Mary Joe Fernandez

NEW YORK -- Radka Zrubakova kept waiting for the real Mary Joe Fernandez to show up yesterday at the U.S. Open."I think she was playing weird all match, because she was making all the mistakes," Zrubakova said. "That is not very usual about her game. I expected her to play a little bit stronger."But Fernandez, the No. 5 seed, was bothered by the heat and slowed down by a pulled left hip flexor. She could do little but stand around and watch as Zrubakova rubbed her out of the second round, 6-1, 6-2."

NEW YORK -- Venus Williams watched Mary Joe Fernandez slip on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court late yesterday afternoon, and a look of pain and concern immediately crossed her face.As Fernandez sat there, checking her body parts, Williams crossed the court to her side."I'm sorry, Mary," Williams said. "You OK, Mary?""No, but that's OK," Fernandez told her, adding she would probably be all right later.But it was the beginning of the end for Fernandez yesterday. A strained quadriceps curtailed her mobility and short-circuited her game plan, and Williams' game improved.

WASHINGTON -- She's the No. 5 player in the world and the No. 3 seed in the Virginia Slims of Washington, but Mary Joe Fernandez found herself in a vulnerable spot when she lost the first three games of last night's match against Gigi Fernandez, and was facing break point in the fourth."

WIMBLEDON, England -- For the American women at Wimbledon, it doesn't get much worse than this:They're gone. Out by the quarterfinals.Yesterday, No. 11-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez made the last stand for the Americans and lost to No. 3 Jana Novotna, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, in the round of 16.Fernandez fought hard for hours.She endured rain delays.She tried to shake off one controversial line call after another.She even attempted to stand up to Novotna's punishing serve-and-volley game.And still, she lost, floating one last backhand long, filing out of Court 1 and right out of the Wimbledon draw.

NOTTINGHAM, England -- Mary Joe Fernandez outlasted Jana Novotna, 6-4, 0-6, 9-7, in an error-dominated match yesterday to lead the United States into the final of the Federation Cup.The U.S. team will meet top-seeded Spain today.Fernandez's victory and Jennifer Capriati's earlier 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Radka Zrubakova clinched victory for the U.S. team in its best-of-three semifinal with Czechoslovakia.Zina Garrison and Gigi Fernandez then completed a 3-0 sweep with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Eva Sviglerova and Regina Rajchrtova in doubles.

HAARLEM, Netherlands -- Martina Navratilova was relieved to finish her first day as U.S. Federation Cup captain with a split of the first two matches in her country's first-round series yesterday with the Netherlands.The United States was playing without its top two stars, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport, who declined to compete in the first round, so Chanda Rubin and Mary Joe Fernandez opened the defense of the United States' 1996 Fed Cup title. Rubin came through; Fernandez stumbled.

NEW YORK -- Defending U.S. Open women's champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was upset last night by No. 14 Mary Joe Fernandez, who came on the court with her right thigh wrapped and her prospects dim.Few gave Fernandez much of a chance against No. 3 Sanchez Vicario. But it was Fernandez who showed the heart to pull out a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 fourth-round victory.It was the earliest exit for a defending U.S. Open women's champion since 1986."I am a human being. It is impossible to always get things when you want them," said Sanchez Vicario.

HOUSTON -- Top-seeded Monica Seles beat Mary Joe Fernandez for the fifth straight time yesterday, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Virginia Slims of Houston.It was the second victory in Houston for Seles, who had won her first career tournament here in 1989.Fernandez of Miami played aggressively, but it wasn't enough to overpower the world's No. 1-ranked player. Fernandez, seeded second, is ranked fifth.Seles struggled through much of the first set, but finally broke Fernandez in the sixth game and moved ahead, 5-2. Fernandez broke back two games later, but Seles served out the set.The Yugoslav, who handled 84 percent of Fernandez's first serves, broke twice more in the second set.Fernandez lost the match with a backhand net error on her return of serve.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Pam Shriver can now do what she should have been doing all along -- take care of the stress fracture in her leg.But to convince her, it took a 6-2, 6-2 beating at the hands of Larisa Neiland and Jana Novotna yesterday to eliminate the women's doubles team of Shriver and Liz Smylie."

BARCELONA, Spain -- Jennifer Capriati, who has run into her share of problems this year, found a way to qualify for the women's single final today against Germany's Steffi Graf.Capriati defeated Spain's Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, on Wednesday to advance the women's final, and Graf beat American Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-4, 6-2.The semifinal victory is part of a resurgence for Capriati, who earlier this year was battling a weight problem and, reportedly, fighting with her father. She was eliminated in the quarterfinals of all three Grand Slam tournaments this year.

HAARLEM, Netherlands -- Martina Navratilova was relieved to finish her first day as U.S. Federation Cup captain with a split of the first two matches in her country's first-round series yesterday with the Netherlands.The United States was playing without its top two stars, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport, who declined to compete in the first round, so Chanda Rubin and Mary Joe Fernandez opened the defense of the United States' 1996 Fed Cup title. Rubin came through; Fernandez stumbled.

Three years ago, neither Monica Seles nor Mary Joe Fernandez was sure she'd find her way back to professional tennis.Seles' ordeal was a public one: She was stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in April 1993.Fernandez's struggle was a private one: In August 1993, she underwent surgery to find out what had been causing searing abdominal pain for six years.Fernandez remembers her last thought on the way to the operating room as, "This could be it. I may never play tennis again."

WIMBLEDON, England -- Meredith McGrath, her face shining with a freshness born of many Swiss hikes and bike rides, seemed to glow as she walked off Court No. 2 yesterday after upsetting No. 9 seed Mary Joe Fernandez to become the only unseeded woman in tomorrow's Wimbledon semifinals.In a battle between Americans on the court known as the graveyard for seeded players, the lesser-known McGrath virtually overwhelmed two-time quarterfinalist Fernandez, who seemed to be struggling with back and leg pain, though she would not comment on it."

NEW YORK -- Defending U.S. Open women's champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was upset last night by No. 14 Mary Joe Fernandez, who came on the court with her right thigh wrapped and her prospects dim.Few gave Fernandez much of a chance against No. 3 Sanchez Vicario. But it was Fernandez who showed the heart to pull out a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 fourth-round victory.It was the earliest exit for a defending U.S. Open women's champion since 1986."I am a human being. It is impossible to always get things when you want them," said Sanchez Vicario.

WIMBLEDON, England -- They did not want to be here. Lindsay Davenport couldn't hit one shot in anger. Mary Joe Fernandez couldn't bear to play the last set.But someone had to win yesterday's fourth-round match between friends to become the last American woman left standing at Wimbledon.And the winner was Fernandez, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1."It was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be," Fernandez said. "It's hard playing a good friend. You go out there and you're a little nervous and you don't get too excited when you're winning.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Mary Joe Fernandez, once regarded as the best American women's tennis player, has given way to Lindsay Davenport.That bond has cemented their friendship. But now, they'll have to play a round-of-16 match at Wimbledon that each wished to avoid -- against each other."Yeah, I know, I've got Lindsay next," Fernandez said yesterday after walking off the court, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Miriam Oremans. "It's actually nice because at least one of us will get to the quarterfinals.

Hurricanes' Erickson signs 5-year contractCoach Dennis Erickson, who repeatedly has said he'll stay with the Miami Hurricanes rather than take an NFL job, put the pledge in writing on a new five-year contract yesterday.Erickson has led the Hurricanes to the national championship in two of his three seasons at Miami. In the past month he has been mentioned as a candidate for several vacant NFL jobs.This season, the Hurricanes shared the national championship with Washington. The Huskies were No. in the coaches' poll.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Mary Joe Fernandez, once regarded as the best American women's tennis player, has given way to Lindsay Davenport.That bond has cemented their friendship. But now, they'll have to play a round-of-16 match at Wimbledon that each wished to avoid -- against each other."Yeah, I know, I've got Lindsay next," Fernandez said yesterday after walking off the court, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Miriam Oremans. "It's actually nice because at least one of us will get to the quarterfinals.

NEW YORK -- This time last year, Mary Joe Fernandez was recovering from surgery and rediscovering how much she loved playing the pro tennis tour.Yesterday, as she was putting every ounce of strength she possessed into the physical on-court battle with Patty Fendick in a second-round match at the U.S. Open, it was her mental determination that got her through it.Fernandez, down 3-2 in the third-set tiebreaker, rallied and went against character by deciding to...

WIMBLEDON, England -- Pam Shriver can now do what she should have been doing all along -- take care of the stress fracture in her leg.But to convince her, it took a 6-2, 6-2 beating at the hands of Larisa Neiland and Jana Novotna yesterday to eliminate the women's doubles team of Shriver and Liz Smylie."