Roddick Rallies With Agassi Tips

Andre Agassi watched in dismay from a broadcast booth as young Andy Roddick began to act his age Tuesday, losing four consecutive games and nearly blowing the first set at the Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Then came a rain delay, and Agassi went downstairs to offer his heir apparent some advice.

“He kind of told me to get my head together a little bit and to calm down,” Roddick said.

They also talked strategy, and Roddick put the tips to good use, regrouping to defeat Andrei Pavel, 7-6 (10), 6-2, and become the youngest men’s quarterfinalist in tournament history.

Roddick, 18, said he wasn’t surprised when Agassi sought him out during the rain delay. They are occasional hitting partners at Roddick’s home in Boca Raton, Fla.

“To have someone who is one of the greatest champions of all time want to help you out is just great,” Roddick said. “He’s such a great guy. He has good motives. I was surprised at first when he was so nice to me, but he doesn’t surprise me anymore.”

Agassi, seeded third, had advanced earlier with a walkover when Tommy Haas pulled out before their fourth-round match because of a sprained left foot. Agassi, 30, could play Roddick in an All-American intergenerational final Sunday.

An all-Williams women’s final remains possible Saturday. Third-seeded Venus Williams became the first women’s semifinalist by defeating Jelena Dokic, 6-2, 6-3. Fifth-seeded Serena Williams plays fourth-seeded Jennifer Capriati today. No. 1 Martina Hingis overcame a set point and defeated Anke Huber, 7-5, 6-0. Hingis will face Venus Williams on Thursday.

Football

The first days of spring football practice at USC have seen one significant change--Kori Dickerson, the starting strong-side linebacker last season, has been asked to try tight end.

“He’s a little different from the other tight ends in his athleticism,” Coach Pete Carroll said. “We told him we’d take him step by step through this.”

With the Trojans needing to replace linebackers Zeke Moreno and Markus Steele, Dickerson might end up at his former position. Meanwhile, starting kicker John Wall, recuperating from knee surgery, said he expects to resume kicking in June and hopes to be ready for next season.

Jurisprudence

Cecil Collins, former Miami Dolphin running back, was sentenced in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to 15 years in prison after a jury convicted him of sneaking through a neighbor’s window to watch her sleep.

The sentence, for felony burglary, was the maximum under Florida law. Circuit Judge Joyce Julin told Collins that he got the maximum because of his earlier conviction in Louisiana for a similar offense.

Michigan football players Cato June and Larry Stevens, charged in a fight at a campus-area coffee shop, pleaded no contest in Ann Arbor to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace.

They will be sentenced April 19, and probably will qualify for a deferred-sentencing program. Disturbing the peace is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $100 fine.

Ohio State defensive back Derek Ross was barred from spring practice after pleading guilty in Columbus, Ohio, to driving without a license and giving false information to police.

The 21-year-old sophomore from Rock Hill, S.C., had been stopped outside Columbus by a trooper who said Ross was speeding.

Ross was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He can serve the sentence a few days at a time, as long as it is completed by June 30.

A federal appeals court in Chicago upheld a lower court’s dismissal of distance runner Mary Decker Slaney’s lawsuit claiming she was unfairly found to have failed a 1996 drug test.

A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that District Judge S. Hugh Dillin of Indianapolis was right in ruling that he lacked jurisdiction to decide the case.

A federal judge in Mobile, Ala., recalled cheering for Sherman Williams when the former running back starred at Alabama, then sentenced him to the maximum 15 years and eight months in prison for drug trafficking and counterfeiting.

Williams spent four years with the Dallas Cowboys.

Miscellany

Boxer David Tua tried to save a man who had been attacked by a tiger at his training ranch in Las Vegas, then comforted the man as he bled to death.

“He was able to stay calm and composed and help as much as he could,” Kevin Barry, Tua’s manager, said Tuesday.

Eric Bloom, 25, was killed Sunday while he and the tiger’s owner, Josh Weinstein, were grooming the 7-year-old Bengal tiger for an advertising photo shoot.

Greg Page, former World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion hospitalized because of head injuries suffered in a bout, was upgraded from critical to fair condition at University Hospital in Cincinnati.

Page, 42, was knocked out by Dale Crowe, 24, in the 10th round of their Kentucky State heavyweight fight March 9 at Erlanger, Ky.

The struggling XFL will be back next year, with or without NBC, league President Basil DeVito said.

“We’re going to be here,” DeVito said. “There was a business plan in place prior to NBC coming in to the XFL, and that business plan still exists, still makes sense.”

Over the weekend, NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol said there would have to be an increase in ratings for the network to keep the minor football league on the air.

NBC said ratings for Saturday night’s XFL broadcast were up 13% from the previous week.

The Xtreme’s 35-26 victory over the Las Vegas Outlaws was watched by 1.8% of 102.2 million U.S. homes with televisions, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc. statistics, the network said. Of homes with televisions turned on, 3% tuned in.

Turner Sports is shifting its NASCAR coverage from TBS to TNT as part of a new marketing strategy.

Jonna Mendes won the women’s giant slalom at the U.S. Alpine nationals in Whitefish, Mont., posting the two fastest runs for a surprising victory in an event that isn’t her specialty.

Mendes, who concentrates on downhill and super-G, had a two-run time of 2 minutes 22.05 seconds over a course that was icy in the morning and softened to spring conditions at the bottom by the second run.

Michael Andretti, absent since the formation of the Indy Racing League five years ago, will return to the Indianapolis 500 this year with his CART team owner, Barry Green.

Ian Thorpe set his second world record in as many nights, breaking Pieter van den Hoogendband’s mark for 200 meters at the Australian swimming championships in Hobart. Thorpe was timed in 1:44.69, lowering the mark of 1:45.35 set by Van Den Hoogendband of the Netherlands at last year’s Sydney Olympics. . . . Chad Carvin of Mission Viejo won the 800-meter freestyle at the USA Swimming national championships at Austin, Texas, for his 15th national title.