Serve and rally

? Roger Federer takes Player of the Week honors with five matches of exquisite play at the Masters Cup in Houston. Federer won $1.52 million for his sterling week, beating the best and the brightest with what was simply brilliant tennis. As Andre Agassi, Federer's opponent in the final put it: "I'd just like to congratulate Roger, not just for a great match today but great tennis all week. You deserve to win this tournament, and it's an inspiration to watch you move and play."

? Though he lost to Federer in the semifinals, Andy Roddick achieved his goal of winning the 2003 points race and finishing year at No.1.

? If I'm Agassi, I'm feeling awfully good about my week. And my prospects in Australia.

? You gotta believe the Australians are feeling pretty confident about their Davis Cup final chances against Spain after watching the matches in Houston. Both Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero looked as though the offseason couldn't come soon enough.

? No disrespect to Federer but, according to many, doubles stole the show at the 2003 Masters Cup. The event featured scads of wildly entertaining, high-drama matches, most going the distance. Bob and Mike Bryan beat Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro in the final, by a typical score: 6-7 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4. The Bryans went 5-0 on the week and took home $220,000. It's the fifth title of the year for the Twinkies, who will finish the year at No.1.

? It's old news, but since she missed our deadline last week, Kim Clijsters gets a retroactive Laurel and Hardy congrats for defending her title at the year-end Championships. It would be nice if she took this momentum to Melbourne and won her first Major. Lord knows she has the game to do it.

? In the doubles finals, Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez beat Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama and secured the year-end No.1 ranking.

? More overdue kudos: I promised an army of mad dogs and Englishman that we would pay proper respect to Tim Henman. A "well done," to the British No.1 for winning Paris, the first Masters Series title of his career. And yes, we agree he still has some petrol left in the tank.

? Back to L.A.: WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott publicly confirmed the long-running scuttlebutt -- the white elephant that is the year-end championships will make like the Rams and leave L.A. after next year. Scott also claims the Tour will trim some events starting in 2006.

? Note to ESPN: When the crawl at the bottom of the screen contains the final score of the very same tape-delayed tennis match you're currently airing, it kind of ruins the suspense for the viewers.