It's a girl! Venus lets #Serena baby secret slip

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Serena Williams will be the mother of a baby girl, if sister Venus is to be believed after she appeared to let the secret slip on Wednesday.

Venus, playing at the French Open in Paris, told a TV interviewer: "She's going to call me her favourite aunt."

"We all like 'baby V, baby Lyn, baby Isha'. We all want the baby to be named after us," the 36-year-old told Eurosport, referring to the names of Serena's sisters.

Serena, who revealed she was pregnant in April, has refused to discuss the sex of the baby she is expecting with fiance, Alex Ohanian, the founder of Reddit.

She was at Roland Garros on Wednesday watching her older sister defeat Kurumi Nara in the second round on the showpiece Philippe Chatrier court.

"I think it's not easy for her to watch, because, you know, obviously she knows she can do well here," said Venus after the match.

Serena is a three-time champion at Roland Garros.

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"I think that she's just excited about everything coming up in her life, on and off the court, excited about returning here hopefully next year," added Venus, who turns 37 next month.

Serena, who won her 23rd Grand Slam title in January when she defeated Venus in the Australian Open final, is due to give birth in September, the month she turns 36.

Earlier this week in Paris, Venus had talked about her anticipation of becoming an aunt.

"I'm definitely looking forward to it. I have no idea what the experience will be like, because previously I became an aunt when I was very young and lived far away, across the country, so it was a completely different experience than it will be this time," she said.

"So I hope that I can live up to this job. I've got to get some confidence that I can do this. It's all new for me. It's a great journey."

Venus, who was runner-up to her sister in Paris back in 2002, added: I think you just have to be ready, aware, and alert. Then have a lot of diaper duty. Yeah. So we'll see."

Serena learned she was pregnant just two days before the Australian Open.

She has told of being nervous about playing, uncertain whether it would be too dangerous for her or the baby.

Kelly Bush Novak, Williams's publicist, said last month that the US star "looks forward to returning in 2018".

Source - TheJakartaPost

Rafael Nadal crushes Novak Djokovic to reach Madrid final

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MADRID, May 13, 2017 - Rafael Nadal snapped a seven-match losing streak against Novak Djokovic in commanding fashion as he romped into the final of the Madrid Masters 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.

The Spaniard looks in ominous form with just over two weeks to go till the start of the French Open as he stretched his perfect record on clay this season to 14-0 with a dominant display.

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Nadal will look to seal his fifth title in Madrid in Sunday's final against Austrian Dominic Thiem in a repeat of the Barcelona Open final Nadal won 6-4, 6-1 two weeks ago.

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"It is a great result. To win against Novak by that score you have to be playing very well, otherwise it's impossible," said Nadal.

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An open era record 50th meeting between Nadal and Djokovic served to highlight the Serb's dramatic dip in form since they last met in Rome almost exactly a year ago.

"It was an important match for me. I lost a lot of times in a row. To break that means there are always nerves," added Nadal.

"The circumstances nowadays are completely different compared to those seven matches that occurred before.

"I think that the last two years perhaps haven't been my best two years. For Novak, they were really good years."

Djokovic had won his last 15 sets stretching back to the 2014 French Open final against the 14-time Grand Slam champion.

However, that run was emphatically ended as Nadal, willed on by a fervent home support including Cristiano Ronaldo in the VIP boxes, made the perfect start by breaking the Djokovic serve to love.

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"Rafa was obviously a better player today," said Djokovic.

"He deserved to win. He controlled the game from beginning to the end."

Indeed Djokovic could only muster four points in the opening four games as Nadal raced into a 4-0 lead.

He did salvage some pride by seeing off more pressure on his serve to at least hold twice and force Nadal to serve out to take the first set in 40 minutes.

"It wasn't a very high quality of tennis from my side. I made a lot of unforced errors," added Djokovic.

"His quality was very high. He managed to do whatever he wanted really, especially in the first set."

- New guidance -

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Djokovic was playing his first tournament in Madrid since parting company with his long-term coach Marian Vajda.

And on this evidence he needs new guidance as quickly as possible if he is to defend his French Open title as two more forehand errors gifted Nadal another break at the start of the second set.

Djokovic showed his resistence of old to break back when Nadal netted after being stretched out on the backhand side to level at 2-2.

But his fight back was temporary as he handed the break straight back as he fired wide with a backhand after a brilliant Nadal passing shot had set up a fresh break point opportunity.

Again Djokovic's level improved as the set wore on to make Nadal serve it out.

And Nadal was forced to save a break point in the final game with a drop shot Djokovic couldn't get back over the net.

"I am humble enough to come here and say that I was nervous," said Nadal.

"Especially to go from 40-15, to break point for him, that was a very hard moment for me."

Djokovic, though, fired long with a volley on Nadal's third match point sparking wild scenes of celebration.

Victory also ensured Nadal closes the gap on Djokovic's lead in their head-to-head record to 26-24.

Thiem booked his place in a first ever Masters series final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas in a match that finished just after midnight local time.

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Source - TheNation

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