Newz Forum: OTHER: TENNIS: Williams sisters slide down rankings

WIMBLEDON, England - Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova moved into the top 10 of the WTA Tour rankings for the first time at No. 8 Monday, while two-time winner Roger Federer extended his lead atop the men's standings.

Sharapova was a career-best No. 15 before the start of the tournament, which she won by beating Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4 Saturday. The Russian never had been past the quarterfinals at a major.

Williams dropped to No. 14, her lowest spot since March 1999. She was No. 1 as recently as Aug. 4, 2003, three days after she had knee surgery. That was the last of her 57 consecutive weeks at the top thanks to winning five out of six Grand Slam titles.

Her sister Venus fell to No. 15 after losing in the second round at Wimbledon.

Despite skipping the grass-court Grand Slam tournament because of health problems, Justine Henin-Hardenne remained at No. 1 and Kim Clijsters at No. 2.

Wimbledon semifinalist Amelie Mauresmo rose one spot to No. 4, switching places with French Open champion Anastasia Myskina. Lindsay Davenport stayed at No. 5, followed by Elena Dementieva, Jennifer Capriati, Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ai Sugiyama.

Karolina Sprem, who upset Venus Williams and made it to her first major quarterfinal, jumped 10 places to No. 20.

Federer added to his advantage over No. 2 Andy Roddick in the ATP entry rankings, based on the past 52 weeks and used to determine seedings at tournaments. Federer beat Roddick 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 Sunday in the first Wimbledon final between the two top-seeded men since 1982.

French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria stayed at No. 3, followed by Carlos Moya and Tim Henman. David Nalbandian, who skipped Wimbledon with an injury, fell from fourth to sixth, while 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero -- who briefly was No. 1 last year -- slid two spots to seventh after losing in Wimbledon's third round.

Rainer Schuettler is No. 8, Lleyton Hewitt is No. 9, and Andre Agassi is No. 10.

In the ATP Champions Race, calculated with results at top tournaments this season, Federer has 746 points to Coria's 479. Roddick, sixth in the Champions Race after the French Open, moved up to No. 3, with 454 points.

It looks like balance is coming to the women's game now. Now it seems that the men's game is being dominated by Federer. gonna have to stazrt rooting against him now, I suppose.

I'm not familiar with the Champions race, how do they keep score of that?

You know i'm not eactly sure how they do the points and ranking system. I'm sure Ben explained it once but i can't remember.