Djokovic to miss rest of season
For more than a year, Novak Djokovic’s right elbow hurt when he hit serves or forehands. The pain kept getting worse, and now he’s going to give his arm a chance to heal by sitting out the rest of 2017.
Djokovic will miss the U.S. Open, ending his streak of participating in 51 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, and aims to return to the ATP Tour in January in a tune-up tournament ahead of the Australian Open.
Since entering his first major tournament at the 2005 Australian Open, Djokovic never has missed one, the third-longest active run among men and seventh-longest in history.
In that time, the 30-yearold Serb has won 12 Grand Slam titles, including the U.S. Open in 2011 and 2015. Only three men have won more major tennis singles championships: Roger Federer (19), Rafael Nadal (15) and Pete Sampras (14).
Djokovic’s last match was July 12 when he stopped playing during his Wimbledon quarterfinal against Tomas Berdych because the elbow was too painful.
Anti-Vick movement
Public opposition is growing against the planned induction of former football star Michael Vick into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.
Two online petitions at change.org received more than 90,000 combined signatures against the September induction. Virginia Tech continued to defend its recent decision, noting that some believe Vick is the greatest athlete in school history.
Vick served 19 months in federal prison on 2007 dogfighting convictions. He led the Hokies to a spot in the 1999 NCAA Championship Game, and played in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles. . . .
The Pac-12 will shorten halftime and reduce the number of commercial breaks during its non-conference schedule this season as part of a trial program to reduce the length of its football games.
Also to shorten games, the Mid-American Conference will put greater emphasis on restarting games after halftime, and referees getting the ball ready for play more quickly.
Penske adds Blaney
Ryan Blaney will drive a third entry for Team Penske in NASCAR’s top series next year. Blaney will drive the No. 12 Ford and join Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski in team owner Roger Penske’s NASCAR lineup. The 23-year-old Blaney won his first career NASCAR Cup race this season at Pocono driving for Wood Brothers Racing. . . .
Katie Ledecky’s bid to win six gold medals at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, ended yesterday when she was beaten in the 200-meter freestyle by Italy’s Federica Pellegrini in a stunning setback. Ledecky was a perfect 12-for-12 during the past three world championships, and had already won three golds in Budapest. . . .
The San Jose Sharks hired former Bruins forward Dave Barr as an assistant on Peter DeBoer’s staff.