Morariu and Hewitt lift spirit amid tight security

We are here to cover a tennis tournament, one of life's sporting pleasures, a trivial pursuit in the scheme of things, even though $16m (£10.7m) is on offer to competitors at the United States Open, which starts today.

As if to put the event in perspective, the United States Tennis Association arranged a coach trip to Ground Zero for the visiting media yesterday morning, although nobody needed reminding that the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood on this desolate site until 11 September, two days after last year's US Open.

Tonight, as part of the tournament's opening ceremony, the Ground Zero Heroes' Flag – the flag recovered from Manhattan's world financial centre and subsequently raised by US Marines after capturing Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan, will fly over the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

There is a massive police presence in and around the National Tennis Center, at Flushing Meadows, which is situated in Queens, between JFK and La Guardia airports. In spite of the tight security, however, there are sights to lighten the spirits and gladden the heart.

Corina Morariu, a 25-year-old from Detroit, is unlikely to win so much as a set against Serena Williams, the Wimbledon and French Open women's singles champion and world No 1, when they meet in the first round. But that does not matter. The crowd will roar for Morariu simply because she is here, well enough to accept a wild card into the tournament.

Formerly the world No 1 women's doubles player, having partnered Lindsay Davenport to triumph at Wimbledon in 1999, Morariu is in remission from Leukemia. In May 2001, four months after winning the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Ellis Ferreira, of South Africa, Morariu was diagnosed with acute promyelocitic Leukemia (a rapidly progressing type of the disease which affects the production of white blood cells) and underwent intensive chemotherapy.

Throughout her illness, Morariu's fellow competitors on the WTA Tour, knowing she continued to follow tennis on television, sent her get well messages during post-match interviews. She started her comeback at the end of last month, accepting a wild card into the doubles at the Acura Classic in San Diego.

Morariu lost her two previous matches against Serena Williams, both in 1998, in straight sets, and that was before Serena's game developed to the extent that she was able to eclipse her elder sister, Venus. Whatever the outcome of this latest match against Serena, Morariu is already a winner for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, for whom she has become an international sports ambassador.

Which brings us to an encouraging performance by Lleyton Hewitt, the Wimbledon champion and world No 1. Before completing his preparations for his defence of the US Open title, the 21-year-old Australian cheerfully went out in the drizzle on Grandstand Court here on Saturday afternoon to direct a coaching clinic and announce his commitment to the Special Olympics in its campaign to help athletes with mental retardation.

Hewitt has not always endeared himself to the public while in the process of proving himself to be the finest player in the game. He appalled people by calling an umpire "spastic'' during the French Open last year, and was embroiled in controversy here at the US Open after allegedly making a remark about a line-judge that was open to racial interpretation during his match against James Blake, an African-American. Hewitt was given the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, there he was on Saturday, his cap turned back to front, a smile on his face, evidently enjoying himself as much as the group of athletes with special needs with whom he traded shots in the rain. "I've been fortunate to have earned the title of champion in tennis, but Special Olympic athletes earn the title every day of their lives,'' Hewitt said. "Their courage and success over daily challenges is the true definition of 'champion','' the sentiment sounded almost as impressive as the Special Olympics oath: "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.''

The USTA has done itself credit by granting a wild card to the men's doubles partnership of Amir Hadad, of Israel, and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi, of Pakistan. The pair, it may be remembered, drew an enthusiastic following at Wimbledon, where they advanced to the third round. The Pakistan Tennis Federation complained to the International Tennis Federation for sanctioning the partnership, but the ITF president, Francesco Ricci Vitti, stood by the decision in the name of sport.

Soon enough we shall be absorbed in the fluctuations of the tournament: worrying in case Tim Henman's injured right shoulder lets him down before he can rekindle his form and advance to a possible quarter-final confrontation with Greg Rusedski, his British Davis Cup team-mate; wondering if Rusedski will be able to sustain the recent form which brought him victories against the world's top three – Hewitt, Marat Safin and Tommy Haas – and earned him his second title of the year, in Indianapolis. For the moment, however, it is just good to be back.

* Heather Dallas, the All England Club's press officer, died of cancer last Friday evening, aged 56. Heather, who previously worked as a press officer for the Badminton Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, and the Whitbread Round-The-World Yacht Race, was one of the most popular and efficient operators in her field.