Category: SPORTS

Saying she is struggling to walk, Serena Williams ended her latest bid for a 24th Grand Slam title and withdrew from the French Open before her second-round match Wednesday because of an injured Achilles heel. Williams hurt herself during her semifinal loss at the U.S. Open three weeks ago and said she hasn’t had enough time to properly heal and needs four to six weeks of sitting, doing nothing. The sudden announcement came roughly an hour before the 39-year-old American was supposed to head out onto Court Philippe Chatrier to…

Read More

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has been fined Rs 12 lakh after his team maintained a slow over-rate during their Indian Premier League match against Kings XI Punjab here. RCB were thrashed by 97 runs in the match on Thursday night. “As it was his team’s first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Mr. Kohli was fined Rs 12 lakh,” the IPL said in a release. The Indian batting mainstay had a forgettable outing at the Dubai International Stadium. While…

Read More

Convinced that possessing an array of shots is a must to go with power-hitting, wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson says he worked on these aspects during the coronavirus enforced break. The work done by Samson was there to be seen when he pulverised the Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday night, setting up a Rajasthan Royal’s win with his blistering 32-ball 74-run knock, studded with nine sixes and a boundary. That he is an impact player is a known fact but his clean and elegant hitting earned praise from one and all.…

Read More

Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh is likely to be ruled out of the remainder of the IPL as the ankle injury he suffered during the game against RCB has turned out to be “serious”, team sources said on Tuesday. Playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Marsh was handed the ball by skipper David Warner to bowl the fifth over but he could bowl only four deliveries. Marsh, whose career has been marred by a series of injuries, twisted his ankle in the second ball while trying to stop a drive by Aaron Finch…

Read More

From singles to doubles, hard courts to clay courts, North America to Europe, Denis Shapovalov just keeps playing and, for the most part, winning. After spending more than 22 hours on court over the previous two weeks at the U.S. Open, where he reached the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles, Shapovalov is still going strong after crossing the Atlantic. The Canadian recovered from an early break in the second set to beat Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-4 Thursday and reach the third round of the Italian Open. A…

Read More

Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey struck centuries in a 212-run stand to help Australia reach a record target of 303 at Old Trafford with two balls remaining and secure a one-day international series win over England. Mitchell Starc started the third and deciding ODI on Wednesday by taking wickets from the first two balls of the match, and ended it by sweeping a four for the winning runs under lights as the Australians consigned England to its first loss in a bilateral ODI series at home since 2015. It was…

Read More

Andy Murray received a wild card into the French Open. The former No. 1 was the only non-Frenchman of eight players to be given a free pass into the main draw of the clay grand slam which starts in 13 days. Murray was also awarded a wild card into the U.S. Open, after his struggles with pelvic and shin injuries dropped his ranking to 129th. He went two rounds in New York, and improved to 110th, but still too low for the French Open when it published its main draw…

Read More

Serena Williams already was struggling to keep up in a fast-paced U.S. Open semifinal when she stopped behind the baseline after a third-set point and leaned over. She held that pose for a bit, then clutched at her left ankle and asked for a trainer. While Williams took a medical timeout for a tape job, her latest bid for a 24th Grand Slam singles title seemingly slipping away, her opponent, Victoria Azarenka, sat in a sideline seat, eyes closed, calm and composed as can be. After a delay of about…

Read More

The Toronto Raptors faced a sizable early deficit. They trailed in the fourth quarter. And again in the first overtime. And again in the second overtime. Exhausted and on the brink, the reigning NBA champions rose to the moment. Next up: Game 7, for a spot in the Eastern Conference finals against Miami. OG Anunoby the hero of Game 3 with a buzzer-beating 3 put the Raptors ahead to stay with a 3-pointer with just under a minute left in double overtime, Kyle Lowry got an acrobatic jumper to fall…

Read More