In the news
Tigers' Watson named AAC tennis player of the week: Andrew Watson, a junior for the University of Memphis men's tennis team, was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week Tuesday. Watson finished 2-0 in singles last weekend, including a victory that helped the Tigers upset No. 18 Cornell Sunday. He also finished 3-0 in doubles play.
Watson is off to a 9-0 start in singles this spring (2-0 at No. 1 singles and 7-0 at No. 2). His strong start has allowed him to climb to No. 78 nationally in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.
“Andrew’s been playing well,” associate head coach Chris Doerr said. “He had a tough fall on paper, but we added some things to his game that have helped him in the spring and will help him down the road."
The Tigers play a pair of non-conference matches in Stillwater, Oklahoma, this weekend. Memphis will meet the nation's fourth-ranked team, Oklahoma State, on Friday and San Diego State on Saturday.
U of M women's golf team shares UNF Collegiate title: The University of Memphis women’s golf team continued its strong early season play by finishing in a tie for first Tuesday at the UNF Collegiate at Jacksonville Golf and Country Club. In its second tournament of the spring, the Lady Tiger golf team shared the title with Southern Miss to post its second straight top-two finish. Memphis fired a third-round 299 to finish at 895, one stroke ahead of Old Dominion and Dayton State College and two strokes ahead of fifth-place Campbell University.
Leading the U of M was Michaela Fletcher, who fired a third-round 76 to finish at 8-over 224. In her first season back from injury, Fletcher has had consecutive top-15 finishes. Two strokes back was Leighann Cabush, while teammates Madison Thomas and Sydney Colwill finished at 227 (28th overall). Colwill shot even-par 72 Tuesday, her lowest round of the tournament.
Emily Goldenstein shot 76 for 232 and freshman Abby Herrmann, who competed as an individual, shot 78 for 241.
Old Dominion’s Sana Tufail led the tournament wire-to-wire, winning individual medalist honors with a 3-under 213.
Authorities cast doubt on Fury’s return: The body that runs British boxing cast doubt on Tyson Fury’s announcement that he is close to returning to the ring, saying Tuesday the former world heavyweight champion’s license remains suspended and that he has an upcoming anti-doping hearing.
Fury wrote on Twitter on Monday that he was “working on an opponent” and gave a date of May 13 for his return. His promoters are not commenting on Fury’s tweet.
Robert Smith, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, said he was surprised at Fury’s announcement because the boxer had his license suspended in October over drug use and medical issues.
“We are nowhere near attempting whether to consider it being lifted,” Smith told The Associated Press. “He has a number of issues, which are welldocumented, that need to be dealt with for his own best interests, and we haven’t had any contact with him whatsoever.”
Smith said Fury was still under investigation by UK Anti-Doping.
The unbeaten Fury has not fought since beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to claim the WBA, WBO and IBF titles in one of the most stunning heavyweight upsets in recent times. He twice pulled out of a rematch with Klitschko, most recently ahead of the rearranged Oct. 29 bout after being declared “medically unfit” by his team.
Fury was stripped of the IBF belt soon after beating Klitschko for not fighting a mandatory challenger. He relinquished his WBO and WBA titles in October on the day his license was suspended.