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Richard Williams lets daughters do their own thing

If Richard Williams, father of tennis stars Serena and Venus, is the overbearing parent many believe him to be, you'd never know it these days.

He skipped the French Open. And he might miss Wimbledon.

"Right now, it's not in my travel plans," the 60-year-old said last week from his home in Palm Beach Gardens.

What gives? Business.

Williams has been on the road quite a bit lately promoting a sports drink. During the French Open final, in which Serena beat Venus, he was in New Orleans. Later this month he'll make stops in California, Texas and Canada.

"I didn't get a chance to watch any of (the French Open final)," Williams said. "But right now, they should really know what to do. The thing that Serena and Venus have is target training. That comes from listening. And you don't have to be there when a person listens."

Despite being separated by the Atlantic Ocean, Williams kept in touch with his daughters at Roland Garros.

"I talked to them almost every day," he said. "They called in a lot. Too much, actually."

ONE LAST HURRAH?: Despite his lowest Wimbledon seeding in years, 30-year-old Pete Sampras emerged with a favorable draw. At least on paper.

The seven-time champion appeared to receive a break when fifth seed Tommy Haas withdrew to remain in Sarasota with his parents, who were injured in a recent motorcycle accident. Haas' absence moved Sampras up one spot from No. 7, in which he would have played top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals. Instead, he could meet second seed Marat Safin in the quarters. Safin is less accomplished than Hewitt on grass but leads the ATP Tour Champions Race, is 33-13 this year, beat Sampras in the 2000 U.S. Open final and holds a 4-3 series lead.

Sampras last won Wimbledon in 2000.

MORE ABSENCES: Haas isn't the only big name to miss Wimbledon. Defending men's champion Goran Ivanisevic is out with an injury (shoulder), as are two prominent women, No. 6 Lindsay Davenport (knee) and No. 9 Martina Hingis (foot), both former top-ranked players. Hingis had surgery in May and is rehabilitating at her home in Saddlebrook. She is expected to meet with doctors next week in her native Switzerland.

ONE AND DONE? Hewitt has a potentially dangerous draw. He faces serve-and-volley specialist Jonas Bjorkman in the first round. Hewitt is 4-0 against Bjorkman, but three of the matches were close. Later he could meet 16th-seeded Nicolas Escude in the fourth round (Escude beat Hewitt at Wimbledon last year) and seventh seed Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Federer snapped Sampras' 31-match win streak at Wimbledon last year and beat Hewitt three months ago in the Nasdaq-100 semifinals.

GRASS TUNEUP: No. 8 Jelena Dokic, a Tampa resident, has not broken through at a Grand Slam championship, but the 19-year-old native of Yugoslavia is on a roll nevertheless heading into Wimbledon. Dokic claimed her fifth career title and second of the year Sunday at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, England, on grass. She hopes to use it as a springboard into Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round last year and semifinals in 2000. ODDS AND ENDS: The Tennis Channel, scheduled to launch this year, is expected to broadcast the WTA Tour's Sarasota Open and Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island next year. ... ESPN will air the Nov. 6-11 WTA Tour Championships from Los Angeles. The final will be shown in prime time opposite ABC'S Monday Night Football. ... Former University of Florida standout Lisa Raymond recently cracked the top 25 in career earnings. She's 24th with $4,167,564. Raymond, a two-time NCAA singles champion, is the world's top doubles player.

-- Information from other news organizations used in this report.

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