It takes two to Tarango

PARIS, May 30: Bad boy' Jeff Tarango lost his second round French Open singles match and then was snubbed by his rival, Thomas Muster. But...

PARIS, May 30: Bad boy8217; Jeff Tarango lost his second round French Open singles match and then was snubbed by his rival, Thomas Muster. But the two have got over Wednesday8217;s little spat, which left Austrian Muster stalking off court refusing to shake the American8217;s hand.

Muster, thinking the matter over afterwards while having a massage, revealed he had phoned his opponent to smooth matters over. Tarango had infuriated the 1995 champion throughout their match by mimicking his walk and grunt.

But both were said to be willing to patch up their differences, even if they8217;ve yet to be seen sharing a table at the players8217; lounge here.

Tarango, who lost the match, says he has nothing against Muster personally, but 8220;I don8217;t go out to dinner with him.8221;

Blame it on Rios: Chilean star Marcelo Rios, who has endured ten tough sets to reach the third round of the men8217;s singles, says things would be so much easier if he only had his opponents to worry about.

But despite his often moody attitude, the 21-year-old seventh seed is having a ball at Roland Garros.

With the media having labelled him the least cooperative player in the world, Rios could be forgiven for thinking he is up against the rest of the world. But that doesn8217;t bother him.

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8220;I like to play with the crowd against you. I think it8217;s fun to be against the world in a court.8221;

Dress that suits The Body: While Mary The Body8217; Pierce wouldn8217;t step on court in anything else these days, the tennis dress is not everybody8217;s cup of tea. World No 1 Martina Hingis wore a dress for her first round victory over Henrieta Nagyova, but for yesterday8217;s encounter with Gloria Pizichini she reverted to a two piece.

8220;I just wasn8217;t comfortable in a dress,8221; she laughed. 8220;What I wear now is a body and a skirt. That is much more comfortable.8221;

Blaster of Paris: Not content with being No 1 in the world, Pete Sampras is also slamming down the fastest serves at Roland Garros. After the first four days of the event, the American8217;s service has been measured at 208 km/h, edging Goran Ivanisevic Croatia, whose serves reached 206 km/h. The fastest woman8217;s serve came from Ludmila Richterova at 176 km/h.

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Youth summit: Top seed Martina Hingis faces a player even younger than herself in the third-round of the French Open. The sweet-16 Swiss sensation has a weekend showdown with coquettish Russian Anna Kournikova, who won8217;t celebrate her 16th birthday until women8217;s final day. With their combined age of 31, the terrible teens are two years younger than veteran first round loser Lori McNeil.

Poetic preparation: Morocco8217;s Hicham Arazi has perhaps the strangest pre-match preparation, but it seems to be working. Coached by Alberto Castellani, Arazi has been advised to read poetry before his matches. Yesterday he read a poem by Jacques Prevert called Le Jardin and it seemed to work. He went on to beat Todd Woodbridge in straight sets.