CLIJSTERS HAS EARNED NO. 1 RANKING

As a former ATP Rankings administrator, this is one of the most unbelievable and difficult things to say, but here it goes: Kim Clijsters actually deserves to be No. 1., and COUGH, gack!...sorry, bit of a dry heave there. Still kind of tough to say, still coming to terms with it.

A number of "tennis writers" have come out saying that Serena still deserves to be No. 1, no matter how few tournaments she plays.

"By any standard, Kim Clijsters is a fantastic tennis player, among the best in the world. But is she really No. 1? No way," writes the Associated Press' Howard Fendrich.

Well, yes. No, seriously, yes. The Belgian who established herself as a big-match choker on numerous occasions this year has also been the most consistent player on tour, reaching the semifinals or better in her first 14 tournaments, including a tour-leading six titles.

Pundits will point out that the top waffle has yet to win a grand slam title, while Serena Williams has won this year at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. To many it is a matter of quality vs. quantity, Serena winning the ones that matter vs. Kim winning...the rest. And to make matters worse, Clijsters took over the top spot while Serena was sidelined by surgery.

But even before Serena went under the knife, she was ducking out of her tournament obligations to pursue an acting career. That I'm not even going to touch. Whatever floats your boat. But you get the point, Serena has lost the focus. Kim is on the court, while Serena will be lucky to appear on "The People's Court."

Let me clue you in on something the typical teen logging on to the WTA bulletin board hasn't grasped -- tennis is a business. Like any business, you have to get your product out there for people to see, and Serena just hasn't been seen that much in 2003.

Serena has only played 11 tournaments over the last 52 weeks, compared with 23 for Clijsters. If you're a tournament director in, say, Toronto, you're going to value Kim Clisters showing up to play as opposed to Serena Williams saying she is going to play, then pulling out for an "acting commitment." If you're a ticket-paying fan, or even a tennis couch potato, you're likely going to want to see your favorite stars playing more than once in a five-week stretch.

Serena supporters point to the need for a new ranking system, a ranking system that will keep Serena No. 1 no matter how little she plays, and to Jeff Sagarin, whose college football rankings for USA Today are part of the Bowl Championship Series formula, and someone who knows zero about tennis. Sagarin was asked to come up with an alternate ranking system.

"It seems that Serena Williams wins every time. My hunch is that my system would have her No. 1," Sagarin said. "And it's not like she's playing kids in elementary school. She's beating the best at the top tournaments."

That should tell you about how valuable that input is. Sagarin obviously didn't want that much tennis this year during the claycourt season when Serena got her ass handed to her on a weekly basis.

Former No. 1 Martina Navratilova has a different opinion on Clijster's ascention.

"She is very consistent and has won a whole bunch of tournaments, so she's earned it," said Navratilova, who knows something about the grind of collecting titles, no matters who decides to either show up or audition for the WB. "Even without an injury (Serena and Venus) pulled out of more tournaments in one year than I did in my career." Taking a look at other top players, Jelena Dokic has competed in more tournaments than Serena and Venus put together over the past 52 weeks.

Injury issues aside, when you're the No. 1 player in the world, and you're hungry to stay No. 1, you beat the other players down, not skip out on your already-limited schedule. Toward the end of his six-year reign as the year-end No. 1 on the ATP, Pete Sampras busted his ass toward the latter end of the year during the indoor Euro season, not his favorite time of the year, beating back his opponents to secure his name in the record books.

If Serena and Venus did their jobs, Clijsters would be relegated to the world of Michael Chang, a workhorse who was held to a career-high of No. 2 by Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, players who entered events, then actually showed up to play.

If you don't like Clijsters at the top, then cover your eyes, because soon enough Justine Henin-Hardenne will assume the top spot, another player who plays more than once a month AND beats the Williams sisters. Let's hear it for the players who play.