Amelie Mauresmo says she didn't lose any endorsement deals by coming out. Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

Instead of handing out Player of the Week Honors, how about some sort of Award for the extended House of Hewitt? In Rotterdam, Lleyton won the ABN Amro event playing superb tennis that included a three-set win over Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. ... Down the road in Belgium, Kim Clijsters won her second title in two weeks, beating Sylia Farina Elia in the final of the Proximus event in Antwerp. ... A world away in Memphis, Jaslyn's Hewitt's boyfriend, Joachim Johansson, beat Nicolas Kiefer to win his first title. ...

• A tip of the cap to Richard Krajicek. A field to rival any Tennis Masters Series event showed up in Rotterdam. The matches were generally terrific, including Tim Henman's defeat of Roger Federer. What's more, several of you spoke highly of the tournament Web site, which had live scoring and apparently showed live matches.

Speaking of Rotterdam, anyone else notice that Hewitt played doubles with his coach, Roger Rasheed, and they actually won a match, beating Raemom (Sargent) Sluiter and Marty (Dunkirk) Verkerk before falling to the Mild Expletive team of Damm and Suk? (Paul Hanley and Radek (Brad Pitt) Stepanek were the eventual doubles winners, beating Israelis Jon Erlich and Andy Ram in the final.)

• Other results:

In Hyderabad, India, Mailbag fave Nicole Pratt won her first WTA title, beating Maria Kirilenko. In doubles the wild-card team of Huber and Mirza took the title. ... In Memphis, the men's draw was loaded with Americans but there were more Swedes -- Johansson and Thomas Enqvist -- in the semifinals. (Barbecued kottbullar anyone?) Enqvist scored the upset of the week, beating Andy Roddick. Between Johansson and Rockin' Robin Soderling, things are suddenly looking good for Swedish tennis. Given Johansson's smoking of Mardy Fish and Enqvist's defeat of Roddick, we wonder what that presages for Davis Cup. ... In the Memphis women's draw, Vera Zvonareva staved off three match points and beat two-time defending champ Lisa Raymond in the final. In the doubles, Asa Svensson and Meilen Tu beat Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova. In the men's dubs, the Bryans cruised past Coetzee and Haggard. ... In Buenos Aires, Guillermo Coria beat Carlos Moya to become the first Gaucho to win the event since 1987. In the doubles, Arnold and Hood (which sounds like a white-shoe law firm) beat Veronelli and Browne in a gripping three-set final.

• Other notes:

	MAILBAG Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag each Monday. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Many of you have asked how many doubles teams per country are eligible for the Olympics. The answer is two, meaning that both Venus Williams-Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova-Lisa Raymond could represent the U.S. (Though Lindsay Davenport-Corina Morariu could as well.) Randy Walker, the Federer of USTA public relations, directed us to this site for full explanations. ... Regrading last week's question on becoming a linesperson, go to the USTA's site, select Rules/Officials and then Officials training. Almost all umpires have at least two years of working 20 or more days at smaller professional events before being selected to work at the Open ... A gazillion of you pointed out that Albert Portas, not Fernando Vincente, is the Drop Shot Dragon, as I erroneously wrote. My bad. (See, it's such a lousy nickname that you forget to whom it belongs.) ... Has anyone ever seen Gustavo Kuerten and David Eggers together? (Thanks, Sam.) Check this out. ... The WTA Tour surely wishes it could restart the year. The weekly list of withdrawals is epic and -- barring Clijsters -- just about every player of note is battling injury. The latest: hours before her first match, Justine Henin-Hardenne pulled out of Antwerp (her home country's event for cripes sake) with a throat infection. Maybe something was lost in translation, but her explanation was startling. "I cannot allow myself to play," she said, "if I am not 100 percent." Um, why not? Isn't that part of being a professional? ... The USTA announced that U.S. Fed Cup Captain Zina Garrison and U.S. Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe have been named as the women's and men's coaches for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Tennis Team. In addition, Dan James, head U.S. National Wheelchair Team coach, has been named coach for the U.S. Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Team. ... No site yet for the U.S. vs. Sweden Davis Cup tie, but we hear the USTA is hoping to hold it in Florida or California. ... Congrats to Tom Gorman. The former Davis Cup captain was named Director of Client Services for the YES Network. ...Congrats to Lew and Lois Barr on their 30th anniversary. ... The write-in votes continue for worst song of all time. Muskrat Love and We Didn't Start the Fire were among this week's nominees receiving multiple votes.

• On to the questions:

Jon, on Showtime's new show The L Word, about rich young lesbians in L.A., one of the main protagonists is a woman (and gay) pro tennis player. Her agent, concerned about endorsements, continues to counsel her to stay in the closet and attend social engagements with her male mixed doubles partner, who just happens to be gay (what can I tell you, it's cable TV!) as welll. My question: Although there are many well-known openly gay female players (Billie, Martina, Amelie), where are the well-known male players who happen to be gay? Are there any? Also, is it a plausible storyline that in 2004 a female tennis player would be pressured by her agent to stay in the closet in 2004? Many thanks, as always.
 -- Lance A. Harke, Miami Shores, Fla.

For whatever reason, we've been bombarded by sexuality questions the past two weeks. Where are the well-known male players who happen to be gay? Good question. Statistically speaking, they likely exist. My opinion: If Player X on the ATP were to come out tomorrow, he would not merely be treated with courtesy by the overwhelming majority of his colleagues. (After all, half the top players have Elton John's digits programmed in their cell phones -- are they really gonna care if the guy on the other side of the net is gay?) The guy would enjoy a certain cult status at every tour stop. Just as there are lesbians who don't much care for tennis but still go out of their way to support Mauresmo, an openly gay male player would get similar treatment.

And a quick point about sponsors: could you imagine the rancid publicity occasioned by a company pulling its endorsements after a player under contract came out? Said company would get clubbed. Although Subaru recently retained Martina Navratilova and made some edgy ads that played off her sexuality, I'd think there would be many niche brands lining up to align themselves with a pioneer. (We should also note: Mauresmo -- as well-liked and well-respected a player as you'll find -- claims that she lost zero endorsement deals after coming out.)

Your other question is a good one. You'd like to think that in 2004 (particularly given the impact of lesbian players in women's tennis) no one would care about another lesbian on the WTA Tour. At the same time, imagine being a gay player in the face of Anna-mania and the WTA's Maxim-style marketing. The message is clear: It's not just that sex sells. It's that unambiguously hetero sex that sells. Short answer: I can't imagine many agents encouraging their clients to hide their sexuality. But I could see where a lesbian player might feel other sources of pressure to keep her sexuality under wraps.

In spite of his gray hair and age, I think other than Roger Federer, Todd Martin has the most complete game on the men's side. By "complete game" I mean Martin has all the shots; (serve, volley, groundies, overhead and smarts). There are no obvious holes in his game. Do you consider him as entertaining as I do?
 -- Tadd Hinze, Mesa, Ariz.

I think you mean because of his gray hair. And besides, the preferred term is salt and pepper. (We're pretty sensitive to cracks about premature gray in these parts.) I'm with you on Martin. Quite apart from being a member of the sport's First-Team All-Good Guys, there's a lot to his game. He does everything proficiently, he can play on clay, he is genetically incapable of playing straight-set matches. In reality, Martin's best years are still behind him, but he's still capable of some top-shelf tennis -- ask Marat Safin -- and he's the kind of crafty, steady veteran whom no seed wants to be near in a draw. "Most complete player" this side of Federer is pushing it. And Martin certainly doesn't move as well. But props to pops.

You seem to hate Magdalena Maleeva. I know that she is not very consistent, but when she's on, she's able to beat nearly anyone. No one is surprised when she defeats players like Ai Sugiyama or Anastasia Myskina. But journalists underestimate her. If she's as bad as you make her out to be, she wouldn't be seeded.
 -- Sascha, Aachen, Germany

Hate Maleeva? I can't imagine what I've written to give that impression. Is Maleeva a threat to win a Major? No. Though she's done a good deal of hard time in the top 15, she's only been past the fourth round of a Slam once -- and that was in 1992 when she was 17 years old. But as you note, when the gears are moving in synch, she can make life difficult for a lot of other players. (Though beating Sugiyama and Myskina is not the same as beating the Belgians or the Williams sisters.) Particularly for a player who missed most of two years with injuries, she's quietly put together an awfully nice career that includes some doubles titles. Plus she likes Radiohead.

On a personal note: I interviewed Maleeva at Indian Wells when I was working on my book. With respect to the Williams sisters, I wanted to get Maleeva's take on the dissonance that stems playing against a family member. I can't imagine that it was a particularly fun (or original) topic for her to discuss. Yet she could not have been more thoughtful and gracious and generous with her time. When I apologized for asking so many questions about Venus and Serena she replied: "That's OK. I'm sure some player with a sister had to do the same thing when me and my sisters were starting out."

It's no secret that a lot of people don't like Justine Henin-Hardenne. Why is that? It can't be a nationality issue since most people seem to love Kim Clijsters, and JH-H's so-called "bad behaviour" (raising a hand?) is almost polite compared to the way some other players behave. I remember the way Jennifer Capriati was questioning several good line calls during the first set of the U.S. Open semis, and Marat Safin regularly breaks his racket. Still, these players are very popular. We can hardly blame a professional athlete for trying to win. So why is it that many people don't like JH-H?
 -- Nathalie, Amersfoort, Netherlands

First, don't dismiss nationality out of hand. Yes, Clijsters -- as inoffensive and universally beloved as Poland Spring, ice cream and Hey Ya -- and JH-H are both Belgian, but one is New York and the other is L.A. That is, one speaks unaccented English, dates an Aussie and looks like the girl next door. The other is a nine-tenths of the way to being French. But here's the simple answer: the natural inclination is to take shots at the winner. It happened to the Williams sisters, it happened to Martina Hingis, it happened Monica Seles and it happened to Steffi Graf. Now it's happening to JH-H. If she was No. 2 and hadn't won a Slam, she'd still be the gutsy, undersized underdog with the tragic backstory.

Galina Fokina: Tell me that doesn't roll off your tongue and make you smile. -- Ted M., Baltimore

And she can play a little too. Speaking of killer names ...

What's the dope on Flavio Saretta? -- Thomas T., Miami

Saretta is from Brazil but he's shaped like Chile. Six feet, 154 pounds. Nice player, especially on clay, but he could stand to make a few more churrascaria runs.

Why don't you speak a little about Richard Gasquet? He has the heart, mind and game to win it all, as he proved this week in Argentina, where he captured the hearts of every tennis fan in the country.
 -- Guillermo, Buenos Aires

Gasquet had fallen off the radar a bit. In fact, before last week he had won only three ATP Tour matches for his (admittedly brief) career. Gasquet has tons of game but there are questions about his temperament and reserved personality. Meanwhile, his peer, Rafael Nadal, has been gangbusters and looks destined for the top 10 -- perhaps as early as year's end. But last week Gasquet showed flashes of his vast potential, reaching the Buenos Aires semis (far and away his best showing as a pro) before losing to Coria. Perhaps this is the start of something grand.

The main justification for not using line-calling technology is that it can't be installed across all courts (and not that it is inaccurate). I don't get it. Centre Court already enjoys advantages that outside courts can't hope to match (have you seen how little running room there is on the outside courts in the Aussie Open?). I'm for more accurate line-calling, even if only on one court and especially on important matches. Alternatively, use the technology as a backup and adopt the suggestion that a player can demand a replay but s/he is docked an extra point if proved incorrect. Your thoughts? (I know, I know, let them call their own lines ...)
 -- J. Lim, Melbourne, Australia

Let them call their own lines. I'm serious. Ask any college player whether inaccurate line-calling ("hooking") cost him or her a match and you're unlikely to get much of a response. Besides: 1) This would add an element of honor to the sport. My sense is that a player such as Hewitt -- who is image-challenged but competes honestly -- would get a boost. 2) It would sharpen personalities and reputations and rivalries. Artie the Cheater? Sara the Noble? Remember when Bill hooked Steve in Indian Wells? Now they're playing again in Monte Carlo. 3) There would still be roving judges and the possibility of calling in a chair umpire if things really got out of hand.

I've noticed that professional tennis players almost never wear sunglasses, even on very bright days. It seems that some players would feel a need to shield their eyes from the sun. Do you know of a reason for this? -- Steve Peterson, Duncanville, Texas

A few players, including Arnie Clement, wear shades. But generally you're right. My guess is that players feel they don't see the ball as well when their eyes are obscured. They'd rather wear a hat.

This is going to be a hard one for you, Jon. How do you assess Tennis Week's Raymond Lee's analysis of "The Best of the Best" among women tennis players, particularly his 10-point criteria for deciding the issue?
 -- Tony, Rome, Italy

I'm not sure what the question is, but I would encourage everyone to check out this link to a provocative and thoroughly researched article. Speaking of Tennis Week, I came across this gem of a line in a recent article: a little-known player had a "bar-code ranking." Love that one.

Are "The Clijsters Sisters" ever going to be a household term? Should we wait with baited breath for Elke to mature into her game, or is she destined to forever remain in her sister's shadow, losing to the likes of Arantxa Parra? While we're on the topic of siblings, what do you think of Jaslyn Hewitt and Dinara Safina? -- Bill Hanson, New York

Who wants to take bets on Elke Clijsters and Jaslyn Hewitt starting a girl band, The Sisters-in-Law? Though Safina is the closest, unfortunately none of younger sisters you cite have the talent of their older siblings. My sympathy to each: it can't be fun being among the top .0001 percent of practitioners in your field but always being the subject of unfavorable comparisons. On the plus side, they will get wild cards galore simply by dint of their last names.

My question is, what is the proper size for a tennis racquet for my baby, who is seven months old? What do you think is the best time to teach my son to start playing tennis?
 -- Micah A. Aragon, Canada

Your baby is already seven months and you haven't purchased racket for him? Forget it. It's too late. He'll never be a player. Jennifer Capriati was already hitting kick serves at that age.

Finally, the results from our First Annual Limerick Contest

If worker productivity took a dip last week, we have an idea why. We received more than 250 responses, the majority of them exceptionally witty and well-done. Thanks to all who entered. You guys rock. I'm thinking we should do this as a novelty book. Anyway, at the risk of sounding like the Bachelor/Bachelorette/Littlest Groom at those painful "rose ceremonies," it was a tough job winnowing the field. But here's how the panel of one saw it. Winners, send me your addresses.

Honorable mention

Caitlin, Saratoga:

Justine's hand is a weapon alone
some may argue it gave her the throne,
As she raises it high,
Clijsters knew she was sly,
But all Clijsters could do was groan.

(In the interest of equal time)Tom Schneider, Dayton, Ohio:

A young woman named Henin-Hardenne
Was once seen to hold up her hand.
If you want someone nicer,
By all means, root for Clijsters,
but remember which one's won a Slam!

Dave Kennedy, Atlanta:

Federer has grace on the Wimbledon grass.
He smoothly delivers with attitude class.
"Pete who?" some folks cry.
Do not buy the lie;
Roger needs time before Sampras he'll pass.

Jamie Prenkert, Bloomington, Ind.:

She put up her hand to say, "Wait."
But Serena noticed too late.
A scandal ensued
When Serena got booed.
Still, Justine won the champion's plate.

(OK, I know the French Open gives a trophy, not a plate; but you try rhyming something with trophy.)

Anders Bylund, Jacksonville, Fla.:

There was a young man from Hoboken
Whose Christian views were outspoken
If you met him on court
He was also the sort
Who would run until you were all broken

There once was a young man from France
Whose racket would make the balls dance
He'd lay it on thin
But lace it with spin
Yeah he's fun, but not far he'll advance

[ED: Obviously odes to Michael Chang and Fabrice Santoro.]

Paul Gremillion, Columbia, S.C.:

I've been studying the serve and volley of Miss Navratilova
Scouting the forehand of Clijsters and Hantuchova
I know Lindsey's pace,
I've seen Serena's ace
I'm the perfect new coach for Anna Kournikova
No one can predict who will dominate play
On grass, hard courts, or the soft and slow clay
but one thing's for sure
on the ATP tour
Vincent Spadea is the next Dr. Dre

[ED: We assume you mean the rap impresario and not a bald-pated Las Vegan.]

Anthony Tatu, Austin, Texas:

There was a young man from Nebaska
With a serve he could right past ya.
His backhand was bad,
But he hooked up with Brad
Now he's known from Zaire to Alaska

Monte G., Mt. Vernon, N.Y.:

A player by name: Jimmy Connors
Had won several fine tennis honors.
But like an uncouth Sasquatch
He loved grabbing his crotch
Turning dignity and class into goners.

Winners

Steve Farber, New York, N.Y.:

ESPN's dropped their cash bomb on Andy
So U.S. fans follow Yanks like sweet candy
But when he serves up a dud
Ratings drop with a thud
Cause who the flip knows of gauchos like Bandy?

(A variation:)

Each season the question arises
Why tennis on tv won't surprise us
Exec's make sure Nalbandian
Is out, which keeps Andy in
Wonder why the sport here is in crisis?

Janie Merion, Station, Pa.:

There is an old player, G. Pozzi,
Who's never been swarmed by paparazzi.
He's not really great,
But he is thirty-eight!
If he comes to your town he's a "got-see"!

[ED: You guys see that Pozzi tried to qualify for Milan last week?]

Ben Eliasoph, Montreal:

There used to be strategy and spin
And you'd need your noggin to win
But now they trade missiles
While the ball, it just whistles
And only Spot-Shot knows if it's in

Doyle Srader, Nacogdoches, Texas:

When Roddick steps up to give service,
The line folk and ball kids get nervous
Returning is torture
For each is a scorcher
And old ladies cry, "Saints preserve us!"
The game of Juan Carlos Ferrero
Excites me like hearing "Bolero"
His artful display
Of lightning fast play
Delights me right down to my marrow
With Agassi, I am enthralled
For, like him, I shave myself bald
And some years past thirty
Just like salsa verde
His wall-like returns still can scald

Rodney, New York, N.Y.:

Cries from the Justine-hating batch,
Faulting the French Open snatch.
The unladylike zinger?
Giving Serena the finger;
Then five-fingering Game, Set and Match.

Van Landry, Baton Rouge, La.:

"The Serve"

I swing at the ball with my racket
At times all I want is to smack it.
But reason kicks in
I hit it with spin
And then use my groundstrokes to back it.

Ben, Rochester Hills, Mich.:

Some questions for Sandra de Jenken:
Did Kim's ball float out? Did it sink in?
You're not sure? -- Then don't say!
Stick with Egalite!
Mam'selle, what on earth were you thinkin'?!

Jeff Prescott, Charlotte, N.C.:

Love the bag/Hope I win swag.
 A limerick for everyone's favorite tennis journeywoman:
 Though she's enjoyed Tier III success, see/
Her Grand Slam results have been messy/
Oh, if she had the game/
To go with the name/
Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi/

A limerick for a rising star:
 All Croatia is raising the hymn/
To sing praise for their baseliner femme/
But the cruel spell checker/
Can be a name wrecker/
For debutante Karolina Sprem

On that note, have a great week, everyone!

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.