Jana Novotna

The atmosphere in the Harbor Court ballroom crackled with excitement. It might have been all the celebrity-signed sports memorabilia up for grabs at the Chevy Chase Bank Tennis Challenge's player-welcome reception and silent auction. Maybe all the sports celebrities themselves mingling in the crowd, celebs like tennis stars Zina Garrison, Jana Novotna, Richey Reneberg and Tim Wilkison, former Baltimore Colt Toni Linhart, and Philadelphia Eagle Sean Landeta. Perhaps it was anticipation for the next night's tennis tournament featuring Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick (see Around Town)

WIMBLEDON, England -- The Nuprin stayed in the bottle for the first game yesterday, and Pam Shriver took it as a sign that the stress fracture in her leg is not getting worse.Certainly, it didn't seem to affect the outcome of the quarterfinal doubles match that Shriver and partner Liz Smylie won, 6-3, 6-4, over No. 3 seeds Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Helena Sukova."I think Arantxa wasn't feeling very well physically, but then neither am I," said Shriver, of Lutherville, Md. "Helena also was probably down, because of the way she lost to Martina [Navratilova]

WIMBLEDON, England -- Steffi Graf said she needed some competition, needed a little push to raise her game after beating all the scared kids, overmatched veterans and other hangers-on of the women's tour.Well, it took nearly two weeks, but Graf got a challenge in the Wimbledon semifinals yesterday.Jana Novotna gave Graf 2 hours and 10 minutes of tennis torment. She gave Graf junk balls up the middle, dragged her kicking and screaming to the net, even made her lose her first set in the tournament.

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 -- Jana Novotna had streaked through this Wimbledon like a comet. Her mental and physical game had merged into a wonderful blaze of light that had blinded Gabriela Sabatini and Martina Navratilova in quarterfinal and semifinal victories.Novotna, the No. 8 seed, the Czech woman who would be the biggest dark horse to win Wimbledon since eighth-seeded American Karen Hantze-Susman won 31 years ago, was in the midst of doing exactly the same thing to No. 1 Steffi Graf, when all at once, the fire went out.Novotna fell back to earth in the final set of the 100th women's Wimbledon championship match yesterday, enabling Graf to claim her fifth title, 7-6 (8-6)

WIMBLEDON, England -- There was Gabriela Sabatini, crouched low, glaring across the net. She was hopping back and forth -- right foot, left foot -- a sentry on guard, waiting to volley.Yes, volley.Having lost the first set to defending Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez yesterday and down 5-1 in the second set, Sabatini scrapped her normal game -- passive junkballs with topspin -- and went straight to the net.And she began knocking off the volleys. Forehand volleys. Backhand volleys. Half-volleys.

WIMBLEDON, England -- The longest doubles final in Wimbledon history -- a five-set, 73-game men's championship -- was suspended last night because of darkness.John McEnroe and Michael Stich were tied with fourth seeds Richey Reneberg and Jim Grabb at 13-13 in the final set. They had played 4 hours, 27 minutes.NBC cut away for the U.S.-Venezuela basketball game at 4 p.m. EDT with the match tied at 10-10 in the fifth set. That was after the network had extended its tennis coverage by one hour.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Her right wrist aches, her back could give out at any time and she hasn't won a grass-court match in two years.So, of course, Steffi Graf, the five-time champion, is the overwhelming favorite to claim the Wimbledon women's title.With Martina Navratilova out of the Wimbledon singles draw for the first time since 1972, Graf is expected to carry the show this year. She'll even add a little spice to the doubles, teaming with Navratilova, who is here to plug a mystery novel and work as a television commentator.

NEW YORK -- Boris Becker was not making history two years ago. At the age of 25, he was becoming history.His ranking did not slide, it spiraled, from No. 1 in 1991 to No. 11 in 1993. From being the ATP World Cup champion in 1992 to failing to qualify for the event a year later.But Becker said yesterday, after moving into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open for the first time since winning here in 1989, that he was never really miserable about it because he basically knew why he was playing so badly.

Forget, Novotna win Aussie tuneupSYDNEY, Australia -- Third-seeded Guy Forget won his first singles title outside of his native France yesterday, beating Michael Stich of Germany, 6-3, 6-4, in the final of the New South Wales Open tennis tournament.Earlier yesterday, sixth-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia upset second-seeded Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, 6-4, 6-2, to win the women's singles final.Sanchez Vicario led 3-1 in the first set but then lost seven straight service games. The Spaniard had lost just 13 games without dropping a set in reaching the final.