This isn't about the clothing lines, dangly earrings or who can wear the most scandalous outfit.

For Maria Sharapova, the Williams sisters and Anna Kournikova most famously of all, tennis is merely a means to an end.

Win a few tournaments, get a couple Grade B endorsements and that first, modest-sized mansion is all yours.

Win a Grand Slam, and you are endorsing so many products you can't keep track of them all. Pretty soon, the cameras are rolling and there you are, dressed as a bear and holding a dead salmon.

Heck, Kournikova never won at all. Not one WTA singles title. She is the Michelle Wie or Danica Patrick of tennis. Yet Kournikova is one of the most famous players ever, more recognizable than Martina Navratilova. All Navratilova did was win 18 Grand Slams.

Fame and fortune has a price. And for tennis divas, it is the quality of their play. It's hard to perfect that backhand when you're mixing fragrances at the perfume factory. It's difficult to run down every shot when you're wearing go-go boots.

Too many injuries, so many of them it's hard to guess anymore which ones are real and which ones are conveniences, have kept the outrageously talented Williams sisters out of too many tournaments.

Sharapova talks a good game, saying she is still young and has many more big wins in front of her.

Really? Judging by her Web site, Sharapova is more interested in fine dining (Koko's in Melbourne has great Japanese tepanyaki!) and spa treatments (Hot stone massages are the best!) than winning.

Sharapova, for all the hype, is merely the Andy Roddick of women's tennis. Like Roddick, she has a posse of A-list celebrity friends and no realistic hope of ever becoming one of the game's greats.

Men's tennis offers us a legend in his prime in Roger Federer. And there's a good chance Rafael Nadal might turn out to be even better.

Their championship matches at the French Open and Wimbledon were reminiscent of those classic Borg-McEnroe showdowns that left even the most casual fans breathless.

I can't tell you when the last great women's tennis match took place. But I did just see Sharapova in a Canon commercial.

That, sadly, wasn't very good either.

Contact sports editor Loren Nelson at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com.