Second Thoughts

Tennis star all tangled up on the court

Caroline Wozniacki gets her racket caught in her hair as she tries to return a shot during Wednesday’s second-round match at the U.S. Open against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus. Wozniacki lost the point but won the match.
Caroline Wozniacki gets her racket caught in her hair as she tries to return a shot during Wednesday’s second-round match at the U.S. Open against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus. Wozniacki lost the point but won the match.

Blame it on the hair.

Caroline Wozniacki got her blond braid caught in her racket while hitting a forehand Wednesday in her second-round U.S. Open match against Alaiksandra Sasnovich, and she gamely tried to hit a backhand on the next shot, with her hair still entangled.

"I almost took my head off," Wozniacki said after the match. "It was really tangled up, so I didn't have a chance."

Wozniacki lost the point, but she didn't lose her sense of humor. Once she got her hair and her racket separated, she had no choice but to laugh at herself.

The 10th-seeded Wozniacki, 24, went on to win 6-3, 6-4, and she later tweeted a clip of the entanglement to her 675,000 followers, saying "Hair trouble! Maybe I need a haircut!"

Wozniacki explained that such snags used to happen all the time before she started braiding her hair, but this was the first post-braid incident.

"I was like, okay, which way is it tangled? ... I was like, maybe if I pull it, it will untangle itself. But it just didn't happen.

"I just laughed [when I saw the replay]. It's one of those things," she said. "Us women, we keep it interesting."

Tossing it around

Receiving a game ball in college football just got a little more interesting.

Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Navy and Nebraska are all using a new type of football this season -- one with tracking technology that will record its history and movement.

Big Game USA launched the technology this year. Each football will be equipped with a microchip, or "gametag," in the middle of its laces, which will provide a complete historical timeline for each ball. The information will be accessible with a free app, helping fans know the ball they've purchased is authentic. The app will detail the games, practices and even plays in which the ball was used.

"We love the idea that the life of our footballs can now be tracked and preserved alongside the history of the game," Big Game USA founder Chris Calandro told the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald.

Doing his thing

Former relief pitcher John Rocker, who was famously vilified nearly 15 years ago in a Sports Illustrated article painting him as a bigot and New York hater, will appear on the next season of the CBS reality show Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water.

Rocker and his girlfriend, spray-tan business owner Julie McGee, will appear on the series together when it begins Sept. 24. This season will feature pairs instead of single players to compete for the $1 million prize.

Rocker said he isn't concerned about how other contestants see him.

"I see these folks that I'm getting ready to play this game with as very similar to the 13 years of professional baseball that I played, and the teammates that I played with," Rocker told Entertainment Weekly before filming began. "Some of my biggest supporters after that SI debacle were my current and past teammates."

Subhead here

Gabriel Jordan, playing in Arizona Christian's first-ever NAIA football game, muffed a punt against Evangel, ran back into the end zone, picked it up and returned it 109 yards --100, officially -- for a touchdown.

It was one of a few bright spots for Arizona Christian, which lost the game 40-16.

Sports quiz

What is Caroline Wozniacki's best finish at the U.S. Open?

Answer

Wozniacki reached the women's singles final as a No. 9 seed in 2009 but lost to Kim Clijsters.

Sports on 08/29/2014

Upcoming Events