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THE BRYAN BROS.

Nobody cuts off a wayward return quicker than the swooping twins, who have brought new meaning to the word poaching. Nearly a decade after capping their collegiate careers at Stanford, the twin terrors have become the most dominant doubles duo on the planet thanks to some charismatic chemistry and their all-court ability to chip, charge and carve at the net.

Jelena Jankovic

She smiles, she frowns, she laughs, she scoffs, she winks and she glares. Jelena Jankovic is nothing if not expressive. She emotes mentally and physically. There are bulging photo files of the delightful Serb lying on her back after an exhausting rally. She engages with fans, which is why even though she’s from a small Eastern European country, the daring brunette is gaining a large contingent of followers the world over.

“I really enjoy watching athletes who show their emotions because they are more interesting and fun to watch,” she said. “When they are angry, excited or happy, they show it. They pump their fists or smile. I’m like that. But if you get too angry you can lose your focus. You can show your emotions, but you have to have more control. But it’s nice to show your emotions because you are not a robot. You should not play with a boring face.”

Jankovic’s mood swings have affected her, and now she’s trying to tone it down a bit as she believes that the only way she’ll crack the top 5 is to make sure that she’s calm and ready when the big points come. She admires Roger Federer, a one-time head case in the juniors.

“I’m amazed at some players who are so cold like Federer, who don’t show anything. You don’t know if he’s winning or losing. He has this attitude and is focused and doesn’t get excited. I’m really emotional, and it’s a quality that I don’t like about myself. I cry so quick.”

Maria Sharapova

Tennis has had its fair share of crossover celebrities, but none have had the on-court and off-court impact of Maria Sharapova. The 19-year-old Russian starlet is still pretty grounded though and at a recent Oscars party she was so unsure that Vanity Fair had actually sent her a real invitation that she had to ask her agent whether it was a hoax.

“I was like, are you sure that when I get out of the car they’re going to know that it’s me?” Sharapova said.

When Sharapova landed and approached the red carpet, the Manhattan Beach resident was even more surprised that film fans knew who she was.

“There I was very nervous that I’ll go to the red carpet and no one will know who I am,” said Sharapova, who has graced more magazine covers in the last three years than the rest of both tours combined. “But there’s a section of all the fans and just random people, and they all started screaming my name. And I was like, okay, I was wrong. It was surprising and shocking.”

Once Sharapova got inside to the party, she didn’t completely feel at home, as she knew few attendees and even felt a little underdressed.

“You have Madonna on one side, Gwyneth Paltrow on the other. You have Gwen Stefani and you’re like, ‘I’m not used to this. This is not my type of world,’” she said. “It’s one of the biggest parties of the year because it’s the Oscars and everyone is made up and everything’s gorgeous, everything’s amazing, apart from they had like In-N-Out burgers at the Vanity Fair party. I felt it was really like a made-up world. It was like way too glamorous for me, from what I’m used to. There’s more makeup at that one place than at a MAC store. It was pretty surreal. I was overwhelmed.”

Binge

Pop-rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey, USA (yeah, the hometown of Sinatra AND Michael Chang) fires up songs like “Anna Kournikova,” “Maria Sharapova,” “Vamos Rafa” and “Martina Bambina.”

Ted Robinson

Peter Fleming may have been John McEnroe’s ideal setup man when it came to doubles, but in the play-by-play world, Mac’s never had a better on-air accompanist than Ted Robinson. A versatile voice who’s range of expertise seemingly knows no boundaries (he’s called ballgames for the Twins, Giants, A’s and Mets; his Saturday afternoons in the fall are spent in the Stanford football broadcast booth; he can be heard in Olympic years calling everything from short-track speed skating to canoeing), Robinson proves he’s the ultimate assist man, bringing insight and flair to a sport in dire need of a sportscasting spark.

Jim Courier

Since his retirement from the tour in ‘00, the tousled redhead has reinvented Jimmy Connors’ now-defunct senior tour by founding the fledgling thirty-something Outback Champions Series, enticing players like Rios and Sampras to come back into the fold. The savvy four-time Slam champ has also been a surprisingly pleasant addition to the broadcast booth, bringing an adept, straight-shooting voice to the mix.

Sandra de Jenkens

The first female ump to chair a men’s Grand Slam final at the Aussie Open, France’s de Jenkens is a former rec player who displays a cool head and a five-star general’s ability to manage matches.

WTA CEO Larry Scott

The former Harvard player transferred from the ATP in ‘03 to take the job as the WTA Tour CEO and has cut deal after deal in enriching the world’s most popular women’s sport, specifically with global communications giant Sony Ericsson, which he signed to a six-year, $88-million title sponsorship agreement. Scott has also ruffled more than a few American feathers with the tour’s Roadmap 2010, which could end up weakening a few traditionally successful U.S. tournaments while emphasizing the tour’s (and Sony Ericsson’s) growing infatuation with the spend-crazy markets in Europe, North Africa and Asia. But at press time, it appeared that Scott was working hard to forge a compromise with the USTA, which would portend good things for the future of the sport in the birthplace of pro women’s tennis.

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Arlen Kantarian

Hands down, the former NFL exec is the most adept, innovative marketing genius on the tennis block. P.T Barnum, say howdy to Donald Trump. Kantarian has not only turned the U.S Open into a must-see Big Apple happening (even if the biggest match of the day is some southpaw Slovenian going down in straight sets on Court 16), the affable powerhouse with the hefty (it’s well worth it) salary has had his considerable imprint on everything from the U.S. Open Series to blue courts to Hawk-Eye and prime-time tennis. USTA presidents come and go, but the “K-Factor” is a ground-breaking, savvy and progressive force in American tennis that has to be dealt with.

ATP CEO
Etienne de Villiers

De Villiers has had a rocky start to his tenure since he came over from Disney in ‘05. Full of charisma and new ideas, the South African has butted heads with the ITF, tournament owners, and some top players in his attempt to induce innovative, cutting-edge changes in what he considers to be a snoozy sport. While he has brought some fresh thinking, the upbeat, personable exec has also misfired, not thinking out his round-robin experiment and enraging players with his proposal that he’d suspend them if they didn’t play all of the Masters Series tournaments.

Hawk-Eye

Not since the introduction of Oversize and Longbody rackets has a technology had such reverberations in tennis. Some argue it’s flawed, it disrupts play, it takes away the human element, that the sport will suffer without those potential “you cannot be serious” Kodak moments. But no one denies that from a fan’s perspective, it’s brought an invigorating, interactive, participatory dimension to the sport.

Asia

Do you presume the tours are enamored with placing more tournaments in the rich oil economies of North Africa, around the tennis factories in Eastern Europe, or in the South American hotbed of Argentina? Somewhat, but where the interest really lies is Asia, or more specifically, China. In ‘09, look for a massive combined event to be placed in Shanghai, backed up by substantial tournaments in Beijing. The Chinese government is willing to shell out millions to attract major sporting events, and the growing middle class there sucks up tickets big time. So say farewell to the Acura Classic in Carlsbad and sorry Carson and Palo Alto, your star may be on the wane. These days, globalization rules. For as the WTA’s Stacey Allaster contended, “If we really want to grow the game, increase its popularity and capitalize on economic opportunities that are available, we have to look east.”

Zach Fleishman

Zach Fleishman’s red, white and blue hairdo at the Aussie Open made waves, until in the midday sun, the dye started dripping down his neck and shoulders.

Marat Safin’s
Mercedes CL600 Coupe

Where does Marat Safin seek refuge when he needs to get his head straight? The roaring Russian hits the road in his 5.5-liter, 36-valve, V12 CL600 Coupe — a sleek, 493-horsepower machine that will run you in the range of $130,000. Safin, who has logged his fair share of hours behind the wheel of his Mercedes driving from Austria to his adopted home in Monaco, says the open road is one place in which he can truly escape the everyday grind of his life as a professional tennis player. “Driving is one of the things I love to do because everything goes through your head,” he explained. “You are free to think whatever you want.”

Larry Stefanki and

Brad Gilbert

San Diegan Stefanki has led Fernando Gonzalez’s charge into the top 10 and is hoping to coach his fourth No. 1 player — he also once tutored John McEnroe, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marcelo Rios. San Rafael’s Gilbert has the weight of a nation on his back — he was given a multimillion-dollar deal by Britain’s LTA to coach Andy Murray and watch over a resurgence in English tennis. (Oh yeah, we almost forgot, Roddick’s coach — some guy named Jimbo Connors — has kind of created a stir.)

Anna Chakvetadze

Tracy Austin calls the creative and clean ball striker the new Hingis. Not a bad call, although the thin blonde, who’s on the verge of cracking the top 10, thinks she packs more punch than the once great Swiss.

Mia Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt and Bec Cartwright’s baby, Mia, already is delivering big paydays for mom and pop, who’ve signed a deal with Australia’s Woman’s Day to provide cute family pics and newsy updates. Here’s Bec on Mia: “She’s old enough to play games and give you a cuddle, yet not at the age of throwing tantrums.” Guess she’s not YET a chip off the old block.

Roger Federer

Is there really any doubt as to the identity of the IT guy? The numbers say it all: 10 Grand Slam titles and counting; only man in the Open era to win at least 10 titles over three consecutive years; a record 162 consecutive weeks atop the ATP charts. He was counted among People magazine’s sexiest men alive. He’s even a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador. What can’t this guy do? Surprise, surprise, it’s Roger Federer.