BUSH LEAGUE: Andre Agassi, Todd Martin and other ATP stars hung out with former President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, at their Houston home during the tour stop in that city. The group scarfed burgers, swapped tennis stories, and gathered in the Bushes' library to watch a family video. "My great-uncle, Joseph Wear, was the Davis Cup captain in 1934 and 1935," Bush says. "He had a team that included the likes of the great Don Budge, and at that time I was lucky enough to be a ball boy. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, and that really sparked my lifelong love for the sport."
REALITY TV: In May, Andy Roddick had his agent, Ken Myerson of SFX, contact TV producer Harold Hecht in Los Angeles with an urgent request — Andy needed the latest episodes of American Idol and The Bachelor burned onto a DVD and sent to his hotel in Rome so he could watch them on his laptop. The request, Hecht says, was granted.
SHORT SETS: Pete Sampras says he won't play competitive tennis in 2003, telling ESPN that his heart isn't in the game. ... Damir Dokic (middle in pix), the father and former coach of Jelena, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he never wants to see his daughter again, accusing her of abandoning her family for her new boyfriend, Brazilian Formula One driver Enrique Bernoldi... . In May, ESPN dropped its coverage of two women's events, the Italian Open and the German Open, at the last minute and is no longer covering men's Masters Series events in Europe. ESPN says its new strategy is to focus on the Grand Slams (it now owns broadcast rights to the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon) and big North American events like the Nasdaq-100. According to Mike Ryan, ESPN's director of programming and acquisitions, these events offer the best opportunity to secure advertising dollars.
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