Serena keeps Open outfit a top secret

Victoria Sun

Monday, July 24, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

Defending U.S. Open champion Serena Williams will be wearing a new Puma tennis outfit at this year's Open that starts Aug. 28, but the seventh-ranked player on the Sanex/WTA Tour -- also a renowned clothes horse -- wouldn't tell what it looks like.

"I can't," Williams said, breaking into a mischievous grin. "I can't.

"It's under wraps. I'm in a rope."

Williams, French Open champion Mary Pierce and 11th-ranked Sandrine Testud were among the 12 pros who convened in Las Vegas over the weekend for the first Players for the Cure ovarian-cancer charity tennis event held Saturday at Red Rock Country Club.

The pros played a round-robin pro-am before a select few hundred fortunate enough to have bought tickets for the sold-out event. The pro-am was followed by a pros-only exhibition.

Linda Long, international vice president of Puma North America, organized the event in honor of her mother, who died of the disease last August. When Williams learned of Long's loss, she wrote a poem to comfort her.

The touching poem was reprinted in the event's program, and all of the money raised from the festivities will benefit the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

"I keep it in my day planner," Long said of Williams' poem. "Every day I look at it and it gives me strength.

"It's also a reminder that in this business, we sometimes lose touch with reality dealing with these athletes and we forget that they are human.

"Serena is such an old soul. She would have done this for anyone."

"It's good to be here," Williams said. "A lot of women are suffering from this disease that you never know of, and all of the other benefits are usually towards something else.

"It's a wonderful idea. I had to educate myself about something that could happen to me and that could happen to all of us."

For Williams, another benefit of spending three days off in Las Vegas was the opportunity to show off some new clothes.

"I love dressing up, getting to go out," said Williams, who wore a stunning halter top adorned with large metallic sequins and fitted black pants to Friday night's cocktail party. "I don't go out much, but I love getting new outfits.

Perhaps it's just as well that the 18-year-old, who has taken some design classes at the Art Institute of Florida, couldn't talk about her new outfit because her mother, Oracene, would rather not know.

Not yet, anyway.

Although her daughter is one-half of tennis' most famous sister act -- older sister Venus is No. 3 in the world and recently won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon -- and hauls in millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements, Oracene reacts as any mom would at the thought of her daughter showing off her curves in another racy tennis dress.

She winced before uttering, "Uh-oh," when pressed about the dress. Then came a roll of the eyes and shaking of the head.

"No, I haven't seen it," she continued before joking, "Yeah, I think that they think they are 'all that' in it. I'd like to see them more covered up."

Right now, the sisters are "all that" in the tennis world and probably will be for years to come.

Both were raised to be tennis champions by their father, Richard, on public courts in urban Compton, Calif. The family now resides in a sprawling house in posh Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., thanks to the success of both siblings, who possess the power and tools to remain among tennis' elite provided they stay healthy and motivated.

"They're athletic, they're very strong and in great shape," said renowned tennis instructor Nick Bollettieri, who gave a tennis clinic Saturday morning. "Every time they go out there they should be contending for a title.

"With Serena, before she used to know how to hit. Now she knows how to play. She is playing and serving within her power, improved her coming-in game and has a lot of confidence after winning a few tournaments."

Confidence is a trait both young women picked up from their father.

Long before Venus and Serena won anything, Richard proclaimed that his daughters would be No. 1 and that they would win many Grand Slams before they retired. On several occasions the eccentric Williams held up signs during his daughters' matches, including this year's Wimbledon final where Venus defeated Lindsay Davenport.

"It's an attention-getter for him," Oracene said. "That's all. He likes to be noticed. That's pretty much it."

The opposite can be said of Oracene.

While Richard seems happy in the spotlight, Oracene has been content to support her daughters quietly from a distance.

"If I don't want to travel I don't, but if I feel that they may need some emotional support, I'll go," she said. "When I'm there, I'm calm.

"When I'm at home I can't watch. I do other things. Like I drove to Mississippi when they were at Wimbledon this year."

Oracene said Venus will play in the Olympics this year and Serena said she would also compete, though she was unhappy about the fact that she will most likely play doubles.