My Top 5 Performers 1.   Serena Williams 2.   Lleyton Hewitt 3.   Venus Williams 4.   Andre Agassi 5.   Pete Sampras (if only by dint of one heroic tournament)

Overrated The notion that men's tennis is on life support Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Marat Safin, Tommy Haas, Roger Federer and their ilk have committed a cardinal sin: They have funny, foreign-sounding names and (horrors of horrors!) speak accented English. If Americans -- the media included -- could get beyond that, they might realize that the top players have plenty of charisma and, more important, are playing the sport at an unsurpassed level. Underrated Oracene Williams Unlike Venus and Serena's father, Oracene doesn't scrawl bizarro messages on a greaseboard, tell tall tales about business ventures or trash the rest of the field. (In fact, she alone among tennis parents has been known to applaud when her daughters' opponents hit winners.) She sits in the stands with poise, dignity and class, and doesn't seek out the cameras. And it's easy to forget that Oracene turned in the best coaching year in the history of women's tennis. Annoying Jennifer Capriati Can one of J. Cap's myrmidons please impress upon her that her reservoir of goodwill has evaporated into a puddle? Never mind that after valiantly defending her title in Australia, Capriati failed to win a tournament all year. The erstwhile "comeback kid" was booted from the Fed Cup for undermining captain Billie Jean King, took ungracious swipes at the Williams juggernaut, brayed about the WTA ranking system, and generally gave the impression that her existence on the tour was an extended trip to the dentist. Breakthrough Performance of 2002 Daniela Hantuchova Capriati, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport went on the downswing as soon as the Williams sisters hit their stride, so women's tennis is eager to add a new talent to the mix. Enter Hantuchova, the 19-year-old Slovak who has both the game and the will to be a future champion. In two years, she's gone from No. 108 to No. 8. Look for her to take up tenancy in the top five before long. Uplifting Pete Sampras His game in the commode, his confidence level somewhere south of Patagonia and whispers growing louder that he ought to retire, Sampras blocked it all out for two weeks at the end of the summer. He stepped into a phone booth in Flushing Meadow and emerged to win the U.S. Open, the 14th -- and perhaps most meaningful -- Grand Slam title of his gilded career. If Sampras is serious about "going out on top," it would have been hard to script a better ending. Runner-up A: Corina Morariu's triumphant return from leukemia. Runner-up B: The doubles team of Israel's Amir Hadad and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi struck a grace note for international brotherhood. MVP Serena Williams A no-brainer. If she had decided to play through some pain in Australia, tennis may well have had its first Grand Slam winner since Steffi Graf in 1988. Storyline to Follow in 2003 Will the sisters' reign continue? Can any female player mount a credible challenge to the House of Williams? Will Pete Sampras try to build on his sensational U.S. Open performance or retire on top and repair to a life of golf, the Los Angeles Lakers and reading Goodnight Moon? Can Andy Roddick recover from a sophomore season that didn't meet his standards? Will Pat Rafter delight most of the female population and return to the fold? Can Martina Hingis regain her mojo before she goes from catty to caddy? Can incoming president Alan Schwartz reverse the comical profligacy and bloated salaries at the USTA and actually grow a sport that, at least in the U.S., now ranks behind darts in popularity?