U.S. captain Courier quits
Jim Courier is finished as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team after eight years on the job.
The U.S. Tennis Association announced Thursday that Courier is “stepping down,” less than two weeks after the Americans lost to host Croatia, 3-2, in the Davis Cup semifinals.
The United States had a 10-8 record in World Group play since Courier was appointed in October 2010, twice making it as far as the semifinals.
The country’s most recent Davis Cup title came in 2007.
Courier was part of Davis Cup-winning teams as a player in 1992 and 1995. He also won four Grand Slam singles titles and reached No. 1 in the rankings.
SOCCER
American investor Shahid Khan’s $785 million offer to buy Wembley Stadium survived a meeting of the Football Association’s board without being rejected.
The directors of English soccer’s governing body decided to take a presentation to the larger FA Council, which features representatives from across the English game.
Khan, who owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and Premier League team Fulham, announced in April that he was looking to buy English soccer’s national stadium.
HOCKEY
The NHL said it is investigating Philadelphia Flyers forward Jori Lehtera after a report he is being questioned in connection with a drug bust in his native Finland.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the league is investigating the situation. Lehtera’s lawyer, Ari Nieminen, said he expects police to release a statement clearing up some things that came out of the report.
Finnish news agency MTV reported that Lehtera is connected with an investigation into a cocaine ring. Nieminen said no charges have been filed against Lehtera.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Julius Whittier, the first African-American football letterman at the University of Texas whose family later sued the NCAA on behalf of college players who suffered brain injuries, has died.
Whittier died Tuesday at age 68, the school announced. No cause of death was given, but Whittier had been battling Alzheimer’s disease. In 2014, his family sued the NCAA on behalf of college players who suffered brain injuries. The case is still pending.
Whittier was among the first black athletes to receive a scholarship to Texas. The Longhorns had the last all-white national championship team in 1969. Whittier was an offensive tackle for the Longhorns from 1970-’71 and moved to tight end as a senior in 1972.
BOXING
HBO is getting out of the live boxing business after more than 1,000 fights over four decades of telecasts.
The network will televise the Oct. 27 middleweight title fight between Danny Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko, then bow out.
Showtime, HBO’s main competitor for cable boxing telecasts, plans to enhances its schedule for 2019.
Since its first fight on Jan. 22, 1973 – a huge one in which George Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier for the heavyweight crown in Jamaica – HBO televised a symmetrical number of 1,111 bouts, some pay-per-view, the rest on the cable channel.