Chris Evert

NEWPORT, R.I. -- With George Bush doing the presenting, Chris Evert was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame yesterday.Playing off one of his old phrases, the former president said Evert was not a kinder, gentler tennis player. Indeed, dismissing such notions may be her greatest legacy."People are always asking me how I'd like to be remembered," Evert said at the conclusion of her acceptance speech. "If I helped at all, I think it was with the notion of it being OK for a woman to be athletic, to be competitive, to be tough, to be determined.

Beckhams end debate Andrea Adelson, Orlando Sentinel If you are going to gush over athlete/celebrity couples, then you have to gush about the most glamorous, most famous, most recognizable couple in the world: David and Victoria Beckham. They are talented, gorgeous and powerful. They could be the most photographed couple by paparazzi and advertisers alike thanks to their good looks and instant marketability. David has left jaws dropping with his bending kicks and his bulging biceps.

Evert, Mill expecting child in OctoberChris Evert, the former U.S. Open women's tennis champion, and her husband, Andy Mill, are expecting their first child in early October, the couple said in a statement issued by their office in Aspen, Colo., yesterday."Andy and I are thrilled. We've been looking forward to starting a family for some time," said Evert, 36.The couple are currently at their residence in Aspen, where Mill -- a two-time U.S. Olympic skier -- is working as a television commentator on the World Cup.Evert, who works as a television analyst on tennis, said she planned to work at least through July and then take time off to prepare for the baby.

Lindsay Davenport , one of just four women to hold the year-end world No.1 ranking four times, has agreed to play in the Baltimore Community Foundation Tennis Challenge next month, joining the world's No. 1 doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan , and U.S. Open giant-killers Melanie Oudin and John Isner . "Lindsay is a future Hall of Famer," tournament chairwoman Pam Shriver said. "She ranks along side of Steffi Graf , Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert as one of only four players who have been ranked year-end No. 1 on four occasions.

After six sets of doubles spread over two nights, it was long past the time for some good old-fashioned singles play. And Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova certainly didn't disappoint the Virginia Slims Legends Tour crowd last night at the Baltimore Arena.Shriver admitted to being nervous before the match. Imagine someone who, at age 16, played in the final of the U.S. Open in the cavernous Flushing Meadows stadium in New York and before a national television audience against Chris Evert getting a case of sweaty palms nearly two decades later.

It took awhile for the women to get warmed up at the Virginia Slims Legends Tour matches last night at Baltimore Arena. But once that was accomplished, slam-bang tennis broke out all over the place."

Lindsay Davenport , one of just four women to hold the year-end world No.1 ranking four times, has agreed to play in the Baltimore Community Foundation Tennis Challenge next month, joining the world's No. 1 doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan , and U.S. Open giant-killers Melanie Oudin and John Isner . "Lindsay is a future Hall of Famer," tournament chairwoman Pam Shriver said. "She ranks along side of Steffi Graf , Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert as one of only four players who have been ranked year-end No. 1 on four occasions.

Sweet Baby James turned 50 on Thursday, which reminds me of something my older sister tells me on my birthday."My birthdays don't bother me - yours do," she says. She started telling me this when I was 30, then 35, now 39. She's in the quicksand 40s, but she only gets depressed on my birthdays.James Taylor's birthday is getting to me, even though there's no evidence his age is bothering him. He just won a Grammy for his record "Hourglass." And he's not exactly sitting around moping at his Martha's Vineyard spread.

Rare is the day when you know with certainty that a sport is evolving right before your eyes, but such was the case with Serena Williams' victory in the U.S. Open.The headlines said she beat her older sister, Venus, to a Grand Slam title, and also became the first African-American woman since Althea Gibson to win the Open -- fascinating and historic developments.But she also changed her game forever in beating the fourth, second and first seeds to take the title.With the power and speed she used to run through Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis, she sent a blunt message to the rest of the game:Never again will your old, reliable combination of touch, guile and shot-making be enough.

David Halberstam had been planning to speak about the 1950s for the Frank R. Kent Memorial Lecture at Johns Hopkins University tonight. But Tonya Harding changed his mind.Rather, it was the media's overheated coverage of the Olympic skater's trials and tribulations that got him concerned -- along with what he sees as the increasing tendency of the press to concentrate on the trivial at the expense of the important.So he's shelved his original topic, "The Fifties -- Then and Now," in favor of a speech that will pointedly criticize much of modern journalism, he said in a phone conversation from his New York home.

Rare is the day when you know with certainty that a sport is evolving right before your eyes, but such was the case with Serena Williams' victory in the U.S. Open.The headlines said she beat her older sister, Venus, to a Grand Slam title, and also became the first African-American woman since Althea Gibson to win the Open -- fascinating and historic developments.But she also changed her game forever in beating the fourth, second and first seeds to take the title.With the power and speed she used to run through Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis, she sent a blunt message to the rest of the game:Never again will your old, reliable combination of touch, guile and shot-making be enough.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Jennifer Capriati used to be a tennis phenom. Now, she's a cautionary tale.At 14, she was the bright hope of the women's tour, a giggling millionaire with an entourage, a string of endorsements and a seemingly unlimited future. Now, she's 22, a survivor of burnout and stifled comebacks.Yesterday, Capriati returned to Wimbledon for the first time since 1993. She had a wild-card entry and a match far from the Centre Court stage against Australia's Nicole Pratt.Capriati won, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. She displayed some of the moves that once made her a force in the women's game.

After six sets of doubles spread over two nights, it was long past the time for some good old-fashioned singles play. And Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova certainly didn't disappoint the Virginia Slims Legends Tour crowd last night at the Baltimore Arena.Shriver admitted to being nervous before the match. Imagine someone who, at age 16, played in the final of the U.S. Open in the cavernous Flushing Meadows stadium in New York and before a national television audience against Chris Evert getting a case of sweaty palms nearly two decades later.

It took awhile for the women to get warmed up at the Virginia Slims Legends Tour matches last night at Baltimore Arena. But once that was accomplished, slam-bang tennis broke out all over the place."

Sweet Baby James turned 50 on Thursday, which reminds me of something my older sister tells me on my birthday."My birthdays don't bother me - yours do," she says. She started telling me this when I was 30, then 35, now 39. She's in the quicksand 40s, but she only gets depressed on my birthdays.James Taylor's birthday is getting to me, even though there's no evidence his age is bothering him. He just won a Grammy for his record "Hourglass." And he's not exactly sitting around moping at his Martha's Vineyard spread.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Monica Seles walked off the court quickly, collecting her rackets, her bag and her five bodyguards. She ignored the autograph collectors and plowed straight ahead, right through the crowd, right out of Wimbledon.Yesterday, Seles lost in the third round to unseeded Sandrine Testud of France, 0-6, 6-4, 8-6.She lost a match she should have won.She lost after leading 5-2 in the third set, after discarding a match point, after failing to stay in rallies with a persistent opponent who simply did not want to lose.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Jennifer Capriati used to be a tennis phenom. Now, she's a cautionary tale.At 14, she was the bright hope of the women's tour, a giggling millionaire with an entourage, a string of endorsements and a seemingly unlimited future. Now, she's 22, a survivor of burnout and stifled comebacks.Yesterday, Capriati returned to Wimbledon for the first time since 1993. She had a wild-card entry and a match far from the Centre Court stage against Australia's Nicole Pratt.Capriati won, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. She displayed some of the moves that once made her a force in the women's game.

Beckhams end debate Andrea Adelson, Orlando Sentinel If you are going to gush over athlete/celebrity couples, then you have to gush about the most glamorous, most famous, most recognizable couple in the world: David and Victoria Beckham. They are talented, gorgeous and powerful. They could be the most photographed couple by paparazzi and advertisers alike thanks to their good looks and instant marketability. David has left jaws dropping with his bending kicks and his bulging biceps.

It is an inescapable adjective when discussing the intriguing and confounding career of a tennis player -- or is it former tennis player? -- Jennifer Capriati. The word is dysfunctional, and it applies to Capriati, her family, her business handlers, the leaders of her sport and, finally, a life that metamorphosed from fairy tale to horror story.Long before her dream spun out into drugs and despair, Capriati was marketed as that uniquely American phenomenon, a "can't-miss kid." Although no one has missed the opportunity to profit from her, Capriati has thus far missed out on happiness.

NEWPORT, R.I. -- With George Bush doing the presenting, Chris Evert was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame yesterday.Playing off one of his old phrases, the former president said Evert was not a kinder, gentler tennis player. Indeed, dismissing such notions may be her greatest legacy."People are always asking me how I'd like to be remembered," Evert said at the conclusion of her acceptance speech. "If I helped at all, I think it was with the notion of it being OK for a woman to be athletic, to be competitive, to be tough, to be determined.