THE SCOOP: SATURDAY, AUGUST 9

Will Venus play the Open?
Top nine US women have withdrawn from an event in past 3 weeks;
JP Morgan Chase's move; Kimmy edges closer to No. 1

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

FROM THE JP MORGAN CHASE OPEN IN LA – As one WTA staffer said today, no news is bad news when it comes to Venus Williams decision not to speak about why she pulled out of Toronto, which makes her subsequent plans for the US Open very murky.

The fifth-ranked Venus hasn't played since Wimbledon, where she aggravated the abdominal tear that she suffered in Warsaw back in April. Toronto is the third tournament that the four-time Slam champ has pulled out of after Wimbledon.

Both Venus and sister Serena – who is out for six to eight weeks following knee surgery last Friday – have gone AWOL the past three weeks. Neither has released statements, although Serena's publicist said that her client is in high spirits and is resting peacefully at home in LA.

Without question, Serena can be a happy and fun-loving girl, but she can't be too pleased about not be able to defend her US Open title, nor that she will lose her No. 1 ranking shortly. She's way too proud to brush that off.

Venus said after she fell to Serena in the Wimbledon final that she needed 30 days for the injury to properly heal. It's now been 34 days and after Toronto ends, her time off will total 43 days.

There's no question that Venus shouldn't get back on court unless she's completely healed, but it's terrible for the tour, the Open and for fans not to know what her status is.

With the remarkable amount of players pulling out of tournaments due to injuries since Wimbledon (six out of the top 10 players), just be glad you are not trying to sell tickets based on who is supposed to play in your tournament.

U.S. Disabled List Monstrous
With the withdrawal of Meghann Shaughnessy from Toronto with a back injury, eight of the top nine ranked American women have pulled out of tournaments in the past three weeks, with one injury or another.

The list: Serena (knee, quad), Venus (abdominal), Lindsay Davenport (foot), Jennifer Capriati (shoulder and pec), Chanda Rubin (shoulder), Monica Seles (foot) and Stevenson (shoulder).
The likes Laura Granville, Amy Frazier and Ashley Harkleroad better come up very big at the Open.

JP Morgan Chase's move

Susan Mullane/ Camerawork USA, Inc.

The JP Morgan Chase Open is in a new home at the new Home Depot Center in Carson on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills, which is situated right off the Rts. 405 and 101, but more than a stone's throw from its former swanky confines at the Manhattan Beach Country Club.

The club members haven't come to the tournament yet and neither have many other fans. There has been a huge drop off in attendance from Stanford and La Costa (which were both packed from Thursday on), partly because tennis fans don't really know where the tournament is and partly because many LA and Orange County denizens aren't comfortable commuting to the site, which is situated between some very clean working and middle class areas and some rough neighborhoods on the east side of the campus.

Had either of the Williamses sisters played here, attendance may have went through the roof in the nicely-put-together 8,000-seat stadium. The girls only grew up a few miles from here and are immensely popular in SoCal. Add to that the losses of two other prominent African-American players – the injured Rubin and Stevenson – and the event lost its four biggest draws in a predominantly African- American community.

Somehow, two of the most powerful agencies in sports, IMG and AEG (which owns the Home Depot Center), couldn't come up with the right marketing strategy this year. They'll have to go all out in 2004 in they want to pack the attractive stadium three weeks prior to the Olympics.

Kimmy edges closer to No. 1
We have written exhaustively about second-ranked Kim Clijsters sweaty grind to the No. 1 ranking, but she only has two matches to go before climbing the mountain after she thrashed Russian Svetlana Kuzentsova 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals here Friday.

To state the very obvious, Clijsters would not have this opportunity had Serena not gone out with an injury, but such is sports.

Clijsters will face 16th-seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the semifinals, which is a very winnable contest considering how soundly she beat her at Stanford. Then she'll face the winner of the Lindsay Davenport-Ai Sugiyama contest, certainly a tougher test, but two players whom she has beaten this year.

Consequently, getting to No. 1 here will be a good test for Clijsters because the pressure is on her now to earn the spot Sunday, rather than just waiting for Serena's points to drop off at the US Open.

"I just want to focus on my next match because I'm not there yet," Clijsters said. "I'll try to give it my best shot if I reach the final."

If she does manage to win her next two matches, Clijsters will become the first player to attain the number one ranking without winning a Grand Slam since the WTA Tour introduced the ranking system in 1975.

"It would be better if she won a Grand Slam, but she still has a lot of chances to win one," said her doubles partner Sugiyama, adding that Clijsters was probably favorite to win the US Open which starts later this month.

"Kim has stayed healthy, played great and if she becomes No. 1, she'll deserve it."