Bethanie Mattek

Professional tennis players are about more than serves, backhands and forehands – there's also their style, movement and the way they carry themselves on court, and their off-court presence and personality.

Here's an overview of the best looks in tennis in 2008. For the purposes of this ranking, looks are viewed as an overall combination of appearance, personality and style, and fashion sense.

MEN

The sudden retirement of incumbent No. 1 Justine Henin left the WTA Tour in anarchy.
 
If you've ever played that game where you build a tower of wooden blocks, then withdraw them one at a time while trying to prevent the tower from toppling, you'll understand what Justine Henin's abrupt retirement in May did to the hierarchy of the women's game. It removed a structural beam, and the resulting pile was kind of a mess. If you like parity, variety and surprises, 2008 was your year. We review some of the highlights and head-scratchers below.
 

She needed to reach the semifinals in Québec City to qualify as an alternate for the Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008, and with three easy wins to start the week she achieved the feat with flying colors. But she didn't stop there by any means, winning that semifinal handily on Saturday then battling past a game Bethanie Mattek on Sunday to capture the Tier III Bell Challenge title.
 

Nadia Petrova got one step closer to her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title of the year Saturday, defeating Angela Haynes in straight sets to reach the final of the Bell Challenge.
 
Haynes, who had never reached a singles quarterfinal on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour before this week, had reached the semifinals with some impressive wins, and as a lucky loser, no less. But she drew the top-seeded Petrova in that round and her breakthrough run came to an abrupt end in 50 minutes, as she fell, 61 63, to the world's No.11 player.
 

Nadia Petrova clinched the second alternate berth for the Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008 on Friday, with a quarterfinal win halfway across the world in Québec City.
 
If Petrova - the No.1 seed at the Tier III event - lost her quarterfinal with Melinda Czink, then Flavia Pennetta would have joined Agnieszka Radwanska in the alternate line-up at the prestigious season-ender, which will be held next week in Doha, Qatar. But she beat the unseeded Hungarian, 61 64, thus overtaking Pennetta in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships.

The first round wrapped up and the second round began on Day 3 of the Bell Challenge in Québec City. Among those moving into the quarterfinals of the Tier III event was top seed and tournament favorite Nadia Petrova, who cruised in straight sets in the night match.
 

First round action kicked off at the Bell Challenge in Québec City on Monday, and already one of the tournament favorites has been ousted, as No.3 seed Sybille Bammer was ousted.
 
Bammer struggled early in her match with American teenager Melanie Oudin, falling behind 64 20, before finding her range and winning 10 of the next 13 games to win the second set and lead 4-2 in the third. But the momentum swung sharply back the other way as Oudin found her range again, and the Austrian lefty was defeated, 64 36 75.
 

It was a mixed day for seeded players at the Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick on Monday, with two advancing but one succumbing to heat illness on Day 2 of the Tier II event.
 

A slew of Top 20 players are in New Haven, Connecticut this week for the Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick, all hoping to fine tune their games in the last week of play before the year's last Grand Slam, the US Open.
 

Two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo leads an impressive list of 23 players who’ve made early commitments to the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open, which will be played August 9-17 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason.
 
Mauresmo, who reached the world No. 1 ranking in 2004, owns 24 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles including the Australian Open and Wimbledon. She won both in 2006.