U.S. Open Rating Hits a Low

Roger Federer’s win over Lleyton Hewitt was the lowest-rated U.S. Open men’s final.

Federer’s 6-0, 7-6 (3), 6-0 win over Hewitt on Sunday drew a preliminary national rating of 2.5 for CBS. That means an average of 2.5% of the country’s TV homes tuned in at any given moment to the tennis final.

The rating was down 29% from the 3.5 last year, when Andy Roddick captured his first Grand Slam title with a win over Juan Carlos Ferrero. The rating for Roddick’s win was a 44% drop from 2002, when Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi in four sets for his 14th major title.

The rating for the women’s final on Saturday was also down. Svetlana Kuznetsova’s 6-3, 7-5 win over fellow Russian Elena Dementieva drew a preliminary national rating of 2.2, down 12% from the 2.5 last year when Justine Henin-Hardenne beat fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters.

The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether in use or not.

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Jurisprudence

Former National League most valuable player Ken Caminiti was arrested and spent the weekend in jail in Houston because of an alleged positive drug test that would be a violation of his probation for cocaine possession.

Caminiti, who won the 1996 NL MVP award with San Diego, will appear in court today because of an arrest warrant issued for the alleged violation. He was arrested at his home Friday and remained jailed through the weekend, said Caminiti’s attorney, Kent Schaffer.

Caminiti, 41, was on probation after he was arrested with two others in November 2001 at a southwest Houston motel room, where police also found less than a gram of cocaine, two crack pipes and a crude device fashioned to smoke crack.

Caminiti pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ deferred adjudication probation, meaning he could erase the conviction from his record if he stayed clean.

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Miscellany

Moe Hargrow will not be eligible to play basketball for Minnesota this season, the NCAA ruled. Hargrow, a 6-foot-4 senior who transferred from Minnesota to Arkansas and then back again, will have one year of eligibility remaining in 2005-06.

The St. Louis Blues re-signed defenseman Barret Jackman, the 2003 rookie of the year.

Jackman was limited to 15 games last season because of a shoulder injury and finished with one goal, two assists and 41 penalty minutes.

Surfing’s World Championship Tour is scheduled to make its only North American stop beginning Wednesday at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, bringing with it 45 of the world’s best surfers and three wild-card entrants.

Southern California competitors in the Boost Mobile Pro include Taylor Knox of Carlsbad, Pat O’Connell of Laguna Beach and Tim Curran of Oxnard, all on the WCT for the fourth consecutive year, and former San Clemente residents Shane Beschen and brothers Shea and Cory Lopez. Also entered is Rob Machado of Cardiff, a former WCT standout, and 18-year-old Dane Reynolds of Ventura, both wild cards.

Not counting Reynolds, the surfers with local roots average slightly more than 30 years of age. By contrast, the top Australians on tour, Taj Burrow, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Kieren Perrow, Michael Lowe and Dean Morrison, average just under 25.

Preliminary rounds for the Boost Mobile Pro run through Saturday. After a day off Sunday, per state park regulations, the final rounds are scheduled for Monday.

The Avengers hired Mike Wilpolt, who coached the Indiana Firebirds to an 8-3 record last season and was a finalist for the Arena Football League’s coach of the year award, as their defensive coordinator. Wilpolt succeeds the fired Doug Kay. The Firebirds ceased operations Wednesday.

Lauren Jackson scored 20 points to lead the Seattle Storm to a 76-70 WNBA victory over the Indiana Fever at Indianapolis.

The loss dropped Indiana (15-17) into a tie for fifth place with Detroit in the East, where only 1 1/2 games separate the last place team from co-leaders Charlotte and Connecticut.