TENNIS
Federer rallies
Roger Federer rallied to beat home favorite Mischa Zverev 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the Stuttgart Open on Wednesday in his first match in nearly three months. The Swiss great converted four of his 10 break points to end a two-match losing streak and start his grass-court season with a victory. Federer hadn't played since March, when he lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis and Juan Martin del Potro in Miami and Indian Wells, respectively. Federer will now face Guido Pella or Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the quarterfinals. Indian qualifier Gunneswaran upset sixth-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 in their first-round match. Defending champion Lucas Pouille defeated German wild-card entry Rudolf Molleker 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
Nadal withdraws
French Open champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week's Queen's Club tournament in London in an attempt to be ready for Wimbledon. The No. 1-ranked Nadal won his 11th title at Roland Garros on Sunday. But after playing 27 matches on clay the past two months, the 32-year-old Spaniard said he feels he needs time to recover. Queen's is one of the main warm-up tournaments for Wimbledon, which begins July 2.
BASKETBALL
Anne Donovan dies
Anne Donovan, the Basketball Hall of Famer who won a national championship at Old Dominion, two Olympic gold medals as a player and another as a coach, died Wednesday of heart failure. She was 56. Donovan's family confirmed the death in a statement. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995, was part of the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and was inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015. The 6-foot-8 center coached both in college and the WNBA. She became the first female coach and the youngest person (42) to win a title in the WNBA, guiding the Seattle Storm to a championship in 2004. Donovan was a member of three Olympics teams as a player.
FOOTBALL
Martin highest paid guard
A person with direct knowledge of the deal said the Dallas Cowboys and Zack Martin have agreed to terms on an $84 million, six-year contract extension that will make the two-time All-Pro the highest-paid guard in the NFL. The deal includes $40 million in guaranteed money and will be tacked on to the final year of his rookie contract, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the deal hasn't been announced. Martin will be under contract through 2024. The sides got close enough to an agreement over the weekend that Martin went through the first two days of mandatory minicamp after missing all nine voluntary offseason practices as negotiations that got serious last year kept dragging. The $14 million average on the new contract surpasses the $13.3 million average on the $66.5 million, five-year contract signed by Jacksonville's Andrew Norwell in March. Martin, the 16th overall pick in 2014, was an All-Pro as a rookie when DeMarco Murray led the NFL in rushing for the NFC East champions. He repeated the feat two years later when rookie Ezekiel Elliott was the league rushing leader for another division champion. Martin, 27, has made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons.
BASEBALL
Yankees look for pitching
Hal Steinbrenner said his New York Yankees may need a starting pitching upgrade if they're going to reach their first World Series since 2009. Steinbrenner, the Yankees managing general partner, said Wednesday that the club will explore the trade market for an arm, especially considering the recent loss of left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who had season-ending Tommy John surgery on June 7. The Yankees entered Wednesday with the best record in baseball, narrowly ahead of AL East rival Boston. The club has space to acquire an impact player and still remain under the $197 million luxury-tax threshold, a goal the team has stated several times. Cole Hamels, Chris Archer and Madison Bumgarner are among the biggest names that could potentially be available at the deadline, but they would likely cost one or more of New York's blue-chip prospects. The team has internal options, and Steinbrenner said he's willing to stick by some young, untested pitchers if needed. Jonathan Loaisiga will make his major league debut Friday, rookie Domingo German has held his own in six starts, and prospects Justus Sheffield, Chance Adams and Erik Swanson could get looks later this year, too.
BOXING
Alvarez-Golovkin set
Canelo Alvarez and unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin have agreed to a rematch bout Sept. 15 in Las Vegas. The agreement was struck hours after a noon Wednesday deadline that Alvarez's handlers had given Golovkin to accept their offer of 42.5 percent of the fight's purse. Golovkin originally asked for half, then demanded 45 percent, but in the end settled for a little less than he wanted -- and a little more than Alvarez wanted to give. The terms were not immediately revealed, but it's safe to say the fight will be lucrative for both sides.
NCAA
Rule on athlete transfers eased
College athletes will no longer need permission from their coach or school to transfer and receive financial aid from another school.
The NCAA Division I Council approved the change effective Oct. 15 on Wednesday. The council also decided that D-I football players will be allowed to play in up to four games in a season without losing a year of eligibility if they can no longer play because of injuries “or other factors.”
The long-awaited transfer reform ended up being a narrow change, but should provide more freedom for athletes to transfer when and where they want.
Under the new rule, athletes would be permitted to be contacted when they notify their current coaches, who have two days to enter the names into a database created and managed by the NCAA that will alert schools who can be recruited. The change will come with stricter tampering rules to help appease coaches who worry illegal recruiting could rise.
Currently, an athlete must ask a coach for permission to contact other schools when choosing to transfer. A school interested in recruiting a transferring player also must ask the current school for permission to recruit. Without permission from the original school, the athlete cannot get financial aid from another school, essentially blocking a transfer.
Much of the talk about transfers focuses on the so-called year-in-residence, the one year a player in the most high-profile sports such as football and basketball must sit out after switching schools.
There was discussion about easing that restriction, which doesn’t exist in most NCAA sports. Golfers, tennis players and other athletes in traditionally nonrevenue sports can transfer one time without sitting out. There was never serious consideration to lifting the year-in-residence altogether, but tying unrestricted transfer to an athlete’s grade-point average was considered. That idea has fallen off the table amid concerns about creating an inequitable system that could face legal challenges.
The transfer working group initially was looking at uniform rules across all sports. Now that will be re-examined in the fall.
Sports on 06/14/2018