Tennis

Boys Player of the Year Joey Atas, freshman, Calvert Hall: Atas dominated the MIAA A Conference, the area's toughest league, with a 9-0 record. Ranked first in the Mid-Atlantic region by the U.S. Tennis Association for players 14 and under, and 20th nationally, Atas used his serve-and-volley game to overpower opponents. Calvert Hall coach Pat Barrows describes him as "a phenomenal player." He defeated senior Amir Zamani of Gilman for the A Conference title. "Joey has a complete game," Zamani said.

The county's regular-season tennis champion won't be decided until after the county tournament next week, but Atholton took a big step in that direction with a victory at Wilde Lake on Wednesday.The Raiders improved to 12-1 with a 5-4 victory over the Wildecats, avenging their only loss of the season. Wilde Lake, which beat Atholton, 6-3, on April 9, is in second place at 12-2.With the match tied at four-all, Atholton's No. 6 Melanie Scheich, playing the second girls singles, outlasted Rachael Lax, 9-8 (7-5 tie-breaker)

The waiting and wondering are over. Monica Seles is returning to competitive tennis, as of tomorrow's ballyhooed exhibition against Martina Navratilova (Ch. 13, 2 p.m.) at the Atlantic City (N.J.) Convention Center.But CBS analyst Mary Carillo, who will call the match alongside Tim Ryan, cautions against quick assessments of Seles' physical and mental condition from the match."It [the match] is meaningful only in that it will be her first time. I don't think the outcome or even her performance is all that important.

She was only 16, only 16, already a 6-footer, and from Baltimore, not exactly the cradle of tennis champions. "I was a pretty unusual package," Pam Shriver was saying the other day, thinking back to the late summer of 1978, when she became the youngest U.S. Open finalist ever.Her racket was the strangest part of it all, though. She just had to walk onto a court at the Open and the crowds started humming. Her racket was . . . was . . . just amazing. It was this big butterfly net laced up tightly with acres and acres of string.

STAY-AT-HOME mom Gina Asher has returned to Glenelg from Tucson, Ariz., where she played in the 1999 National Championships for USA League Tennis last weekend."

You may have noticed that the best way to sell something these days, whether it's a product or your very self, is to package it with a bit of attitude.Consider that the jersey of Latrell Sprewell, who got an involuntary paid vacation because he tried to give P.J. Carlesimo a finger necklace without a clasp, sells more than that of any other New York Knicks player. Meanwhile, David Robinson and Tim Duncan of San Antonio, both solid citizens whose only hook is sterling play, are thought of as weird or even worse, freaks, because they aren't weird or freaks and don't carry "attitudes."

Robert B. Hardiman, a district manager for a Baltimore pest control company and an avid tennis player, died Friday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of heart failure resulting from sepsis. He was 63. Born in Baltimore and raised in Essex, Mr. Hardiman was a 1961 graduate of Kenwood High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1965 from what is now Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va. Drafted into the Army in 1965, Mr. Hardiman was assigned to Okinawa for two years in finance and accounting while a member of the Army tennis team.

Pam Shriver has a pretty good record when it comes to judging future talent. Over the years, she has presented Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, Serena and Venus Williams and, just last year, Maria Sharapova - who is now ranked No. 4 in the world - as future stars of the game. "But we've never had future men," Shriver said. "That's a little bit harder to judge." Friday at the Mercantile Tennis Challenge, Shriver's annual exhibition that raises money for children's charities, Shriver will try her hand at introducing future stars of the men's game.

Robert Emmet Bradley Jr., a Baltimore-area tennis professional and part-owner of the city's short-lived professional tennis team, died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. He was 70. A resident of Roland Park until he moved to South Carolina last year, Mr. Bradley ran area summer camps for junior players for 17 years. "He really loved the game, and he was very dedicated to junior players," said David C. Iglehart, a tennis professional at the Suburban Club in Pikesville.

NEW YORK -- At some point today, Cal Ripken will receive a gift from Pam Shriver and her fellow players at the U.S. Open.Shriver, an Orioles part-owner who plans to be at Camden Yards when Ripken ties Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games if her tennis schedule permits, will present Ripken with a framed 1995 U.S. Open poster signed by some of tennis' biggest stars.From Pete Sampras: "To Cal, a class act on and off the field. Keep up the fine example."From Jim Courier: "Cal, a true American hero, keep up the great work."