TENNIS INDEX -- PAUL FEIN

What 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick once did as a star-struck nine-year-old at Flushing Meadows to watch big-name players pass by:

He sneaked away from a family outing and hid in the players' lounge.

Length of the standing ovation for Pete Sampras when he walked onto Center Court at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the retirement ceremony honouring him at the 2003 US Open:

3 minutes.

What John McEnroe said Pete Sampras's father told McEnroe that Pete would do with his life now:

"Take about six months off and then come back and play again."

What had to be cancelled in Belgium this year on the day when a match between Belgian stars Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne was shown on TV:

A big concert because very few people bought tickets.

Number of surfboards Mark Philippoussis bought after moving to San Diego, California:

15.

Where Serena Williams says she is "desperate to go":

Africa.

Number of matches, including his US Open semifinal against David Nalbandian, that Andy Roddick has staved off a match point to win matches in 2003:

5.

Player who 1980s superstar John McEnroe, now a TV tennis analyst, says "has the greatest hand-eye coordination I've ever seen in a tennis player":

Andre Agassi.

What 33-year-old Andre Agassi, who lost in the 2003 US Open semifinals to Juan-Carlos Ferrero, says he asks himself every day:

"Is this what I still want to be doing?"

Length of time since Pete Sampras last played tennis:

5 months.

Two of WBA heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr.'s favourite athletes to watch:

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

What 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash says are some of the technical flaws in 2003 Wimbledon champion Roger Federer's game:

"The position of his head in some shots is so wrong, and his body does not move fluently."

Number of boards that Dmitri Schnyder, a Latvian-born New York chess master, played at a time while check-mating all comers in the players' lounge during the rain-plagued US Open:

8.

What Art Larsen, the eccentric 1950 US champion, once did when he was barred from a tournament because of an entry blank technicality:

He hired a plane to seed a cloud bank over the courts in an effort to force a rain-out.

Number of his past six Grand Slam doubles finals that Todd Woodbridge, who captured the 2003 US Open doubles title with Jonas Bjorkman, has won:

6.

Nickname a British tabloid gave extremely thin Daniela Hantuchova:

"The Slovakian Skeleton."

What happened when Bob and Mike Bryan, the 2003 French and US Open doubles champions, celebrated winning a point during a college match playing for Stanford:

The brothers bumped chests so hard that the impact cracked Bob's sternum.

What Younes El Aynaoui's father did when Younes, an undistinguished player, left home at 18 to go to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida where he began working as a bus driver:

He refused to talk to Younes for three months.

What comely 18-year-old American Ashley Harkleroad said she remembered most about her debut at the US Open in 2001:

"My nice little outfit."

Title and sub-title of a column in the "Ideas" section of the August 20, 2003 Boston Sunday Globe:

"The right to bare arms — Should male tennis players be allowed to go sleeveless?"

Percent of his time in the weight room that 33-year-old Andre Agassi spends on lower-body exercises:

70.

Slogan of the new Aramis fragrance that Andre Agassi will help launch:

"Life: It's a Great game."

Number of the three individual sporting events with the largest prize money in 2003 that are tennis:

3 — US Open ($17.07 million), Wimbledon ($14.90 million),and French Open ($14.21 million).

Only men to win Grand Slam singles titles as a teenager, in their 20s, and in their 30s:

Pete Sampras and Ken Rosewall.

What Pete Sampras did about the time GQ magazine hit the stands with a story about how marriages ruin sports careers with Sampras as Exhibit A:

He won the 2002 US Open.

Andy Roddick's won-lost record since Brad Gilbert, Andre Agassi's former mentor, became his coach just before the Stella Artois tournament at Queen's:

37-2.

Who Michael Chang served lunch to during the week of the TD Waterhouse Cup on Long Island, New York:

250 disadvantaged people at a soup kitchen run by the Interfaith Nutrition Network.