That has been evidenced by the strong fields he traditionally attracts every March to his Lipton Championships in Florida, a combined men's and women's event.

This week at the Lipton Championships, in Key Biscayne, Fla., where Venus is the defending champion, both are seeded.

But he said he would very much like to stage a men's and women's tournament, similar to the Lipton Championships, at the Connecticut Tennis Center.

The 1995 Lipton Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts.

Seles now expects to make her 1997 debut at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla., later this month.

The top-seeded man hasn't won this tournament, which until this year was known as the Lipton Championships, since Pete Sampras in 1994.

Like twin juggernauts, the Williams siblings went for the jugular today in the women's semifinals at the Lipton Championships.

If not, she will probably return to action in the United States two weeks later at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Williams's second event will be the Lipton Championships later this month at Key Biscayne, Fla., but beyond that, she is not making any promises.

Monica Seles withdrew from the Lipton Championships because of a shoulder injury, tournament officials said today.