Alex Olmedo

Alex Olmedo had forgotten his tennis racket and needed one as a prop for a newspaper photograph. So without hesitation he walked to the small tennis office of the public park near his home and asked the attendant if he could borrow one. "Got any ID?" asked the young man as Olmedo pulled a racket from a shopping cart filled with green balls. The question seemed to irritate Olmedo, 58, a former Wimbledon champion and well-known teaching pro.

Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor defeated Pierrik Ysern of San Diego, 6-2, 7-6 (6) Monday to win the NCAA Division I tennis championship, an event contested since 1881. Past champions of the events since 1941, the year the NCAA took over sole control of the tournament from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn: * 1941, Joseph Hunt...Navy * 1942, Fred Schroeder...Stanford * 1943, Pancho Segura...Miami * 1944, Pancho Segura...Miami * 1945, Pancho Segura...Miami * 1946, Bob Falkenburg...USC * 1947, Garner Larned...

ALEX OLMEDO Alex Olmedo wanted a normal life, so he came to the Beverly Hills Hotel to teach celebrities how to swing. That was 30 years ago. He'd just come off the professional tennis circuit, where he'd spent five years touring with such legends as Pancho Segura and Pancho Gonzalez. He'd also represented the United States on the Davis Cup team in 1958 and 1959. So Olmedo needed somewhere to hang his racquet within driving distance of his children's school.

ALEX OLMEDO Alex Olmedo wanted a normal life, so he came to the Beverly Hills Hotel to teach celebrities how to swing. That was 30 years ago. He'd just come off the professional tennis circuit, where he'd spent five years touring with such legends as Pancho Segura and Pancho Gonzalez. He'd also represented the United States on the Davis Cup team in 1958 and 1959. So Olmedo needed somewhere to hang his racquet within driving distance of his children's school.

Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor defeated Pierrik Ysern of San Diego, 6-2, 7-6 (6) Monday to win the NCAA Division I tennis championship, an event contested since 1881. Past champions of the events since 1941, the year the NCAA took over sole control of the tournament from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn: * 1941, Joseph Hunt...Navy * 1942, Fred Schroeder...Stanford * 1943, Pancho Segura...Miami * 1944, Pancho Segura...Miami * 1945, Pancho Segura...Miami * 1946, Bob Falkenburg...USC * 1947, Garner Larned...

He still travels as smoothly across the tennis court as he did when he was in his prime. Back then, when he won the Australian Nationals and Wimbledon in 1959, Alex Olmedo didn't just run, he sort of flowed. At 57, it's not a fast-moving river any more, which Olmedo has no trouble admitting: "I am slow motion." But he gets there just the same. Olmedo won his second consecutive USTA 55 age-group national hard court championship Sunday at Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach.

His forehand still pops. His backhand still has eyes for the cross-court opening. And his drop shot still stops as if it had fallen softly off the edge of a table. Alex Olmedo is 58, but his tennis game is still silk. The smooth, crisp strokes--well-known on the pro tour in another era--have not deserted him, even if age has made him a step or so slower. "Not bad for an old guy, huh?" said Olmedo, the 1959 Wimbledon champion who lives in Encino.

Gordon Davis took his first tennis lesson at the age of 13. It was a private lesson. So private, in fact, that Davis was not even there. It was 40 years ago and Davis was walking through a park near his Santa Monica home when he spotted an instructor giving a lesson on a public court. Davis did not know the instructor, but he liked what he saw. He admired the smooth motion of the serve, ending with an explosion of power. So he crouched behind a bush and watched.

BEN KINGSLEY, who co-stars with Sigourney Weaver in the upcoming psychological thriller "Death and the Maiden," has leased a Beverly Hills-area home on nearly five acres for three months. The Oscar-winning actor is in town to work with Forest Whitaker and Michael Madsen on the MGM sci-fi action-thriller "Species," which begins shooting on Monday. "Death and the Maiden," shot in France and Spain last spring, is expected to be released in December.

Billie Jean King and Sweden's Bjorn Borg were among five players named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Stan Smith, Dennis Ralston and Alex Olmedo also will be inducted into the Hall July 18 in Newport, R.I.

Alex Olmedo had forgotten his tennis racket and needed one as a prop for a newspaper photograph. So without hesitation he walked to the small tennis office of the public park near his home and asked the attendant if he could borrow one. "Got any ID?" asked the young man as Olmedo pulled a racket from a shopping cart filled with green balls. The question seemed to irritate Olmedo, 58, a former Wimbledon champion and well-known teaching pro.

His forehand still pops. His backhand still has eyes for the cross-court opening. And his drop shot still stops as if it had fallen softly off the edge of a table. Alex Olmedo is 58, but his tennis game is still silk. The smooth, crisp strokes--well-known on the pro tour in another era--have not deserted him, even if age has made him a step or so slower. "Not bad for an old guy, huh?" said Olmedo, the 1959 Wimbledon champion who lives in Encino.

He still travels as smoothly across the tennis court as he did when he was in his prime. Back then, when he won the Australian Nationals and Wimbledon in 1959, Alex Olmedo didn't just run, he sort of flowed. At 57, it's not a fast-moving river any more, which Olmedo has no trouble admitting: "I am slow motion." But he gets there just the same. Olmedo won his second consecutive USTA 55 age-group national hard court championship Sunday at Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach.

Gordon Davis took his first tennis lesson at the age of 13. It was a private lesson. So private, in fact, that Davis was not even there. It was 40 years ago and Davis was walking through a park near his Santa Monica home when he spotted an instructor giving a lesson on a public court. Davis did not know the instructor, but he liked what he saw. He admired the smooth motion of the serve, ending with an explosion of power. So he crouched behind a bush and watched.

Second-seeded Bob Duesler of Huntington Beach will be among 63 players attempting to dethrone defending champion Alex Olmedo of Encino in the USTA National Men's 55 hardcourt tennis championships, which begin today and run through Sunday at Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach. The men's 50 hardcourt championships also begin today. Robb Cadwalder of Germantown, Tenn., is seeded first.