CONTACT US AT: Sharapova downs Halep in US...
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Sports ❘ 07 CONTACT US AT: 8351-9190, [email protected] Wednesday August 30, 2017 MARIA SHARAPOVA recovered after faltering midway through the match and emerged to beat No. 2-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at the U.S. Open on Monday night to reach the second round. “This girl has a lot of grit and she’s not going anywhere,” Sharapova told the crowd in an on-court interview. After leading by a set and 4-1 in the second, Sharapova showed some fatigue and rust, dropping five games in a row. But in the third, Sharapova regained con- trol by going ahead 3-0, using her power to keep two-time French Open runner-up Halep under pressure. Sharapova had not played at a Grand Slam tournament since January 2016, when she tested positive for the newly banned heart drug meldonium during the Australian Open. It was as if every one of Sharapova’s win- ners — and she compiled 60, 45 more than Halep — was her way of declaring, “I’m back!” When a Halep shot sailed long to end the match after more than 2 hours, Sharapova dropped to her knees on court, then covered her face as her eyes welled with tears. “I just thought that was another day, another opportu- nity, another match,” Sharapova said. The 30-year-old Russian was allowed back on the tour this April, but she was denied a wild-card invitation for the French Open the next month. The U.S. Tennis Association did grant a wild card to Sharapova, who was once ranked No. 1 but is currently 146th. That is 144 spots below Halep, who is among eight women that entered the U.S. Open with a chance to top the WTA rankings by tournament’s end. The draw at Flushing Meadows randomly paired the two players, providing a buzz-generating matchup that managed to live up to the hype on Day 1 at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. It was a tremendously enter- taining and high-quality contest, more befitting a final than a first- rounder. These two women have, indeed, faced off with a Grand Slam title at stake: Sharapova beat Halep in the 2014 French Open final, part of what is now her 7-0 head-to-head record in the matchup. On Monday, they traded sting- ing shots, often with Sharapova — dressed in all black, from her visor to her dress that sparkled under the lights, to her socks and shoes — aiming to end exchanges and Halep hustling into place to extend them. Points would last 10 or 12 strokes, or more, repeatedly leaving a sellout crowd of 23,771 in Arthur Ashe Stadium clapping and yelling and high-fiving, no matter which player won them. The chair umpire repeatedly admonished spectators to hush. Halep blinked at the end of the hour-long first set, double-fault- ing to face a break point, then watching Sharapova punish a 71 mph second serve with a fore- hand return winner. That was Sharapova’s sixth return winner; she would finish with 14, more Sharapova downs Halep in US Open Russia’s Maria Sharapova returns the ball to Romania’s Simona Halep during their 2017 U.S. Open match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday. SD-Agencies than enough to counter her seven double-faults. It was quickly 4-1 for Sharapova in the second set and she held a break point there to allow her to go up 5-1 and serve for the victory. But she couldn’t convert it. Then, only then, did Sharapova struggle for a bit. Her footwork was a bit off. Her forehand lost its way. She would end up losing that game and the next four, too, as Halep managed to force a third set. (SD-Agencies) JAPAN’S Kimiko Date, the grand dame of women’s tennis, announced Monday that she will retire from the game a few days short of her 47th birthday. The former world No. 4 said on her official blog that she will add the “full stop” to her career by retiring — for a second time — after the Japan Women’s Open tournament, which begins in Tokyo on Sept. 11. “I have always been obsessed with competing,” said Date, who took a 12-year hiatus from profes- sional tennis after quitting at the peak of her powers in 1996. “But increasingly I’ve found myself adjusting the length and intensity of training to look after my physical condition. “It has not been an easy deci- sion to sever the feeling that I want to get back on court and run around like I used to,” added the eight-time WTA Tour singles champion. “But it is time to put the punctuation point on my tennis career.” Date, a wiry 1.63-meter tall, underwent two knee surger- ies since appearing at the 2016 Australian Open, but defied the odds to return to action in May this year. The Kyoto native admitted she was still nurs- Japan’s Date to retire at 46 ing a sore knee and shoulder. She won her first Japan Open title in 1992, the same year defending champion Christina McHale of the United States was born. She said she felt unable to push herself enough to compete with players in their 20s. In 2009, Date became the second-oldest player in the modern era to win a WTA singles title after Billie Jean King when she took the Korea Open. Despite playing on until the ripe old age of 46, Date fell some way short of her idol Martina Navrati- lova, who retired a month short of her 50th birthday in 2006. (SD-Agencies) LIVERPOOL has agreed on a club-record fee to sign midfielder Naby Keita from Germany’s RB Leipzig, with the 22-year-old set to join the English Premier League club in July 2018, British media reported Monday. The Merseyside club will pay the Guinea international’s 48- million pound (US$62 million) release clause plus an undis- closed premium. Liverpool is yet to make an official announcement about the deal but reports said Keita completed a medical Monday. Keita was reported to be one of Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp’s key transfer targets after he scored eight goals and provided eight assists to help Leipzig finish second in the Bundesliga last season. The 22-year-old would become the Reds’ most expen- sive signing, surpassing the 42 million euros (US$50 mil- lion) they paid to sign winger Mohamed Salah from AS Roma in June. Meanwhile, Barcelona sport- ing director Robert Fernandez hinted that he is negotiating with Liverpool over Philippe Coutinho and hoped to com- plete a deal before the transfer window closes. After signing Ousmane Dem- bele from Borussia Dortmund for a fee, which could rise to 147 million euros, Fernandez announced his intention to bring in two more players. “It’s true we are in negotia- tions over a player to try and sign them. We hope to reach a deal and present a new player,” Fer- nandez told a news conference when asked about Barcelona’s hopes of signing Brazil play- maker Coutinho. Barcelona had also been linked to Nice midfielder Jean Michael Seri. “Seri is totally ruled out. After analyzing (the situation) calmly, we decided that our priority was other posi- tions,” Fernandez said. Coutinho plays in a more advanced role than Seri and is reported to be Barcelona’s top target, with Paris Saint- Germain’s Angel Di Maria also linked to the club. (SD-Agencies) Reports: Reds agree on Keita deal for 2018 Naby Keita Kimiko Date Matt Stafford THE Lions and quarterback Matt Stafford reached an agreement on a contract extension Monday that will make him the high- est-paid player in U.S. National Football League (NFL) history at a reported US$27 million per year. Stafford’s new contract surpasses Derek Carr’s US$25 million-per-year deal that was signed in June. Stafford’s contract should set a new benchmark that will lead to the first US$30 million-per-year NFL player. Leading up to Stafford’s record deal, though, the NFL quarter- back (QB) market actually had been somewhat sluggish. The QB market had been slow since Aaron Rodgers’ decision to sign a US$22 million-per-year-contract in 2013. That number became a ceiling for every quarterback contract that followed until 2016, when Joe Flacco was able to use some incredible salary cap leverage to negotiate a three-year contract with the Ravens worth US$22.1 million per year. Flacco’s contract opened the door for market growth, which has now seen four different play- ers earn the “highest-paid” label. The big jump in salary came from Andrew Luck, who signed Stafford becomes NFL’s richest a US$24.594 million-per-year contract with the Colts in June 2016. Carr earlier this year became the first US$25 million- per-year player in league history, and Stafford is the newest market leader. The Lions passer’s US$2 million raise was likely based in part on Luck’s US$2 million increase over Flacco. The contracts of Stafford and Carr show just how much lever- age quarterbacks have over front offices. In the past, players often were graded in part by playoff success and wins. Carr has never played in a playoff game, and Stafford has never won a playoff game. (SD-Agencies)
Transcript of CONTACT US AT: Sharapova downs Halep in US...
Sports x 07CONTACT US AT: 8351-9190, [email protected]
Wednesday August 30, 2017
MARIA SHARAPOVA recovered after faltering midway through the match and emerged to beat No. 2-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at the U.S. Open on Monday night to reach the second round.
“This girl has a lot of grit and she’s not going anywhere,” Sharapova told the crowd in an on-court interview.
After leading by a set and 4-1 in the second, Sharapova showed some fatigue and rust, dropping fi ve games in a row. But in the third, Sharapova regained con-trol by going ahead 3-0, using her power to keep two-time French Open runner-up Halep under pressure.
Sharapova had not played at a Grand Slam tournament since January 2016, when she tested positive for the newly banned heart drug meldonium during the Australian Open. It was as if every one of Sharapova’s win-ners — and she compiled 60, 45 more than Halep — was her way of declaring, “I’m back!”
When a Halep shot sailed long to end the match after more than 2 hours, Sharapova dropped to her knees on court, then covered her face as her eyes welled with tears.
“I just thought that was another day, another opportu-nity, another match,” Sharapova said. The 30-year-old Russian was allowed back on the tour this April, but she was denied a wild-card invitation for the French Open the next month. The U.S. Tennis Association did grant a wild card to Sharapova, who was once ranked No.
1 but is currently 146th.That is 144 spots below Halep,
who is among eight women that entered the U.S. Open with a chance to top the WTA rankings by tournament’s end. The draw at Flushing Meadows randomly paired the two players, providing a buzz-generating matchup that managed to live up to the hype on Day 1 at the year’s last Grand Slam tournament.
It was a tremendously enter-taining and high-quality contest, more befi tting a fi nal than a fi rst-rounder.
These two women have, indeed, faced off with a Grand Slam title at stake: Sharapova beat Halep in the 2014 French Open fi nal, part of what is now her 7-0 head-to-head record in the matchup.
On Monday, they traded sting-ing shots, often with Sharapova — dressed in all black, from her visor to her dress that sparkled under the lights, to her socks and shoes — aiming to end exchanges and Halep hustling into place to extend them.
Points would last 10 or 12 strokes, or more, repeatedly leaving a sellout crowd of 23,771 in Arthur Ashe Stadium clapping and yelling and high-fi ving, no matter which player won them. The chair umpire repeatedly admonished spectators to hush.
Halep blinked at the end of the hour-long fi rst set, double-fault-ing to face a break point, then watching Sharapova punish a 71 mph second serve with a fore-hand return winner. That was Sharapova’s sixth return winner; she would fi nish with 14, more
Sharapova downs Halep in US Open
Russia’s Maria Sharapova returns the ball to Romania’s Simona Halep during their 2017 U.S. Open match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday. SD-Agencies
than enough to counter her seven double-faults.
It was quickly 4-1 for Sharapova in the second set and she held a break point there to allow her to go up 5-1 and serve for the victory. But she couldn’t
convert it. Then, only then, did Sharapova struggle for a bit. Her footwork was a bit off. Her forehand lost its way. She would end up losing that game and the next four, too, as Halep managed to force a third set. (SD-Agencies)
JAPAN’S Kimiko Date, the grand dame of women’s tennis, announced Monday that she will retire from the game a few days short of her 47th birthday.
The former world No. 4 said on her offi cial blog that she will add the “full stop” to her career by retiring — for a second time — after the Japan Women’s Open tournament, which begins in Tokyo on Sept. 11.
“I have always been obsessed with competing,” said Date, who took a 12-year hiatus from profes-sional tennis after quitting at the peak of her powers in 1996.
“But increasingly I’ve found myself adjusting the length and intensity of training to look after my physical condition.
“It has not been an easy deci-sion to sever the feeling that I want to get back on court and run around like I used to,” added the eight-time WTA Tour singles champion. “But it is time to put the punctuation point on my tennis career.”
Date, a wiry 1.63-meter tall, underwent two knee surger-ies since appearing at the 2016 Australian Open, but defi ed the odds to return to action in May this year. The Kyoto native admitted she was still nurs-
Japan’s Date to retire at 46
ing a sore knee and shoulder.She won her fi rst Japan Open
title in 1992, the same year defending champion Christina McHale of the United States was born. She said she felt unable to push herself enough to compete with players in their 20s.
In 2009, Date became the second-oldest player in the modern era to win a WTA singles title after Billie Jean King when she took the Korea Open.
Despite playing on until the ripe old age of 46, Date fell some way short of her idol Martina Navrati-lova, who retired a month short of her 50th birthday in 2006.
(SD-Agencies)
LIVERPOOL has agreed on a club-record fee to sign midfi elder Naby Keita from Germany’s RB Leipzig, with the 22-year-old set to join the English Premier League club in July 2018, British media reported Monday.
The Merseyside club will pay the Guinea international’s 48-million pound (US$62 million) release clause plus an undis-closed premium.
Liverpool is yet to make an offi cial announcement about the deal but reports said Keita completed a medical Monday.
Keita was reported to be one of Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp’s key transfer targets after he scored eight goals and provided eight assists to help Leipzig fi nish second in the Bundesliga last season.
The 22-year-old would become the Reds’ most expen-sive signing, surpassing the 42 million euros (US$50 mil-lion) they paid to sign winger Mohamed Salah from AS Roma in June.
Meanwhile, Barcelona sport-ing director Robert Fernandez hinted that he is negotiating with Liverpool over Philippe Coutinho and hoped to com-plete a deal before the transfer window closes.
After signing Ousmane Dem-bele from Borussia Dortmund for a fee, which could rise to 147 million euros, Fernandez announced his intention to bring in two more players.
“It’s true we are in negotia-tions over a player to try and sign them. We hope to reach a deal and present a new player,” Fer-nandez told a news conference when asked about Barcelona’s hopes of signing Brazil play-maker Coutinho.
Barcelona had also been linked to Nice midfi elder Jean Michael Seri. “Seri is totally ruled out. After analyzing (the situation) calmly, we decided that our priority was other posi-tions,” Fernandez said.
Coutinho plays in a more advanced role than Seri and is reported to be Barcelona’s top target, with Paris Saint-Germain’s Angel Di Maria also linked to the club. (SD-Agencies)
Reports: Reds agree on Keita deal for 2018
Naby Keita
Kimiko Date Matt Stafford
THE Lions and quarterback Matt Stafford reached an agreement on a contract extension Monday that will make him the high-est-paid player in U.S. National Football League (NFL) history at a reported US$27 million per year. Stafford’s new contract surpasses Derek Carr’s US$25 million-per-year deal that was signed in June.
Stafford’s contract should set a new benchmark that will lead to the fi rst US$30 million-per-year NFL player.
Leading up to Stafford’s record deal, though, the NFL quarter-back (QB) market actually had been somewhat sluggish. The QB market had been slow since Aaron Rodgers’ decision to sign a US$22 million-per-year-contract in 2013. That number became a ceiling for every quarterback contract that followed until 2016, when Joe Flacco was able to use some incredible salary cap leverage to negotiate a three-year contract with the Ravens worth US$22.1 million per year.
Flacco’s contract opened the door for market growth, which has now seen four different play-ers earn the “highest-paid” label. The big jump in salary came from Andrew Luck, who signed
Stafford becomes NFL’s richest
a US$24.594 million-per-year contract with the Colts in June 2016. Carr earlier this year became the fi rst US$25 million-per-year player in league history, and Stafford is the newest market leader. The Lions passer’s US$2 million raise was likely based in part on Luck’s US$2 million increase over Flacco.
The contracts of Stafford and Carr show just how much lever-age quarterbacks have over front offi ces. In the past, players often were graded in part by playoff success and wins. Carr has never played in a playoff game, and Stafford has never won a playoff game. (SD-Agencies)
