Racket

WASHINGTON - Andre Agassi's eyes turned on his racket, which had turned on him throughout the Legg Mason Tennis Classic final, and after three straight forehand errors on Alex Corretja's serve, Agassi, the No. 1 seed, had had enough. Holding his racket firmly, he swung - at his left foot. Whack! And then he swung again. The racket cracked. Agassi, in case no one noticed, was having a very bad afternoon yesterday on his way to a 6-2, 6-3 loss at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center's stadium court.

WIMBLEDON, England -- The 16-year-old kid was pitching a fit. Down 0-2 in the last set, her first service game lost, and here was Martina Hingis pouting, rolling her eyes, chucking her racket into the dust on Centre Court at Wimbledon.The racket was finished.But the kid wasn't.Hingis picked up a new racket and reeled off six of the last seven games to beat Jana Novotna, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, and win the women's singles title at Wimbledon yesterday.At 16 years, 9 months, Hingis became the youngest Wimbledon champion this century.

CHICAGO -- His trademark blond tresses have grown back. The tight, low-riding headband is again in place. And the old wooden racket is back at his side. But the "retro '70s" look is all Bjorn Borg is willing to concede to the past as he attempts a comeback to professional tennis eight years after his retirement.His hopes are high, Borg said recently, but after losing yesterday 6-2, 6-3 to Spain's Jordi Arrese in the first round of the Monte Carlo Open, he said he was not particularly surprised.

NEW YORK - "Vamos, chico!" Another winning forehand crashed off the racket of Rafael Nadal and he was screaming to himself over the applause. Then, as he often does, he clenched his fist as if it was wrapped around a 50-pound dumbbell, his bicep expanding to the size of a softball. "His biceps are bigger than my head," cracked fellow pro Andy Roddick a few days ago as he contemplated the rapid rise of the most photographed man in tennis. The game has known some oversized teenagers, but none who combined such a supreme gift for the game and an imposing physical presence as the 19-year-old prodigy from Mallorca, who has risen in one astonishing season to No. 2 in the world.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton has set aside time this vacation to think about an issue that should mushroom into one of the whoppers of his presidency -- the glaringly inadequate settlement negotiated this spring with the tobacco racket.Not for the first time on a health care issue, the president has been much too slow, timid and marginal.Fortunately, his vacation spot, Massachusetts, contains both the genius who has spotted the real issue -- money -- and the political leader who has labored mightily to keep the health care initiative in Mr. Clinton's hands.

WASHINGTON -- A few days ago, Andre Agassi wondered when repetition turned into tradition. He has been coming to the Legg Mason Tennis Classic for 17 of his 20 pro seasons. Over that time, he'd won five titles here, the only player ever to win that often. But along the way there have been hiccups. Early-round losses he'd rather forget. Last night his first-round match against qualifier Andrea Stoppini, a match he wanted to win desperately, was one of those he'd like to forget. Down a set and having just lost a point to go down 3-0 in the second, Agassi the calm, mature master of his sport, lost his cool and hurled his racket so hard onto the hard court that its graphite head bent and curled in grotesque ugliness.

LOS ANGELES - I have a thing about roaches. Always have. Find them to be incredibly nasty. In a spooky, primordial sort of way. Nothing makes me jump faster than seeing a roach coming my way. You would think I'd be more comfortable around them. We grew up together. My family always had roaches in our homes. Not only did I abhor the roaches themselves but also the socioeconomic baggage that comes with them. The simple equation: Roaches equal poverty. None of my rich friends had roaches.

Louis "Yank" Kurland, who overcame a disfiguring childhood accident to confound local tennis players with his ambidextrous play in the 1920s, died Friday of a blood clot in the brain at the Meridian Brightwood Nursing Center. He was 88.Mr. Kurland, a pharmacist who retired after working 25 years for the state, dazzled courtside fans as a youth with his unique style of play.He was different in more ways than one, his family says.His steel racket and metal strings set him apart from others when there were no wide-body fiberglass and graphite racket frames.

PARIS - Outside, with the heat and humidity forcing two players to quit matches with cramps, Guillermo Coria, Carlos Moya, Tommy Robredo, Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport were turning up the volume with their rackets. Inside, where Russian Marat Safin was fuming, it was even louder. "They just basically destroyed ... they tried to destroy the match," he began with a stutter as he tried to explain what compelled him to pull down his shorts and give the crowd a look at his underwear in the fourth set of his five-set win over Felix Mantilla.

Thomas R. "Tom" Smith, who was once one of the most powerful black politicians in the state, has been nearly forgotten today.At his death in 1938, he was regarded as one of the wealthiest and most generous blacks in Baltimore.In 1912, he opened Smith's Hotel at Druid Hill Avenue and Paca Street, which was described as "a shrine to Baltimore's Negro population," when it was torn down in 1957."Best known as a politician, he also was one of the staunchest guardians of his race in the city," said The Sun in 1938.