Capriati Begins Her Comeback

Jennifer Capriati returns to tennis in Paris today for only her second match in 2 1/2 years. And it will be a lot different from the first time she played in Paris, six years ago.

“It’s something I really want to do, so I accepted a wild-card entry without any kind of pressure from anyone,” Capriati was quoted as saying in the New York Post.

At 14, Capriati made the French Open semifinals in 1990, becoming the youngest semifinalist in Grand Slam tournament history.

Full of bubbly enthusiasm and innocence, she visited Notre Dame cathedral and wondered where the football field was. Asked about Napoleon, she said, “You know, he’s the little dead dude.”

She was ranked as high as sixth in 1991. Now, Capriati is back at 19 after a troubled exile from the game that included arrests for shoplifting and marijuana possession and tours in drug rehab.

Her return starts today with a first-round match against a Belgian, Sabine Appelmans, at the Paris Open indoor tournament.

Track and Field

Frankie Fredericks of Namibia set a world indoor record of 10.05 seconds in the 100 meters. He broke the record, 10.13, set last year by Olapade Adeniken of Nigeria.

Donovan Bailey’s record time for the 50-meter dash was questioned by the chairman of U.S. Track and Field’s Men’s Records Subcommittee, who said the start might have been illegal.

Foreign runners will no longer be allowed to train free in Kenya or compete in local championships. The decision by the Kenya Amateur Athletics Assn. was prompted by a victory last year by Finland’s Anne Marie Sandell in a women’s junior cross-country race in Durham, Britain, the Daily Nation newspaper reported.

Basketball

Veteran guard Jeff Malone signed a 10-day contract with the Miami Heat today.

Malone, 34, was released by the Philadelphia 76ers Jan. 4. He averaged 6.2 points and 1.3 rebounds in 25 games this season.

The Charlotte Hornets activated guard Muggsy Bogues, who has sat out all 46 games this season, from the injured list because of knee surgery last summer. The Hornets also put guard Michael Adams on the injured list with a pulled right groin.

Former NBA players Alex English, Len Elmore and Paul Silas are no longer in the running to become head of the NBA Players Association. The finalists: Charles Bennett, former financial adviser to the union; William Hunter, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California; and Bill Strickland, a Washington sports attorney.

Boxing

Fernando Vargas of Oxnard, 1994 U.S. champion at 132 pounds and a Pan American bronze medalist at 139 last year, was on the verge of being upset before rallying to win his 147-pound bout against Gary Jones of Washington at the U.S. Amateur Boxing Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Jones rocked Vargas with a left hook late in the second round and led 16-13. But Vargas, 18, overwhelmed his opponent in the final round and won, 36-23.

Miscellany

The Boston Red Sox avoided arbitration with reliever Heath Slocumb by agreeing to a $1.4-million, one-year contract. . . . Pitcher Bob Wickman and the New York Yankees also avoided arbitration when they agreed to an $800,000, one-year contract, nearly four times his 1995 salary. . . . In the second salary arbitration case of the year, New York Yankee outfielder Bernie Williams has asked for $3 million, more than seven times his salary of $400,000 last season. . . . Darnell Coles, who spent parts of 13 seasons in the majors, signed a one-year contract to play in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired former Miami Dolphin running back coach Tony Nathan to coach their running backs. . . . The Miami Dolphins were denied permission by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to talk to Dallas Cowboy offensive line coach Hudson Houck about a job.

Jack Nicklaus apparently will end his streak of major championship tournaments at 138 with this year’s U.S. Open. He said he won’t compete in the British Open in July unless he achieves a top-20 finish in both the Masters and U.S. Open.