On this humid November night in Houston, midway through the third set in the final of the Masters Cup, the ATP's year-end lollapalooza, Roger Federer was playing tennis that ranged from merely sublime to absolutely perfect. Without putting too fine a point on it, the22-year-old from Switzerland was taking the (graphite) whupping stick to his opponent, Andre Agassi. Four strokes by Federer that showcased the manifold qualities required to succeed at tennis's highest level: athleticism, accuracy, cunning, power, concentration. And, in his case, grace. Agassi froze, and then a look of awed resignation registered on his face. "That," he would say admiringly after the match, "was as good as it gets." It was a fitting way to end 2003, the rare year in which tennis generated more light than heat. Andy Roddick became one of the few tennis prodigies to live up to his hype. With his game and a new coach, Brad Gilbert, Roddick won the U.S. Open and finished the year atop the rankings heap. The women's No. 1, Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne, beat a legion of bigger players thanks to her ravishing one-handed backhand and her outsized heart. Pete Sampras, arguably the greatest player ever to draw a breath, retired from the sport. His tearful farewell ceremony was a final rebuttal to the critics who had groused for years that he wasn't sufficiently emotional. Martina Navratilova, at an age (47) that often eclipsed the combined lifetime of her two opponents, won seven WTA doubles titles. Meanwhile, the usual cartoon characters who too often hijack the attention--Anna Kournikova, Damir Dokic, Richard Williams--were, mercifully, unaccounted for. Still, in the end it was Federer who played the scene-stealing role in '03.