U.S. OPEN : TOP SPINOFFS : New York Tournament Has a Dressing Down, a Tall Tale, a Dog’s Tale and Much More

As usual, the U.S. Open has had its share of first-week stories that didn’t make the front page, or any other page for that matter.

They all deserve some mention, however slight it may be.

So as a public service, here are the mini-highlights:

Dress code violation: Officials sent Ann Grossman, 18, of Ohio, to the locker room to change after she showed up for her first-round match wearing tight Spandex bicycling shorts and a halter top.

But their stay was short: The tallest doubles team at the Open was 6-foot-8 Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia and 6-6 Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands. They lost in the first round.

He plays sets, too: Boris Becker has been practicing on a court at the Long Island home of Mark Knopfler, guitarist for the rock band, Dire Straits.

Attention rabid Lendl fans: Here’s a heartwarming tale. Ivan Lendl hurried to the Animal Medical Center on East 62nd Street to visit Cayden, his six-year-old German shepherd, who had emergency stomach surgery.

Despite a bandage around his middle, Cayden wagged his tail at his master when Lendl arrived at the clinic to bring him home.

Nice job, Dean: It has been a rough week for public address announcer Carl Martin. So far, Martin has referred to Pete Sampras as Paul, Tim Wilkison as Tom, Bettina Bunge as Betty and official Gerald Armstrong as Jeremy.

Beat the clock: Here is how long it took Steffi Graf to win each of her three matches--57 minutes, 45 minutes, 37 minutes. Graf’s matches are now officially shorter than her practices.

Best reason to come: “Where else can you yell, ‘Yo, Trump?’ ” Pat O’Brien of CBS-TV said.

Just sign it, “Love, Honey”: A crowd surrounded Chris Evert as she walked to an autograph session, and one persistent male fan pushed through to ask her to autograph his program.

It was Andy Mill, her husband.