TENNIS
Novak Djokovic has asked American authorities for special permission to enter the United States to play tennis tournaments in California and Florida despite being unvaccinated against the coronavirus, the top-ranked Serb said Wednesday.
The Transportation Security Administration has said the requirement for foreign air travelers to be fully vaccinated against the disease would be in place at least until mid-April. The tournament in Indian Wells will be played from March 6-19 and the Miami Open is scheduled from March 20-April 2.
“Everything is currently in the process,” Djokovic said at his training ground in Belgrade. “I have a big desire to be there.
“I am really thankful to the Indian Wells and Miami tournament (officials) and community for their support publicly and they would like me to be able to play in their tournaments.”
Last year, the 35-year-old Djokovic was deported from Australia ahead of the Australian Open because of his vaccination status. Djokovic returned to the tournament in January after Australia lifted its strict vaccine mandate to win his 22nd Grand Slam title, tying the record with Rafael Nadal.
RIO OPEN: Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the second round after he closed out the final two games of a match suspended the day before because of rain at Rio de Janeiro.
The 19-year-old defending champion beat Brazilian player Mateus Alves 6-4, 6-4 and will next face Fabio Fognini, who defeated Tomas Barrios Vera 6-2, 6-3 at the clay court tournament.
Last year’s runner-up Diego Schwartzman was knocked out by Serbian player Dusan Lajovic 6-1, 6-4. Lajovic will next face compatriot Laslo Djere.
Fourth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo beat Roberto Carballes Baena 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and will meet Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the next round.
FOOTBALL
NFL: Aaron Curry is the new inside linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team announced.
Curry spent the last four years working in various roles for the Seattle Seahawks, including assistant defensive line/defensive ends coach in 2022.
Curry replaces Jerry Olsavsky, who had been Pittsburgh’s inside linebackers coach since 2015. Olsavsky spent more than 20 years with the organization as a player and coach but was not retained for the 2023 season.
• The Tennessee Titans released three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan for a failed physical and also released veteran wide receiver Robert Woods and kicker Randy Bullock.
The Titans started Wednesday approximately $23.5 million over the salary cap of $224.8 million for the 2023 season, a number they must reach by the start of free agency March 15. Only Jacksonville, New Orleans and Tampa Bay had worse cap situations, according to Spotrac.com.
These three moves leave the Titans $4.2 million over the cap, though they still have an effective cap deficit of about $152,123, according to Overthecap.com.
Lewan and Woods had been set to carry the sixth and seventh-highest salary cap hits for the team in the 2023 season.
• The Baltimore Ravens hired Willie Taggart as their running backs coach.
The 46-year-old Taggart has served as head coach at five Division I programs, most recently at Florida Atlantic, where he went 33-15 from 2020-22. Before that, he was the coach at Florida State (2018-19), Oregon (2017), South Florida (2013-16) and Western Kentucky (2010-12).
The Ravens also announced that Tee Martin has moved from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach and that Scott Elliott has been promoted to strength and conditioning coordinator. Elliott replaces Steve Saunders, who is no longer with the organization.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Chiney Ogwumike re-signed with the Los Angeles Sparks.
The two-time WNBA All-Star enters her seventh season in the league and fourth with the Sparks.
SOCCER
SHEBELIEVES CUP: Alex Morgan and Mallory Swanson scored and the United States defeated Brazil 2-1 to win the SheBelieves Cup for the fourth straight year, at Frisco, Texas.
Japan defeated Canada 3-0 in the earlier match and was runner-up in the four-team, round-robin tournament. All four SheBelieves Cup teams will play in Women’s World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand.
MLS: With Opening Day approaching Saturday, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber expressed hope to pick a 30th team by the end of the year and defended an expanded playoff format in which 18 of 29 clubs make the postseason.
MLS has nearly tripled in size from 2004, when it was a 10-team league. St. Louis, the 29th team, starts play Saturday at Austin.
Garber said San Diego and Las Vegas are the most likely opportunities for 30. He mentioned Detroit; Phoenix; Sacramento, California; and Tampa, Florida, as other expansion possibilities.
CUP OF NATIONS: Australia remained unbeaten to win the Cup of Nations women’s soccer tournament with a 3-0 victory over Jamaica at Newcastle, Australia.
Katrina Gorry gave the Matildas a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute before Alex Chidiac (56th) and Caitlan Foord (69th) finished the scoring.
BARCELONA: Barcelona will be without some of its regular starters for the return match against Manchester United in the Europa League on Thursday, including playmaker Pedri and forward Ousmane Dembele because of injuries.
Coach Xavi also won’t be able to count on suspended midfielder Gavi.
The teams drew 2-2 in Barcelona last week in the first leg of the knockout playoffs.
BAYERN MUNICH: Coach Julian Nagelsmann was fined 50,000 euros ($53,200) but avoided suspension for his outburst against match officials after the Bundesliga leader’s 3-2 loss at Borussia Monchengladbach.
The German soccer federation issued the fine for what it called Nagelsmann’s “unsportsmanlike comments” to referee Tobias Welz and officials in their locker room after Saturday’s game.
The federation refrained from any ban for Nagelsmann after noting he apologized the same evening and had not previously appeared before its sports court.
Nagelsmann was upset after Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the eighth minute for a foul on Gladbach’s Alassane Plea as the forward was heading toward the goal. There was only minimal contact, but Welz said it was enough for Plea to lose his balance.
Nagelsmann saw it differently at the time and angrily confronted the match officials afterward.
“Is he messing me around or what?” Nagelsmann reportedly roared, before he knocked on the door of the officials’ dressing room.
DOPING
FIGURE SKATING: The International Skating Union is following the World Anti-Doping Agency in appealing the decision not to ban Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva over the doping case that overshadowed last year’s Beijing Olympics.
The ISU said that despite Valieva’s age – she was 15 at the time she tested positive – it was important to pursue the case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
The appeals follow a Russian anti-doping tribunal’s decision that Valieva bore “no fault or negligence” for the positive test in December 2021 for the heart medication trimetazidine, which is banned in sports. The tribunal disqualified Valieva from the Russian national championships, where she gave the sample, but no other event. There has been no word on the results of a mandatory investigation into Valieva’s entourage.
WEIGHTLIFTING: A weightlifter from Kazakhstan who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 has been banned for eight years for doping.
The Weightlifting Federation of the Republic of Kazakhstan (WFRK) said that Igor Son, who won the bronze in the men’s 61-kilogram category in Tokyo, was among six weightlifters from the country to receive doping bans.
BOXING: Conor Benn was cleared of intentional doping when the WBC ruled that the British boxer’s consumption of eggs presented a “reasonable explanation” for his failed test.
Benn’s catchweight bout with Chris Eubank Jr. scheduled for last October had been canceled after Benn’s urine test showed trace amounts of fertility drug Clomiphene, a banned substance that boosts testosterone levels while burning fat.
The all-British bout was scheduled to take place 30 years after the fathers of Benn and Eubank Jr. – Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank – fought in the ring in one of British boxing’s great rivalries.
“Mr. Benn’s documented and highly elevated consumption of eggs during the times relevant to the sample collection raised a reasonable explanation for the adverse finding,” the WBC said in its ruling.
The WBC said it will reinstate the 26-year-old Benn in its rankings. The sanctioning body said there was “no conclusive evidence that Mr. Benn engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of Clomiphene.”
Benn’s status remains in doubt despite the WBC’s ruling.
WRESTLING
WWE: WWE, an organization that is already king of the ring on social media, will attempt to expand its online presence this year with the $6.5 billion sports entertainment company hinting that it may put itself up for sale.
WWE surpassed 20 million followers on its flagship TikTok account during its most recent quarter, the first sports league to do so, and it’s launching three international TikTok accounts after the WWE Espanol TikTok handle reached nearly 2 million followers in its first year, according to the company.
WWE’s presence online is already broad and it does not appear to be slowing down.
The company’s YouTube channel topped 92 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, making it one of only 10 channels on the platform to surpass the 90 million subscriber mark, according to Paul Levesque, the company’s chief content officer and director who wrestled under the name Triple H.
GOLF
MIXED TEAM: PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players will compete for a $4 million purse on network television as the tournament long known as the Shark Shootout becomes a mixed team event this year with 16 teams.
The tours formally announced the change, with Grant Thornton serving as the title sponsor.
The Grant Thornton Invitational will be Dec. 8-10 at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Still to be determined is the format for the 16 teams.
HALL OF FAME: Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, double major winner Dottie Pepper and swing coach Butch Harmon were among 12 finalists announced for the 2024 Class of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The 31-member nominating panel whittled the list down to four men, four women and four contributors. A 20-member selection panel comprising Hall of Fame members, media and leaders of major golf organizations meet on March 8 at The Players Championship to vote on induction.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.