Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
WIMBLEDON, England - This one meant so much to Andy Roddick.
Because of the stakes: a return to Wimbledon’s semifinals. Because of the opponent: 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt. And because of the circumstances: a five-set grind that began under a bright sun and concluded in shadows, 3 hours, 50 minutes later.
When it was over, having finally figured out a way to get past Hewitt 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4, Roddick let out a sigh and raised a fist, then threw his racket down, sat in his changeover chair and covered his face with his hands.
“A mixture of happiness, of relief. In your mind, you’re kind of trying to stay the course for four hours, constantly figuring out what you’re going to do,” said Roddick, who swatted 43 aces in Wednesday’s quarterfinals at the All England Club. “Your mind is just racing.”
He hadn’t been to the final four at Wimbledon since 2005; even lost in the second round a year ago. He hadn’t won a five-setter at any Grand Slam tournament in 2½ years. But Roddick came through in the crunch, saving three break points while trailing 2-1 in the fifth set, before earning the decisive break in a 14-point game to go ahead 5-4.
“It’s going to pay big dividends, winning a tight match like this,” said Roddick’s coach, Larry Stefanki. “He hasn’t done that in a long time.”
Roddick-Hewitt was the only quarterfinal pitting two men who have been ranked No. 1, and the only one involving two men who have won a major championship. It also was the most riveting contest, not to mention the longest.
“It certainly wasn’t short on drama,” Roddick said. “It was tough from a mental standpoint, because Lleyton wasn’t going away, and there were kind of a lot of ebbs and flows.”
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Next up for the No. 6-seeded Roddick: a semifinal against No. 3 Andy Murray, who beat 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Murray is trying to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, so he will be backed by quite a crowd in what the locals will bill as “Andy vs. Andy.”
“We might be able to count the people for me on this hand,” Roddick said, raising his right mitt. “I’m just going to pretend when they say, ’Come on, Andy!’ that they mean me.”
The other semifinal Friday is No. 2 Roger Federer against No. 24 Tommy Haas. It’s a rematch of a June 1 French Open fourth-round match in which Haas took the first two sets and was five points away from winning, before Federer won en route to claiming his first title at Roland Garros.
That gave Federer his 14th Grand Slam championship, tying Pete Sampras’ career record. He can surpass that mark here.
“It would be writing in the history books of tennis,” Federer said, then cautioned: “It’s not there yet. Still far away. Many points, many serves, many forehands.”
Seeking a sixth Wimbledon title, he beat No. 22 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3). Haas knocked off No. 4 Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3.
Federer completely took the sting out of the intimidating serves of the 6-foot-10 Karlovic, who had won 79 of 79 service games through more than 9 hours of play across his first four matches at Wimbledon — and 128 of 128 service games if you add in his previous tournament, too.
So wouldn’t you know it: Federer needed all of 8 minutes and two Karlovic service games to break the big fella.
Federer hit three return winners, including a forehand off a 122 mph serve on break point, to take a 3-1 lead. That set the tone.
Karlovic, best known for upsetting defending champion Hewitt at Wimbledon in the first round in 2003, was asked why Federer dealt with his serve better than other players do.
“Oh, it is only because he is better than everybody else,” Karlovic said. “That’s it.”
Federer outperformed Karlovic by winning 74 of 85 points in his own service games. Only once did Karlovic so much as get to deuce on Federer’s serve, midway through the third set, and here is how the Swiss star responded: service winner at 129 mph, ace at 128 mph.
Take aces out of the equation — Karlovic led 23-7 in that category — and Federer wound up with a 32-6 advantage in other winners as he reached the semifinals at a 21st Grand Slam tournament in a row, extending his own record. No one else in tennis history ever made it to more than 10 consecutive major semifinals.
“It’s hard to believe I achieved it, because looking back, it’s not just I’m looking back on a few weeks or a month or a year or so. It’s really way back,” said Federer, who last exited a tournament before this stage at the 2004 French Open. “Quite a streak.”
Indeed it is. Consider: The other men left in the tournament all have Grand Slam semifinal streaks of exactly one. Murray and Haas never had been this far at Wimbledon before, while Roddick lost to Federer in the 2003 semifinals and the 2004 and 2005 finals at the All England Club.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
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Federer dominates Karlovic Watch highlights of Roger Federer's dominant three-set victory over big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals. |
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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
The Red Wings have finally started to embrace a record they've been chasing.
