2005 Australian Open - Day #5
By Alix Ramsay  |  January 21, 2005

The great thing about women's tennis is that you always know where you are. It's the first week of a grand slam and nothing has happened. No change there, then. Those who ought to win have won and those who have no place being here have left the building quietly and with little fuss. From time to time there has been a moment of anxiety - a set dropped carelessly here and there - but it has not lasted. If the girls keep this up, the second week should be a corker.

In the meantime it has fallen to Serena Williams to keep us entertained. Her 6-1, 6-4 dismissal of Sania Mirza, a promising talent from India, took next to no time but her press conference will live in the memory forever.

To set the scene: Williams had taken to the court in one of her self designed Nike numbers. The yellow, skin-tight top was nothing unusual but it was that which flapped beneath that was a little puzzling.

She was wearing what appeared to be a thong for the much larger lady (this one came with a neck strap) and from this remarkable garment was suspended two handkerchiefs, presumably for modesty's sake, that passed for a skirt. Thankfully she was wearing shorts underneath this garb (a nation sighed with relief) but she was more than willing to show it off. Indeed, she was happy to take it off with no prompting it all.

"It's a dress," she said of the bizarre arrangement of strings and flappy bits. "It's attached here. It's got a button. It snaps on and off. I would snap it off but I'm shy. Oh, what the hell..."

And with that she snapped it off, removed the thong, the skirt and the attachments and revealed the shorts and the aforementioned yellow top. This was quite a show.

"It becomes a short," she said, rather unnecessarily. "So I can play a match. A lot of players play in shorts, so there you go. But it's still a dress. Like you saw me today, I was playing in the dress. It's really cool. It's a great outfit. People should buy it - it's really hot. And I can throw it to the crowd, too."

This left many of the press contingent - a motley crew more used to discussions about forehands, backhands and groin strains - nonplussed but with the nagging thought that players throwing their clothes to the crowd might become a trend. Please God Tim Henman does not get to hear of it. Marat Safin, on the other hand...

A fully clothed Safin - alas - moved past Mario Ancic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and, but for a sore ankle (he fell over in the third set), all was well with his world. Last year he reached the final here on a wave of adrenaline and hope. This year he is aiming to repeat the feat but with a sense of calm and purpose. His mad days are behind him now and the sensible, mature Safin is trying to grow up.

"I'm getting older," he said. "Soon I am going to be a quarter of a century in this world. That's a big number. After years an years you learn something. So basically I'm trying an I'm saving my energy, my power, try to stay calm and think properly what I have to do."

Last year it was his mother who kept Safin in check, this year it is Safin who is trying to teach his sister a lesson. A couple of days ago Dinara Safina was sent packing in the second round by Amelie Mauresmo but only after taking the first set 6-2. That, in Safin's eyes, was a wasted opportunity and he said as much. Dinara hasn't spoken to him since.

"Women are very delicate people," he said. "It takes a little bit of time for them to calm down and really to think properly because they go with their emotions, but then they use the head."

Andre Agassi has been using his head to beat the younger opposition for years now. The balding wonder took a couple of sets to tame Taylor Dent and then clobbered him 7-5, 7-6, 6-1. He now plays Joachim Johansson who came from two sets to one down to beat Feliciano Lopez 13-11 in the fifth.

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