*“We’d love to come back here. We’d love there to be a South African champion tennis player one day.”
<strong>—Venus Williams*</strong>
It's uncanny to think that the Williams sisters hadn't played an exhibition in Africa until recently, and as part of the Breaking The Mould campaign, they went from Nigeria to South Africa in a pair of matches that saw Venus win the first and Serena gain good-natured, sisterly "revenge" in the latter. The aptly named Arthur Ashe Academy in Soweto, South Africa, also hosted the sisters as they led a tennis clinic for impressionable young girls this past Saturday. To those of you reading this who are parents—can you fathom your child, age 8 to 16, learning at the feet (or at the end of the racquet) of these two great? What a splendid series of events in Africa.
"This won't be their last visit to South Africa," said South Africa's sports minister, Fikile Mbalula. "If they don't want to come back, we'll chase them on Twitter and find them." Something says he means business.
MORE VENUS The older Williams sister was recently tagged by People's Style Watch column for her silver footwear and bright colors.
CZECH IT OUT Those lasses from the Czech Republic sure clean up well. Great shot of Andrea Hlavackova, Lucie Safarova, coach Petr Pala, Petra Kvitova, and Lucie Hradecka with their Fed Cup championship trophy.
NADIA NUPTIALS? Not just the likes of Steffi Graf get marriage proposals at tournaments. Check out this video from the WTA Budapest stop this past week for a sign beckoning a betrothal to Nadia Petrova.