Serena Williams wiggled her hips in tandem to the vernacular music that vibrated across the small dusty school which bears her name in one of Kenya’s most arid and impoverished regions.

As the excited children belted out ballads praising their American benefactor, Williams could not help but keep smiling.

“I feel so honoured to be here,” said the World Number Two and nine-time Grand Slam champion. “Thanks so much for receiving me for my first time in Kenya.”

The American tennis star is on the second and final leg of an African charity mission. Initially, she was in South Africa, where she opened a new secondary school that she helped build and donated computers.

The mixed gender school, perched on a hilly slope, about 148 kilometres southeast of the capital Nairobi, is situated in an area that has the highest school drop-out rate in the country.

Because the school — accepting its first patch of secondary students in 2009 — is not easily accessed by road, worsened by recent heavy rains, Serena and her entourage were flown there by three helicopters.

Donning a black tracksuit, the 28-year-old star arrived in the first chopper accompanied by Kenyan government officials, including Education Minister Professor Sam Ongeri.

They immediately inaugurated the school and took students through the maiden computer and internet lessons.

Due to lack of electricity, the computers were powered by solar panels but Serena promised that she would work with the government to bring electricity as well as boost educational standards.

Serena, accompanied by her mother and younger sister, pledged to open more schools for poor children, saying it was the finest achievement of her life.

“This is my first of many schools I plan to open up in Kenya. It is amazing how education has uplifted the lives of many people and have empowered them to determine their own future.

“It is the best achievement that I have done in my life,” she added.

The school’s headmaster was rightly proud.

“This lady has done a great thing for, not only our school, but the whole location,” said Serena Williams Secondary School headmaster Simon Mbuvi.

“Due to geographical factors, the school has seen little growth since it was started in 1952. But through her assistance, we have been able to finish building the secondary school in just under one month ready for the intake next year,” Mbuvi added.

With the introduction of free and affordable primary and secondary education in 2002, Kenya faces a crisis of managing the transitional process due to limited facilities and funds.

The education sector cannot sustain the surge in enrolment of children leaving primary to join secondary schools because of the physical structures.

“We need more secondary schools,” said Ongeri while thanking his American guest for her gesture.

“In 2003, we had 5.3 million children in primary schools. Today, there are in the range of 8.2 million and all of these children need to be able to access secondary school education,” he added.

On Saturday, Serena will conduct a tennis clinic for children in Nairobi before concluding her four-day Kenyan visit.

Source

Serena Williams with rapper and actor Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, surfing in Hawaii. The pair were seen together and happy on a Hawaii vacation. Serena showed some talent and shear determination while out surfing today. She was all smiles with her performance.

Tennis champ Serena Williams and former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland hit Miami Beach together on Friday afternoon.

Serena, 27, has a book called “Queen of the Court” scheduled for release Christmas 2009.

Mike Jones, Simon & Schuster’s editorial director for non-fiction said of the book, “It’s a fantastic story about her background and how both her sister [Venus] and she were pushed into becoming winners by their father. She has huge appeal because of what she has achieved during her career. This book goes beyond tennis fans. She’s a top athlete with a really great personality and interesting story behind her.”

Damn Fellas can you handle all of this ?

Serena, along with her sister Venus,  are destined to go down in history as the two best female tennis players ever with their control of the Grand Slams over the last ten years.

On the very first point of the match, Serena Williams hit a backhand so hard that her earring flew off. Turns out she was just getting warmed up. Williams kept pounding away, her shots and shouts getting louder with every stroke. And when she finished off Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 Sunday night for the U.S. Open championship and a ninth Grand Slam title, Williams really went wild.

She flung her racket high into the sky, hollering and hopping in a celebration that even she thought might’ve been over the top.

“I’m sorry I got so excited,” she told Jankovic when they met at the net.

Williams’ father, Richard, jumped to his feet after the final point. He didn’t seem to expect his daughter to do the same.

“I never knew Serena to be very, very excited. I knew Serena to be very, very mean,” he said after it was over. “I describe her as being a combination of a pit bull dog, a young Mike Tyson and an alligator.”

The fourth-seeded Williams beat sister Venus in the quarterfinals and barreled through this tournament without losing a set. This win did more than earn Serena her third silver trophy at Flushing Meadows - it assured she will return to No. 1 in the rankings for the time since August 2003, the longest gap at the top for a woman.

Pretty good for someone whose ranking once plummeted to No. 139.

“It’s been so long,” she said.

Williams calmed down in time for the on-court trophy presentation, and smiled when she received the winner’s check for $1.5 million. Still full of personality, Jankovic wondered aloud, “How much did I get?”

Jankovic earned $750,000 for her first showing in a Grand Slam final.

This was the 13th straight time that the women’s championship at the U.S. Open was decided in straight sets. The second-seeded Jankovic certainly had her chances - up 5-3 in the second set, she led 40-0 with Williams serving.

“I felt I had her. I had her, because she was really tired at the end of the second set,” Jankovic said. “Who knows what would have happened if I had got into a third set? I probably would have had the upper hand. But who knows?”

Jankovic won over fans with more than her determined play and her penchant for doing the splits to reach shots. She’s a crowd favorite, often talking to people in the stands and frequently watching herself on the giant video boards high above Arthur Ashe Stadium.

At one point, she saw herself on the screen and promptly fixed her hair.

“They should turn it off, because I keep looking,” she said. “You see your big face up there and you can’t help but look up.”

Venus Williams got ample air time, too. Sitting in the guest box, she cheered on the sister she teamed up with to win the Olympics doubles title.

Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam championship since the 2007 Australian Open, and took over the No. 1 ranking Jankovic held last month for exactly one week.

“I feel so young and I feel so energized,” Williams said. “Sometimes, I’d wake up at 6 in the morning to go practice and it was too dark.”

Williams and Jankovic originally were scheduled to play Saturday night, but rain from Tropical Storm Hanna delayed their match.

The sixth-seeded Murray beat Nadal in the first two sets and was down 3-2 in the third when they were postponed Saturday afternoon.

Nadal came out strong when they resumed, winning the third set and then going ahead 3-1. But Murray regained his momentum and nerve, and had Nadal on the run by the end.

“He beat me because he was better than me,” Nadal said. “When he’s playing aggressive, he can beat everybody.”

Nadal won at Wimbledon, the French Open and the Olympics, but seemed drained by his 84th match of the year. He’d won 19 straight matches in majors, though he’d never reached the final at Flushing Meadows.

Murray beat Nadal for the first time in six career matches. Even when the 21-year-old Scotsman slipped toward the danger zone, he felt confident.

“I go on the court now without feeling like I have anything to worry about, because I’ve worked hard and practiced hard and given myself the best opportunity to play well,” he said. “All I’ve got to do is play tennis, which is one of the few things that I’m good at.”

Source: AP

Serena Williams jumped and shrieked near the net Friday as family members celebrated at their seats across the court.

“It’s been a while, a long time, since she won it,” Williams’ mother, Oracene Price, said moments later.

Williams advanced to her first U.S. Open final since 2002 - when she won her second title here - and will play No. 2 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia today, if forecast rains hold off. Williams, a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., resident, is the last American woman to win the U.S. Open and is bidding for her ninth Grand Slam title.

More is at stake.

The winner will ascend to No. 1 when the new rankings are released.

Williams, the fourth seed, flattened Russian Dinara Safina, the sixth seed and the sister of 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin, 6-3, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Earlier Friday, Jankovic defeated No. 5 Elena Dementieva, the gold medalist at the Beijing Games, 6-4, 6-4, to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time.

Jankovic and Williams are 3-3 against each other and 1-1 this year. Williams won in three sets at the Sony Ericsson on Key Biscayne.

“She’s the strongest player on the tour, together with her sister Venus,” Jankovic, 23, said.

Their meeting could be delayed by Tropical Storm Hanna, which is forecast to drench New York. If rain washes out the women’s final, it would be played Sunday.

Williams insisted she doesn’t care which day she plays. Her will to win has been as strong as her play. Her road to the final included a thrilling two-set, two tiebreaker quarterfinal victory over older sister Venus and a meeting with Safina, the Olympic silver medalist and hottest player on tour this summer.

Serena also had to battle blustery conditions, as the wind gusted at more than 20 mph Friday.

Williams trailed 2-0 against Safina but won six of the next seven games to take the set. Williams seemed less bothered by the wind and intent on wearing down Safina in the second set.

Safina slammed her racket to the court and yelled at herself in English and Russian several times, upset at her unforced errors and inability to hold serve. At one point, Safina screamed, “I hate the wind!” Williams ruffled Safina when she ripped a net approach that hit Safina in the shoulder.

Williams tried to apologize, but Safina had her back turned to her.

Williams coasted after breaking Safina’s serve to seize a 2-1 lead.

Safina finished with 41 unforced errors to 21 winners; Williams had 21 unforced errors and 16 winners.

“Venus is my toughest opponent ever,” Williams said. “Nothing against Dinara; she’s been playing incredible. I just think Venus is an amazing player.

“I feel like Venus was playing the best in this tournament. She had a chance to win, and maybe she even would have won. I would like to do what I think she would have done.”

I guess Common being there breaking her off and the fact that she doesn’t listen to Britney Spears before a match like her sister Venus is working.

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/ten/5986629.html

Serena Williams barely got the better of older sister Venus Williams in a U.S. Open quarterfinal that was fit for a final, coming back in each set to win 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7) Wednesday night and break a tie in their head-to-head series.

Serena trailed 5-3 in both sets. She faced set points in both, including eight in the second. But she advanced to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2002, the year she beat Venus in the title match for her second U.S. Open championship.

It was the siblings’ 17th meeting as professionals, and Serena leads 9-8. That includes 11 matches at Grand Slam tournaments, where Serena leads 6-5.

She also has the edge in major championships, 8-7, and only she can add to that total this weekend. The fourth-seeded Serena will meet No. 6 Dinara Safina in the semifinals.

“It’s really just unfortunate it had to be in the quarters,” Serena said.

Venus had all sorts of chances to take control, but in the end, as both women’s play reached a very high level, it was Serena who pulled through. In the second tiebreaker, Venus had four set points-and Serena saved them all.

Then, when Serena earned her first match point, nearly 2 1/2 hours into the match, she converted it, when Venus ended an 11-stroke exchange by missing a forehand.

Back when they were ranked Nos. 1 and 2, the siblings only could meet in tournament finals. But because of injuries, inactivity and inconsistency, they dropped in the rankings, and now it’s the luck of the draw that determines at which stage they potentially meet.

At Wimbledon in July, for example, the wound up on opposite halves of the field, and Venus beat Serena in the final for her fifth title at the All England Club. At the U.S. Open, they wound up in the same section of the bracket, so the women many consider the two top players at the moment were forced to meet in the round of eight.

The start of the latest all-Williams showdown was delayed by more than an hour because of two lengthy matches that preceded it on the tournament’s main court, including a women’s doubles match and No. 6 Andy Murray’s four-set victory over No. 17 Juan Martin del Potro in the men’s quarterfinals.

Venus showed up at the locker room about 20 minutes before they finally headed out, carrying a bunch of rackets in the crook of her left arm. Serena arrived about five minutes later, a red purse slung over her left shoulder.

Neither face betrayed the slightest hint of emotion, and those same expressionless masks were in place at the match’s start. Early on, there were the sorts of nerves and erratic play-a combined seven first-set double-faults, for example-that have marked many of the siblings’ encounters as they have adjusted to playing one another.

“I try not to look at her, because if I look at her, I might start feeling sorry,” Serena told the crowd afterward. “I want the best for her. I love her so much. She’s my best friend.”

Neither of their parents, who also serve as their coaches, were sitting in the guest boxes at Arthur Ashe Stadium. One of their sisters was there, sitting with her hands clasped in front of her face, eyes shut, during the first-set tiebreaker.

How could she possibly cheer for one sister against another?

Serena Williams barely got the better of older sister Venus Williams in a U.S. Open quarterfinal that was fit for a final, coming back in each set to win 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7) Wednesday night and break a tie in their head-to-head series.

Serena trailed 5-3 in both sets. She faced set points in both, including eight in the second. But she advanced to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the first time since 2002, the year she beat Venus in the title match for her second U.S. Open championship.

It was the siblings’ 17th meeting as professionals, and Serena leads 9-8. That includes 11 matches at Grand Slam tournaments, where Serena leads 6-5.

She also has the edge in major championships, 8-7, and only she can add to that total this weekend. The fourth-seeded Serena will meet No. 6 Dinara Safina in the semifinals.

“It’s really just unfortunate it had to be in the quarters,” Serena said.

Venus had all sorts of chances to take control, but in the end, as both women’s play reached a very high level, it was Serena who pulled through. In the second tiebreaker, Venus had four set points-and Serena saved them all.

Then, when Serena earned her first match point, nearly 2 1/2 hours into the match, she converted it, when Venus ended an 11-stroke exchange by missing a forehand.

Source: Yahoo Sports