When it comes to tennis parents, Sharapova's dad Yuri has the highest profile of anyone except perhaps Richard Williams.  Her mother, meanwhile, is conspicuous by absence. When talking about her mother at the Australian Open, Sharapova said she was the one who made her keep up her studies  in school and now arranges museum visits and sightseeing trips when travelling with her daughter during pre-tournament weeks.

The parents of the other women's semifinalists at Indian Wells receive far less attention, but all three have talked about them a little this week. Both Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic travel with their mothers, and both say dad is the indulgent one.

Ivanovic is reading a little Freud at the moment, which has not only given her some tips on how to analyze her on-court nerves, but also a few insights into the role of parents, Dragana and Miroslav. "This book I'm reading at the moment, it's really amazing.  Childhood has effect in forming the personality and how much it's important that you have actually nice control -- parents, they can show you what's right, what's wrong, you can build your morals and personality of it," she said. "So now looking back, my parents did a great job, and I really admire. I start thinking, it's lots of pressure now on me to be a good role model for my kids in the future."

Ivanovic tends to analyze things herself, she said. "I like sometimes to be philosophical, and my mom and coach they sometimes joke, 'just relax, just enjoy the dinner.'  I try to be too philosophical and talk too much."

Jankovic, meanwhile, turns to her mom for the deep thinking. "My mom had an interest in philosophy, and she's my main philosopher, you know, in my life," she said. "She's the one who's teaching me so many things, because she had the biggest influence in my life.  She has taught me so many things, and I think without her I wouldn't be where I am at the moment."

Like her daughter, Snezana Jankovic is an outgoing personality not afraid to socialize with a wide cross-section of fellow travellers on tour. What makes her mother a "very special tennis parent," said Jankovic, is that she never pushed her to play tennis. "Maybe that's the difference between my mom -- and my parents -- and maybe some of the others which push their kids to play the game and maybe become famous and make money and have a great life."

But when it comes to more material concerns -- like the recent purchase of a $4,000 handbag -- Jankovic knows to go to the other half of the parenting duo, her father Veselin. "With dads and daughters, I mean, he cannot resist not to buy me something really expensive," he laughed. "If I'm going after something, I bring my dad. 'Can dad go with us, mom?'

"I just bought a limited edition of [a] Louis Vuitton bag. I'm like, 'Dad, can you buy me that?'

"'Yes, of course no problem.'

"If I said to my mom [she would say,] 'Oh, now is not the time.' And for her, when she buys
something, it's always the right time!"

Ivanovic and Jankovic have a civil relationship but not a friendly one. One might think that the reservations are mostly on Jankovic's side, thanks to resentment of the attention given to Ivanovic's looks and her greater success on court the last nine months, while Ivanovic feels intimidated and cold-shouldered by the outgoing Jankovic.

The precise dynamic and reasons for the distance are likely to remain shrouded for a long time, but at least on Thursday, it was Ivanovic who came across as the more unyielding one when talking about their recent experience playing Fed Cup together. "We played doubles together and we work well on  the court.  We manage to win that match and we had fun out there.  But obviously we still have different interests and different personalities," she said. "So I can't say it made us become best friends, but, you know, just -- we did the job like we had to, and we played well in doubles."

"We are very, very different girls," observed Jankovic. "Ana is more quiet; I am a little bit more open.  I tend to speak my mind a lot, she's more kind of conservative.  She wouldn't say much, and if she would say, it would be very little.  That's what my opinion is about her. She's more of a shy girl.

"But that doesn't matter.  I mean, we're all individuals and those things don't matter with the tennis game."

Svetlana Kuznetsova, meanwhile, gets along with almost everyone. Yes, you read that right -- Kuznetsova is playing this event. In fact, she's the second seed and defending finalist, scheduled to take on Maria Sharapova in the semifinals.

How's she playing? Who knows? No one's been paying attention. We'll find out in the semifinal against Sharapova. (Last year, we didn't find out till the final against Daniela Hantuchova). The question of why some players attract attention and others don't is an abiding and complex mystery, but it usually involves poor performances in big matches and lack of persona.

But while's she a low-key presence, Kuznetsova is one of the most outgoing and well-liked players on the women's tour, unexpectedly friendly with the Williams sisters and quite familiar even with the reserved Justine Henin. A hip-hop loving Russian who'll walk around with braided hair or take part in a hitting session with another player's pre-teen daughter for fun, it's possible to engage her on a number of topics. Her parents are both involved in professional cycling, and when asked last year if she'd been born on the back of a bike, she didn't miss a beat. "No, on the front wheel."

Does that independent spirit stem from the fact that she had more parental freedom at a younger age than most of her peers?

Kuznetsova was 19 when when she won the US Open in 2004, and neither parent was in her box at the time. This week, she said her father Alexandr had never even thought of going to watch one of her pro matches till after she won the US Open in 2004 -- "He see me play on TV every time I play.  He never saw me play live on the tournament," she said. "He saw me play when I was like 14 in St. Petersburg when I play championship of the city. He wanted to come in 2004 in Kremlin Cup in Moscow. I'm like, 'Dad, you know, I play tennis already since I been seven... 12 years, 13 years.  I'm fine. Just don't bother.'

"First of all, he's very busy.  He is obsessed about his [cycling] team all his life.  Like, I mean, obsessed in a good way.  He's too professional.  He needs to control everybody, how they train, how they do.

"He's building track in St., Petersburg, and then he has to control his team.  I've always been on my own with my mom.  My dad always called my mom every day and check how much I was training.  He was still there, you know -- he's not there, but he's there."

Eventually, Kuznetsova's mother Galina also stopped travelling with her, which may actually have helped her results. "She gets so nervous, my mom.  Like sometimes I remember I was playing and she would start jumping up and down and I would like miss easy ball and go like that."

She doesn't feel their physical presence is really that important. "When they care for you, it's more than enough."