The Week In Tv Sports

Saturday 7/4

Wimbledon Finals
Madonna has returned with Ray of Light. Monica (Seles, that is) has returned to hit returns. Are we returning to that early '90s Age of Madonnica, when the Material Girl recorded No. 1 singles and her adoring fan Seles was the No. 1 singles player? Dye jobs notwithstanding, yes. Finally emerging from years of misfortune and ranked fifth in the world, Seles defeated last year's Wimbledon champ, top-ranked Martina Hingis, in the French Open semis in June before falling to Arantxa S�nchez Vicario in the final. Wimbledon is the only tournament Seles (who at week's end had reached the quarterfinals) needs to complete her career-Grand-Slam dossier. In the men's draw, top-ranked Pete Sampras, who through last Monday's matches had a 40-5 singles record at the All-England, was bidding to join Bjorn Borg as the only other male five-time winner here since World War I.
? NBC, SATURDAY (WOMEN), 9 AM; SUNDAY (MEN), 9 AM

Pepsi 400
During his go-kart salad days, NASCAR driver Jeremy May-field (left) once raced against his own mother, Judy. Before the event the Owensboro, Ky., native instructed his mom, whose last name happens to be Gordon, not to allow anyone to pass her on the inside. When her own young'un attempted to do precisely that, Gordon veered into him and the entangled go-karts flipped. In the Pepsi 400, NASCAR's first high-banked nocturnal knock-turn at the Daytona Speedway, Mayfield may trade paint with another tough-mother Gordon-Jeff. The 1997 series champion leads Mayfield in the Winston Cup standings by 40 points. Who needs Fourth of July fireworks when enough light will be poured onto the 2.5-mile oval to illuminate 24,000 blocks of residential streets or attract every June bug in the Sunshine State?
? CBS, 8 PM

Monday 7/6
Home Run Derby
Rocky Mountain High...and deep. Staging this contest at mile-high Coors Field with the likes of the Cardinals' Mark McGwire (36 homers at week's end) and the Cubs' Sammy Sosa (left, 32 round-trippers) is like setting up Billy Dee Williams in a penthouse pad with a case of Colt .45 and a cache of Johnny Mathis records: Home runs are a sure thing. The Rangers' Juan Gonzalez (24 dingers) and the Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr. (32), the 1993 and '94 derby winners, respectively, planned to skip tonight's Into Thin Air spectacle. Even if they opt out, both can be seen the following night in the American League outfield watching McGwire's and Sosa's moon shots in the 69th annual All-Star Game.
? ESPN, 8 PM; ALL-STAR GAME, NBC, TUESDAY, 8 PM

Tuesday 7/7
World Cup Semifinals
"Gaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuul!" You say you get no kicks from Champagne? You will get plenty from Marseilles, site of today's semifinal, or Saint-Denis, tomorrow's host city. The winner of the July 3 quarterfinals match between reigning champion Brazil, whose players star in this summer's most entertaining commercial (is that a Nike spot or a commentary on the Air France strike?), and gritty, unheralded Denmark will find itself in the south of France. For Wednesday's semifinal, the most desirable matchup to emerge from the quarters would be an all-European affair between three-time Cup winner Germany and either Italy, whose gifted striker Christian Vieri had a tournament-leading five goals, or host France and its surefooted scoring machine, Zinedine Zidane.
? ESPN, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, 3 PM

Friday 7/10
Rockers at Mercury
Suzie McConnell Serio is helping to feed her family by feeding her teammates. A WNBA rookie but a veteran mother of four, the 31-year-old Serio (left), Cleveland's second-round draft pick and the NCAA alltime assist leader (1,307) at Penn State, was atop the league at week's end in assists (7.0 per game) and progeny. In the Serio household, "We got next" refers to bath time. While most point guards are expected to behave like coaches on the floor, Serio is a coach in the off-season. In 1993 she took the girls of Pittsburgh's Oakland Catholic High to the Pennsylvania state championship. Phoenix forward Jennifer Gillom, the Mercury's leader in scoring (18.2) and rebounding (6.5), knows the joys of being coddled and dished to by Serio: Ten years ago they were teammates on the U.S. Olympic gold-medal-winning squad in Seoul.
?LIFETIME, 9 PM

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.