Venus and Serena Williams are about to make history. Again.Tomorrow will mark the third time the sisters will be meeting each other at the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Final. Then a couple of hours later they will be playing as a team in the Ladies' Doubles Finals. I think the right word to use in a situation like this is "dominant". 

On Wednesday Justine Henin announced she would be retiring from tennis. This surprised me for two reasons. The first reason I was surprised is because she is only 25 years old. The reason I was really shocked is because Justine Henin was ranked #1 by the WTA.She is going out on top.But wow. This was really unexpected.I don't know about you, but I'm floored. For her to retire is one thing. For her to retire right before the French Open, which she loves and which she's won four times is shocking...

Martina Hingis announced her retirement last week after she (allegedly) tested positive for drugs. It wasn't steroids either. "Unfortunately, one of the greatest mental players of this generation could end her career amid allegations that she used cocaine at the 2007 Championships at Wimbledon." - On the Baseline: Women's Tennis News

I got an email from Lawson Silva, the father of 5 year old tennis phenom Jan Silva. He took issue with my comments about his son in a post I wrote last month. This is what he had to say: "Interesting thoughts that you made in your article. As one of the Parents of Jan Silva I am touched by the outpouring and expert opinions of great child psychologists like yourself." Read The Entire Post At Megan’s Minute.

Cross Posted At Megan’s Minute I'm going out of town again. I know, I know, you're saying what, another vacation? Look, I deserve a little time off for all those up 'til 2 and 3 AM "AI" and "Damages" recaps. Meanwhile, my time management issues are hitting critical mass. I'm blogging, I'm vacationing, I'm working, I'm watching tennis, I'm working, I'm blogging, I'm watching tennis...something's gotta give. So here's what's up. Everything but US Open updates and "Damages" recaps are going on the back burner until the US Open is over a week from Monday. The one exception will be a post or two about Whoopi's first days on "The View" starting September 4th.

I can now die a happy woman. After all these years, I've finally seen Serena Williams play tennis in person. I heard the grunts in person. I saw the pretty little black dress with the disappearing bow in person. I saw the power and the finesse in person. What an incredible player! Venus was the opening act for little sis, and she pounded her opponent Kira Nagy of Hungary 6-2, 6-1. First off, the Althea Gibson tribute was very moving and well done. Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins gave a great speech about the life of his good friend. The parade of First Black Women was really fun. I don't think I've been anywhere with that many influential and inspiring black women in one place. In fact black folks were well represented in the stands of Ashe Stadium and it was good to see. You can check out some pictures here. Aretha Franklin brought the house down with her rendition of "Respect," and then later during a changeover when they played "Think" through the PA system, she led the crowd in a little dance. Others in the house, Gladys Knight, Christie Brinkley (who I thought was Heidi Klum), and Janet Jackson in the Williams family box. Read The Full Post At Megan's Minute

The US Open tennis tournament starts tomorrow in New York City. As part of the opening night festivities, the USTA is going to present a tribute to Althea Gibson on the 50th anniversary of her ground-breaking win at the US Open. Prominent black women like Carol Mosely Braun, astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, Aretha Franklin and athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee and others will be involved in the tribute. Althea was the first black, man or woman to not only win the US Open, but Wimbledon as well. This was at a time when many tennis clubs would not even allow her into their clubs, much less play there. She was known for her powerful serves, her superior court sense and more importantly her ability to handle the adversity she faced daily as a black American in the uniformly white world of tennis. She was never able to cash in on her accomplishments, because she came along long before the large cash purses of today. She died at the age of 76 in East Orange, New Jersey having for the last years of her life to accept financial aid from friends like Billie Jean King and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. So, whether you're a tennis fan or not, tune in tomorrow night at 7PM to USA Cable's coverage of the opening night tribute to Althea Gibson and learn more about this great American woman.

I had a grand old time last Thursday at the US Open Qualifying Tournament. Not only is it free---how has that escaped the bean counters all these years?---it's like riding on a picturesque highway with no traffic...a pleasure. As soon as I got on the grounds of the Billie Jean King Tennis Center I could feel my excitement building. I roamed the grounds sampling matches, checking out some up and coming Americans like Asia Muhammed, Phillip Simmonds, and Sam Warburg. Then there were more well know names like Alex Bogomolov, Jr. and Scoville Jenkins. Jenkins was the only player I saw that day who made it into the main draw. Congratulations Scoville! You can see my photos from qualifying here. It includes pictures of Rafael Nadal, Jelena Jankovic, and Ana Ivanovic practicing. Read This Entire Post At Megan’s Minute

The Times Online is reporting that Tim Henman is planning to retire after the Davis Cup tie against Croatia. My first reaction when I read this was, ah too bad, Henman always seemed like a decent bloke. And then I read the article again and I wasn't so sure. Not about him being a decent bloke, but about him retiring. Wouldn't it be a hoot if it wasn't true? Read this entire post at Megan's Minute.

Cross Posted At Megan's Minute Roger Federer set himself up nicely for another US Open win with the demolition of James Blake in the final of the Western & Southern Financial Masters in Cincinnati 6-1, 6-4. The win gave Roger his 50th career title and with it the US Open Series. James got stomped in the first set and in the second he was simply out matched. Blake did well for himself getting to the final this week with wins over Juan Carlos Ferrero, Sam Querrey, and every betting man's player Nikolay Davydenko, but I'm beginning to feel his chances of making noise at the US Open are pretty much over. By all rights, Lleyton Hewitt should have beaten Roger in the semis yesterday when he had him in a third set tie-break. Throughout the match Hewitt played the best I've seen him play in a long time but he played a lousy tie-break to lose a match he should have won. Poor CBS. Not only do they get a blow-out final with the Federer/Blake match---so much so, they made the dubious decision to replay some of the match as filler---but every true tennis fan must have been doing what I was doing at the beginning of the match. That is flipping back and forth between ESPN2 to watch the nearly 20 minute epic game between Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic at the Rogers Cup women's final in Toronto.

Cross Posted at Megan's Minute Novak Djokovic beat the bejeezes out of the top three players in the world last weekend and won the $2.45 million Rogers Cup in Montreal. His pummeling of Andy Roddick in the quarters and Rafael Nadal in the semis was just a prelude to his humongous win over Roger Federer...that's right, Roger Federer, in yesterday's final. He played two magnificent tie-breaks to beat the number one player in the world, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 7-6 (7-2). "Especially against Federer in the final, to win those tiebreaks was incredible," Djokovic said. "I managed to win these tiebreaks against a player who probably has the best record in tiebreaks, who is the strongest player mentally in the world right now."

You know the US Open Series is getting serious when big guns like Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Andy Roddick return from their post-Wimbledon mini-vacations and start pounding the hard courts.