Pro tours won't give points for Wimbledon
The women’s and men’s professional tennis tours will not award ranking points for Wimbledon this year because of the All England Club’s ban on players from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine, an unprecedented move that stands as a significant rebuke of the sport’s oldest Grand Slam tournament.
The WTA and ATP announced their decisions Friday night, two days before the start of the French Open — and a little more than a month before play begins at Wimbledon on June 27.
In a technical sense, this renders the event an exhibition, because there are no ranking points at stake. Still, it remains Wimbledon, with its traditions and prestige, from the grass underfoot to the all-white clothing, from the Royal Box to the strawberries and cream, not to mention millions of dollars in prize money, and so the expectation is that everyone eligible to enter will do so.
• Casper Ruud will defend his Geneva Open title against unseeded Joao Sousa after both had straight sets wins in the semifinals.
The No. 8-ranked Ruud beat Reilly Opelka 7-6 (2), 7-5 to lift his career record to 4-0 against the big-serving American, who is ranked No. 18.
Ruud has hit form approaching the French Open that starts on Sunday, also reaching the semifinals of the Masters event in Rome last week.
Sousa advanced to his first clay-court final since 2018 by beating Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-2. Sousa was a runner-up at Geneva seven years ago.
IndyCar tries to save Indy 500 qualifying
First came the wind — 41 mph gusts that created some of the most challenging conditions in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history — and the rain was expected to follow.
It put IndyCar on its heels on “Fast Friday” as race officials scrambled to save qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. Not a single drop of rain had fallen when IndyCar adjusted its schedule for today in hopes of avoiding any disruption to qualifying for its marquee event next weekend.
Weather conditions at the speedway have changed daily since the track opened on sunshine-soaked Tuesday for Indy 500 prep. Wednesday was a washout, Thursday was just a regular day at the speedway and windwhipped Friday saw nail-biting speed on the track.
Drivers were on edge and few willing to complete a full four-lap run without lifting off the gas during blistering fast mock qualifying runs. Conor Daly, with a Chevrolet engine for Ed Carpenter Racing, maxed out at an eye-popping 243.724 mph in turn three, where the wind was fiercest and blowing south to north from Turn 2.
“Nothing prepares you for going into turn three at 240 mph. It’s not very pleasant for anyone,” said Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin.
Two-time winner Takuma Sato topped the speed chart for the third consecutive session with a late lap at 232.789 mph. He bumped Alexander Rossi from the top; Rossi ran only one full lap all day.
It was a six-hour session in which IndyCar allowed a horsepower boost ahead of qualifying, which is scheduled to begin today for the 33-car field. The pole will be awarded Sunday in a shootout among the fastest six drivers.
• Stewart Friesen muscled his way past Christian Eckes in overtime to win at Texas Motor Speedway for his first NASCAR trucks victory of the season. Friesen, 38, won for the third time in his career and the first time since November 2019.
• Formula One team Aston
A fan holds a Russian flag while watching a Wimbledon match featuring Russian Daniil Medvedev last year. Wimbledon has banned Russians and Belarusians this year.
Martin was cleared of suspicion that it had broken competition rules by allegedly copying a design from a Red Bull car, FIA said.
The governing body for F1 said an investigation had concluded that Aston Martin had not reverse engineered parts of a Red Bull car for an aerodynamic upgrade that it has brought to the Spanish Grand Prix.
Interstatedaydream wins Black-Eyed Susan
Canada-bred Interstatedaydream mounted a bold stretch run to hold off race favorite Adare Manor and win the $250,000 BlackEyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
Starting from the ninth post, Interstatedaydream won for the third time in five career starts and has never finished out of the money. Jockey Florent Geroux has been aboard the Brad Coxtrained filly in each of her three races this year, finishing with two firsts and a third.
It’s the first Black-Eyed Susan victory for Geroux and Cox.
Interstatedaydream led at the top of the stretch and many in the Pimlico crowd expected Adare Manor and jockey John Velazquez to mount a challenge. But Interstatedaydream refused to yield the lead and won by 1¼ lengths.
Interstatedaydream, who went off at 6-1, paid $14.20, $6.40 and $5.00 in this Grade 2 race for 3-year-old fillies over a fast track on a warm day at Pimlico.
Adare Manor finished second in the 13-filly affair, with Radio Days taking the show spot.
The winning time of 1:48.73 over 1 1/8 miles was just off the Black-Eyed Susan record of 1:47.83 set by Silverbulletday in 1999.
Mountain West scraps two-division format
The Mountain West Conference will eliminate its two-division format in football for the 2023 season.
The conference announced that the two teams with the highest winning percentage will compete in the league championship game. The decision came two days after the NCAA threw out requirements dictating how conferences can determine their champions and the Pac-12 scrapped its two-division format.
The two-division format will remain in place for the 2022 season.
• The Pac-12 Conference suffered a 36% decrease in revenue for the 2020-21 fiscal year due in large part to pandemic-related cancellations in football and basketball.
The conference announced it had total revenues of $344 million and distributions to member schools of $238 million. The $19.8 million payouts per school represented a drop of 41% from the previous year.
The Pac-12 said the dropoffs stemmed from decreases in media rights and postseason bowl revenues due to game cancellations, lower event revenue with no fans and increases in costs for COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
• The Indiana Hoosiers’ top player, Trayce JacksonDavis,
will be on the court next season after he withdrew from the NBA draft.
Jackson-Davis still has two years of eligibility remaining and will begin his senior season ranked No. 15 on the school’s career scoring list with 1,565 points.
The 6-foot-9 forward was a preseason All-American last fall, finished sixth in the Big Ten in scoring at 18.3 points per game and rebounding with 8.1 while leading the Hoosiers to a 21-14 mark and an NCAA Tournament appearance in coach Mike Woodson’s first season as coach.
Host Finns lead their group at worlds
Finland got back to winning ways at the world ice hockey championship when it beat Britain 6-0, while Germany beat Italy 9-4 in the highest-scoring game of the tournament.
Montreal Canadiens forward Joel Armia was among six players to score for host Finland, while Jussi Olkinuora faced 10 shots for the shutout as the Finns rained 42 shots on the British net.
The win lifted the Olympic champion Finns to first in Group B, ahead of Sweden, the United States and the Czech Republic.
Britain was last in the group, without a win and with no goals in any of its last three games. In the same group, Latvia beat Austria 4-3 in a shootout.
In Group A, Germany scored nine goals to beat Italy for its fourth straight win. It was Germany’s most convincing victory after an opening 5-3 loss to Canada was followed by three consecutive one-goal wins against Slovakia, France and Denmark.
Slovakia beat Kazakhstan 4-3 in the day’s other Group A game.
Contender Bardet pulls out of Giro d'Italia
Romain Bardet pulled out of the Giro d’Italia due to a stomach bug before French cyclist Arnaud Démare claimed his third victory in this year’s race.
Bardet, who was among the overall title favorites and lying fourth overall, climbed off his bike about a third of the way into the 13th stage to Cuneo and got into a Team DSM car. Shortly afterward, the team confirmed his abandonment.
Bardet was only 14 seconds behind leader Juan Pedro López overall, and was expected to be the main challenger to favorite Richard Carapaz.
Lewandowski manager accused of blackmail
Prosecutors in Poland filed blackmailing charges against the former manager of Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski.
Cezary Kucharski publicly accused the Poland national team captain and his wife of tax irregularities in Germany and threatened to reveal the details if they didn’t pay 20 million euros ($21.1 million).
Lewandowski, who has won the last two FIFA best player awards, has denied any wrongdoing and has sued Kucharski, who served as his manager for almost 10 years up to 2018.