United States Open Tennis Tournament

Roger Federer is five inches shorter and about seven years older than Juan Martin del Potro. But the 6-foot-1, 28-year-old Federer has 15 major titles. He is in his 21st Grand Slam tennis tournament final. He is in his 17th final in the last 18 majors. And today Federer might become the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win six straight U.S. championships. The top-seeded Federer beat fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5, Sunday in the second men's semifinal at the U.S. Open.

A curly-haired mother and her curly-haired daughter painted over some tennis ugliness with airy joyousness Sunday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Unseeded Kim Clijsters won her second U.S. Open championship with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki, who was seeded ninth. After a match-winning forehand, Clijsters, 26, celebrated with her 18-month-old daughter Jada and her husband Brian Lynch, who once played basketball at Villanova and who tugged on his stubbly beard throughout the match.

A U.S. Open tennis tournament that had something for everybody this year offered up one more juicy tidbit on its last day Monday. Roger Federer lost. That hasn't happened here in six years and 40 matches. He's like USC with a lead at halftime, Tiger with a five-foot putt. But the man who played in all four Grand Slam tournament finals this year, winning the French Open and Wimbledon and extending his men's record for most major titles to 15, ran up against a new sheriff in town.

As the new slimmed-down, grown-up version of Lindsay Davenport worked her way maturely through a second-round match Wednesday at the U.S. Open, it was easy to be impressed. In a sport that eats its young, Davenport has emerged with only a couple of bite marks. She is 20 now, a resident of Newport Beach, and comfortable with her life outside the lines.

Kevin Kim and Taylor Dent grew up less than 20 miles apart, in Fullerton and Newport Beach. They learned the game of tennis from their fathers, they spend all day on the court honing their skills and they've dreamed of playing the pro tour since they began swinging a racket. Now, they're on their way to New York and the U.S. Open as the hottest young male tennis players in the United States. Kim and Dent earned their ticket to Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

The U.S. Open tennis tournament, always controversial for reasons ranging from New York's heat and inhospitality to Andre Agassi's hair, is already ahead of the curve. It got controversial five days before the event's scheduled start. Because of a swell of protest, the draw that was done Wednesday had to be redone Thursday. The original 128-person draw in men's singles was made without the 16 seeded players put in the brackets.

For tennis fans, it doesn't get any better than this: controversy, crowds, heat and sulking millionaires. That's right, it's time for the U.S. Open, that annual pockmark on a sport with an otherwise smooth complexion. This is the tournament that everybody loves to hate. It is played in a city where hating is an art form, and in a facility within earshot of Mets' fans loudly cursing their own team.

Kerri Strug's notwithstanding, perhaps the most amazing vault in the world of sports this summer has been made by Alex O'Brien. O'Brien is a relatively unknown pro tennis player, meaning that he is both too little and too big to be carried anywhere by Bela Karolyi, even if the cameras were rolling. These days, O'Brien needs no lift of any kind. He's heading into the U.S. Open on Monday as a possible factor. A month ago, O'Brien had no chance to be a factor in the U.S. Open.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, seeded seventh in the U.S. Open despite being ranked fourth in the world, withdrew from the Grand Slam event Saturday in protest over what he calls unfair seeding practices. The U.S. Tennis Assn. dropped the 22-year-old Russian three spots from his world ranking despite his winning the French Open and leading the ATP Tour in points this year. "I was shocked when I saw what they did to me," Kafelnikov said. "I deserve to be seeded No. 4.

The emotion runneth over on the Stadium Court at the U.S. Open. First, the remarkable performance of an ill Pete Sampras on Thursday night. Then the final Grand Slam appearance of Stefan Edberg, the gentleman of tennis. His farewell in the quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic was a sentimental reminder of what tennis will miss when the 30-year-old Swede retires at the end of the season--his class and grace and, not least, his elegant volleys.