Williams Sisters Do Oprah; Play Begins at Miami

Henin has been training for weeks in the humid Florida conditions and is seeded No. 19.

"2005 is going to be a year of transition for me," Henin-Hardenne said. "I'll have to come back to the top and I'll have to find my level again. I need to get back all the feelings I had when I was at my best."

Attention-junkie Serena Williams, not willing to be upstaged by the Belgian comebacks, says she will debut two new scandalous tennis outfits in Miami. Serena's get-up at last year's WTA Championships featured a tu-tu-like skirt that repeatedly flew up to reveal granny panties covering the generous derriere.

"All I'll say is they are deep pink, a little outrageous, and the guys will like them," Serena said of her Miami fashion debuts.

The guys will also like them, we'll venture, if this time they cover the hind section.

Serena enjoys the limelight, as an Associated Press writer recently wrote about a Serena phone press conference: "Serena Williams is on the phone discussing her favorite subject -- herself -- and so the conversation is lively."

And as Serena will repeatedly tell you entering the Miami event, she is an important person with a lot going on.

"I don't think you realize," Serena says. "I have a fashion company. I'm working on a really intense line for the fall. I'm an actress. I'm working on an animation series, on different reality series. I'm working on so much stuff. I don't really think about other people, because I have to focus on me."

But as Serena's fans will tell you (or SCREAM IN GIANT BLOCK PRINT on tennis message boards), as the three-time defending champion at Miami, perhaps the former No. 1's self-focus is warranted.

Serena assumes the favorite role, provided she is over her arm and abdominal problems, along with Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova in Miami as world No. 1 Davenport has decided to take a rest before the onset of the claycourt season. Mauresmo will conduct further research into averting her big-match choking, while Sharapova looks to shrug off the double-bagel blowout last week at the hands of Davenport.

Serena and Venus have been placed in the same quarter with relatively easy draws, with a cushy road also allotted to Clijsters, but Mauresmo will find some early difficulties. Here is a look at the four quarters of the draw for version 2005 of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami:

Top Quarter
Seeds: (1) Amelie Mauresmo, (6) Svetlana Kuznetsova, (10) Nadia Petrova, (16) Karolina Sprem, (18) Jelena Jankovic, (20) Daniela Hantuchova, (30) Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi, (32) Klara Koukalova
Floaters: Anna Ivanovic, Nicole Vaidisova

Not many see the top-seeded Mauresmo as the favorite, with the Frenchwoman fighting against her ever-increasing choking ways in the big events. Mauresmo will have a great chance to gain some early confidence with a soft draw, with her earliest challenge not until the fourth round against either (16) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem or the resurgent (20) Hantuchova. Russians (6) Kuznetsova and (10) Petrova will battle to see who meets Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, with Petrova sighting potential land mines Ivanovic and Vaidisova in her section.

Second Quarter
Seeds: (4) Elena Dementieva, (5) Anastasia Myskina, (12) Nathalie Dechy, (13) Elena Bovina, (22) Tatiana Golovin, (24) Amy Frazier, (26) Flavia Pennetta, (27) Manuela Maleeva
Floaters: Evgenia Linetskaya, Lisa Raymond, Kim Clijsters, Sania Mirza

The toughest section of the draw sees Russians Dementieva, Myskina and the rising Bovina, the French giant-killer Golovin, the unseeded favorite Clijsters, and the Indian breakout player Mirza all battling to emerge into the semifinals. Dementieva has a good draw if she can get by a potential tricky all-Russian opener with Linetskaya, likely facing Golovin or Bovina in the fourth round. The wildcard media magnet Mirza could meet (26) Pennetta in the second round, then (5) Myskina in the third, with the winner of that facing Clijsters in the fourth round to determine if the all-Russian quarterfinal can be broken.

Third Quarter
Seeds: (3) Serena Williams, (8) Venus Williams, (11) Patty Schnyder, (15) Elena Likhovtseva, (17) Paola Suarez, (21) Ai Sugiyama, (25) Fabiola Zuluaga, (28) Marion Bartoli
Floaters: Sesil Karatantcheva

Serena's draw couldn't be easier if the American was allowed to pick her own. Venus has likewise been granted a cake walk, but is an iffy bet to reach an all-sister quarterfinal with the recent flare-up of her abdominal injury and her general lack of fire. Venus faces a tough fourth-round against (11) Schnyder or wildcard Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva, and does anyone believe that even Venus thinks she can beat Serena?

Bottom Quarter
Seeds: (2) Maria Sharapova, (7) Alicia Molik, (9) Vera Zvonareva, (14) Francesca Schiavone, (19) Justine Henin-Hardenne, (23) Shinobu Asagoe, (29) Gisela Dulko, (31) Dinara Safina
Floaters: Alina Jidkova, Eleni Daniilidou

A tough draw for both top seeds Sharapova and Molik in this section. Playing a countrywoman you practice with all the time is never easy, and Molik's potential opener against Nicole Pratt will be just that -- not easy, as Pratt feels she is "due." Pratt has lost her last four meetings with Molik after winning the first two. Molik also has a potential fourth-round meeting with (19) Henin-Hardenne, if the former No. 1 can get by (9) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva in the third round. Sharapova could open against the former Top 15-ranked Daniilidou, with a third-round meeting looming with countrywoman (31) Safina. A Sharapova quarterfinal against Molik or Henin-Hardenne would be a show-stopper, especially with the winner advancing to face Serena.

In last year's final the top-seeded Serena pounded No. 5 Dementieva 6-1, 6-1. Returning champions in this year's field are three-time winners Serena (2004-02) and sister Venus (2001,'99-98).

Nasdaq-100 Indian Wells Play Kicks Off Wednesday

Unseeded play begins today at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami, with scheduled matches on the men's side Ginepri vs. Volandri, Ferrero vs. (WC) B.Evans, (WC) J.Blake vs. (Q) Carlsen, K.Kim vs. Horna, Llodra vs. (WC) Monfils in an all-French match-up, Enqvist vs. H.-T. Lee, Starace vs. Schuettler, Bjorkman vs. Mirnyi, A.Martin vs. Calleri, (Q) Seppi vs. Rusedski, Andreev vs. (Q) Almagro, Labadze vs. El Aynaoui, Saulnier vs. Nieminen, Kohlschreiber vs. Ferrer, Melzer vs. Acasuso, and Wessels vs. Verdasco.

Scheduled on the women's side is Daniilidou vs. Garbin, Shaughnessy vs. (Q) Fedak, Brandi vs. (WC) J.Jackson, Stosur vs. Spears, Razzano vs. Craybas, Lee-Waters vs. Llagostera Vives, Tanasugarn vs. Pratt, Peschke vs. (WC) Karatantcheva, Groenefeld vs. (Q) Schruff, Medina Garrigues vs. Weingartner, (Q) Peer vs. Domachowska, Benesova vs. Chladkova, (Q) Castano vs. (Q) Foretz, (Q) A.Bondarenko vs. Jidkova, Douchevina vs. Loit, and Irvin vs. (Q) Serna.

Andy Roddick is the defending champion on the men's side, and Serena Williams for the women.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Here's CNN's Candy Reid firing up the debate over prize money, saying women don't deserve as much as the men since they only play best-of-three sets: "This may ruffle some feathers, but I agree with you (replying to her reader mail). Okay, so women's tennis may be as popular if not more so than the men's at the moment -- but playing best of five is much tougher than best of three. Right now the Australian Open and US Open offer equal prize money but Wimbledon and the French Open are still holding out. In theory, the men's winner/runner-up of a Grand Slam could play 35 sets, while the maximum for the women's winner/runner-up is 21. That's a huge difference. Some have said let the women play best of five -- but I can't believe tournament organizers would go along with that. A claycourt match could last all day! There isn't really a huge difference between the men's and women's prize money anyway (at last year's Wimbledon Federer earned 602,500 pounds, while Maria Sharapova took home 560,500) Not too bad for a fortnight's work!" Ouch, get ready for a phone call from Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King...World No. 1 Roger Federer and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova each received three awards Tuesday night at the inaugural joint ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour awards ceremony in Miami. Sharapova won the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player of the Year honors and WTAtour.com users voted her as their Fans' Favorite. Additionally, Sharapova's peers and the media voted her the Most Improved Player of 2004. Federer was named the 2004 Player of the Year and also won the Fans' Favorite Award Presented by RICOH, an award selected by fans of ATPtennis.com. Federer also was voted by his fellow players as the Stefan Edberg Sportsman of the Year, an award he received Tuesday from Todd Martin, a two-time winner of the award. In a special presentation by renowned author Mark Mathabane, the South African native presented Andy Roddick with the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's Diamond Aces Award went to Anastasia Myskina. Comeback Player of the Year honors went to Serena Williams and Tommy Haas, while the ATP Most Improved honor went to big-serving Swede Joachim Johansson. French teen Tatiana Golovin and 21-year-old German Florian Mayer were named the Newcomers of the Year. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Sportsmanship Award went to World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport while Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez were named Doubles Team of the Year. Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor earned the ATP Doubles Team of the Year honors. 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