By Pete Bodo Hey, everyone. I'm just hanging fire here, half-watching the warm up to tonight's tantalizing quarterfinal clash between Venus and Serena Williams - the men's quartefinal pitting Andy Murray against Juan Martin del Potro, two men who had...Peter Bodo

The Williams sisters moved closer to another Wimbledon final Tuesday, using their power tennis to cruise into the semifinals in straight sets. Defending champion and four-time winner Venus Williams beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3, and two-time champ Serena swept 19-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-0.

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Rafael Nadal will end the year at No. 1 after he and Roger Federer both lost in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters on Saturday.

Spain's Rafael Nadal returns the ball during his semifinal tennis match against Gilles Simon from France at the Madrid Masters in Madrid, on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008.
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Roger Federer added another win to his already burgeoning clay-court record this season.

Switzerland's Roger Federer returns the ball to United States player Sam Querrey during their first round match at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris on Monday May 26, 2008.
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Five-time champion Roger Federer outclassed Mario Ancic - the last man to beat him at Wimbledon - in straight sets Wednesday to reach the semifinals and extend his grass-court winning streak to 64 matches on the first day of significant rain delays at the All England Club.

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One swing from completing her week's work, Venus Williams toed the baseline, dribbled the ball, gave it a toss and delivered yet another thunderclap serve at sun-kissed Wimbledon.

Spain's Rafael Nadal reacts after defeating Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in their Men's Singles, third round match on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, Saturday, June 28, 2008.
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The women's semifinals at Wimbeldon are set for today, with Venus and Serena Williams favored to set up their first all-sibling final since 2003 Wimbledon.

Venus Williams of the US., returns to Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn during their Women's Singles quarterfinal match on the Number One Court at Wimbledon, Tuesday, July 1, 2008.
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by Pete Bodo Almost two years ago, I was working on a story with Andy Murray and his coach at the time, Brad Gilbert. Over lunch in Bradenton, Fla., Gilbert told me he felt tennis players were underpaid. This is not the kind of thing people like to hear about pro athletes, and these days there's a special edge to that claim. But let's face it, as I wrote in a recent ESPN post , value is driven less by the intrinsic worth of something (or someone's contribution to society or the economy) than the demand of the market. Nobody is under or over-paid; pay is just a reflection of the forces and values that drive a society. Of course, it often seems grotesquely unfair - until you realize that your love of, say, football (or tennis) enables high (or low) salaries, because you're the one watching sports on television, or shelling out money for tickets to a ball game, concert, art exhibition, movie or book. If people stopped buying tickets to tennis tournaments or ceased watching them on television, tennis players would not be paid the same as schoolteachers; they'd get less.  read more »

Andy Murray retained the trophy he won in St Petersburg last year. Photograph: Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters Andy Murray raced to his fifth title of the year when he completed an emphatic 6-1, 6-1 tr...

Andy Murray defeated Janko Tipsarevic 7-6, 7-5 and will face Spain's Fernando Verdasco next. Photograph: Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters Andy Murray added resilience to his recent run of outstanding fo...