Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASKETBALL

Stoudemire out indefinitely

Amare Stoudemire has a bulging disk in his back and is out indefinitely, a damaging blow to the New York Knicks with a month left in the regular season. The Knicks weren’t competitive in the playoffs last year when Stoudemire developed a back problem, and any hopes of even qualifying for the postseason are in jeopardy now that he has another one. “You don’t wish it on any player, especially Amare, who’s a big part of what we do,” Knicks interim coach Mike Woodson said Monday before the Knicks played the Milwaukee Bucks. “All we can do is just hope that it’s not as serious as it may be and that he has a speedy recovery.” Stoudemire sat out the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ victory over Detroit on Saturday after he said his back tightened up. He said after the game he wasn’t concerned and believed he would play Monday. However, he didn’t attend the Knicks’ morning shoot around and had a magnetic resonance imaging in the afternoon that revealed the injury. The Knicks said he doesn’t need surgery and the injury will be treated with rehabilitation. Point guard Jeremy Lin is also out because of a sore right knee, and is considered day to day. Stoudemire’s injury is the greater concern. “He’s a big piece of our puzzle,” Woodson said. “I mean, we rely on Amare to do a lot of things, scoring and rebounding and playing defense for us.” Stoudemire had led the Knicks in scoring four consecutive games and had 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting in 26 minutes against the Pistons.

New Jersey Nets backup point guard Jordan Farmar is going to be sidelined for a third time with a groin injury. Farmar missed four games last month after injuring his groin and four more between March 16-21 after aggravating the injury. The Nets said Monday, before their game with Utah, that Farmar had again aggravated it,and his status won’t be discussed again until April 5. New Jersey also said that backup shooting guard Anthony Morrow would miss Monday’s game against the Jazz with a bruised right shoulder. He is day-to-day.

TENNIS Roddick beats Federer

Andy Roddick beat Roger Federer for only the third time in their 24 meetings Monday night, dominating with his serve to win 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4 in the third round at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. Roddick held every service game in the first and last sets. After falling behind 15-30 inthe final game, he closed out the victory with an ace and two service winners. The third-ranked Federer began the night 40-2 since the U.S. Open, while Roddick was ranked 34th, the lowest he has been since 2001. Roddick ended Federer’s streak of 77 consecutive victories against players outside the top 20. No. 1 Novak Djokovic advanced to the fourth round by beating No. 27-seeded Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic is bidding for his third Key Biscayne title and second in a row. No. 8-seeded Mardy Fish assured he’ll remain the top-ranked American man by beating No. 28 Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-3. In women’s action, Serena Williams rallied from a break down in both sets to beat Samantha Stosur 7-5, 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals. Williams’ best stroke was her serve. She hit six aces during a 20-point game to hold for 3-2 in the second set. After falling behind love-40 in the final game, she smacked three aces and eventually reached match point. She avenged a loss to Stosur when they last met in the U.S. Open final in September. Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka lost 10 of the first 11 games, then rallied to remain unbeaten this year by beating No. 16-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 1-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5. Azarenka was two points from defeat five times, but swept the last three games and extended her winning streak to 26 matches, all in 2012. Also reaching the quarterfinals was No. 2 Maria Sharapova, who overcame 11 double faults to beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 7-6 (3). Sharapova won despite committing 52 unforced errors and losing her serve four times. Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki defeated No. 23 Yanina Wickmayer 7-6 (6), 6-0. Reigning French Open champion Li Na rallied past Sabine Lisicki 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, and No. 5 Agnieszka Radwanska defeated 18-year-old Garbine Muguruza Blanco 6-3, 6-2.

SOCCER U.S. Olympic bid ends

Jaime Alas scored in stoppage time and El Salvador ousted the United States from Olympic qualifying Monday night with a 3-3 tie in Nashville, Tenn. The Americans had to win to reach Saturday’s semifinals in Kansas City, Kan., and they led 3-2 on Joe Corona’s goal in the 68th minute. But Alas scored his goal off the hands of keeper Sean Johnson to eliminate the Americans, who missed the Olympics for the second time since 1976. El Salvador reached the semifinals, putting it a victory away from its first Olympic berth since 1968. Canada, which tied Cuba 1-1 earlier, finished second. Terrence Boyd scored twice for the U.S., and Johnson replaced keeper Bill Hamid in the 39th minute.

HORSE RACING Trainer Baffert has heart attack

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert had a heart attack early Monday in Dubai where he was preparing to run Game On Dude in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Baffert’s assistant, Jim Barnes, said from Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, Calif., that Baffert was“doing very good” after having three stents inserted in two arteries. Barnes said he had spoken to the trainer’s wife, Jill Baffert, who had accompanied her husband to the Middle East, along with their young son, Bode.

Barnes said Jill Baffert told him the procedure went well and “ everything should be fine.”

Bernie Schiappa, co-owner of Game On Dude, said the 59-year-old trainer wasn’t feeling well on the long flight to Dubai, and was tired after visiting the barn and arriving at the hotel. He said Baffert then fell ill early Monday morning and was taken to a hospital.

“He had a heart attack, two arteries were blocked, 100 percent in one, 90 percent in the other,” Schiappa said. “He had two stents put in one artery, one stent in the other.”

Schiappa said paramedics arrived and an ambulance took Baffert to a hospital. Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum was alerted and he arrived at the hospital to visit Baffert. The sheikh owns Godolphin racing, one of world’s leading thoroughbred breeding and racing operations.

Schiappa said it’ll be about eight to 10 days before the trainer would be allowed to travel home.

“He’s comfortable now,” Barnes said. “They caught it just in time.”

The Daily Racing Form, which first reported Baffert’s condition, posted a 13-second cellphone video with him speaking from his hospital bed.

“When you have Sheik Mo come visit you ... this is when you know you are being well taken care of,” Baffert said.

Baffert is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, and has several top prospects for the May 5 race. He has also won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes once. He’s saddled seven Breeders’ Cup winners. He is a three-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer.