Two-time Wimbledon champ Murray eliminated by Isner
The recurring cries of “Come on, Andy!” at Centre Court meandered somewhere along the continuum from pushing to pleading as two-time champion Andy Murray's shortest stay at Wimbledon came to a close.
Unable to overcome big John Isner's big serves, the way he always has in the past, the revered Murray lost in the second round to the 20th-seeded American 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-4 on Wednesday night at the All England Club, capping a disappointing day in the grass-court Grand Slam tournament's main stadium for the locals.
Prior to Murray vs. Isner, the host country's other leading player, reigning U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu, was eliminated by Caroline Garcia of France 6-3, 6-3.
Asked whether he plans to be back a year from now, Murray, 35, replied: “It depends on how I am physically. If physically I feel good, we'll try to keep playing. But it's extremely difficult, with the problems I've had with my body the last few years, to make predictions.”
Murray needed multiple operations on his hip and now has an artificial joint. He also recently dealt with an abdominal issue that hampered his preparations last week.
Murray can still hit crisp, clean groundstrokes, and he accumulated merely 13 unforced errors to 39 winners against the 6-foot-10 Isner. And Murray can still return about as well as anyone, often getting serves topping 130 mph back over the net. But he could not quite do that enough: Isner hit 36 aces — moving him four away from Ivo Karlovic's total of 13,728, a record since the ATP began tracking that stat in 1991 — and delivered another 60 unreturned serves across the match's nearly 3½ hours.
Murray, who entered the day 8-0 against Isner, managed to obtain only two break points.
Murray made things interesting by taking the third-set tiebreaker, celebrating by hopping around and shouting and pumping his right fist while the crowd rose and roared.
But Isner quickly broke to go up 3-2 in the fourth and that, essentially, was that.
Next for Isner is a thirdround matchup against No. 10 seed Jannik Sinner. Other men who won included three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Carlos Alcaraz, while No. 3 Casper Ruud — the runnerup to Rafael Nadal at the French Open — lost 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to Ugo Humbert, and No. 15 Reilly Opelka was defeated by Tim Van Rijthoven 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4).
Only four of the top 11 men in the ATP rankings are in the bracket after Day 3.
In addition to No. 10 Raducanu's exit, No. 2 Anett Kontaveit lost to Juke Niemeier of Germany 6-4, 6-0, and No. 9 Garbiñe Muguruza, the champion at Wimbledon in 2017 and the French Open in 2016, was beaten by Greet Minnen 6-4, 6-0.
Women's winners included 2021 runner-up Karolina Pliskova, No. 8 Jessica Pegula, three-time major champion Angelique Kerber and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
Report: Harden will stay, help 76ers
James Harden declined his $47 million option for next season with Philadelphia and became a free agent — but told the team on the eve of free agency that he intends to stay on a new deal that will allow the 76ers the flexibility they need to sign other players this summer, according to a person with direct knowledge of that situation, the AP reported.
• The San Antonio Spurs are trading All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks for Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks, multiple sources said.
• Kyrie Irving could have been free agents this summer but opted in to a new deal with the Brooklyn Nets for $37 million.
• The Denver Nuggets agreed to a deal that would send guards Will Barton and Monte Morris to the Washington Wizards for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith, The AP reported.
• The Minnesota Timberwolves are bringing back reserve forward Taurean Prince. Prince and the Timberwolves agreed to a twoyear, $16 million contract extension, the AP reported.
Velasquez sues owners of day care center
Cain Velasquez, the former UFC heavyweight champion accused of trying to kill the man he claims molested his 4-yearold son, is suing the man and his family who own a day care where the alleged molestation occurred.
Velasquez was arrested in San Jose last February after he shot at a pickup truck carrying the man through busy streets in three Silicon Valley cities, ramming the vehicle with his own truck in a high-speed chase, prosecutors said.
A judge in March denied bail to Velasquez, who faces attempted murder and multiple gun assault charges.
Velasquez claims in a civil lawsuit that Harry Goularte sexually molested Velasquez's son while the boy was attending a day care run at a home by Goularte's mother, Patricia Goularte, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Times said the lawsuit was filed on behalf of a minor. Harry Goularte was living at the home and working for the day care during the time of the alleged molestation, according to the court filing.
The lawsuit accuses Goularte and his family of negligence and sexual battery.
Goularte, 43, was charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a minor by the Santa Clara County district attorney's office. He has pleaded not guilty and trial is scheduled for September.
Velasquez, 39, is due back in court in August.
• Cristiano Ronaldo is asking a U.S. judge to order a woman's lawyer to pay the international soccer star more than $626,000 after claiming in a failed lawsuit seeking millions of dollars that Ronaldo raped the woman in Las Vegas nearly a decade earlier.
Ronaldo's attorney, Peter Christiansen, asks U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey to make the woman's attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, personally responsible for the amount.
Stovall is due to file an answer with the court by July 8.
Dorsey on June 10 kicked the case out of court to punish Stovall for “bad-faith conduct” and the improper use of leaked and stolen documents to pursue the case.
Stovall “crossed the border of ethical behavior before he filed this action, and his disregard for the rules of this court has continued unabated,” the judge found.
Dorsey said in her order that dismissing plaintiff Kathryn Mayorga's case outright with no option to file it again was a severe sanction, but said Ronaldo had been harmed by Stovall's conduct.
• Ali Khosroshahin, a former USC soccer coach who took bribes in exchange for helping unqualified kids into the school, was sentenced to six months in home confinement after cooperating with authorities investigating the college admissions scandal.
Prosecutors had not been seeking home confinement or prison time for Khosroshahin, citing his quick acceptance of responsibility and his help in prosecuting others in the massive case.
But U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston decided that prosecutors' recommendation of time served wasn't enough, noting that Khosroshahin dragged his assistant coach into the corrupt scheme, among other things.
Khosroshahin, who was the head women's soccer coach from 2007 to 2013, appeared to fight back tears as he apologized to USC, his former athletes, his family and the deserving students who missed out on an admissions spot because of his “lies and greed.”
ACFC acquires Leroux
Angel City FC acquired former UCLA star Sydney Leroux in a trade with the Orlando Pride.
Angel City is sending Orlando its natural first-round pick in 2024 and $75,000 in allocation money. If Leroux meets “certain performancebased criteria,” Angel City will send Orlando an additional $10,000 in allocation this season and next season.
Leroux, 32, had scored two goals in seven games for the Pride.
Yormark new Big 12 commissioner
Brett Yormark, an executive with Jay-Z's Roc Nation and former CEO of the Brooklyn Nets, was named Big 12 commissioner.
• Mississippi State coach Mike Leach signed a twoyear contract extension through 2025 after leading the Bulldogs to their second consecutive bowl appearance. The third-year coach's base annual salary increases from $5 million to $5.5 million under the new deal.
The Bulldogs went 7-6 in 2021 with wins over three ranked schools.