Agassi, Hewitt Lead Field at ATP Washington

The US Open Series starts up again this week at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, featuring Olympic hold-outs Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt. Also among the eight seeds are Sjeng Schalken, Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri, James Blake, Al Martin, Cyril Saulnier, and Russian-American Dmitry Tursunov.

Other entrants of interest are (WC)Paul Goldstein (vs. (1)Agassi), the slumping Jan-Mike Gambill, Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience (vs. (8)Tursunov), Wayne Ferreira in his last Washington appearance (vs. (6)A.Martin), Todd Martin vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter (who got dissed by the Dutch Olympic Committee), and Alex Corretja (vs. (4)Ginepri).

Returning champs in the field are Blake (2002), Corretja (2000), and the five-time champ Agassi (1999-98,'95,'91-90). In last year's final, (10)Tim Henman beat (4)Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez, both of whom are competing this week at the Athens Olympics.

On court Monday at Washington are Schalken vs. Muller, "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter vs. T.Martin, Carlsen vs. Hewitt, Corretja vs. Ginepri, Moodie vs. Kratochvil, Kendrick vs. Wang, Falla vs. Gimelstob, Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience vs. Tursunov, Serra vs. Zimonjic, and Levy vs. Suzuki.