NEW YORK -- Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim has some advice for WTA officials. ''They need to relax,'' he said. ''They take themselves far too seriously.''

Wertheim wrote this week about Simonya Popova, a gorgeous 17-year-old junior player from Uzbekistan. She sounds too good to be true, maybe because she's not true.

''That's the great thing about fiction,'' Wertheim said.

The WTA, however, was not amused.

Spokesman Chris De Maria called the story deceiving and was annoyed at its emphasis on Simonya's sexuality.

''It was misleading and irritating,'' he said. ''There are a lot of great stories out there. We didn't need a fake one.''

Wertheim dropped hints throughout the piece that Simonya -- a send-up of the current film about a computer-created movie star named ''Simone'' -- is a made-up character.

''It was meant in good fun, playful and hopefully creative,'' he said. ''It was not meant as some grand hoax.''

Sports Illustrated has dabbled in fiction before. In 1985, George Plimpton wrote about New York Mets pitching prospect Sidd Finch, who had a 168 mph fastball. Like Simonya, no one ever located Finch, least of all the Mets.

Look ma, no sleeves
Tommy Haas shook up the USTA by showing up wearing a sleeveless tennis shirt for his first match at the U.S. Open. He was forced to change into something more sedate. Lindsay Davenport's sleeveless look did not disturb officials on Tuesday.

Davenport seemed surprised when she was asked about it following her 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Elena Bovina.

''I don't know what's wrong with my shirt,'' she said. ''It's just a normal shirt. It's a shirt I wear all the time.''

Rockin' Moroccan
Delayed by a daylong rain, Wayne Ferreira and Younes El Aynaoui finally got on court at the National Tennis Center on Monday at 11 p.m., the latest a singles match has ever started in this Grand Slam.

By the time El Aynaoui completed his 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory, it was 2:14 a.m., 12 minutes short of the record for the latest conclusion of a U.S. Open match. In 1993, Mats Wilander defeated Mikael Pernfors in a five-setter that ended at 2:26 a.m.

''I would have loved to have won the latest match ever at the U.S. Open,'' said El Aynaoui, the first Moroccan to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals. ''If I had known, I would have slowed down a bit.''

Poker face
Win or lose the point, the game or the set, U.S. Open quarterfinalist Sjeng Schalken tries not to express a lot of emotion.

''It was my weakest point until three years ago,'' Schalken said. ''That's why I was always around No. 50 (in the rankings). I worked really hard on that because I'm very emotional inside, but I'm not going to show it anymore because I lost so many matches with it.

''It was a big mental problem. I wanted to work on it. I think we started seven years ago. It took me four years to settle down. You get a little older, you get a little more relaxed. You have seen everything.''

Schalken said his anger cost him matches early in his career.

''If you get angry, you don't see what you have to do to win,'' he said. ''You cannot think about tactics anymore. That's why I lose. That's why I'm really quiet.''