In other WTA Tour news this week, Venus Williams is finally taking over the #1 spot in the rankings. Most have felt that Williams has been the top player for some time now and that something must be awry with the computer ranking system. This year the WTA even modified the system awarding more points to the Grand Slams and upper-tier tournaments in order to try and rectify a situation where non-Slam winners (Hingis and Davenport) remained atop the rankings over Grand Slam champions (Capriati and Williams).

Personally, I never had a problem with the ranking system as it was. While Venus Williams over the past two years has certainly been the "best" player on the Tour, her rare on-court appearances (for various reasons) did not warrant the #1 ranking. However, this year Williams appears to be changing that statistic despite outcries earlier in the season of being bored with tennis. This week in Dubai, Williams is competing in her fifth (and third consecutive) tournament of the year - probably a record number for any two-month period in her career. Williams has won 3 of the 5 tournaments this year, losing to Seles at Melbourne and Testud at Dubai.

So congratulations to Venus for attaining the #1 ranking and doing it by the old-fashioned way - not only winning tournaments, but just by playing more.

If you are looking for Jennifer Capriati at one of the biggest tournaments of the year do not get your hopes up. It seems like Indian Wells and Capriati just do not mix. Capriati has not played the Tier 1 tournament, now known as the Pacific Life Open, since a second round loss to Cara Black in 2000 (a 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 victory for the Zimbabwean). In a recent WTA media teleconference, it appears she will not likely be back any time soon.

When asked initially about skipping the event, Capriati said the tournament did not fit into her schedule and added that it compromised her time and other commitments. She readily admitted preferring the Miami tournament (which both Capriati and the media had trouble remembering is now the Nasdaq 100 Open) and expressed disdain over the time zone and climate change of Indian Wells. This all sounds good until one throws in that Capriati played the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic in Scottsdale last year and plans to do so again next week. Living in the Scottsdale area and having been to Indian Wells, this Mr. Ed can tell you that there is not too much separating the two desert cities.

Why would Capriati be willing to make the trip to Scottsdale from Florida but then not make a relatively short hop, in tennis globetrotting terms, to Indian Wells? Well, when pressed on the issue later in the teleconference, Capriati displayed some of her increasingly common testiness: "You know, maybe there's more reason behind that than I wish to comment on right now." So, in other words, there IS something going on behind the scene between Capriati and the tournament that goes beyond scheduling or time zones or temperature.

It is just a bit sad that Capriati will be absent from one of the premier American tennis tournaments of the year. One can only speculate on where the blame lies for the apparent boycott of the event.

With that, a shameless plug for upcoming live On The Line tournament coverage. In the coming weeks look for reports and photos from Scottsdale (State Farm Women's Tennis Classic and Franklin Templeton Men's Tennis Classic) as well as the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells.