This match had everything: two top seeds, intrigue, drama, hard-hitting, angles, and long rallies. Although the men's final is yet to be played (my deadline was before the men's final), I have to say this was one of the most entertaining matches I have seen in the last twelve months, matching the drama and quality of play of the Ivanisevic/Rafter Wimbledon final of this past year. Which brings me to the real point of this column: is the depth and quality of women's tennis getting better?

Chilean player and former number one Marcelo Rios doesn't think so. His diatribe about women's tennis resurfaced at the year's first Grand Slam event. Rios was quoted as saying the presence of the women in the Australian Open was "a joke." It has also been reported that Rios has gone around the men's locker room to gain support for his claim.

I believe Rios is just "player-hating." Let's take a little closer look at some of real the facts.

Women players on the WTA circuit are bigger, stronger, fitter, and faster and they hit the ball much harder than any of the champions of the past. Martina Navratilova was once considered a freak of nature on the tour. Now, you have muscular, athletic tennis bodies gracing the covers of magazines all over the world.

Gone are the days of Navratilova or Steffi Graf routinely winning early round matches in less than 45 minutes. Today, tops seeds face the possibility of early exit from any tournament or being extended to three sets. And today's tournaments no longer bank on the top two seeds meeting in the finals (especially at the majors).

There are more players in the top 20 rankings that are threats to win tournaments. Young players such as Justine Henin, who finished the 2001 season ranked seventh, was a 2001 Wimbledon finalist, Kim Clisters finished ranked 5th and was a 2001 French Open finalist, Daniela Hantuchova finished 2001 ranked 38th and was a doubles finalist at this year's Australian Open with Arantxa Sanchez-Vacario, and gave number two seed Venus Williams a scare, barely losing in three sets.

So who is winning the major tournaments, you might ask? Well, it's not the same names. Five players have won the past six Grand Slam titles, and Martina Hingis is not one of them.

And let's not forget what the Williams sisters have done for the women's tour. Venus and Serena are potentials finalists in any tournament that enter, and have therefore pushed the bar when it comes to power, agility, speed, and sheer athletic ability. Venus' serve has been clocked at over 120 miles per hour and no one runs down more shots and hits with the constant power the way the Williams sisters do. This has forced the other women on tour - particularly the smaller Hingis - to come up with a little something extra special in their game plan to win against them.

Statistics also agree that the women's tour has come up with a little something extra. For example, viewers tuned into more women's matches at last year's Australian Open than ever before. ESPN2's ratings jumped 55% with the household viewer shot up 72%. Hence, ESPN2's schedule was upgraded with more live telecasts and more primetime matches. At Indian Wells, 15,940 fans showed up to watch the women's final that helped set a new attendance record of 208,596.

The Capriati/Venus Williams final at the Ericsson Open on CBS leaped 91% (2.1 rating) from last year's FOX rating of 1.1. The Family Circle Cup was a smash in the U.K. as Eurosport's coverage was the second most watched sporting event of the year, beat out only by Motorcross.

It's true that the men's tour may have more depth than the women's tour - at least for now. But the women are certainly just as entertaining and are pulling in just as many - if mot more - fans as their counterparts. Spectators and fans are flocking in huge numbers to tournaments today to get a glimpse of these wonderful athletes who are hitting the tennis ball just as hard as some of the men.

And, oh, what about the new sexy, athletic bodies gracing the tour? It doesn't hurt to have a package named Anna Kournikova, either. Who cares if she never wins a singles title. People want to look at her and buy her endorsed products, regardless.

Is this what is eating at Marcelo Rios and his band of whiney supporters? Are they afraid to embrace the women players as real counterparts? It's true that many of the women have male practice partners, but there doesn't seem to be the same mutual respect that exists in other sports. Rios and his male moaners should grow up and realize that the gap is closing and that women's tennis may one day take center court - over them.

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