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On the women's side, the previous Grand Slams of the year provided no surprises, no early upsets, and did nothing more than to prove that the Williams sisters are two steps ahead of Jennifer Capriati, who is a step ahead of Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, who are comfortably ahead of Jelena Dokic, Monica Seles, Kim Clijsters, and Justin Henin, who happen to be a few steps ahead of everyone else on the field.

Perhaps this explains the reason for Serena and Venus being at two-point-something-to-one favorites to win the U.S. Open, while the next closest odds belong to Capriati and Davenport at 10/1 by the famous international bookie William Hill.

Exciting, isn't it? Not to the hardcore tennis fan who seeks competition and highly-contested matches throughout the tournament and not just late in the second week.

However, to the general public, the women's event will provide more of that indomitable "soap opera factor." There will be boyfriends supporting their gals, there will be plenty of top stars whining about the girl on the other side of the net taking a bathroom break at a crucial moment, there will be the typical tennis father trying to control anything and everything related to his star/pupil/daughter, there will be plenty of insults thrown by various players towards their opponents during the after-match press conferences, and no, there will absolutely not be any credit given to the opponent with a quote such as, "Yes, my opponent today was a better player, she deserved to win."

Definitely forget about the word "congratulations!"

Oh, and there will of course be that stunning beauty from Russia with no WTA titles yet to her name on the court, but somehow with about forty photographers waiting for that crucial split second during which she might bend down to tie a shoe string or put the second ball to a sacred spot before a first serve so that they can capture their "shot of the day" to be blown up and put on their article, not to mention, to keep a copy for their private collection at home.

Through it all, there will be a slew of matches in the first week ending in less than the time one would take to leave their seats to go get an ice-cold drink. Few "ladies" will whisper an audible curse after missing a shot and few will quit a match when down a set and two breaks due to the sudden appearance phantom pain. Jelena Dokic's father might yell at an umpire, Richard Williams might smoke a pack and half everyday.

There will be an ample amount of wondering where the "ladies" have gone in tennis unless Davenport and Seles make it to the finals...

On the men's side, the Australian Open and French Open provided absolute outsiders as winners. Wimbledon established Lleyton Hewitt's presence at the top of the ATP rankings. Will U.S. Open provide the best of both worlds, as it always promises?

Contrary to the women's side, on the men's side, the hardcore tennis fan will find plenty of upsets in the early rounds, several favorites will be named to win the tournament, and numerous contested matches throughout the two-week period on a surface that can accommodate both baseline and the attacking styles of various players.

Lleyton Hewitt will attempt to win his third major in the last 12 months and flex his muscles further as the top male player, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin will be the colorful characters trying to stop him, Andy Roddick and James Blake will pump the patriotic crowd in their efforts to prove that they belong to the "big-timers" club.

Tommy Haas will hope to not feel any pain physically or mentally for the first time in several months, Roger Federer will fight to make it to the second round of a Grand Slam for a change, Pete Sampras and Yevgeny Kafelnikov will try once again to resurrect their most miserable year in their careers, and Tim Henman will carry the torch for all the serve-and-volleyers in the tennis world.

In the absence of Guillermo Canas, Carlos Moya will be the only "clay-court player" to have done well on the hard surface. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Juan Ignacio Chela, and Alex Corretja will look to overcome the "one-dimensional player" label and join Moya.

Some players will be the butt of John McEnroe's witty, yet cruel jokes.

Michael Chang, one of those players, will attempt to win just one match to climb out of misery, period!

Through it all, there will be high-quality tennis, plenty of thrilling five-set matches, aces being served, fists being pumped, and a ton of hard-hitting.

What will not be at the men's side is the "soap opera factor." There will not be much whining, not many matches ending in three straight sets and less than an hour. There will not be any attractive headlines for the newspapers unless Marat Safin has a breakdown, Lleyton Hewitt makes a racist comment, Steffi Graf faints during one of Andre's matches, or there is a Boris Becker sighting.

When it's all said and done, the so-called authorities who only follow tennis for four weeks in the year, during Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, will preach how the women's side is so much more exciting to watch then the men's and that men's tennis is boring! Masses will listen.

And there will be the common, everyday, hardcore tennis fan preaching: "Give me less soap opera, more tennis!"

No one will listen.

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