Raonic out of Queen’s Club with chest injury
LONDON — Milos Raonic has pulled out of the Queen’s Club grass-court tennis tournament with a right pectoral strain. The tournament made the announcement on its official Twitter account Tuesday, just hours after Raonic won his first-round match over Yuki Bhambri. Raonic was up 6-1, 3-1 on Bhambri before the Indian qualifier retired.
Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., was coming off a run to the final at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, where he lost to top-ranked Roger Federer on Sunday. His status for Wimbledon, which starts July 2 at the All England Club, is now in question. He missed the last Grand Slam when he sat out the French Open with an undisclosed injury. Once No. 3 in the world, Raonic has seen his ranking plummet over the last couple of years because of a litany of injuries.
Federer rolls at Weber event
HALLE, Germany — Roger Federer opened his Gerry Weber Open title defence by seeing off Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Fresh from winning his 18th grass-court title in Stuttgart on Sunday, Federer dropped just four points on his serve and forced seven break opportunities, taking two. The world No. 1 made his comeback in Stuttgart after skipping the entire clay-court season for the second year in a row, and again he looked sharp as he extended his grass-court winning streak to 17 matches including his titles at Halle and Wimbledon last year.
The Swiss great is just five match wins away from matching Jimmy Connors’ all-time record of 174 victories on grass. Federer’s winning percentage is better, with 169 wins and 24 loses compared to Connors’ record of 174-34. Federer is bidding for a record-extending 10th title in Halle, which would be his fourth of the season and 99th overall.
Argentine banned for match fixing
LONDON — Top-100 tennis player Nicolas Kicker has been suspended for six years and fined US$25,000 for fixing two matches.
The Tennis Integrity Unit announced Kicker’s punishment Tuesday, saying that he can reduce his ban to three years if he “commits no further breaches.”
Kicker was kicked out of the French Open last month after an anti-corruption hearing officer ruled that the 25-yearold from Argentina arranged the results of two Challenger tour matches in 2015. He also was found guilty of failing to fully co-operate with the Tennis Integrity Unit’s investigation into the allegations. Kicker is not allowed to compete in — or even attend — any sanctioned tennis events.
B.C.’s Morrison says she’s done
CALGARY — Canadian Olympic speedskater Josie Morrison has announced her retirement from competitive speedskating.
The 24-year-old from Kamloops placed fourth as a member of Canada’s team pursuit squad and 21st in the 1,500 metres at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Morrison stepped on the podium for the first time at the international level last year, winning a bronze at the World Cup in Heerenveen, Netherlands, in the women’s team pursuit.
Morrison married Olympic champion Denny Morrison in 2017 and the pair represented
Wilshire, Gunners parting ways
LONDON — Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is leaving the English club after 17 years, having been told he would face a diminished role under new coach Unai Emery.
The 26-year-old Wilshere had previously accepted a reduced-terms deal to extend his contract which expires at the end of June. However, he said discussions with Emery convinced him he had “little choice” but to leave for “footballing reasons.” Wilshere and his agent had been negotiating his midfielder’s future with the Gunners for several months but the meeting with Emery, appointed as Arsene Wenger’s successor in late May, proved the turning point.
Also Tuesday, the club announced goalkeeper Bernd Leno is leaving Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen to join Arsenal.