TENNIS in DEPTH.

The former Wimbledon champion Martina Hingis, who is currently banned from tennis for cocaine abuse, was today named as one of the contestants in the new series of Strictly Come Dancing.

In Hingis, 29, the show’s producers have chosen a controversial but popular player who won five grand slam titles during her career. After testing positive for cocaine in 2007, Hingis declared she was “100% innocent”, but the International Tennis Federation ruled against her and ordered her to repay nearly £80,000 in prize money.

Hingis said: “It’s behind me, this is a new challenge.” She added: “I want people to see a different side to me than the person running round the tennis court.” However, she promised to apply the same gritty approach to the dance show that had taken her to five grand slams on the tennis court. “Everything I do I do to win. I am very competitive.”

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Defending champion Serena Williams was seeded No. 2 for the U.S. Open on Tuesday, behind Dinara Safina, because the tournament stuck to its policy of strictly following the rankings.

Roger Federer was seeded No. 1 for the fifth time at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. He is ranked No. 1 and has won the U.S. Open five years in a row.

Safina is No. 1 in the WTA computer, which calculates rankings based on performances across tournaments over the preceding 52 weeks. The younger sister of former men’s No. 1 Marat Safin is still seeking her first Grand Slam title. She is 0-3 in major finals, including a loss to Williams at the Australian Open in January.

Williams has won three of the past four Grand Slam singles championships and 11 overall, the most among active women. She will be seeking her fourth U.S. Open title.

Tournament director Jim Curley said the U.S. Tennis Association did discuss the possibility of moving Williams ahead of Safina.

“The U.S. Open has the prerogative of altering its seedings; it’s something we have not availed ourselves of in quite some time,” Curley said in a telephone interview. “We certainly spoke about it, but it never got to the point where we were seriously intending to not follow the rankings.”

Since 1997, the USTA has matched its seedings to the ATP and WTA rankings.

“The players do earn their rankings over a 12-mointh period, both at Grand Slams and non-Grand Slam events. At the end of the day, whether you’re seeded No. 1 or seeded No. 2 at the U.S. Open, it really doesn’t matter. You’re either at the top of the draw or the bottom of the draw, and the rest of the draw is determined by a coin toss,” Curley said. “From a competition perspective, there really isn’t any difference being seeded 1 or 2.”

The draw will be announced Thursday, and the tournament begins Monday.

After the top two women, two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams is No. 3, followed by Beijing Olympics gold medalist Elena Dementieva and 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic.

Maria Sharapova is No. 29 – barely earning one of the 32 seedings after rising from No. 49 in the rankings last week. She won the 2006 U.S. Open for one of her three major titles but missed the tournament last year because of a right shoulder injury. The Russian had surgery in October and a long absence from the tour dropped her ranking.

Sharapova is among a dozen Grand Slam singles champions seeded at this year’s U.S. Open. One major champion in the field but not seeded is 2005 U.S. Open winner Kim Clijsters, who recently came out of retirement and received a wild card from the USTA.

“This year was very interesting because not only did you have the Dinara-Serena situation but you also had … Maria Sharapova, a former champion here, who might have been unseeded, and then you also had Kim Clijsters, who only has two tournaments on the computer and therefore doesn’t even have a ranking,” Curley said. “We looked at those two, as well, and still ultimately decided to continue to follow the rankings.”

After Federer in the men’s seedings are 2008 U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray, six-time major champion Rafael Nadal, 2007 U.S. Open runner-up Novak Djokovic and 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick.

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The Williams sisters stood at the edge of the Miami Dolphins’ practice field, easy to spot in elegant, color-coordinated beige dresses and high heels that dug into the turf.

The team’s workout had ended, and it was time for introductions. Joey Porter(notes), meet Serena Williams. Jason Taylor(notes), meet Venus Williams.

The NFL and the best of women’s tennis converged Tuesday when the Williamses paid a visit to the Dolphins’ complex as the latest celebrities to buy a small stake in the franchise. Their deal with owner Stephen Ross, first reported last week, was confirmed at a news conference overlooking the field.

Venus and Serena live in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., about an hour’s drive from the Dolphins’ stadium.

“To have this opportunity is really where our heart is,” Venus said. “We’re South Florida girls. When we get off the road, this is where we come home to. When we come home to Dolphins games, it’s going to be exciting.”

Venus said she and Serena have been to “a few games.” Serena dated former NFL players LaVar Arrington and Keyshawn Johnson, but the sisters said the Dolphins have long been their favorite team.

“We’re just ‘Go Fins!’-type people,” Serena said.

“It’s great going to the games for us,” Venus said. “When we play tennis, you’re so focused you don’t really get to feel that atmosphere. When we go to a Dolphins game, we get to soak in the atmosphere and we realize, ‘Oh my God, we do this too.”’

The sisters are the first female African-Americans to hold an ownership stake in an NFL franchise, the Dolphins said. The league has no African-American majority owner.

“We’re really honored,” Serena said. “Venus and I in tennis have tried to do so much for the sport. We’re really excited to even have this opportunity.”

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After Andy Roddick came off worst in an epic 30-game final set in this year’s Wimbledon final there were many willing to bet they had witnessed a re-birth of a precocious tennis talent.

Roddick’s blistering junior career had marked him out as a star of the future long before grand slam finals were on the agenda and the young American did nothing to disappoint as he cut a swathe right to the top.

The big-serving Nebraskan duly obliged with a US Open title in 2003 most were convinced would prove the first of many. But six years on, Roddick still finds himself searching for that second breakthrough win.

The arrival in his era of multi-tasking players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and latterly Andy Murray seemed to underline that for all his raw power and commitment, at the very top level Roddick was just too one-dimensional.

But Wimbledon seemed to change all that. Roddick was accurate with his volleys and his backhand and his serve was firing as well as ever as he disposed of Murray in the last four and proceeded to push Federer to the brink.

With his favourite Flushing Meadows event approaching, it seemed for a fleeting moment on Centre Court as if Roddick had belatedly blossomed into the kind of player who could stand up to his sport’s big three.

“I feel like I’ve been playing a lot better this year overall,” said Roddick. “I’ve been putting things together more consistently. I don’t think I’ve had a loss to a player outside the world’s top 15.”

Roddick picked up where he had left off after Wimbledon. He beat fellow big servers Ivo Karlovic and John Isner en route to the final in Washington, which he lost in three tight sets to Juan Martin Del Potro.

Another defeat the following week to Del Potro, this time in the semi-finals in Montreal, perhaps once again raised questions over Roddick’s infuriating record of near-misses against those ranked above him.

And in Cincinnati, his pride at his consistent record against lesser players this season came to an end when he was beaten in two tie-break sets by fellow American Sam Querrey.

As a result, Roddick, who must have been many people’s favourite for the Flushing Meadows title after Wimbledon, now finds himself back down the betting slip behind the likes of Federer, Murray, Del Potro and, if injury-free, Nadal.

Roddick insists none of his patchy form has anything to do with that epic Wimbledon final, which left him physically and mentally drained after coming so close to scoring a famous victory.

“A lot was made of that but I was like, I’ll be back, I’ll be fine. I’ve always been extremely resilient and able to go about my business. If my worst day there is playing one of the greatest finals, it’s a pretty good worst day.

“If that’s my worst day I don’t think I’m going to lose perspective on that. It was definitely the hardest loss I’ve ever had. But even the next day I didn’t feel like I was throwing a pity party for myself.

“I like where my preparation is for the Open at this point. I hope I can start serving the way I’m used to again. I’m confident I can do that. Beyond that it’s just a question of competing and trying to play good tennis again.”

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 Serena Williams is prepared to go without another victory this year, as long as she mounts a successful title defence at next week’s U.S. Open.

“I have to stay focussed and consistent and, most importantly, hungry,” the American told Reuters in an interview ahead of the season’s final major which starts on August 31.

Williams, who took her haul of grand slam crowns to 11 by winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon earlier this year, said she would not be satisfied with two majors in 2009.

“If I crashed out at the Open for no reason I’d have to win everything else the rest of the year,” she said in an interview arranged by WTA Tour sponsors Sony Ericsson.

“I’d win zero tournaments in order to win the Open again.”

Williams has had a mediocre year outside of the grand slams, reaching only one other final, at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in April when she lost to Belarussian Victoria Azarenka.

After beating her sister Venus to land a third Wimbledon title in July, world number two Serena had a chance to grab top spot from Russia’s Dinara Safina ahead of the U.S. Open.

She failed to take her opportunity, though, losing in the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic in California, in the third round of the Cincinnati Open and again in the semi-finals of last week’s Toronto Cup.

Williams acknowledged that maybe she should have taken a longer break after Wimbledon.

“Everything has taken a toll on me,” she said.

Serena will face stiff competition in New York, especially from Venus.

Twelve months ago Serena scraped through their all-Williams quarter-final 7-6 7-6 before picking up the trophy by beating Serb Jelena Jankovic in the final.

The two sisters have won five of the last 10 U.S. Opens, Serena capturing the title in 1999, 2002 and 2008 and Venus doing likewise in 2000 and 2001.

Serena’s next major crown would draw her level with fellow American Billie Jean King in sixth place on the list of all-time women’s grand slam singles winners.

“I probably should have won (last week’s semi-final against Russian Elena Dementieva) but I didn’t,” she said.

“I can’t say I was especially feeling the fire but obviously I wanted to do well. I really hope to have another go at her at the U.S. Open.”

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Maria Sharapova turned a corner in her comeback by reaching the final of the Toronto Cup on Sunday only to find a long road still ahead to get back to the top.

Working her way back to form after nine months recovering from shoulder surgery, the Russian closed a constructive week in Canada with the type of ragged performance that will have reminded her of the work to be done.

A 6-4, 6-3 loss to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva in Sunday’s final showed the three-time grand slam winner has yet to come to grips with her surgically repaired shoulder and her once powerful serve remains a liability.

In the first set Sharapova served nine double faults while her forehand found the net more often than hit the mark.

In two earlier matches she served 12 and 17 double faults.

“It’s coming back from something that’s a pretty serious injury with the shoulder,” Sharapova told reporters.

“My serve is one of my biggest weapons and coming off the injury, tweaking your motion a little bit, it takes a lot of time for adjustments.

“You do something for your whole career, since you were young and you’re use to doing it a certain way then all of sudden you have to change it at a very elite level. It takes time.

“With every tournament I feel like I’m progressing. I’m understanding what feels better, what I can do better.”

While Sharapova’s serve remains a work in progress she showed the layoff had not dulled her competitive edge.

She beat 10th seed Nadia Petrova, seventh seed Vera Zvonareva and 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska then out-lasted Alisa Kleybanova in a three-set slugfest for a place in the final.

“I think it was a really great week for me,” Sharapova said.

“Playing six matches was great leading up to the U.S. Open.

“This was really good preparation.

“With every tournament I’ve played in the summer I felt like was starting to play better and get a feel for the hardcourts.

“With every match I felt like I stepped it up when I had and today I just came up a little short.”

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Predicting who will win any tennis tournament is at best a risky move, maybe bordering on folly, but this years US Open is looking more and more like a cinch for Mr. Federer. How can you bet against a guy who has won the title 5 times in a row, a guy who won both the French and Wimbledon titles, and a guy who demolished the competition just last week?

Winning any Grand Slam takes a special talent, seven gruelling matches one after the other, matches for the lesser players that can make or break them, and matches that are played under the scrutiny of thousands of biased tennis fans, the press, the TV, and the world at large. It’s not a time to have an ‘off’ day, or the time to run into a ‘hot’ player playing over his or her head.

Of all the players in the 2009 US Open there are only a handful who have experienced a Grand Slam victory, and just two players who have dominated the Slams in recent years. Unfortunately one of them is working his way back into form after a 2 month absence, and nothing short of a miracle will put him on the podium at the end of the second week.

So where could a serious challenge come from, if not from Rafael Nadal?

Roddick, Murray and Del Potro are the names at the top of this list. I discount Del Potro’s chances because of his inexperience and his poor record against Federer.

We have the two Andys. Roddick the home town favourite, and a previous winner. The unlucky loser at Wimbledon who is having his best year on tour, and who would love to get a measure of revenge. Then there is Murray, who seems to have bamboozled his way into the minds of all the experts as the next #1 player. For almost a year he had Federer’s number, but that was a different Federer than the one who has reemerged. Murray is not ready yet to lift the crown from Roger’s head.

The odds are not good, but a bet on Federer is like money in the bank!

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Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova needed three sets to see off China’s Zheng Jie in the first round of the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven.

The French Open champion appeared to be cruising at a set and a break up but Zheng rallied, taking the second set on a tie-break and then moving ahead in the third.

However, Russian Kuznetsova dug deep and fought back to triumph 6-1 6-7 (5/7) 6-4.

Another big name in trouble was Polish fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who was also a break down in the decider before coming through 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5) against qualifier Roberta Vinci.

Eighth seed Amelie Mauresmo was a lot more comfortable in a 6-4 6-1 victory over Japan’s Ai Sugiyama.

Days after reaching the semi-finals in Toronto, Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova was sent packing in round one in New Haven, beaten 3-6 6-1 6-4 by Belgian qualifier Yanina Wickmayer.

Magdalena Rybarikova was another qualifier to triumph with a 6-4 6-4 win over Francesca Schiavone while Russian duo Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina both racked up straight sets wins.

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