Russian busy modelling her new outfit as other title hopes show more substance

POP singers from Chris De Burgh to the Sugababes have sung about women in red dresses and it will be a miracle if these ditties are not mentioned or played during coverage of this week's US Open, especially when Maria Sharapova's matches are on.

This grand slam, the Russian will mostly be wearing a snazzy scarlet number designed to doll her up for her evening session matches. As defending champion, Sharapova can expect to have to glam up several times during the tournament and has, no doubt, already picked out matching shoes and handbag. Whether she also put in as much consideration to the difficult business of defending her title is another matter, but given how open the field is this year and how many potential contenders there are, she should probably give it some thought.

"It's always important to feel comfortable in what you're wearing when you're playing, but in tennis, you can do so many things with your wardrobe," Sharapova said, after modelling the dress made of "breathable wicking jersey and constructed with a no-sew technique", whereby the seams are bonded with heat and silicone instead of thread, with the dress also having 600 Swarovski crystals in it.

Poor Sharapova will be forced to dress down in the daytime, slumming it in a black and white shift dress. It is hard to say whether this will affect her performance or not but nobody in New York seems to care. Nor do they care much about former champions like Svetlana Kuznetsova (see Five to Watch panel) or Justine Henin, both of whom have as much chance of winning the title as Sharapova, if not more.

Henin is something of an unknown quantity outside of her favoured French Open, where she has been champion four times and where she wins seemingly at will. That said, she was a finalist in New York last year and has just won one of the US Open warm-up events in Toronto. Nobody seems to have asked her what she is wearing and it is unlikely that they will bother unless she high-kicks her way on to the Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing fishnets, tails and a top hat. The same could be said for Kuznetsova, who won the title in 2004 and has played well in the lead up to the final grand slam of the season and whose clothes are as no-nonsense as her tennis.

They are certainly rivals for the title of US Open champion but in Sharapova's world it is not about who you beat but what you wear when you do it, and in that sense Flushing Meadows is the perfect place for her to shine. It is often the place where the outfits are the story.

At the same time as huffing and puffing about equal prize-money, the leading stars of the WTA Tour have cared not a jot about overshadowing their athletic achievements with fashion fluff. Flushing Meadows saw the debut of the infamous Serena Williams shiny catsuit as well as the S & M-biker chick ensemble she once wore, complete with detachable metal shinpads.

Williams has not yet revealed her get-up for this year's tournament but it is certain to raise eyebrows and given her penchant for tight, figure-hugging clothes it is to be hoped that Nike have opted for traditional thread rather than the heated glue used on Sharapova's dress. Silicone can only go so far.

Williams' deal with Nike ensures she is still the highest paid female athlete in the world but if 19-year-old Serbian Ana Ivanovic can build on her success at this year's French Open, where she was runner-up to Henin, she could take some of the sponsor dollars being pocketed by Sharapova and Williams.

Ivanovic has already featured in an advertisement for WTA Tour sponsors Sony Ericsson and done a series of photo-shoots. She is pretty and personable and thus presents a more homespun charm to the more blatant cynicism of some of her rivals.

Ivanovic is also rather good at tennis, particularly when played on American hard courts, and has flourished under Greg Rusedski's former coach Sven Groenefeld. Groenefeld is contracted to Adidas, Ivanovic's clothing sponsor, a sign of just how much sponsors drive the success of the women's game.

There was even talk a couple of years ago of the women players having a special ranking which linked into their marketability, an idea which was abandoned, at least for now. If that system ever comes in, the owner of the red dress would be world No 1 in a heartbeat but it would also be the moment women's tennis finally stopped being taken seriously.

Long may good sense sing out.