Venus Williams’s outfit draws a lot of attention at this year’s French Open. One headline cracked me up: Venus Williams (and her outfit) advance. The lacy, see-through black dress that she designed has also made it to The New York Times.  The paper also runs a slide show called Tennis Fashion: Oxymoron where they showcase several of controversial outfits worn by tennis stars throughout the sport’s history, including Maria Sharapova’s tuxido-inspired get-up.

I follow Serena’s tweets. They are mostly non-informative, slightly amusing, with frequent sales pitches for her book or whatever she is selling at the given moment. However, her today’s tweet somewhat annoyed me. As someone who has experienced a major devastating earthquake, I can’t help but say something about what she tweeted today:  “How is it an earthquake can happen in Haiti…This is a good time to draw close to God and learn more about his kingdom.”  REALLY???? This is what people in Haiti and the world aids organizations need now? How about “this is a good time to be generous and donate money for the relief efforts, pay more attention to earthquake preparedness, research, education, awareness…etc, etc. Serena, please just do what you are doing best–play tennis and sell books!

Senior writer Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated interviews Andre Agassi; Wertheim and host Richard Deitsch discuss the interview and Agassi’s future. Here is the podcast.

I love Jon’s Tennis Mailbag. Did you know that he has a law degree from University of Pennsylvania?

Have you been watching the Joy Behar Show? I love her! You can double the pleasure and watch her program today since Serena Williams is going to be her guest. If you have a questions for Serena, you can submit to Joy on her Facebook page. It is also interesting to read the suggestions there.

For the past several months Serena Williams has been trying very carefully to promote her book in well-planned TV appearances, through blogs and Twitter. However, yesterday she ruined all her months of hard work in a couple of minutes. Yesterday, before her semi-final  match against Kim Clijsters she wrote: “I would like to thank everyone that purchased, “On the Line!” I am on the NYT bestsellers list as number 23! I am honored & very thankful.”

My guess is, that her book sales numbers will be going down. I wonder if people who were planning to buy her book would now change their mind after the “foot fault” incident? Or maybe more people will be intrigued now to buy and read her book? What do you think?

 After Serena Williams yesterday’s theatrics, her name was one of the top ten trending topics in Twitter land. Here are some of the comments that I overheard on Twitter.

1) Feeling very “Serena Williams” this morning, so watch out.

2) Serena Williams should have chanted, “Serenity now!”

3) Serena Williams the next John Mcenroe? One can only hop.

4) My tennis geek head is still reeling from that Serena Williams bitchfest last night. 

5) Serena Williams screams “You lie!” loses a point, and lots of money. Why are tennis players held to higher standards than legislators?

6) Can’t wait to see Serena Williams & Joe Wilson in the same anger management class. I smell sitcom!

7) From USTA: All future Serena Williams matches to be line judged by John McEnroe

“If I could, I would take this f… ball and shove it down your f… throat,” a statement that resulted in a point penalty on match point at the US Open where Serena Williams lost her semi-final match against Kim Clijsters. 

You can’t say this to ANYONE, Serena, no matter who you are!

I am not surprise.

When asked if she should apologize to the lineswoman, Serena said, “An apology? For what? How many people yell at linespeople? “Players, athletes get frustrated. I’m sorry, but a lot of people have said a lot worse.”

True indeed. “Can’t spell DYNASTY without NASTY.” A message Serena communicated “through” her T-shirt which she wore  at her media conference after her third round win.

Lost in the Serena’s drama was Clijsters’ significant victory. It was only her third tournament after 2½ years in retirement. The 26-year-old Belgian became the first mother to reach a Grand Slam final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon 1980. She will be playing against Caroline Wozniacki for the US Open title.

Melanie Oudin
Saturday, September 5, 2009 — US Open

Q. Five weeks ago you were playing against a kid from Boston College. Now you just beat a former US Open winner on center court. How do you make the transition?
MELANIE OUDIN: It’s not that hard for me ’cause I love playing tennis no matter who I’m playing. Getting to play Maria today was an unbelievable experience for me. She’s such a great competitor, a great player. I just had a blast playing there today. Read more »

As it was expected, Oudinmania has swept the American press. 17-year-old Melanie Oudin pulled off her second upset of the US Open defeating Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Let’s not get carried away, please!!! As Reuters reported, “Maria Sharapova gift-wrapped the match for Oudin by serving up a mind-boggling 21 double faults and committing 63 unforced errors amid perfect conditions on Arthur Ashe Stadium.” If Sharapova were Serena Williams, she would have said Oudin made some “lucky shots and it was up to her to win it or lose it.” But Maria has always been gracious in her interviews. Read Maria Sharapova’s post-match interview after the cut:  Read more »

Serena Williams’ autobiography On the Line has come out this month. Here is the book description from the publisher:

“One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams has captured every major title. … From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighborhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women’s player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old. Her accomplishments have not been without struggle: being derailed by injury, devastated by the tragic shooting of her older sister, and criticized for her unorthodox approach to tennis. Yet somehow, Serena always manages to prevail. Both on the court and off, she’s applied the strength and determination that helped her to become a champion to successful pursuits in philanthropy, fashion, television and film. In this compelling and poignant memoir, Serena takes an empowering look at her extraordinary life and what is still to come.”