shape up to be a historic US Open.

2015 Williams Watch- Playing For The Serena Slam!

It's the 'Williams'-don semifinals, and Serena Williams was going for her 8th Wimbledon ladies final appearance against a foe in Maria Sharapova who hasn't beaten her since 2004.

And she wouldn't do it today either.

Williams and Sharapova were meeting for the 20th time, and Serena has owned her with a 17-2 record in their head to head meetings.

Make that 18-2.    Serena beat her for the 17th straight time since that shocking 2004 straight set Wimbledon finals loss,.  Little Sis was on her A+ game and made quick (1:19)  6-2. 6-4  straight set work of Sharapova to get to her 8th Wimbledon final, the 25th Grand Slam final of her career and win her 26th straight Grand Slam match.

The win over Sharapova keeps her quest alive for a Serena Slam.  This will be if she wins Saturday  in addition to her sixth Wimbledon ladies singles title, her fourth straight Grand Slam title since she captured the 2014 US Open.   With a win Saturday at Centre Court Serena will also set up a chance to accomplish a calendar year Grand Slam at the US Open and tie Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam wins.

How you like her now haters?  Here's some strawberries and cream flavored Haterade for you to drink. Hater tots will be coming soon for you to munch on.

She will face 21 year old Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who knocked off 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2.3-6, 6-3 to become the first Spanish woman since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did so in 1996 to advance to the Wimbledon final.

And you can bet Serena won't be sleeping on Muguruza.   If that name sounds familiar to you, it was none other than Muguruza who upset Serena in the second round of the French Open last year.

While Muguruza is capable of doing it, she'll probably get a Serena who is on her A+ game,  remembers what happened last year. at Roland Garros and is ready to atone for it..  

But unfortunately for Muguruza, this ain't Roland Garros, it's the All-England Club, the Williams sisters personal tennis playground.

Should be fun to watch this tennis history unfold for the greatest tennis player of all time as she attempts to win her sixth 'Williams'-don ladies singles title and another Venus Rosewater Dish for her trophy collection.  

I also love the fact she's on the verge of doing so 40 years after Arthur Ashe won his Wimbledon title.

2015 Williams Watch-On To The Semis

There was no rest for number one seeded Serena Williams as she took on 23rd seed Victoria Azarenka a day after an emotional fourth round match that sent Big Sis to the Wimbledon sidelines.

She was facing an opponent in Azarenka who while she has dominated her, isn't scared of playing with her either.

Azarenka got off to a great start, taking that first set 6-3. But if the Serena haters were starting to get giddy over the prospect of her getting bounced from Wimbledon, um no, not today.  

This part of the tournament is Serena Time, and she handled her tennis business, cranked out 17 aces and took the second set 6-2 to even the match.  She then kicked up her tennis game to another level to take the third set 6-3 and punch her ticket to the semifinals

With the 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal win Serena is now 17-3 lifetime vs Azarenka, and a perfect 10-0 in Grand Slam tournament matchups against Vika. It was also her 26th consecutive Grand Slam match win.  Her semifinal opponent on Thursday will be Maria Sharapova, who is 2-17 lifetime against her and whose last victory over Serena came over a decade ago in the 2004 Wimbledon final.

Should she handle her tennis business as expected on Thursday, she would face the winner of the Agnieszka Radwanska-Garbine Muguruza semifinal for the 'Williams'-don ladies singles title on Saturday.

She's just two matches away from winning her 21st Grand Slam title, sixth Wimbledon crown, her second 'Serena Slam', and being a US Open win away from completing a calendar year Grand Slam.