Sad but memorable year: Top 10 stories of 2012

Milos Raonic of Canada serves to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the 2012
SAP Open final in San Jose. Raonic won his second straight title in the
tournament, which will be held for the 125th and last time in 2013.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   It was a bittersweet year in Northern California tennis. 
   Officials announced that the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States will leave after 2013, and a legend died at 76. But two former Stanford All-Americans, who happen to be twins, tied an all-time record and won an Olympic gold medal.
   Following are the top 10 stories of 2012, plus five honorable mentions:
   1. Bay Area to lose SAP Open — Northern California fans suffered a crushing blow when it was announced that next February's SAP Open will be the last after 125 years.
   Rio de Janeiro, the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics and a co-host of the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament, will replace San Jose on the ATP World Tour calendar beginning in 2014.
   Past champions include legends Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. But the tournament has struggled to attract top players and big crowds in recent years.
   2. Bryans tie Newcombe-Roche — Bob and Mike Bryan won the U.S. Open for their 12th Grand Slam men's doubles title, tying the all-time record of Australians John Newcombe and Tony Roche.
   The 34-year-old sons of longtime Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan have won five Australian Opens, four U.S. Opens, two Wimbledons and one French Open. And they easily could play another five years.
   3. Bryans win Olympic gold — The Bryans earned their first Olympic gold medal, the only significant men's doubles honor to have eluded them, in London. They took the bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Games.
   4. MacKay dies — Barry MacKay, a Northern California legend, died in San Francisco after a long illness.
   MacKay left an indelible mark as a player, tournament director, promoter and commentator. Nicknamed "The Bear," he was among the friendliest and best-liked members of the tennis community.

Top-seeded Serena Williams won the Bank of the West Classic
at Stanford for the second year in a row. Photo by Paul Bauman

   5. Serena repeats — Top-seeded Serena Williams saved a set point and beat lucky loser CoCo Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-3 to win the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford for the second straight year.
   It was the first all-American final on the WTA tour in the United States since Lindsay Davenport routed Williams 6-1, 6-3 in Los Angeles eight years ago.
   6. Raonic repeats — Dropping only four points on his serve, third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada wore down unseeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (3), 6-2 in San Jose for his second consecutive SAP Open title.
   The 6-foot-5 Raonic won 28 of 31 points, including 17 straight, on his serve in the first set and 16 of 17 in the second set. He never surrendered more than one point in a service game.
   7. Ex-Capitals among top 100 players ever — Tennis Channel's list of the top 100 players of all time included three ex-Capitals: No. 12 Agassi, No. 43 Lindsay Davenport and No. 100 Michael Chang.
   The top 10 in the rankings, chosen by an international panel of experts, were Roger Federer, Laver, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King.

Mark Knowles, right, of the Bahamas won the 55th and last ATP World Tour
doubles title of his career with Xavier Malisse, left, of Belgium in the SAP Open.
Knowles was 40 at the time. Photo by Paul Bauman

   8. Knowles retires — The longtime Capital retired from the ATP World Tour just before his 41st birthday with 55 men's doubles titles, fourth among active players and tied for 15th in the Open Era (since 1968).
   The Bahamas native won three Grand Slam crowns in men's doubles and one in mixed doubles. He reached No. 1 in the world in men's doubles in 2002 and 2004.
   9. Gibbs sweeps NCAA titles — Stanford sophomore Nicole Gibbs became the first woman to sweep the NCAA singles and doubles titles in 17 years and the first Cardinal woman to do it in 27 years.

Stanford's Nicole Gibbs, losing to Serena Williams in the second
round of the Bank of the West Classic on Gibbs' home court,
became the first woman in 17 years to sweep the NCAA singles
and doubles crowns. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Gibbs, seeded third, outlasted doubles partner Mallory Burdette, seeded fifth, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in Athens, Ga., after trailing 4-1 and 5-2 in the second set. Then, in a match moved indoors because of rain, second-seeded Burdette and Gibbs defeated unseeded Nadja Gilchrist and Chelsey Gullickson of host Georgia 6-2, 6-4.
   10. McDonald wins Easter Bowl — After sitting out for eight months last year with a blood disorder, Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont won the boys 18 singles title at the prestigious Easter Bowl in the Palm Springs suburb of Rancho Mirage.

   McDonald, seeded third, beat No. 4 Alexios Halebian of Glendale in the Los Angeles area 6-4, 6-1 for his second singles title in the tournament. He also won the singles title in the 14s three years ago. McDonald will be a freshman at UCLA next fall.
   Honorable mention — The Capitals came within a tiebreaker of extending their record to seven World TeamTennis titles as Venus Williams edged Vandeweghe 5-4, giving the Washington Kastles a 20-19 victory in Charleston, S.C. It was Washington's 32nd consecutive triumph, the fourth-longest streak in the history of U.S. team sports. ...
   Mardy Fish, a former top-10 player, was plagued throughout the year by an accelerated heartbeat but reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and played two matches for the Capitals. ... 
   Raquel Kops-Jones, a San Jose resident and former NCAA doubles champion from Cal, climbed to a career-high No. 13 in women's doubles. ...  
   Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native and part-time Capital this year, defeated Novak Djokovic en route to the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters. ...  
   Maria Sanchez of Modesto won the inaugural Gold River Women's Challenger in the Sacramento area.  

Top Sacramento seeds recall epics vs. Agassi

James Blake, the reigning Sacramento Challenger champion,
lost to Andre Agassi in one of the greatest matches in U.S.
Open history. Photo by Paul Bauman

   For James Blake, it was one of the two most memorable matches of his career. For Benjamin Becker, it was perhaps the most-hyped match he has ever played.
   The top two seeds in October's $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger in Sacramento are in the twilight of their careers, but they will always be linked to Andre Agassi.
   Both Blake and Becker were 25 when they faced Agassi in career-defining encounters at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the U.S. Open. Agassi was 35 and 36, respectively. Each match was played in front of almost 24,000 fans and a national television audience.
   Blake, a wild card, lost in a weeknight epic. Becker, a qualifier, won in a Labor Day matinee. Both players had mixed feelings afterward.
   In one of the greatest matches in U.S. Open history, Blake lost to the seventh-seeded Agassi 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in an All-American quarterfinal in 2005. One year later, Germany's Becker ended the unseeded Agassi's legendary career with a 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5 triumph in the third round.

   San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins covered the Agassi-Blake battle and wrote: "The people wanted neon, fireworks and memories, all of which they got, three times over. Many points were immediately preceded by thunderous standing ovations. There were so many astonishing shots, from both men, they could not possibly be recounted here."

Benjamin Becker, the top seed in this year's Sacramento Challenger, ended
Agassi's career in the 2006 U.S. Open. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Blake was coming back from a nightmarish 2004. He broke his neck when he slipped on a wet clay court chasing a drop shot during practice in Rome and hit his head on the net post. His father died two months later. Then he developed zoster, a viral disease often caused by stress that temporarily paralyzed the left side of his face and affected his balance. Blake rebounded to earn the ATP World Tour Comeback Player of the Year award in 2005.
   Blake served for the match against Agassi at 5-4 in the fifth set, but Agassi broke back with the help of two crushing returns. Agassi, playing in his 20th straight U.S. Open, was extended to a fifth-set tiebreaker in the tournament for the first time. After 2 hours, 51 minutes, he converted his second match point at 1:09 a.m.      

   "It couldn't have been more fun to lose," Blake told Agassi as they embraced at the net amid a long standing ovation in the still-packed stadium.
   "For 20,000 people to still be here, I wasn't the winner; tennis was," Agassi, the 1994 and 1999 U.S. Open champion and oldest man to reach the semifinals there since Jimmy Connors in 1991, told the crowd. "I don't know if I've ever felt this good here before."
   Blake, who will turn 33 on Dec. 28, won the Sacramento Challenger as the second seed. During the tournament, he was asked if the Agassi showdown was the most memorable match of his career.
   "Probably," Blake replied. "Either that one or the Davis Cup match were we won (the title) in Portland (Ore.). I beat (Russia's Mikhail) Youzhny in three tiebreakers. They're both pretty memorable."
   Blake outlasted Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3) to give the United States a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Davis Cup final in 2007. The U.S. went on to defeat Russia 4-1 and end a 12-year Davis Cup title drought, the Americans' longest since the prestigious competition began in 1900. The U.S., which has won a record 32 Davis Cup championships, has not won the Cup since 2007.
   Blake most remembers the match point he saved against Agassi.
   "I hit a forehand inside in that he actually wrote about in his book ('Open,' published in 2009)," Blake said. "He said it was (10) feet from anywhere he thought I had a chance of going with that ball. ... I'm going to take my rips. I've practiced it a million times, so I might as well go for it now."
   But Agassi promptly closed out the match. He dispatched another American, Robby Ginepri, in the semifinals before losing to Roger Federer in four sets in the last Grand Slam final of Agassi's career. Blake, who climbed to a career-high No. 4 in the world in 2006, also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open that year and the Australian Open in 2008. But Blake, now ranked No. 127, has never gone further in a Grand Slam tournament.
   Naturally, Agassi also wrote in his book about facing Becker, the 2004 NCAA singles champion from Baylor in Waco, Texas. Agassi, who was born with one vertebra out of alignment, was wracked by back pain at the time.
   "Thirty minutes before the match," Agassi wrote, "I get an anti-inflammatory injection, but it's different from the cortisone. Less effective. Against my third-round opponent, Benjamin Becker, I'm barely able to remain standing.
   "I look at the scoreboard. I shake my head. I ask myself over and over, How is it possible that my final opponent is a guy named B. Becker? I told (my coach, Darren Cahill) earlier this year that I wanted to go out against somebody I like and respect, or else against somebody I don't know.                        
   "And so I get the latter."
   Becker, who's not related to countryman and Hall of Famer Boris Becker, lost to Daniel Kosakowski, a 20-year-old wild card from the Los Angeles area, in the first round of the Sacramento Challenger. Becker was still recovering from a torn groin muscle. He said later in the week that the Agassi encounter was not the most memorable match of his career. But it's up there.
   "The most memorable was when I won my only title (on grass in s'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, in 2009) because I felt it was a bigger achievement than beating Agassi, who obviously was not at his best.
   "It was my first time (in the) U.S. Open and first time on center court, Arthur Ashe (Stadium), in front of so many people. It was maybe the most hyped match I've ever played," said Becker, 31.
   The matchup featured two players under 6 feet, a rarity in men's professional tennis. Agassi was listed at 5-11 (180 centimeters) and 177 pounds (80 kilograms) and Becker at 5-10 (178 cm) and 158 pounds (72 kg).
   Despite the hype, Becker said the match wasn't difficult to play.
   "I had nothing to lose," he explained. "I knew I had a chance. I knew I was playing well because I went through qualifying, I won two (main-draw) matches, I felt good about myself, I was confident, I was still young, I just came from college.
   "I enjoyed it. I really just focused on the match. I had no distractions from the crowd or who I was playing. Obviously, I was nervous at the beginning. It wasn't as tough as maybe afterward, trying to play the tournament after you beat Agassi (with) the big hype and media attention I had."
   Andy Roddick, the ninth seed and 2003 U.S. Open champion, dismissed Becker 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in 95 minutes the next day.
   "I was so tired," Becker recalled. "I had maybe 2 1/2 hours of media (after beating Agassi), and obviously we played maybe three hours (actually 3 hours, 1 minute), and I had maybe less than 24 hours to prepare for the Roddick match. Obviously, he was way too good, so I had no chance."
   Becker admitted harboring mixed feelings about beating Agassi. As a junior, Becker idolized Boris Becker and Agassi.
   "It was tough to accept that I deserved to be the one that finishes his big career because I was just a kid coming from college ranked a hundred something (actually No. 112)," Becker said. "So I felt a little bit bad, obviously. As a fan, I would be pissed at myself to think that I was the guy. It would be maybe more appropriate for Roddick to do it, but that's how it was. I just wanted to win the tennis match. That's how I looked at it. I didn't want to beat Agassi -- I just wanted to win the tennis match."
   Becker went on to reach a career-high No. 38 in 2007, but the right-hander has dropped to No. 65 after undergoing two operations on his left elbow last year. He is 1-5 at the U.S. Open since 2006.    

CALENDAR

   Jan. 14-27, 2013 -- AUSTRALIAN OPEN, www.australianopen.org. 2012 champions: Novak Djokovic, Victoria Azarenka, Leander Paes-Radek Stepanek, Svetlana Kuznetsova-Vera Zvonareva.
   Jan. 15 -- Sacramento State men at Stanford in spring season opener for both teams, 1:30 p.m, www.hornetsports.com, www.gostanford.com.
   Jan. 18 -- Stanford women open spring season at Freeman Invitational in Las Vegas and at NCTC Classic in Indian Wells, Calif., times TBA, www.gostanford.com. UC Davis women open spring season vs. Northern Arizona in Tempe, Ariz., 1 p.m., www.ucdavisaggies.com.
   Jan. 19 -- UC Davis men at Santa Clara in spring season opener for both teams, 10 a.m., www.ucdavisaggies.com, www.santaclarabroncos.com.
   Feb. 1 -- Sacramento State women open spring season at Arizona, 12:30 p.m., www.hornetsports.com.
   Feb. 1-3, 2013 -- Davis Cup, first round, United States vs. Brazil in Jacksonville, Fla., www.daviscup.com.
   Feb. 9-10, 2013 -- Fed Cup, first round, United States at Italy, www.fedcup.com.
   Feb. 11-17, 2013 -- SAP Open, HP Pavilion in San Jose, www.sapopentennis.com. 2012 champions: Milos Raonic, Mark Knowles-Xavier Malisse.
   March 4-17, 2013 -- BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, Calif., www.bnpparibasopen.com. 2012 champions: Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka, Marc Lopez-Rafael Nadal, Liezel Huber-Lisa Raymond.
   April 26-28 -- Big Sky Conference men's and women's tournament, Gold River Racquet Club, Gold River, Calif., www.bigskyconf.com.

Agassi wins seniors title in San Jose

   Andre Agassi defeated John McEnroe 8-3 to win the Champions Showdown on Friday night at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.
   Agassi, 42, moved from eighth to fifth in the PowerShares Series standings with three events remaining.
   In the semifinals of the one-night, four-player event, Agassi topped Jim Courier 6-3, and McEnroe downed Todd Martin 6-3.
   Standings: 1. Courier, 1,400 points; 2. McEnroe, 1,200; 3. Pete Sampras, 1,100; 4. Patrick Rafter, 800; 5. Agassi, 500; 6. Michael Chang and Ivan Lendl, 200; 8. Martin and Mats Wilander, 200.       
 

Capitals lose thriller as Kastles extend streak

   The Sacramento Capitals fought valiantly but came up short against the surging Washington Kastles on Wednesday night.
   Washington needed six match points to beat visiting Sacramento 21-19 in overtime and extend its World TeamTennis winning streak to 23 matches dating to July 22, 2010.
   The fourth set proved decisive as former Capital Anastasia Rodionova won 5-0 in women's singles to give the Kastles (7-0) a 16-13 lead in a battle of conference leaders. Yasmin Schnack substituted for Asia Muhammad at 0-2 for Sacramento (4-3).
   Schnack and Mark Knowles saved four match points to beat Rodionova and Leander Paes 5-4 in the final set, mixed doubles, to pull the Capitals within 20-18 and send the match to overtime.
   To ensure that the fifth set of matches are meaningful, WTT rules states that if the team leading after four sets doesn't win the final set, the match continues until either the leading team wins one more game or the opponent overtakes the leader.
   Sacramento escaped one more match point in overtime, which ended 1-1.
   Paes, a 39-year-old Indian, has collected 13 Grand Slam doubles titles (seven men's and six mixed) and two WTT Male MVP awards (2009 and last year). Knowles, 40, from the Bahamas, has earned four Grand Slam doubles crowns (three men's and one mixed) and three WTT Male MVP honors (2001, 2005 and 2007).
   Rodionova, a 30-year-old Russian-born Australian, reached the Wimbledon mixed doubles final in 2003. Schnack, 24, from the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove, played in her first Grand Slam tournament in June, losing in the first round of women's doubles with close friend and former Capital Vania King.
   The Capitals have an excellent chance to reach the playoffs, Sept. 14-16 in Charleston, S.C. Midway through the regular season, they lead the four-team Western Conference by one-half match over Orange County (3-3), two matches over Kansas City (2-5) and three matches over Springfield (1-6). The top two teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs.
   Four of Sacramento's remaining seven matches will be at home, including four of the last five. None of the Capitals' remaining opponents has a winning record, although that will change if Orange County wins Thursday night at Philadelphia (3-4).
   Sacramento will host Orange County on Tuesday night and visit the Breakers the following night. Lindsay Davenport, formerly ranked No. 1 in the world in singles and doubles, is scheduled to play women's doubles and mixed doubles for Orange County on both nights.
   As expected, the Capitals' men have been much stronger than their women. They rank first in the eight-team WTT in men's singles, third in men's doubles, seventh in women's singles and doubles, and fourth in mixed doubles.
   Sacramento's Sam Querrey, who reached No. 17 in the world in January 2011 before undergoing elbow surgery, leads the league in men's singles with a 15-8 (.652) record in games.
   The 6-foot-6 Querrey will end his six-match stint with the team on Sunday, but 6-8 Kevin Anderson of South Africa is scheduled to replace him for the Capitals' last four matches of the regular season. Anderson, ranked 33rd in the world, figures to be just as strong.
   Sacramento will get an unexpected boost on the women's side from CoCo Vandeweghe, who's set to join the team for its last five matches. The 6-foot-1 Vandeweghe, 20, reached the final of last week's Bank of the West Classic at Stanford as a lucky loser and held a set point against five-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams in the title match.
   Part-time Capitals lose -- Anderson and Vandeweghe lost on their respective tours.
   Anderson, a South African seeded fifth, fell to Michael Russell of Houston 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the BB&T Atlanta Open. Russell is one foot shorter than Anderson.
   Wild cards Vandeweghe, playing near her hometown of Rancho Santa Fe, and Mirjana Lucic of Croatia dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision to top-seeded Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open in the San Diego suburb of Carlsbad. 
   Legends to compete in San Jose -- Legends Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Jim Courier will compete in the Champions Showdown on Nov. 16 at HP Pavilion in San Jose.
   The event is part of the PowerShares Series Tour, formerly the Champions Series, for 30-and-over stars that will visit 12 U.S. cities during its seven-week season in October and November.
   Each PowerShares Series event will showcase four legends playing in one-set semifinals followed by a one-set championship match. The tour also features Pete Sampras, Pat Rafter, Michael Chang, Mats Wilander and Todd Martin.
   Tickets for the Champions Showdown, starting at $45, may be purchased at the HP Pavilion ticket office, Ticketmaster.com or (800) 745-3000 beginning Monday. For more information, visit www.PowerSharesSeries.com.
  Downing named to Super Seniors team -- Martha Downing of Shingle Springs, a suburb of Sacramento, will represent the United States at the 32nd ITF Super Seniors World Team Championships, Sept. 10-23 in Croatia.
   The nation's top men and women from age 60 to 80 will compete against teams from more than 30 countries. Up to 1,000 players are expected to participate.
   Joining Downing on the U.S. team in the Alice Marble Cup for women 60 and over are Tina Karwasky of Glendale, Calif., Kerry Young of Maitland, Fla., and Mary Ginnard of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
   Downing, the playing captain of the two-time defending champion Alice Marble Cup team, has played in six Cup team competitions in England, Turkey, Majorca and Australia, and won 27 national titles. She achieved the No. 1 world ranking in 60 singles in 2009, earning seven gold balls (national titles) that year. Last week, Downing was inducted into the Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame.

WORLD TEAMTENNIS

Washington 21, Capitals 19 (OT)

In Washington, D.C.

   Men's doubles -- Leander Paes-Bobby Reynolds (Kastles) def. Mark Knowles-Sam Querrey (Capitals) 5-3.
   Women's doubles -- Asia Muhammad-Yasmin Schnack (Capitals) def. Anastasia Rodionova-Arina Rodionova (Kastles) 5-3.
   Men's singles -- Sam Querrey (Capitals) def. Bobby Reynolds (Kastles) 5-3.
   Women's singles -- Anastasia Rodionova (Kastles) def. Asia Muhammad/Yasmin Schnack (Capitals) 5-0 (Schnack substituted for Muhammed at 0-2).
   Mixed doubles -- Yasmin Schnack-Sam Querrey/Mark Knowles (Capitals) def. Anastasia Rodionova-Leander Paes (Kastles) 5-4 (Knowles substituted for Querrey at 0-1).
   Overtime --Anastasia Rodionova-Leander Paes (Kastles) tied Yasmin Schnack-Mark Knowles (Capitals) 1-1.

PRO RANKINGS

   Following are this week's world rankings of professional players with Northern California ties (change from last week in parentheses):

Men

   Kevin Anderson, Sacramento Capitals (2012) of World TeamTennis -- No. 33 in singles (no change), No. 156 in doubles (-3).
   Bob Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 3 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mike Bryan, 1998 NCAA doubles champion from Stanford -- No. 3 in doubles (no change), unranked in singles.
   Mardy Fish, Capitals (2012) -- No. 13 in singles (no change), No. 722 in doubles (no change).
   John Paul Fruttero, Cal All-American in 2001 and 2002 -- No. 99 in doubles (-4), unranked in singles.
   Bradley Klahn, 2010 NCAA singles champion and 2011 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 657 in singles (+4), No. 862 in doubles (-149). 
   Mark Knowles, Capitals (2001-07, 2009-12), three-time World TeamTennis Male MVP (2001, 2005 and 2007) -- No. 73 in doubles (-3), unranked in singles.
   Scott Lipsky, 2002 NCAA doubles runner-up from Stanford -- No. 35 in doubles (+1), unranked in singles.
   Sam Querrey, San Francisco native, Capitals (2012) -- No. 55 in singles (no change), No. 61 in doubles (no change).
   Ryan Sweeting, Capitals (2012) -- No. 117 in singles (-1), No. 848 in doubles (+1).
   Dmitry Tursunov, Folsom resident -- No. 136 in singles (-2), No. 179 in doubles (-6).
   Jimmy Wang, Folsom resident -- No. 210 in singles (-9), No. 392 in doubles (-3).
   Pedro Zerbini, All-Pacific-10 Conference first team at Cal (2009-11) -- No. 639 in singles (+3), No. 1,003 in doubles (-7).

Women

   Jana Juricova, NCAA singles (2011) and doubles (2009) champion from Cal -- No. 949 in singles (no previous ranking), unranked in doubles.
   Raquel Kops-Jones, 2003 NCAA doubles champion from Cal -- Career-high No. 19 in doubles (no change), No. 710 in singles (+6).
   Asia Muhammad, Capitals (2012) -- No. 185 in doubles (+2), No. 483 in singles (-3).
   Maria Sanchez, Modesto resident -- Career-high No. 137 in doubles (no change), No. 222 in singles (-2).

   Yasmin Schnack, Elk Grove resident, Capitals (2011-12) -- No. 146 in doubles (-1), No. 454 in singles (+1).
   Romana Tedjakusuma, Tracy resident -- No. 495 in singles (+46), No. 1,140 in doubles (+7).

   CoCo Vandeweghe, Capitals (2009, 2012) -- No. 69 in singles (+51), No. 508 in doubles (-7).

TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

   Thursday -- Hamburg (men), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 5:30-11:30 a.m. (live); Bastad (women), early rounds, Tennis Channel, 4-8 p.m. (delay), 8 p.m.-midnight (repeat).
   Friday -- Hamburg (men), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 3-11 a.m. (live), 8-10 p.m. (repeat); Atlanta (men), quarterfinals, ESPN2, 1-6 p.m. (live), Tennis Channel, 6-8 p.m. (live); Bastad (women), quarterfinals, Tennis Channel, 2-6 p.m. (delay); Carlsbad (women), quarterfinals, ESPN2, 8-10 p.m. (live).
   Saturday -- Hamburg (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 4:30-9 a.m. (live), noon-2 p.m. (repeat), 8-10 p.m. (repeat); Atlanta (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 10 a.m.-noon (live), ESPN2, 4-6 p.m. (live); Carlsbad (women), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 2-4 p.m. (live), ESPN2, 8-10 p.m. (live); Bastad (women), Tennis Channel, 4-8 p.m. (delay). 
   Sunday -- Hamburg (men), final, Tennis Channel, 5-7 a.m. (live), 7-9 a.m. (repeat); Atlanta (men), final, ESPN2, noon-2 p.m. (live), Tennis Channel, 5-7 p.m. (repeat); Carlsbad (women), final, ESPN2, 2-4 p.m. (live); Gstaad (men), final, Tennis Channel, 3-5 p.m. (delay); Bastad (women), final, Tennis Channel, 7-9 p.m. (delay). 

CALENDAR

   Thursday -- World TeamTennis, Sacramento Capitals (with Sam Querrey) at Springfield, 5:05 p.m.
   Friday -- Capitals (with Querrey) at Kansas City, 5:35 p.m.
   Sunday -- Springfield at Capitals (with Querrey, CoCo Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   Tuesday -- Orange County (with Lindsay Davenport) at Capitals (with Kevin Anderson, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 25 -- Capitals (with Vandeweghe) at Orange County, 7 p.m.
   July 27 -- Philadelphia (with Mark Philippoussis) at Capitals (with Anderson, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 28 -- Boston at Capitals (with Anderson, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 28-Aug. 5 -- OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT, Wimbledon, www.london2012.com.

Ex-Capital Agassi ranked 12th-best player of all time

   Andre Agassi became the third former Sacramento Capital of World TeamTennis among Tennis Channel's top 100 when he was ranked No. 12 on Thursday's show counting down Nos. 20-11.
   The lifelong Las Vegan, who will turn 42 on April 29, won eight Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal, and he played on two Davis Cup championship teams for the United States. He is one of seven men to win a career Grand Slam, joining Oakland native Don Budge (No. 11 on the list), Fred Perry, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
   Agassi played part-time for the Capitals from 2002, when they won their fifth of a record six WTT titles, to 2004. Also on the list are ex-Capitals Lindsay Davenport (No. 43) and Michael Chang (No. 100).
   Tennis Channel will air a one-hour program counting down No. 10 to No. 1 today at 4 p.m. PDT, 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. The order remains to be seen, but the top 10 apparently are:
   Men -- Rod Laver, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg.
   Women -- Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Margaret Court and Billie Jean King.
   The network also will recap Nos. 100 through 11 today from noon to 4 p.m.
   Here's the list so far:

100 - Michael Chang, M, USA

99 - Ann Haydon Jones, Female, GBR

98 - Henry Bunny Austin, GBR

97 - Pat Cash, M, AUS

96 - Manuel Orantes, M, ESP

95 - Thomas Muster, M, AUT

94 - Andy Roddick, M, USA

93 - Nicola Pietrangeli, M, ITA

92 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, F, RUS

91 - Shirley Fry Irvin, F, USA

90 - Bill Johnston, M, USA

89 - Dorothea Lambert Chambers, F, GBR

88 - Amelie Mauresmo, F, FRA

87 - Mary Pierce, F, FRA

86 - Tony Wilding, M, NZL

85 - Yannick Noah, M, FRA

84 - Norman Brookes, M, AUS

83 - Jan Kodes, M, CZE

82 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov, M, RUS

81 - Vic Seixas, M, USA

80 - Marat Safin, M, RUS

79 - Gabriela Sabatini, F, ARG

78 - Ashley Cooper, M, AUS

77 - Molla Mallory, F, USA

76 - William Renshaw, M, GBR

75 - Pauline Betz Addie, F, USA

74 - Tony Roche, M, AUS

73 - Jaroslav Drobny, M, CZE

72 - Gottfried Von Cramm, M, GER

71 - Maria Sharapova, F, RUS

70 - Patrick Rafter, M, AUS

69 - Louise Brough, F, USA

68 - Helen Hull Jacobs, F, USA

67 - Fred Stolle, M, AUS

66 - Bobby Riggs, M, USA

65 - Pancho Segura, M, ECU

64 - Ellsworth Vines, M, USA

63 - Lleyton Hewitt, M, AUS

62 - Hana Mandlikova, F, CZE

61 - Neale Fraser, M, USA

60 - Virginia Wade, F, GBR

59 - Margaret Osborne Dupont, F, USA

58 - Alice Marble, F,  USA

57 - Jennifer Capriati, F, USA

56 - Stan Smith, M, USA

55 - Gustavo Kuerten, M, BRA

54 - Manuel Santana, M, ESP

53 - Tracy Austin, F, USA

52 - Jack Crawford, M, AUS

51 - Doris Hart, F, USA

50 - Tony Trabert, M, USA

49 - Ilie Nastase, M, ROM

48 - Frank Sedgman, M, AUS

47 -  Jean Borotra, M, FRA

46 -  Henri Cochet, M, FRA

45 -  Kim Clijsters, F, BEL

44 -  Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, F, ESP

43 -  Lindsay Davenport, F, USA

42 -  Jim Courier, M, USA

41 -  Guillermo Vilas, M, ARG 40 -  Novak Djokovic, M, SRB 39 -  Althea Gibson, F, USA 38 -  Maria Bueno, F, BRA 37 -  Evonne Goolagong, F, AUS 36 -  Rene Lacoste, M, FRA 35 -  Pancho Gonzales, M, USA 34 -  Jack Kramer, M, USA 33 -  Mats Wilander, M, SWE 32 -  Lew Hoad, M, AUS 31 -  John Newcombe, M, AUS 30 -  Martina Hingis, F, SUI 29 -  Helen Wills Moody, F, USA 28 -  Arthur Ashe, M, USA 27 -  Maureen Connolly Brinker, F, USA 26 -  Justine Henin, F, BEL 25 -  Stefan Edberg, M, SWE 24 -  Suzanne Lenglen, F, FRA 23 -  Fred Perry, M, GBR 22 -  Venus Williams, F, USA 21 -  Boris Becker, M, GER 20 -  Ken Rosewall, M, AUS 19 -  Monica Seles, F, USA 18 -  Ivan Lendl, M, CZE 17 -  Roy Emerson, M, AUS 16 -  Bill Tilden, M, USA 15 -  Jimmy Connors, M, USA 14 -  Serena Williams, F, USA 13 -  John McEnroe, M, USA 12 -  Andre Agassi, M, USA 11 -  Don Budge, M, USA

All-time top 100 includes two ex-Capitals (so far)

   Tennis Channel's list of the top 100 players of all time so far includes two former Sacramento Capitals of  World TeamTennis, with one more coming.
   As if ranking players of different eras isn't difficult enough, an international panel of experts is combining men and women and active and retired players. Good luck with all of that. In any case, Lindsay Davenport is ranked No. 43 and Michael Chang No. 100. Andre Agassi will be the third ex-Capital when the top 20 are revealed.
   Davenport won six Grand Slam titles (three in singles and three in women's doubles) and an Olympic singles gold medal in singles and played on three Fed Cup championship teams for the United States. She was ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles.
   Chang remains the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles title after capturing the 1989 French Open at 17. He reached three other Grand Slam singles finals and played on one Davis Cup title team for the U.S.
   Tennis Channel has broadcast three one-hour shows -- on Nos. 100-71, Nos. 70-41 and Nos. 40-21 -- this week. Nos. 20-11 will premiere Thursday at 4 p.m. PDT and Nos. 10-1 Friday at the same time (see the full schedule below).
   Agassi played part-time for the Capitals from 2002, when they won their fifth of a record six WTT titles, to 2004. Chang competed part-time in 2009 and 2010.
   Davenport has a long history with the Capitals. She earned WTT Female Rookie of the Year honors at 17 years old in 1993 and helped Sacramento win WTT crowns in 1997 and 1998. Davenport also played one match during the Capitals' 2007 championship season six weeks after giving birth to her first child. Now 35 with three children, she is scheduled to play for the Orange Country Breakers against the Capitals on July 24 at Sunrise Marketplace Stadium.
   Chang was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008, and Agassi joined him last year. Davenport undoubtedly will join them when she becomes eligible next year.
   Here's Tennis Channel's top-100 schedule for the rest of the week (all times PDT):
   Tonight -- Nos. 40-21 at 10 o'clock (repeat).
   Thursday -- Nos. 100-71 at 1 p.m.; Nos. 70-41 at 2 p.m.; Nos. 40-21 at 3 p.m.; Nos. 20-11 at 4 p.m. (premiere), 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
   Friday -- Nos. 100-71 at noon; Nos. 70-41 at 1 p.m.; Nos. 40-21 at 2 p.m.; Nos. 20-11 at 3 p.m.; Nos. 10-1 at 4 p.m. (premiere), 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.         
   Following are Tennis Channel's No. 100 through 41:

100 - Michael Chang, Male, USA

99 - Ann Haydon Jones, Female, GBR

98 - Henry Bunny Austin, M, GBR

97 - Pat Cash, M, AUS

96 - Manuel Orantes, M, ESP

95 - Thomas Muster, M, AUT

94 - Andy Roddick, M, USA

93 - Nicola Pietrangeli, M, ITA

92 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, F, RUS

91 - Shirley Fry Irvin, F, USA

90 - Bill Johnston, M, USA

89 - Dorothea Lambert Chambers, F, GBR

88 - Amelie Mauresmo, F, FRA

87 - Mary Pierce, F, FRA

86 - Tony Wilding, M, NZL

85 - Yannick Noah, M, FRA

84 - Norman Brookes, M, AUS

83 - Jan Kodes, M, CZE

82 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov, M, RUS

81 - Vic Seixas, M, USA

80 - Marat Safin, M, RUS

79 - Gabriela Sabatini, F, ARG

78 - Ashley Cooper, M, AUS

77 - Molla Mallory, F, USA

76 - William Renshaw, M, GBR

75 - Pauline Betz Addie, F, USA

74 - Tony Roche, M, AUS

73 - Jaroslav Drobny, M, CZE

72 - Gottfried Von Cramm, M, GER

71 - Maria Sharapova, F, RUS

70 - Patrick Rafter , M, AUS

69 - Louise Brough , F, USA

68 - Helen Hull Jacobs , F, USA

67 - Fred Stolle , M, AUS

66 - Bobby Riggs , M, USA

65 - Pancho Segura  , M, ECU

64 - Ellsworth Vines , M, USA

63 - Lleyton Hewitt  , M, AUS

62 - Hana Mandlikova , F, CZE

61 - Neale Fraser , M, USA

60 - Virginia Wade , F, GBR

59 - Margaret Osborne Dupont, F, USA

58 - Alice Marble , F,  USA

57 - Jennifer Capriati , F, USA

56 - Stan Smith, M, USA

55 -  Gustavo Kuerten, M, BRA

54 - Manuel Santana, M, ESP

53 - Tracy Austin, F, USA

52 - Jack Crawford, M, AUS

51 - Doris Hart, F, USA

50 - Tony Trabert, M, USA

49 - Ilie Nastase , M, ROM

48 - Frank Sedgman, M, AUS

47 -  Jean Borotra, M, FRA

46 -  Henri Cochet, M, FRA

45 -  Kim Clijsters, F, BEL

44 -  Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, F, ESP

43 -  Lindsay Davenport, F, USA

42 -  Jim Courier, M, USA

41 -  Guillermo Vilas, M, ARG

Bryan brothers fulfill father's dream

   Long before Bob and Mike Bryan were born on April 29, 1978 — exactly eight years after their biggest idol, Andre Agassi — their father had two goals.
   "My high school annual had a thing called 'senior prophecies,' said Sacramento Capitals coach Wayne Bryan, who graduated from Hawthorne High in the Los Angeles area. "In it, you predicted what you would be doing in 20 years. I said I'd be living in San Francisco and my son would be the No. 1 (tennis) player in the world. Had I known I'd have (identical) twins, I would have said the No. 1 doubles team in the world."
   Well, one out of two isn't bad. Bryan settled in Camarillo, between Los Angeles and Santa  Barbara, rather than San Francisco, where he had dated a girl in high school. Bob and Mike, meanwhile, have become not only the top men's doubles team in the world but arguably the greatest ever.
   The Bryan brothers will make their season debut for the Kansas City Explorers, the defending champions of World TeamTennis, against their father's team Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights.
   Bob and Mike Bryan recently won Wimbledon for their 11th Grand Slam men's doubles title, tying the Open era record of Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.
   "This is as special as it gets," Mike told reporters at Wimbledon. "I always thought we'd play our best at Wimbledon, and we've lost three heartbreaking finals. To get on that board again, to have two Wimbledon titles, is really special.
   "And then to equal the Woodies — a team that we idolized, the greatest team in our mind — is unbelievable. To get their (ATP World Tour) title record (the Bryans have 73 vs. the Aussies' 61) and get the Grand Slam record, I'm trying to figure out what's left."
  Two things come to mind. One is the all-time record of 12 Grand Slam men's doubles titles held by Australians John Newcombe and Tony Roche. The other is an Olympic gold medal. The closest the Bryans have come is a bronze in 2008 in Beijing. Their best, though probably not last, shot at gold will come in London next year, when they will be 34. Bob said at Wimbledon that he and Mike anticipate playing "five or six more years."
   Bob and Mike seem genetically engineered to be the perfect doubles team. In addition to having played with each other all their lives, they're big (Bob is listed at 6-foot-4, 202 pounds and Mike at 6-3, 192), feature a right-hander (Mike) and left-hander (Bob), and comprise a big server (Bob) and a big returner (Mike).
   "I love size in a doubles team," Wayne Bryan said. "Bigger guys can eat up the court. And (Bob and Mike) have a lefty-righty situation. The best doubles teams in history have been lefty-righty: Newcombe-Roche, the Woodies, (John) McEnroe-(Peter) Fleming, (Rick) Leach-(Jim)  Pugh. ... You never serve into the sun. If there's a slight cross breeze, both balls are enhanced by the wind."
   The Capitals' Mark Knowles, formerly ranked No. 1 in men's doubles, said the Bryans are the best doubles team he has faced in his 20 years on the circuit.
  "They're more of a power team, but they also do the small things well," Knowles, 39, said at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March. "They play very good strategic doubles, and they're in sync all the time. That's the key to doubles — communication not only verbally but in movement and knowing where your partner is going to go, closing gaps and adjusting to your partner's movements. They do it better than anybody."
   Actually, Wayne Bryan said his main goal was for his sons "to love the great game of tennis, love music, do well in school and be good kids. But it had to be their goal, not mine. I just set the table."
   He apparently did a good job.
   Concerning Bob and Mike having played together from the beginning, tennis journalist and historian Bud Collins said in Indian Wells with a chuckle: "That's helpful. On the other hand, it might not be helpful. A lot of brothers hate each other. They have had battles between themselves. They readily admit that, but they found something they love, and they're lucky. Most people don't find something they love."
   Mike Bryan insisted he and Bob, both of whom play with their father in the Bryan Bros. Band, get along fine.
   "We walk in the house, we go into the music room, and we're jamming at night for a half hour," Mike said at Wimbledon. "First thing in the morning, I hear Bob on the piano, and I go down there, and I plug in my guitar. We have a blast together. We share the same DNA."

Big weekend, Capitals' opener, etc.

   This weekend could be the biggest in Sacramento tennis history. Consider:
   --Martina Hingis, a likely future Hall of Famer, and the New York Sportimes will face the Capitals in a World TeamTennis match on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights.
   --Serena Williams -- the greatest female player in history, according to Sports Illustrated -- will make what is believed to be her first visit to the Sacramento area on Saturday. Williams and the Washington Kastles will take on the Capitals at 7:30 p.m. at Sunrise Mall.
   --Former Capital Andre Agassi will be inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., on Saturday (Tennis Channel, 9:30 a.m. PDT).
   --Bob and Mike Bryan, arguably the greatest men's doubles team ever and the identical twin sons of Capitals coach Wayne Bryan, will play for the United States on Saturday in the Davis Cup quarterfinals (Tennis Channel, noon PDT). The U.S. will meet Spain, minus the resting Rafael Nadal, beginning Friday (same station and time) in Austin, Texas, where team member Andy Roddick lives.
   Three-fourths of the U.S. team -- the Bryans and Mardy Fish -- will come to Sunrise Mall next week in separate WTT matches.
   --The USTA West Coast Junior Championships are scheduled for Saturday through Tuesday at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento.
   Emmett Egger of Issaquah, Wash., and Christina Makarova of San Diego are seeded first in boys and girls 18 singles, respectively. Matthew Alves of Gold River, Calif., a Sacramento suburb, is seeded third in boys 18 singles. Egger is ranked fifth nationally, Makarova 40th and Alves 43rd.
   Depleted Capitals lose -- Playing on the road without half of their regular roster, the Capitals opened their 26th WTT season with a 26-21 loss to the St. Louis Aces on Wednesday night.
   Vania King (resting after Wimbledon) and Serbia's Dusan Vemic (visa problems), missed the match and will be absent again Thursday night at defending WTT champion Kansas City, said Capitals general manager Matt McEvoy.
   Vemic will play Friday night in the Capitals' home opener, and King might play then, McEvoy added. At the latest, King will play Tuesday, in which case she will have missed five of the Capitals' 14 regular-season matches.
   King won the Wimbledon women's doubles title last year with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, but they lost in the second round this year.
   Christina Fusano, a Sacramento native and area resident, and Nick Monroe of Chapel Hill, N.C., replaced King and Vemic, respectively, against St. Louis.
   The Aces meanwhile, played without Lindsay Davenport, the reigning WTT Female MVP. The team announced Tuesday that the former Capital is pregnant with her third child and will miss the season under doctor's orders. She was replaced by former USC All-American Maria Sanchez of Modesto, Calif.
   Yasmin Schnack made her WTT debut for the Capitals. The resident of Elk Grove, a Sacramento suburb, won in mixed doubles and women's singles but lost in women's doubles.
   Complete results:
   Men's doubles -- Jean-Julien Rojer/Roman Borvanov (Aces) def. Monroe/Mark Knowles (Capitals) 5-2.
   Men's singles -- Borvanov (Aces) def. Monroe (Capitals) 5-1.
   Mixed doubles -- Knowles/Yasmin Schnack (Capitals) def. Rojer/Liezel Huber (Aces) 5-3.
   Women's singles -- Schnack (Capitals) def. Sanchez (Aces) 5-3.
   Women's doubles -- Huber/Sanchez (Aces) def. Fusano/Schnack (Capitals) 5-3.
   Strong field -- Three of the four semifinalists in women's singles at Wimbledon last week are entered in the Bank of the West Classic, July 25-31 in Stanford, Calif.
   Set to play are defending champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 2010 runner-up Maria Sharapova of Russia and Sabine Lisicki of Germany. The field also includes Williams, who recently returned from an 11-month injury/illness layoff and lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
   Unfortunately for Bank of the West organizers, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is not entered.
   Tickets are available at 866-WTA-TIXS (866-982-8497) or http://www.bankofthewestclassic.com/. Single-session tickets for the tournament's opening round start at $26.
  
  

Agassi, entering Hall, recalled at 16 — Part 2

   Twenty-five years ago, I covered 16-year-old Andre Agassi’s march to the singles title of the $10,000 Nevada State Open in Reno.
   The charismatic Las Vegan went on to earn every major singles achievement in tennis. He captured all four Grand Slam titles (one of seven men in history to do so), claimed an Olympic gold medal, played on two Davis Cup championship teams, won the year-end ATP World Tour Championships and held the world No. 1 ranking for 101 straight weeks. 
   On Saturday, the former Sacramento Capital of World TeamTennis will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame – joining his wife, Steffi Graf – in Newport, R.I. 
   As great an impact as Agassi made on the court, though, he might be making a bigger one off it. Ten years ago, he founded the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a highly acclaimed charter school for underprivileged children in Las Vegas. Agassi hopes to launch as many as 75 charter schools in the United States in the next several years.
   Following is the second installment of a two-part series on Agassi's visit to Reno excerpted from my 1997 biography, “Agassi & Ecstasy.”

   Fans at the $10,000 Nevada State Open in Reno in May 1986 got a glimpse of what was to come on the international circuit. Agassi amazed fans at the Lakeridge Tennis Club with his explosive shotmaking, amused them with his baggy tennis shorts and two-tone punk haircut and alienated them with his petulance. Any one of the three would have made Agassi stand out. Together, they made him a phenomenon.
   Tired after a five-week USTA satellite circuit, Agassi played in Reno the following week only as a favor to Phillip.
   "I thought I was going to have a couple weeks of rest after five tough weeks, but my brother said he wanted me to come up here and play doubles with him," Andre said. "I just made the best of it. ... "
   Ironically, Andre won the singles title in Reno, but lost early in doubles. Even in singles, though, Agassi struggled against far inferior competition, surviving four straight three-set matches before the final. In addition to his fatigue, the thin air at Reno's 4,498-foot altitude favored serve-and-volleyers, not baseliners like Agassi.
   Agassi showed his frustration throughout the tournament. He smashed a couple of balls against the fence, sarcastically criticized his opponent's game, suggestively put his racket between his legs and muttered "Shut up" when fans applauded points for his opponent. None of this would have been tolerated at the (Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla.), but Agassi was never penalized in Reno.
   "I don't blame him (for his behavior)," said Scott Lipton, Agassi's quarterfinal victim. "It's society. There's pressure from the very beginning. (John) McEnroe and (Jimmy) Connors get away with it, and the kids see they can, too."
   Lipton, a 26-year-old former touring pro at the time, called for an umpire in the quarterfinals after accusing Agassi of cheating him out of a point. Players called their own lines in the tournament. The umpire sat at courtside for the rest of the match, and there were no further incidents.
   The semifinal between Agassi and Matt Wooldridge was a study in contrasts. Agassi, seeded third, was a volatile 16-year-old baseliner. Wooldridge, the top seed and defending champion from Santa Clara, Calif. (just north of San Jose), was a serene 29-year-old serve-and-volleyer.
   It didn't take long for sparks to fly. In the seventh game of the first set, Agassi hit a forehand long. Wooldridge, a teaching professional, hesitated for a split second before calling the ball out. "Nice late call," Agassi yelled.
   Agassi's bad-boy reputation was well-known at Lakeridge by then, and Wooldridge obviously had decided he wasn't going to put up with any shenanigans from the kid. "Shut up," Wooldridge uncharacteristically snapped.
   Wooldridge, who had been the director of tennis at Lakeridge from 1980 to 1984, won the first set 6-3 and led 3-1 in the second set.
   "He was getting more and more upset and being kind of a baby about it ... " Wooldridge said. "He was saying derogatory things about my game out of frustration in front of my 'home' crowd."
   Wooldridge hesitated when asked if he remembered what Agassi said.
   "Um, no, not, I mean ... not really," Wooldridge said. "I, I do, but it, it wasn't really important. It doesn't need to be stated, put it that way."
   When pressed further, Wooldridge said: "Um, you know, he was just, um, referring to how I hit the ball as, uh, you know, weak or wimpy or whatever the words would be. Actually, the words were a lot more (explicit) than that, but I'd rather not say."
   Profanity?
   "Yeah."
   Faggot?
   "No, it had more profanity than that."
   Referring to the female anatomy?
   "No comment."
   Wooldridge said he told Agassi to "shut up and play tennis. Unfortunately, that's kind of what happened. ... I should have allowed him to continue on his way."
   Agassi won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and beat 10th-seeded Doug Stone, a touring pro from Berkeley, Calif., ranked No. 483, 6-3, 6-2 later that day for the title. There were no incidents in the final, which lasted only 50 minutes. But then, just about everything went Agassi's way.
   "He hits the ball real hard," Stone, a Bjorn Borg look-alike with short hair, said after the match. "When he's on, you don't feel there's a whole lot you can do."
   Wooldridge said in retrospect that he didn't envision Agassi becoming one of the top players in the world eventually.
   "Nooo, no, uh-uh," Wooldridge said. "All of us who played tennis at the time didn't foresee that at all."
   Agassi was too inconsistent to be headed for stardom, according to Wooldridge.
   "I was impressed with how hard he actually could hit the ball," he said. "But for a set and a half, I saw the ball going out all the time. Then for the next set and a half, I saw the ball always going in. ... In the years to come, I became very impressed with how much he had improved."

Agassi, entering Hall, recalled at 16 — Part 1

  Twenty-five years ago, I covered 16-year-old Andre Agassi’s march to the singles title of the $10,000 Nevada State Open in Reno.
   The charismatic Las Vegan went on to earn every major singles achievement in tennis. He captured all four Grand Slam titles (one of seven men in history to do so), claimed an Olympic gold medal, played on two Davis Cup championship teams, won the year-end ATP World Tour Championships and held the world No. 1 ranking for 101 straight weeks. 
   On Saturday, the former Sacramento Capital of World TeamTennis will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame – joining his wife, Steffi Graf – in Newport, R.I. 
   As great an impact as Agassi made on the court, though, he might be making a bigger one off it. Ten years ago, he founded the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a highly acclaimed charter school for underprivileged children in Las Vegas. Agassi hopes to launch as many as 75 charter schools in the United States in the next several years.
   Following is the first installment of a two-part series on Agassi's visit to Reno excerpted from my 1997 biography, “Agassi & Ecstasy.”

     It was the strangest interview I have ever conducted. Andre Agassi was the subject. Sort of.

   Agassi, his older brother Phillip and I sat on the deck of the Lakeridge Tennis Club overlooking Reno, Nev., on a pleasant evening in early May 1986.

   Andre, who had just turned 16, was playing in his first full tournament as a professional – the $10,000 Nevada State Open. The singles champion would earn $1,600. That’s pocket change for Andre now, but it was a big deal to him then. Phillip, 23, was also  entered.

   I was covering the tournament for the Reno Gazette-Journal, where I worked as a sportswriter.

   Even before we sat down to talk, it was apparent that Andre wasn’t your ordinary interview subject.

   First, there was Andre’s hair. Yes, he had some back then. A lot of it. His naturally brown hair was bleached blond on top, short on the sides and shaggy in the back.

   Then there was Andre’s fingernail. The nail on his right little finger was about an inch long and painted red. All of his other fingernails were cut short and unpainted.

   (Andre had no earrings, as he does now.)

   Phillip, on the other hand, looked … well, normal, even though his hair was already thinning. Even then, Andre was unique.

   I spoke to the Agassi brothers for about 30 minutes for a feature story in that Sunday’s newspaper. The story was on both of them, but Andre was the focus.

   And here’s the most unusual part of all: Andre uttered three sentences during the entire interview. Phillip spoke for him the rest of the time.

   Andre broke his silence only when asked about his first Grand Prix tournament earlier that year and about his father. Both answers were revealing.

   Andre had lost to Mats Wilander, then ranked third in the world, 6-1, 6-1 in the second round of the $405,000 Pilot Pen Classic at La Quinta, Calif., in late February 1986.

   “There was a crowd of 4,000 people,” Agassi said. “I was so nervous, I couldn’t hit the ball.”

   Andre also insisted that he never felt pressure from his devoted, demanding father and coach, Emmanuel (Mike) Agassi. If Andre had been completely open, we would have been there for hours. Instead, he looked me directly in the eye and said with a straight face, “I always wanted to make him happy and proud.”

   That is unquestionably true. Unfortunately for Andre, almost nothing would ever be quite good enough for Mike. Not winning Wimbledon. Not dating Brooke Shields. Talk about hard to please.

   Nine years later, Andre admitted in a penetrating interview on 60 Minutes that his father put enormous pressure on him “to not accept losing.”

   Andre’s reticence in the Reno interview was probably due to cockiness. He was not, however, one of those snotty athletes who look everywhere but at you, tap their finger impatiently and otherwise act bored. Andre listened intently. He just let Phillip do most of the talking.

   Believe it or not, Andre was still obscure at this point. It wasn’t difficult to get an interview with him and Phillip – such as it was. There were no autograph hounds hovering over us that day on the Lakeridge deck. It was just the three of us having a cordial chat – OK, the two of us.

   You knew – you just knew – that it would never be like this again. Agassi would become not only a top-10 player but a phenomenon. He had the game – nobody blasted forehands and returns of serve the way this kid did, even in the pros – and the charisma. He was Tiger Woods before Tiger Woods and, as we’ll see, Dennis Rodman before Dennis Rodman.

   Several players in the tournament disagreed about Agassi’s future. Although he won the tournament, he struggled against club pros and aspiring touring pros, and his behavior was poor.

   But the other players probably didn’t know that Agassi, at 15, was already beating veteran touring pros.

   Or that Agassi was just coming off of a grueling five-week satellite circuit (equivalent to the low minor leagues in baseball) in Florida and South Carolina.

   Or that Agassi had to adjust not only from sea level to Reno’s 4,498-foot altitude (so did the other players, most of whom came from Northern California), but from the Southeast’s humidity to Reno’s dry air.

   In any case, Agassi quickly made a splash on the pro tour and would go on to achieve just about everything in tennis: win Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, an Olympic gold medal and the ATP Tour World Championship; reach No. 1 in the rankings; and play on three Davis Cup championship teams.

   Agassi was so good that he felt he could win with a diet from hell and little or no preparation. To a large degree, he was right. His hand-eye coordination is extraordinary. His return of serve is considered the best ever and his backhand textbook perfect.

       

The great (but confusing) state of Tennis-see

   Regarding the Tennessee men's tennis team, appearances were deceiving in the recent NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Championships at Stanford.

   When Rhyne Williams met fellow Volunteers sophomore Tennys Sandgren in the singles semifinals, both wore their school colors of orange (shirt) and white (shorts). The back of Williams’ shirt said “SANDGREN” in white letters, and vice versa for Sandgren.

   “It was Sam’s (Volunteers coach Sam Winterbotham’s) idea,” said Williams, the world’s eighth-ranked junior before enrolling at Tennessee. “He handed out shirts with names on them before the tournament. We're playing for each other. We’re all Tennessee. I had Sandgren's shirt on because it was working.”

   Furthermore, Sandgren is not named after tennis.

   “It was my great-grandfather’s name,” Sandgren, from Gallatin, Tenn., was quoted as saying in the team’s media guide. “He was also Tennys Sandgren. He did not play tennis. No relation to the sport of tennis. It’s Swedish. And a family name.”

   A box on Sandgren’s page in the media guide is devoted to the subject because he has been asked about his first name so often.

   “I’ve figured it out now – the more that people know, that’s one less person I have to tell,” he continued. “Eventually, I can knock out a few thousand, and we won’t have to discuss it anymore. That’s the plan.”

   Williams, seeded fourth, defeated the unseeded Sandgren 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 before losing to top-seeded Steve Johnson of USC 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

   In the preceding team competition, third-seeded Tennessee fell to No. 6 Georgia 4-3 in the quarterfinals. The match came down to No. 1 singles as the Volunteers’ John-Patrick Smith, a senior left-hander from Australia, fell victim to illness and cramping late in the third set and lost to Wil Spencer 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

   Smith, an NCAA finalist in singles in 2008 and doubles in 2009 and 2010 (both with Davey Sandgren, Tennys’ older brother), vomited behind the baseline at 5-5 in the third set while Spencer was serving. Both players then began cramping.

   Tennessee has some notable tennis alumni. Associate head coach Chris Woodruff, a Volunteers Tennis Hall of Famer, stunned third-ranked Andre Agassi in the second round of the 1996 French Open on clay and reached a career-high No. 29 in the world the following year.
   Agassi recalled the match in his superb 2009 autobiography, "Open."
   Agassi, who still hadn't recovered from his emotionally devastating loss to Pete Sampras in the U.S. Open final nine months beforehand, wrote that Woodruff "always reminds me of a country-western singer, and plays as if he'd rather be performing at a rodeo. He's even more awkward on clay, and to compensate he gets aggressive, especially on his backhand.
   "I can't counter his aggression. I make sixty-three unforced errors. He reacts with unbridled joy, and I gaze at him, coveting not his victory but his enthusiasm."
   Paul Annacone, another Tennessee Hall of Famer, has coached the two leaders in men’s Grand Slam singles titles. He works with Roger Federer (16) after having guided Sampras (14) from 1996 to 2001 and in 2002.

   Annacone was no slouch as a player, either. A relentless serve-and-volleyer from Southampton, N.Y.,  he climbed to No. 12 in the world in singles in 1986 and No. 3 in doubles in 1987, teaming with Christo Van Rensburg of South Africa to win the 1985 Australian Open.