Times wires
Monday, April 11, 2011
TENNIS
CLIJSTERS DOUBTFUL FOR FRENCH
BRUSSELS — Another foot fault has deprived women's tennis of one of its best players.
Kim Clijsters mangled her ankle at a wedding party last weekend, likely forcing the U.S. Open and Australian Open winner from the French Open, which starts May 22.
Her mishap recalls the accident that sidelined Serena Williams right after her Wimbledon victory last year. Williams cut her foot on broken glass at a restaurant in Germany, resulting in two operations. She has not played since and has dealt with a blood clot in her lungs and a hematoma.
On Saturday, Clijsters was wearing high heels when she stepped on someone's foot at the wedding of her cousin Tim. The complex injury — ligaments were stretched on top of a torn ankle joint capsule and tendon sheath — will force her to keep her ankle immobilized for several days.
According to her website, the No. 2-ranked player faces a recovery of at least four to six weeks. The 27-year-old Belgian is playing again after a 2½-year break to start a family and has won three Grand Slams since coming back.
MONTE CARLO MASTERS: No. 12 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Juan Monaco 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Florian Mayer beat No. 10 seed Mikhail Youzhny in the first round. No. 1 Rafael Nadal opens his bid for a seventh straight title Wednesday.
WNBA
Moore at top again
Maya Moore is used to winning titles at Connecticut.
Now she's ready to bring that same mentality to her new team — the Minnesota Lynx, which took her with the first pick in Monday's WNBA draft.
"Every year the goal is a championship," she said. "That's what I expect."
She helped UConn to a record 90-game winning streak and two national championships in her four-year career.
The next picks were Elizabeth Cambage of Australia (Tulsa), Courtney Vandersloot of Gonzaga (Chicago) and Amber Harris of Xavier (Minnesota). See WNBA.com for a complete list.
TRACK AND FIELD
Lewis in Senate run
Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis says he'll run again — for New Jersey Senate. "When I run — as you see from my record — I run to win," Lewis, 49, a Willingboro, N.J., native, said in announcing his bid. This is his first try at elected office. In fact, he said he had registered to vote earlier in the day but said he had been registered previously in California and Texas. Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals.
SOCCER
29 in frame for U.S.
Two former standouts at Florida, defender Heather Mitts and forward Abby Wambach, were among 29 players invited to the U.S. women's national team training camp in preparation for the World Cup. The team will train in West Palm Beach from April 18 to May 6; the World Cup starts in late June in Germany.
ITALY: AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was banned for three of his team's remaining six league games this season for insulting a linesman.
ET CETERA
GOLF: The final round of the Masters drew its second-best preliminary TV rating in 10 years. The finish didn't match 2010, Tiger Woods' return from a five-month layoff. But Sunday's finale, won by Charl Schwartzel, drew an average overnight rating (percentage of total TVs) of 10.4 and a 22 share (percentage of TVs in use at the time). Last year drew a 12.0/25.
OLYMPICS: Herve Madore resigned as deputy director of Annecy's 2018 Winter Games bid, less than three months before the IOC vote. The French city is up against Pyeongchang, South Korea, and Munich.
Times wires