Wimbledon 2007: Ladies' Quarterfinal Preview

The 2007 Wimbledon Ladies' Quarterfinals are almost set. Despite delayed by rain like everything else during the wettest Wimbledon on record the four quarterfinal matches will be played on one day, thus providing an orgiastic feast of high stakes tennis all in one place. I hope to experience this in person one day, but until then I'll be watching on TV and the web like 99.99% of the spectators who are interested in the results. Without further ado, here are my predictions for Day 9.

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Serena Williams USA (7). For the second Grand Slam in a row the showdown between Serena Williams and Justine Henin is the most anticipated match of the tournament. In fact, some people have wondered if Henin hadn't skipped this year's 2007 Australian Open would the result have been different? It's hard to imagine there could be even more drama in Serena's next round after the operatic turn that her fourth round win over Daniela Hantuchova took towards the end of the second set. In fact, I don't think the match will be great, similar to the blowout by the Belgian on clay last month. This time, I expect that the American will overpower her opponent on the faster surface of clay, further stymieing Henin's attempt to win a career Grand Slam. It's true that Henin has been in two Wimbledon finals and is playing excellent tennis but she hasn't had to play anyone remotely close to Serena's ability on grass prior to this match. Some people are already calling this match the equivalent of the final, but I think there are atleast three players in the bottom half of the draw (one of them whose last name is Williams) who take exception to that chracterization and intend ti do something about it. PREDICTION: Williams in 2 sets.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (3) Marion Bartoli FRA (18) vs. Michaella Krajicek NED (31). This surpising quarterfinal matchup is a coming out party for the younger sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek at the tournament where her brother achieved his greatest success on a tennis court and the hard-hitting French player. However, after Jankovic survived a near death experience against hard-hitting Czech youngster Lucie Safarova in the third round I was convinced that she would have had no trouble against the dubiously fit Bartoli but perhaps her excessive playing schedule finally caught up with the Serbian diva. Which one of these players will get to her first Wimbledon semifinal? It's hard to bet against the storied Krajicek name at Wimbledon, but it will be a tough, scratchy match.
PREDICTION: Krajicek in 3 sets.

Nadia Petrova RUS (11) vs. Amelie Mauresmo FRA (4). Ana Ivanovic SRB (6) vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (14). This was the trickiest quarterfinal to anticipate because this section of the draw has two great fourth round matchups like Petrova versus 2007 French Open finalist Ana Ivanovic and hard-hitting Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova versus the reigning Wimbledon champion Mauresmo. However, I truly believe that Mauresmo has the game and experience to defeat the up-and-coming Vaidisova, who is one of my personal favorite players who has yet to win a Grand Slam, but at age 18 she has a great future ahead of her. Interestingly, Vaidisova has won the last two times the two have played making their head-to-head record even at 2-2. Petrova really has no right to win this 4th round match but I just think that Ivanovic has to have a let down at some point and believe that it's time for Petrova to make another run at a major. However, I would not be surprised at all to see Ivanovic in this quarterfinal, possibly even playing Vaidisova.

PREDICTION: Mauresmo in 2 sets or a toss-up between Vaidisova/Ivanovic.

Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (5) vs. Venus Williams USA (23). This is an even more unlikely quarterfinal than the Jankovic/Krajicek quarter. Svetlana "the most talented of the Russians" Kuznetsova has been cutting through the draw like a scythe. Venus "3-time Wimbledon Champion" Williams has been lucky to get through two of her first three matches.
However, Venus has been in this position many times before and if she gets past Maria Sharapova in the fourth round it's unlikely any player will be able to stop her from getting to her sixth Wimbledon.
PREDICTION: Venus Williams in 2 sets or tossup between Kuznetsova/Sharapova.

Marriage Laws Have Consequences

When I was growing up in the Caribbean, British sitcoms were a staple on television and one of my favorites was Are You being Served? starring John Inman as the uber-effeminate "poofter" Mr. Humphries. Well, it turns out that (surprise!) John Inman was gay and had a partner of 35 years named John Lynch when he died recently at age 71 and left 2.8 million British pounds (nearly 6 million U.S. dollars) in his will.
Fortunately, the longtime companions had been able to obtain a civil partnership in the United Kingdom:

Mr Lynch, 54, will not have to pay inheritance tax on the fortune he inherited because he and Inman underwent a civil partnership ceremony in December 2005 at London's Westminser register office.

If they had not been in a partnership, the taxman would have taken 40 per cent of everything the actor left over the £285,000 inheritance tax limit at the time of his death.

Inman's estate is believed to be the highest profile will of a gay man in a civil partnership since the ceremonies became legal in 2005 after decades of campaigning.

Before then gay men wishng to leave their estate to their partners would have to pay full inheritance tax while married men or women paid nothing on cash left to their spouses.

Hat tip, Pageone Q.

WIMBLEDON 2007: Two Dramatic Williams Wins!

MadProfessah has been mesmerized in front of the television most of the day watching the NBC and ESPN coverage of today's dramatic events at Wimbledon. First, Venus Williams was competing in a match delayed for two days due to rain and bizarre tradition against Akiko Morigami. Venus was down 6-2, 3-6, 3-5 with the Japanese player serving for the match. Venus broke at love and held to go to 5-5. Venus broke again and when she was serving for the match it started to drizzle; when she faced double break-point at 15-40 the rain really started to fall. Neither her or her opponent wanted to delay the match so they played on. Venus ended up winning the next 4 points and the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 with several consecutive huge first serves. She will face Maria Sharapova in a round of 16 match. They last played in the 2005 semifinals where Venus Williams defeated the defending champion on her way to winning her 3rd Wimbledon title. That was Venus' only win in 4 career matches, but she barely lost (7-5 in the third) to Sharapova at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in March and is certainly eager for revenge on grass.

Venus' near-death experience on Court 2 would have been the biggest story of the day but while she was closing out her match her sister Serena Williams was dominating Daniela Hantuchova by winning the first set 6-2 in 26 minutes before the rain delay which coincided with the conclusion of Venus' match.

But after that rain delay Hantuchova was a new player and started increasing her first serve percentage by taking less risk and hitting her strokes more cleanly. She was quickly up 4-1 when Serena re-focussed, quickly won her service game at love and eventually broke back to even up the second set at 5-5. During the change-over at 4-5 Serena could be heard asking for "salt" and that she had pain in her "calf and part of her thigh." The significance was lost on all the commentators (Don't all athletic drinks include sodium and potassium and other electrolytes?) until at 5-5, 15 all this happened (see video of Serena Williams falling):


Eventually the rain came down during the second set tie-break at 2-4 and caused a nearly 2-hour rain delay during which Serena was able to recieve treatment. Despite losing the next five points and the second set tiebreak Serena was able to hold serve in the first game of the deciding set by blasting her serve at speeds approaching 120 miles per hour. Eventually as the set went on she regained more of her movement and she was able to win the deciding set with an identical score to the first set of 6-2 but in nowhere near as dominating a fashion. Overall, she had 34 winners (including 13 aces) to just 21 errors which should bode well for her match aginst World #1 Henin: a much discussed reprise of the Grand Slam quarterfinal clash from the French Open, this time on Serena's best surface of grass.

Oh, Obama!

Barack Obama is all over the news today, for raising a record 32.5 million dollars from 258,000 donors and for a dubious response to an AIDS related comment in the last Democratic presidential candidate debate.

First, the money race. Obama, the45-year-old freshman Senator from Illinois, raised more money between April 1 and June 30th in 2007 than the entire Democratic field did in the same second quarter in 2003 ($30.8 million) but still shy of the all-time record set in that same quarter by George W. Bush, a sitting Republican President, with $35 million. Obama has now outraised Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton $55.7 to $53 million since January 1, 2007 (and Clinton's amount includes $10 million she transferred over from her Senate re-election campaign fund). In addition, Obama is raising a significantly higher percentage of his money for the Presidential primary election as opposed to the Presidential general election. Clinton had $6 million of her $27 million for the general election, while Obama had only $1.5 million of his $32.5 million. The former First Lady consistently leads the African American presidential candidate by approximately 10 percentage points in national polls, however.

Now, to the accusations of homophobia being cast towards Obama due to this informal exchange at the Democratic Presidential forum last week:

Joe Biden: ...I got tested for AIDS. I know Barack got tested for AIDS. There's no shame in being tested for AIDS. It's an important thing because the fact of the matter is, in the communities engaged in denial, no one wants to talk about it in the community and we do not have enough leaders in the community and outside the community demanding we face the reality, confront the men in the community as well as the women, letting them know there are alternatives.

Tavis Smiley: Thank you.

Barack Obama: Tavis, I just got to make clear that I got tested with Michelle when we were in Kenya in Africa, so I don't want any confusion here about what's going on.

Joe Biden: Well, I got tested to save my life because I had a blood transfusion.

Barack Obama: I was tested with my wife.

Tavis Smiley: And I'm sure Michelle appreciates you clarifying that.

Barack Obama: In public.

Why is this exchange provoking negative reviews all over the blogosphere? As usual, TerranceDC over at Pam's House Blend has nailed it.

[...]

Clearly, his comfort with the issue only goes so far. In the light of morning, far from the flashbulbs and the headiness of being in close proximity to political celebrity, Obama's second response seemed to me a superfluous affirmation of his heterosexuality (given the presence of his wife in the audience, at least) and one that would only be necessary to a mind that read Biden's remark as an implication that he and Obama got tested together and thus had some reason to get tested together. A "comfortable" candidate wouldn't have felt it necessary to respond affirm his heterosexuality by responding to Biden's comment, but would have laughed it off instead, without further comment.

And speaking of laughter, given the response of the audience to Obama's second remark's raucus laughter that seemed to me to be in stark contrast to the subdued response to his earlier remark about homophobia ? indicates that, contrary to Lane Hudson's assessment in his HuffPo piece, any "level of immaturity" indicated in Obama's second remark may actually enhance his ability to "go all the way" in this campaign rather than hobble him in any way.

I've written about black homophobia and its origins before, and I will again, but it occurs to me that it was briefly on display Thursday night, both on the stage and in the audience. In his first line, Obama was "keeping it non-homophobic" for just a minute and the audience response was polite at best. In his second line, Obama was "keeping it real" and they loved him for it.

Word!

Out 100 Nominees

Joe.My.God points out that Out magazine is asking readers to submit names of candidates for the magazine's Out 100, which will appear in the December 2007 issue.

My candidate for someone who should be in this year's Out 100, as yours truly has previously been mentioned (quite awhile ago) is Brad Sears, founding executive director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. The organization's mission is on their website:

The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy is a think tank dedicated to the field of sexual orientation law and public policy. The Institute supports legal scholarship, legal research, policy analysis, and education regarding sexual orientation discrimination and other legal issues that affect lesbian and gay people. The Williams Institute originated with the recognition that issues central to sexual orientation law have profound implications for the development of the law and public policy in general. Drawing on the intellectual and material resources of UCLA, one of the world's leading research universities, the Williams Institute provides a national center for the interdisciplinary exploration of these issues by scholars, judges, practitioners, advocates, and students.

WIMBLEDON 2007: Mid-Tournament Report

Well, since there's no tennis being played at Wimbledon today for obscure reasons, I thought I'd give you and update on the tournament so far. The picture above was posted on wtaworld.com, a fan web messageboard, and sent to me by a fellow Venus Williams fan. Previously, Mad Professah had blogged about Venus going down to Texas to visit her golf pro boyfriend Hank Kuehne at a tournament and included a grainy black and white newspaper photo. Above is a better picture of Hank, wearing well-fitting jeans and looking comfortable holding hands with America's Most Popular Female Athlete (2004, 2006).

Anyway, back to tennis:
The stars are aligning for Roger Federer to win his 5th consecutive Wimbledon title. Today his 4th round opponent Tommy Haas withdrew and gave the World #1 a walkover to the 2007 Wimbledon quarterfinal. His arch nemesis has yet to play his 3rd round match, and to win the tournament will be required to play 5 matches in seven days. This basically means Nadal, who just turned 21 last month and is in phenomenal shape will have two rounds where he will have two play consecutive days. That won't be a problem, the problem will be who he is playing in those rounds (Robin Soderling, Mikhail Youzhny and Tomas Berdych) any of whom can beat him if they are having a good day. I predict Federer will win the final, and it will not be over Nadal.

On the Women's side, defending Champion Amelie Mauresmo is looking sharp, as is World #1 Justine Henin and the always dangerous Maria Sharapova. However, who can bet against a Williams sister at Wimbledon? At least one of them have appeared in six of the last seven Wimbledon Ladies' finals, with 5 titles between them. Serena (as usual) looks more focussed, and is on track for a titanic clash with Henin in the quarterfinals. Venus need to make up a 1-4 deficit in the second set (after winning the first set 6-3) against Akiko Morigami in order to set up a very interesting Round of 16 match with Sharapova.

Potential cure for HIV discovered

In a breakthrough that could potentially lead to a cure for HIV infection, scientists have discovered a way to remove the virus from infected cells, a study released Thursday said. The scientists engineered an enzyme which attacks the DNA of the HIV virus and cuts it out of the infected cell, according to the study in Science.

read more | digg story

Celebrity Friday: Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holiday Sing THE SONG Together

Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holliday sang "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going" from Dreamgirls at the BET Awards this week. Check out YouTube for the video.

Washington Post Pits Black Voters vs LGBT Voters

Argggh, in an aticle published on gay pride day, the Washington Post has again pitted African American Democratic voters against LGBT Democratic voters (as if there is no intersection between the two!) as a rationale for leading Presidential candidates' hesitancy to embrace full marriage equality:

Black voters are heavily Democratic, but exit polls in last year's elections found that only 46 percent of African Americans favored allowing same-sex marriage or civil unions, compared with 61 percent of the overall population who did, a figure that included Republicans.

In 2004, aides to Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the Democratic presidential nominee, were so worried about black voters' feelings about same-sex marriage that they put Bill Clinton on a conference call with 3,000 black pastors so the former president could reassure the pastors that Kerry truly did oppose same-sex marriage.

I found this article because I was reading TPMCafe's Election Central coverage and I saw a phrase ("[T]he core Democratic constituency of black votes has a strong social conservative element — they are 15 points less likely than the general population to support either gay marriage or civil unions.") on this usually progressive blog which reinforced the "Black people are more homophobic than others" meme that Mad Professah and other bloggers have been trying to deconstruct for years.

The pernicious nature of this "Blacks are more homophobic" notion is that it 1) erases the reality of Black LGBT individuals (like myself) and 2) shields Black people who are homophobic from having to fully address the source of their irrationality.

Keith Boykin did a good job of responding forcefully to this meme on BET's "Meet The Faith" last Sunday. He has posted a link to the video online. It's a great discussion.

CA-37: A Primary Win for Black, LGBT Communities

In the hotly contested special primary election in to fill the congressional seat of Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson) in the 37th district Assemblymember Laura Richardson defeated State Senator Jenny Oropeza yesterday by nearly 2000 votes out of almost 30, 000 votes cast, a turnout of a measly 11.14%.

Candidate            Votes           Percentage
Laura Richardson     11,027         37.76%
Jenny Oropeza        9,144          31.31%
Valerie McDonald     2,743          9.39%

This is a win for both the African American and LGBT communities. Although previously
Mad Professah had described this election as pitting the Queer vs Black vs Latino communities, because the gay-friendly African American candidate (Richardson) won over the homophobic Black candidate (McDonald) the LGBT community gains a gay-friendly congressperson, retains a Latino gay-friendly State Senator (Oropeza, who is a co-sponsor of the marriage equality bill) and punishes the politics of homophobia!

Now, if openly lesbian Gerrie Schipske will run to replace Richardson's seat in the State Assembly, that would be fitting, although an openly LGBT Latino candidate would be even better.

Reason 562 Why 'Color Blindness' Is Wrong

Mad Professah saw this post by Angela Winters at The Moderate Voice blog alerting me to an article in the Washington Post on the success of African American students in Advanced Placement courses in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Fairfax, VA and Montgomery, MD. I immediately was reminded that if African American conservative Ward Connerly had his way, such race-specific data would not be available.

Connerly was a University of California Regent appointed by Republican Governor Pete Wilson who was the main spokesperson and force behind two racially divisive ballot measures, 1996's Proposition 209 (which eliminated affirmative action by the State of California based on race or sex) and 2003's Proposition 54 (which would have barred the State of California from collecting or using data based on race, color, ethnicity or national origin). The so-called Racial Privacy Act was an extreme manifestation of the conservative principle of "color blindness" which they claim is the best way to heal racial divisions in this country.
Tomorrow, we are likely to see another manifestation of this when the United States Supreme Court rules on two important school racial desegregation cases; most observers expect a 5-4 decision saying that race can not be taken into account even when it is argued that it being used to preserve racial and ethnic diversity.

The Post reviewed AP data from nine of the 10 school systems in the nation with the largest black populations, from New York City, with 115,963 African American students in grades 9 through 12, to Baltimore City, with 22,225. One of the 10, Detroit, declined to provide data. The analysis considered 20 other school systems, all among the 80 largest for black high school populations, that are known for their rigor. The smallest systems studied were Prince William and Anne Arundel, each with about 5,000 black high school students.

The analysis considered the number of passing exams by black students and weighed it against black student enrollment in grades 9 through 12. A score of 3 or higher on the five-point AP scale is considered passing because it is the typical cutoff for credit and advanced standing in college.

Outside the Washington region, no school system analyzed produced more than four passing AP tests for every 100 black high school students -- half the success rate of Montgomery and Fairfax.

Here's a graphic illustrating the results

Today is National HIV Testing Day

Today is National HIV Testing Day and yesterday Lambda Legal Defense and Educatio Fund released a set of fifteen guiding principles which they believe all HIV testing protocols should follow.

1. People living with undiagnosed HIV infection must be reached and offered
testing.
2. Any HIV testing program must provide the highest standard of care.
3. Everyone offered testing must be educated about HIV and the significance of positive and negative test results.
4. People who test positive for HIV antibodies must be linked to care.
5. Expanded HIV testing must be carefully planned, implemented and monitored.
6. People with HIV/AIDS and other stakeholders must be included in formulating plans for expanded testing.
7. Patients’ human rights and informed consent are consistent with, and not opposed to, the goal of expanded HIV testing.
8. Expanded HIV testing must be tailored to different clinical settings, populations, and patient needs.
9. Clinicians, medical directors and other providers must
receive training and education in delivering high-quality testing programs.
10. Clinicians, medical directors and other providers must receive training and education in making appropriate service referrals and linkages to care.
11. Community-based HIV prevention interventions must be expanded in
tandem with efforts to expand voluntary HIV testing in healthcare settings.
12. Special attention must be paid to the prevention and care needs of at-risk populations.
13. Expanded testing and the provision of care to all existing and new HIV cases require new and adequate funding. .
14. Testing protocols must address insurance issues.
15. Efforts to assist those with undiagnosed and untreated or unmonitored HIV infection must be evaluated.

Unfortunately, many large AIDS service organizations (like the largest such organization in the world, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation) have been supporting dangerously reckless legislation which purports to expand HIV testing but instead opens up the door to coercive and discriminatory HIV testing in the state of California.



MadProfessah hopes that on National HIV Testing Day these organizations can take a deep breath and spend some time thinking about these issues, guided by the principles articulated

Bush Hits New Low In Newsweek Poll

The Princeton Research Group conducted their regular poll June 21, 2007 for Newsweek magazine and the results are stark:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

                 Approve    Disapprove   Don't Know

Current Total     26          65             9
Republicans       60          31             9
Democrats         6           89             5
Independents      23          66             11

As Pam over at The Blend notes, only President Richard Nixon has had a lower approval rating in the modern era (23%) and Bush still has 19 months to go....

Mmmmmm, Tommy!

The Oh La La Paris blog has posted pictures of a nude Tommy Robredo posing for a camera which will be sold to provide funds to support a charity, the Everyman Male Cancer Program to raise awareness of testicular and prostate cancer.

There's more details From Tommy-Robredo.com:

Tommy says in the magazine: "When Cosmo first asked me to get naked, I thought 'No Way!' But when I heard it was for charity I was like 'Okay, it's for a good reason.' "

Tommy worked with a female photographer on the shoot, which was initially scheduled to be held in Spain. But when Tommy accepted a late wild card into Estoril, the Cosmo crew jetted to Portugal.

Hmmm, a bit significant that they had to mention it was a female photographer, eh?

Oropeza Receives Huge Independent Expenditure Boost

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Morongo Indians has independently spent $270, 000 to support the candidacy of State Senator Jenny Oropeza in the hotly contested 37th district Congressional race to replace the recently deceased Juanita Millender-McDonald. This single expenditure is more than the $219, 000 that Oropeza had raised for her own campaign and dwarfs the mere $105, 000 that Richardson had reported raising. The reason why the tribe is supporting Oropeza is that she voted for ratification of Indian gaming compacts that the tribes negotiated with the Governor of California which must be approved (but not modified!) by the State Legislature before they go into effect. Labor is not happy about the level of worker protections in the current version of the compacts since standard federal labor laws do not apply on sovereign tribal ground. Although Oropeza made a campaign promise to oppose the compacts, she voted for them when they cleared the State Senate. The measure is still pending in the Assembly, where Richardson has vowed to vote against ratification. Labor has thus mainly endorsed Richardson in tomorrow's Special Election.

Mad Professah has been blogging about this race for weeks as it pits the Black, Latino and LGBT communities against one another since the district which the candidates are vying to represent (the City of Long Beach and its environs) has a very diverse demographic profile, with significant populations of LGBT, Black and Latino voters.

Sunday's Los Angeles Times carried an op-ed article ("The delicate balance of black and brown") by Harold Meyerson which argues that the racial tensions between Black and Latino voters are actually less than one would expect.

In a city like L.A., one would expect the city's black and Latino political communities to have clashed more frequently than they have. Liberalism may be their common ideology, but the economic interests of the black and Latino working classes have at times come into conflict as the Latino presence in the city grew. For example, Latinos have largely taken the janitorial and hotel jobs that blacks held 25 years ago. In the poorest quadrants of the city, violence between black and Latino gangs rages.

And yet L.A.'s black and Latino political elites have tended to avoid conflict more often than not. In the 2005 mayoral election, for example, both groups largely supported the candidacy of Antonio Villaraigosa. Multiracial coalitions have been, if not the norm, at least frequent in city politics — surprisingly frequent. Generally, as once heavily black parts of the city have become plurality or majority Latino, the elites have worked together to limit the possibility of Latino candidates winning elections in districts historically represented by blacks.

There are rumors on various blogs that Richardson's polling puts her up by 9 points while Oropeza's polling has the races her slightly ahead but within the margin of error of the poll.

Wimbledon 2007: Women's Top 10 Preview

[1] Justine Henin BEL. The 6-time Grand Slam champion (Roland Garros 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007; Australian Open 2004; U.S. Open 2003) is trying to win her first Grand Slam title in London despite making the final twice (losing to Venus Williams in 2001 and Mauresmo last year). My prediction at Roland Garros was that whomever won the Henin-S. Williams quarterfinal would most likely win the tournament, and I believe the same thing applies on the grass courts of Wimbledon. So does Jon Wertheim, calling the Henin-Williams Wimbledon quarterfinal the "de facto final." Serena didn't show up for that Paris showdown, however it is very unlikely these two steely competitors will have two "dud" matches in a row. This time the American will prevail. Quarterfinalist.

[2] Maria Sharapova RUS. Sharapova has salvaged her annus horribilis by making her first Roland Garros semifinal by winning a match that Patty Schnyder refused to win. As the site of her first major breakthrough, Sharapova is comfortable on the green stuff, but there's no question her serve and strokes are not as powerful as the 17-year old who stunned Serena Williams in 2004. This time it is likely that the woman who took out the defending champion in 2005 on her way to winning a 3rd Wimbledon title will bounce Sharapova from the tournament: Venus Williams in the 4th round. Fourth Round.

[3] Jelena Jankovic SRB. Many, many tennis watchers think Jelena simply plays too much tennis! But, hey, if she hates to practice and it works for her I say keep on doing what ya been doin'. She has the game and the confidence to go very far in this tournament. However, if she really doesn't get past people like Lucie Safarova or Shahar Pe'er like others have predicted then she should take a month off competitive tennis before getting back on the grind for the U.S. Open Series. Yeah, right. Semi-Finalist.

[4] Amelie Mauresmo FRA. I saw this year's Eastbourne Final and many observers are reading too much into Henin's 3rd set tiebreak win (despite Mauresmo serving for the match at 5-4). Since Mauresmo hasn't played that much tennis this year due to her appendix removal, I think it was incredibly important that she show Henin that she could hang with her on grass, and the Frenchwoman did that, for three sets of very close, beautiful grass court tennis. The defending champion also had a beautiful draw. I believe that Eastbourne result is more helpful to Mauresmo's chances than Henin's. We'll see. Semifinalist or Finalist.

[5] Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS. The "most talented of the Russians" is unfortunately also the most mentally fragile. She has the game to win this title and I would be shocked if she doesn't do exactly that within the next 5 years. However, 2007 will not be her year. Quarterfinalist or earlier.

[6] Ana Ivanovic SRB. The pulchritudinous Serb teen is having a fabulous 2007, making her first Grand Slam final last month in Paris and winning her second Tier 1 title a few weeks before that in Berlin. She has an all-court game and should be able to get deep in the draw but I doubt she will live up to her seeding and make the quarterfinal with Mauresmso. Fourth round or earlier.

[7] Serena Williams USA. As usual, the Williamses have to do things their own way. No grass court preparation prior to Wimbledon? We'll just play doubles instead! A chance at seeing Venus and Serena Williams on the court together will at the very least provide a compelling reason for people to shell out for Wimbledon's online streaming video coverage. Serena Williams hates to lose and I am sure that she has been thinking about that quarterfinal loss to Henin in Paris every single day as a motivator for off the court training. We'll see the results during the beginning of the second week when Wimbledon schedules all four Ladies' quarterfinals on the same day. And this time the Real Serena Williams will show up. Quarterfinalist or Champion.

[8] Anna Chakvetadze RUS. Four titles from her first four Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final apperances is impressive and I like this Russian's chances against anyone whose last name is not -Ova or Williams. Maybe we should start adding "-vic" to that list. I don't like Anna's chances of getting past Jankovic in the quarters if she does manage to get past a wily Hingis in the 4th round (which is doubtful). Fourth Round or Quarterfinalist.

[9] Martina Hingis SUI. "Chucky" has been winning titles at Wimbledon since she was a tween. She knows how to play on grass and she's wily enough to win a lot of matches she should lose. However, she can be overpowered and it is likely Jelena Jankovic, Anna Chakvetadze or even Sybille Bammer can take her out. Quarterfinalist or earlier.

[10] Daniela Hantuchova SVK. Congratulations to Daniela for making a return to the Top 10 after an inauspiciously long absence. She even won another title (her second!) at the Pacific Life Open this year. She clearly has been working hard and it shows. Unfortunately, she's in Serena Williams quarter of the draw and I don't like Hantuchova's chances against a Serena who has just come off wins against Samantha Stosur and Anastasia Rodionova. 4th Round.

Black Celebrities Take HIV Tests To Publicize National HIV Testing Day

Jimmy Jean-Louis

The Black AIDS Institute has hit upon a media savvy way to draw attention to the AIDS epidemic in Black America on National HIV Testing Day (Monday June 25th): have Black celebrities and their allies take HIV tests at a public press conference and call for 1 million African Americans to get tested by December 1, 2008. According to the press release from BAI:

Those who plan to attend and publicly take an HIV test at the press conference include: Jimmy Jean-Louis (“Heroes”), Regina King (“Ray,” “Jerry McGuire,” “24”), Hill Harper (“CSI New York”), Rockmond Dunbar (“Prison Break,” “Heartland”), Meagan Tandy (Miss California USA 2007), Vanessa Williams (“Soul Food”), Sheryl Lee Ralph (“ER,” Original “Dreamgirls” on Broadway), Hosea Chanchez (“The Game”), Angie Stone (recording artist), Anne-Marie Johnson (“CSI,” “JAG”), Darius McCrary (“Transformers,” “Family Matters”), Sandi McCree (“The Wire”), Ovie Mughelli (Atlanta Falcons), Isaac Keys (Arizona Cardinals); Henry Simmons (“Shark”), Tatyana Ali (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”), Samaki Walker, Rob Sommers and Deandre Walker (NBA), Jennifer Lewis (“Shark,” “Girlfriends”), Alexandra Paul (“Baywatch”), Vida Guerra, Earl Cole (Winner, “Survivor: Fiji”); Howard Hesseman (“Boston Legal,” “WKRP in Cincinnati”), Beverly White (NBC reporter). Author/journalist Gil Robertson will sign copies of his book Not in My Family: AIDS in the African-American Community.

This public action is part of a Black AIDS Mobilization sponsored by a host of non-profit organizations such as Black AIDS Institute, The Balm in Gilead, the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS and others to end the AIDS epidemic in Black America by 2012 by:

• Cutting HIV rates in Black America by 50%
• Increasing the number of Black Americans who know their HIV status by 50
• Increasing the number of Black Americans in appropriate early care/treatment by 50%
• Reducing HIV/AIDS stigma In Black America by 50%

Go ahead, BAM!

Darth Cheney Attempts To Alter Federal Government Structure

I grabbed the above picture from Firedoglake, the very cool progressive blog which has been rivalling DailyKos.com as the center of the libral blogosphere.

The picture refers to the story that broke this week that Vice President Dick "Darth" Cheney has been making the claim that his office is not a member of the Executive Branch of the Federeal Government, because the Vice President of the United States also serves as President of the Unites States Senate, and the Senate is a member of the Legislative Branch.

Most scholars, bloggers and other observers have responded to the Vice President's claim with disbelief, surprise and humor. It should be noted that Vice President Cheney previously won a United States Supreme Court ruling declaring that he could assert "executive privilege" in defying a subpoena to present documents on the membership of a White House Task Force on Energy convened by the Vice President in Bush's first term.

However, Congressman Rahm Emmanuel has had the best idea of how to respond to Cheney's claim that he is (and is not) "an entity of the Executive Branch": use Congress' power to remove funding to the Office of the Vice President until Cheney declares which branch of government he belongs to. If he's not in the Executive Branch, he shouldn't receive its funds.

New trailer for The Simpsons movie

Celebrity Friday: Isaiah Washington Speaks To Keith

Keith Boykin has an exclusive interview with Isaiah Washington (formerly Dr. Preston Burke on Grey's Anatomy) at his blog which is must-reading for anyone who has been following the ongoing drama (and I dont mean the television show!) for the last 9 months or so....