Rod Laver, Last Man to Win Grand Slam, Responds to Rafael Nadal Losing

Filed under: Australian Open

SAN DIEGO -- Tennis great Rod Laver, the last man to win the Grand Slam, was surprised to hear that Rafael Nadal's attempt to win the "Rafa Slam" was over.

The injured Nadal lost in the Australian Open quarterfinals 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 Wednesday to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Nadal was trying to win his fourth straight Grand Slam tournament over two seasons.

"That's disappointing for him, really," the 72-year-old Laver told The Associated Press from his home in Carlsbad in northern San Diego County. "In a way, that was an effort to put all those tournaments together through last year. It really was a good performance. I had him as being favored, even to beat Federer, the way he was playing. He just has got a game that's difficult for Roger.

"I'll be darned. I thought he'd come all the way through, but he didn't," Laver said. "They were all counting that he was going to be the defending champion in all four tournaments."

Laver said he knew Nadal had been ill recently and that one of his knees has given him trouble.

"It looked like he was playing well," Laver said.

Laver is the last man to win a true Grand Slam, made up of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in a calendar year. He did it twice, as an amateur in 1962 and again in 1969.

For Nadal to fall short of holding all four Grand Slam titles at the same time shows what an accomplishment it was for Laver, who's still known as "Rocket."

Laver has always diplomatically maintained that it's harder to win a true Grand Slam than to win four straight Grand Slam tournaments over two seasons.

"It is certainly tougher to win in the calendar year," Laver said. "There's a time frame. You don't have any chance unless you start off winning the Australian Open. Otherwise, it doesn't qualify as the Grand Slam.

"Again, the same thing applies with what he did. It takes an unbelievable effort. You've got to be fortunate not to have any injuries or any bloody sicknesses. You've got to prepare yourself to play in four matches. Depending on the draw you've got, that could give you trouble. There are a lot of little things that come along."

Two years ago, the four men Laver beat with his powerful left arm in his 1969 Grand Slam -- Spaniard Andres Gimeno and fellow Aussies Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Tony Roche -- joined Rocket Rod at a lunch at the Australian Open to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his second Slam. Laver also presented Nadal with the trophy after he beat Roger Federer in the title match.

 

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Source: http://tennis.fanhouse.com/2011/01/27/rod-laver-last-man-to-win-grand-slam-responds-to-rafael-nadal/

Kyle Chipchura Erik Christensen Andrew Cogliano Joe Colborne

Tony Stewart Reportedly Detained in Australia

Filed under: Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, NASCAR Police Blotter, Stewart-Haas Racing, NASCAR

NASCAR driver and team owner Tony Stewart has been detained for questioning in Australia, according to a report.

Speedcafe reports Stewart was allegedly involved in a physical altercation with Sydney Speedway co-owner Brett Morris.

The report says Stewart was upset about track conditions after hot laps, and he started exchanging words with Morris. While Stewart was held for questioning, there is no confirmation on whether he will face any charges.

Saturday evening, Stewart public relations representative Mike Arning told FanHouse in an email, "We're attempting to gather whatever information we can get our hands on in an effort to separate fact from fiction.

"However, we can say that Tony Stewart is not being held anywhere and is resting in his hotel in Australia. While we have spoken with him, he's still half-a-world a way, so figuring out what did or didn't happen is going to take some time."

After racing in Australia during the month of January, Stewart was scheduled to return to the U.S. on Saturday. No word on how his detainment will affect his plans.

Stewart is about to enter his 13th season of NASCAR competition.

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2011/01/15/tony-stewart-reportedly-detained-in-australia/

Alexander Edler Travis Ehrhardt Christian Ehrhoff Oliver Ekman-Larsson

TUF 13 media day: dos Santos drops the hammer, says Lesnar can't take a good punch

This season of "The Ultimate Fighter" is going to be all about coaching the prospects, right? Those were the words of Brock Lesnar on Tuesday in Las Vegas. You get the feeling once the cameras are rolling and Lesnar is fed a few lines from Camp dos Santos, his singular focus may change.

Lesnar hasn't had to publicly answer many questions about his loss against Cain Velasquez. It was clear that night that the big guy doesn't like getting hit. Once Velasquez landed a few good punches, Lesnar was on his horse, nearly sprinting from a striking battle.

Dos Santos told the media during the Season 13 media day that Lesnar can't take a punch. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

"He doesn't accept punches well. I am from boxing, so I have no problem with punches. Guys can punch me and I feel nothing, just keep going. That doesn't happen with him," dos Santos said with a characteristic smile. "I don't know why, I guess he's got a weak chin."

It was surprising for the normally reserved dos Santos to state it so bluntly. He also believes Lesnar is going down again. 

"I believe I can knock him out."

Dos Santos is 12-1, including 6-0 with the UFC. He's one of the better strikers in the heavyweight division with five of those UFC victories coming by TKO or KO. Lesnar (5-2 with UFC) has his work cut out for him and should get plenty of motivation if JDS continues to speak his mind. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/TUF-13-media-day-dos-Santos-drops-the-hammer-s?urn=mma-312706

Riley Nash Greg Nemisz Kris Newbury Scott Nichol

Pressing Questions: The Seattle Mariners

Ken Griffey Jr. took a lot of heat for reportedly taking a nap in the Mariners clubhouse in the middle of a game last May. But, while Griffey took his lumps and not long afterwards left Seattle (and his playing career) in a huff, truth is, much of the Seattle organization was guilty of sleeping on the job last season.

Before the season began, Seattle was a buzzy playoff pick and even those that could see the warts that the more optimistic prognosticators turned a blind eye to couldn't have fathomed the depths to which this team would fall in 2010.

This time around, coming off 101 losses and without the benefit of four months of Cliff Lee, all eyes are wide open. This is a team severely lacking in quality veteran talent, especially on offense, where it scored 74 fewer runs than any other team in baseball.AL Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez and the baseball ninja, Ichiro, are the silver lining. Chone Figgins and a few others (very few) also offer some potential for fantasy owners. But, with the team's limited spending in free agency this offseason, it's clear it is already looking ahead to 2012 and beyond, with 2011 being a proving ground for some of the younger players.

With that in mind, let's begin this Pressing Questions with Seattle's brightest hope for the future:

When should we expect star prospect Dustin Ackley to arrive, and what should we expect when he does?

You'd be hard-pressed to find Ackley outside the top five of any reputable list of current top minor league prospects. The Arizona Fall League MVP and former consolation prize in the Stephen Strasburg sweepstakes is one of the top pure-hitting prospects to come along in a long time. He's got a sweet stroke, is a contact machine and can drive the ball with authority. He also offers plus speed. Long-term, he's got the makings of being a perennial top-tier fantasy 2B. But you'll have to temper the enthusiasm for 2011. GM Jack Zduriencik has been hinting that Ackley will spend some time in Triple-A to start the season, and with the team a farfetched contender, there's simply no reason to start his service time clock. That issue typically becomes moot after the first two months of the season, meaning that a June arrival makes a lot of sense. When Ackley does arrive, he'll most certainly be worth a flyer given his pedigree and the certainty that the M's will be playing him every day. However, his power peak is a long ways off and his ability to make his fleet feet work for him on the base paths is still a work in progress. If you take that into consideration along with the likelihood that he'll be slotted at the bottom of one of the worst lineups in the league, you just can't be overly optimistic about Ackley's fantasy impact this season. In standard 12-team league setups, try to avoid making the flaunt-your-knowledge vanity pick on Ackley.

Is David Aardsma going to be ready for the start of the season after hip surgery?

Aardsma, he of 79 saves over the past two seasons, had hip surgery this offseason and it turned out that repairing his damaged hip labrum was more extensive than initially expected. He was supposed to be back in the mix after rehab at some point in the middle of the upcoming Cactus League play. But Zduriencik revealed early in the new year that the timetable was likely to be pushed back a couple weeks, seriously putting opening day availability in doubt. Setup man Brandon League is the assumed end-game replacement. He's a tough chore for hitters because of his high heat and ability to induce grounders, and he's likely to do an admirable job in the role while Aardsma is out. But make no mistake, Aardsma will get his job back the moment he's deemed fit to pitch because the Mariners are motivated to deal him, and they'll need to showcase him as much as possible early in the year to prove he's plenty healthy and still effective.

Was Mike Parrott (pictured) the worst pitcher of all time?

From a career standpoint, no. But you could make a strong case that his 1980 season with Seattle was the worst single-season pitching performance of all-time and, perhaps, the worst of all major sports. Parrott won his first start of 1980 (on opening day!), but then went on to lose 16 straight games. He finished the season with an ERA of 7.28 and a WHIP of 1.89 in 94 IP. He also lost his first two decisions of '81 to run his consecutive losses streak to 18 games.

Where there's Smoak will there be fire in 2011?

If there is a fantasy x-factor on Seattle, it's Justin Smoak. We know what the veterans bring to the table, and I've already explained why Dustin Ackley isn't likely to make his mark in fantasy this season. But Smoak, given his pedigree, is very capable of doing something pleasantly surprising. After flaming out in late July with a .198 batting average in a combined 86 games between Texas and Seattle, Smoak was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma, where he got his mechanics in check and started to show the kind of power (7 HRs in 35 games) that made him one of the top minor league prospects entering 2010. When he returned to Seattle in September, he remained in recovery mode, hitting .340 with 3 HRs in the final 14 games of the season.

Smoak had to deal with a lot in his rookie tour. Not only was he a 23-year-old facing MLB pitching for the first time, but he was dealt the added pressure of being the key piece of the Cliff Lee deal when he arrived in Seattle during the summer. In addition, he had to deal with a large amount of bad luck, as he had the seventh-best Line Drive% among all hitters with at least 390 plate appearances, yet finished with the 14th-lowest (.255) BABIP. He's a 20 HR/75 RBI consideration for the late rounds that, if luck is on his side, is capable of 25/90.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_arcade/post/Pressing-Questions-The-Seattle-Mariners?urn=fantasy-312940

Matt Niskanen Maxim Noreau Lawrence Nycholat Shane O Brien

Brad Keselowski is the giraffe whisperer

Every time the new year rolls around, your favorite drivers start showing up in odd places to promote the upcoming season. Today in out-of-context NASCARism, we present Brad Keselowski, pictured at right with Carl -- nah, too easy.

Jet Ski, the 2010 Nationwide Series champion, traveled to Tampa to promote the upcoming Daytona 500, accompanied by Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood III and some trophy hardware.

Their first stop in Tampa was Busch Gardens, where the NASCAR duo fed lettuce and whatnot to the giraffe and snuggled up close with the rhino. From there, it was on to the evening's hockey contest, where the hometown Lightning squared off 'gainst the Washington Capitals. Keselowski and Chitwood gave the "Let's play hockey!" command, the equivalent of "Gentlemen, start your engines":

Fine job, boys. On to Daytona!

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/blog/from_the_marbles/post/Brad-Keselowski-is-the-giraffe-whisperer?urn=nascar-307092

Steven Shipley Zack Sill Jim Slater Trevor Smith

Breakfast Buffet: Texas assistant names son after Kevin Durant

Pull up a chair and sit down at the breakfast buffet, an assortment of all the freshest newsworthy college hoops stories on the net. To make a submission, contact me via email or Twitter.

• Texas assistant Russell Springmann was watching the Oklahoma City Thunder play last year when he suggested to his pregnant wife they name their soon-to-be-born son after his most famous recruit. She liked the idea so much that earlier this month she gave birth to "Durant Springmann," named after ex-Texas star Kevin Durant. "We figured we couldn't name our son after anyone better," Springmann told FoxSports.com.  

• San Diego State may have a 20-0 record, newfound fan support and one of the better arenas on the West Coast, but in many ways the cash-strapped Aztecs are still one of the have-nots among major college basketball teams. They don't charter flights to midweek road games, they don't have a true practice facility, their coaching staff is underpaid and their budget for guarantee games is far less than their peers.

• ESPN commemorated the 10-year anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of 10 members of the Oklahoma State basketball family with this excellent Outside the Lines piece on Sunday. In the piece, ESPN analyst and ex-Oklahoma State player Doug Gottlieb speculates that Eddie Sutton's alcohol abuse relapse may have stemmed from not properly grieving over the lives lost in that incident.

• After a 78-46 home loss to Wisconsin that left Northwestern light years from contention for an NCAA tournament berth, even Wildcats coach Bill Carmody was at a loss for what to say to his team. "I'll try to figure it out between (the interview room) and the locker room," Carmody told reporters, "because this is rough - especially because it came at home. And the competitiveness, I didn't see it."

• A pair of road victories from the Horizon League's two Wisconsin-based programs on Sunday will end up hindering the conference's case to earn multiple NCAA tournament bids. Milwaukee handed host Butler its third league loss of the season, while Green Bay knocked Valparaiso into a tie for first place in the standings with Cleveland State.

• Baylor got its best win of the season over Oklahoma State on Saturday and Kansas State was competitive in a loss at Texas A&M, so it will be interesting to see whether either team can build on those performances when they meet on Monday. "We just need a win," senior guard Jacob Pullen told the Kansas City Star. "Big Monday, Big Tuesday, Big Saturday, it doesn't matter anymore. We've just got to find a way to get a win."

• Memphis forward Wesley Witherspoon is unlikely to play in either of Memphis' games this week against Central Florida or Marshall as a result of lingering soreness in his right knee. Maybe that's not the worst news for the Tigers considering they're 3-0 in the games he's missed this month including wins over Southern Miss and UAB. 

• Purdue fans who want to relive last week's thrilling 63-62 victory over Penn State can do so via a time lapse video shot by photographer Andrew Hancock and his student assistant Kevin Daly. More than 10,000 photographs were taken with six different cameras throughout the evening, with about 5,000 of those images making the actual video. 

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Breakfast-Buffet-Texas-assistant-names-son-afte?urn=ncaab-311520

Dustin Kohn David Kolomatis Sergei Kolosov Mike Komisarek

Will the K-State soap opera intensify following loss to Mizzou?

In about two months, Jacob Pullen might have to prove that he's a man of his word.

"I won't play basketball in the NIT," the Kansas State senior said after a 74-66 home loss to Colorado last Wednesday. "I'm saying that now. If we lose and we have to go to the NIT, I will not play."

On Monday afternoon, the Wildcats dropped to 13-6 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12, allowing No. 13 Missouri to close them out with a 17-4 run in a 75-59 win in Columbia, Mo.

Being 1-3 a quarter of the way through the Big 12 slate is tough enough.

Unfortunately for the reeling Cats, it only gets worse. They'll play three brutal games in the next 12 days: at No. 11 Texas A&M (Jan. 22), vs. Baylor (Jan. 24) and at No. 2 Kansas (Jan. 29).

On Monday they struggled to look the part of a disciplined team in the face of the Tigers' patented pressure defense. They committed 24 turnovers compared to only eight assists. Pullen was credited with three of those giveaways, including a couple paired with some bad timing after K-State had crept back to within three at 58-55, all but dissolving a 15-point halftime deficit.

So which direction do the Cats head in now?

If the season ended today, K-State would have one of the most interesting at-large résumés around. They scheduled well and rank No. 51 in RPI but are 0-4 against the RPI Top 50 to date. It's easy to forget among all of the recent losses that K-State still has the talent to rebound in a big way.

But what is bubbling beneath the surface is hard to ignore.

To recap ...

• Jamar Samuels dropped the humorous 'leadership thingy' quote following a 63-59 loss to UNLV.

• Curtis Kelly shed some inside light on the Freddy Asprilla departure over the weekend.

• Pullen called out fans on his Twitter feed in the wake of an ugly win at Loyola.

• Sophomores Wally Judge and Nick Russell, who Martin told reporters following Monday's game are not injured, but he wouldn't comment on why they've been benched.

• Oh yeah, don't forget about the Pullen-Kelly suspensions.

A year ago, Frank Martin's over-the-top sideline schtick was all the rage, and his veteran-laden team fed off of it, riding its way to the Elite Eight. But when things stop going right, does it make a coach more likely to lose control of his group?

No matter how K-State fares the rest of the way, it should remain an entertaining soap opera to keep an eye on until mid-March.

It sure has been so far.

Ryan Greene covers UNLV and the Mountain West Conference for the Las Vegas Sun.

Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Will-the-K-State-soap-opera-intensify-following-?urn=ncaab-308814

Taylor Ellington Stefan Elliott Ryan Ellis Steve Eminger