I can't believe I didn't even write a single post about the Paralympic tennis event Beijing. Shame on me! The U.S. Open is not a good excuse not to write.
Did your local TV network show the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games last Saturday?
Well done to China for such a tremendous effort! Judging from the photos, it matches the quality of the Beijing Olympics last month. Even Hong Kong singer Andy Lau performed at this event!
Now emphasizing on the wheelchair tennis, it was first introduced at the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games as a demonstration sport and became a full-medal sport at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona.
Shingo Kunieda of Japan
Esther Vergeer, a hot favourite, at the Great Wall of China.
Esther Vergeer will bid for her third successive gold medal in both singles and doubles in Beijing. The 26-year-old has remained unbeaten in the women's singles since 2003.
Her strongest challenges will come from Frenchwoman Florence Gravellier, Marie-Annick Sevenans of Belgium and Dong Fuli from China.
Robin Ammerlaan is the defending champion.
There is also a strong Dutch entry in the men's singles, with Robin Ammerlaan, defending his title, alongside Maikel Scheffers and Ronald Vink.
There will be six wheelchair tennis events. They include men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles, and quad singles and doubles.
(Images via ITF Tennis website, Beijing Paralympic official website)
Fireworks go off before the women's singles finals between Serena Williams
Singer Anita Baker performs before the women's singles finals.
And there was this “added bonus,” as Williams termed it: She returns to the top of the rankings.
After winning the match point, Serena flung her racket straight up and jumped for joy, hopping and skipping and screaming and generally looking like someone who had just won her first U.S. Open title or earned her debut at No. 1 in the rankings.As the women met at the net afterward, Williams felt compelled to say to Jankovic, “I’m sorry I got so excited.”No apology necessary.
“Serena was a better player tonight,” Jankovic said. “She was just too good tonight.”
It was Williams’ first triumph at Flushing Meadows since 2002, and it guaranteed that the American will lead the rankings Monday for the first time since August 2003—the longest gap between stints at No. 1 for a woman.
Her previous Grand Slam title came in January 2007, at the Australian Open.
Serena's boyfriend and rapper Common and Sir Richard Branson 
Actors Brendan Cowell, Rose Byrne and Glenn Close 
Supermodel Naomi Campbell
Singer Rob Thomas and his wife Marisol Thomas
Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend did not win the U.S Open.
(Images via Yahoo! Sports)
Cara Black and Liezel Huber beat Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur a 6-3, 7-6 (6) Sunday to win their first U.S. Open women’s doubles championship.It’s the fourth Grand Slam tournament title, and 20th title overall, as a team for the top-seeded Black and Huber. They also won Wimbledon in 2005 and 2007, and the Australian Open in 2007. They didn’t drop a single set at Flushing Meadows.
Black also won this year’s U.S. Open mixed doubles title, pairing with Leander Paes to beat Huber and Jamie Murray.
When the women's doubles match ended, Black and Huber dropped their rackets, shrieked and hopped into each other’s arms for a hug.
The 10th-seeded Raymond and Stosur, the 2005 U.S. Open champions, also were the runners-up at Wimbledon this year, losing to Venus and Serena Williams in that final. The Williams sisters didn’t enter the U.S. Open doubles event.(Image by AFP/Getty Images/Matthew Stockman)
Shingo Kunieda of Japan 
Esther Vergeer, a hot favourite, at the Great Wall of China. 
Robin Ammerlaan is the defending champion.
