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Fri/Sat/Sun September 8~10, 2017

BRITAIN’S Andy Murray said Wednesday that he is unlikely to play again this season due to a nagging hip injury that forced him to pull out of the U.S. Open.

Murray, recently nudged off the top of the world rankings by Spain’s Rafael Nadal, has been struggling with the injury since a fi ve-set French Open semifi -nal loss to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in June.

The 30-year-old Scot played at Wimbledon in July but lost in the quarterfi nals to American Sam Querrey.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to compete in the upcoming events in Beijing and Shanghai, and most likely, the fi nal two events to fi nish the season in Vienna and Paris due to my hip injury, which has been bother-ing me the last few months,” the three-time Grand Slam cham-pion said on his Facebook page.

“Having consulted with a number of leading hip special-ists over the last week, along with my own team, we have decided that this is the best decision for my long-term future,” the world No. 2 said.

“Although this has been a frus-trating year on court for many reasons, I am confi dent after this extended period of rest and rehabilitation that I will be able to reach my best level again and be competing for Grand Slam titles next season.

“I will be beginning my 2018 season in Brisbane in prepara-tion for the Australian Open.”

Murray, who has won Wimbledon twice as well as the U.S. Open, said he was looking forward to playing in Glasgow, Scotland, later in the year in a charity exhibition match against Roger Federer. The Scot did not mention the ATP Finals in London in November but is cur-rently ninth in the race to reach the eight-man tournament and missing events will further reduce his chances.

“I have a fantastic team work-ing alongside me to help me through this process and appre-ciate the support from them and all of my fans,” Murray wrote.

The men’s game is currently beset by a glut of injuries to big-name players, with Wawrinka (knee), Novak Djokovic (elbow), Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic (both wrist) all missing from the ongoing U.S. Open in New York. (SD-Agencies)

SO much for the fi rst U.S. Open matchup between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Federer failed to live up to his end of the bargain.

Hours after Nadal did his part with an easy-as-can-be victory to get to the semifi nals at Flushing Meadows, Federer was unable to join him for what would have been the most-anticipated show-down of the entire two weeks, wasting chances to take control and missing makable shots in a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 loss to 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro on Wednesday night.

Federer entered the quarter-fi nals with an 18-0 Grand Slam record this season, including titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon to raise his record count to 19 major cham-pionships.

But he tweaked his back at a tournament last month, curtail-ing his preparation for the U.S. Open, and he was not quite at his best for stretches. He needed fi ve sets to win each of his fi rst two matches — and Wednesday, he succumbed to the same for-mula of massive forehands and booming serves that del Potro used when he upset Federer in the fi nal eight years ago.

Before the tournament began, Nadal was honest as can be when asked whether he hoped to face Federer at the only Grand Slam tournament where they’ve never met.

The answer, the No. 1-seeded Nadal said earnestly, was no — because he’d rather go up against someone easier to beat.

THE Billion Dollar Buyer and owner of Biloxi’s Golden Nugget Casino will soon be adding a professional basketball team to his vast list of businesses.

According to the National Basketball Association, Tilman J. Fertitta has inked a multi-billion dollar deal to buy the Houston Rockets.

U.S. media reported Tuesday that Fertitta agreed to purchase the team from its current owner Leslie Alexander for US$2.2 bil-

lion, a record sale price for an NBA franchise.

“I am truly honored to have been chosen as the next owner of the Houston Rockets,” said Fertitta in a statement from the NBA.

“This is a life-long dream come true. Leslie Alexander has been one of the best owners in all of sports, and I thank him immensely for this opportunity. He has the heart of a champion. Lastly, out of respect for the

NBA’s approval process, I can say no more other than I am overwhelmed with emotions.”

Many people still remember Fertitta as the investor who offered Gulfport’s Pop Brothers a US$65,000 deal on his reality show, Billion Dollar Buyer.

A Texas native, Fertitta’s busi-ness portfolio includes Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Morton’s The Steakhouse, the Landry’s restaurant chain, and numerous others. (SD-Agencies)

Del Potro beats Federer to enter last 4

Well, as it turns out, he’ll go up against del Potro on Friday, when the other semifi nal fea-tures two men who have never been this far at any major: No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain vs. No. 28 Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

Nadal, who has won two of his 15 Grand Slam trophies in New

York, overwhelmed 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfi nals, then had to wait hours to see what Federer would do under the lights.

Arthur Ashe Stadium was packed, and both men had loud groups of supporters. Federer’s fans would cheer for del Potro’s faults, considered bad etiquette

in tennis. Del Potro’s faction would break into raucous, soccer-style songs of “Ole, ole, ole, ole! Del-po! Del-po!”

“Well, I think it’s my home court, too,” del Potro said in an on-court interview.

The 2-hour, 51-minute contest was fi lled with some sublime shotmaking by each player, and some real moments of shakiness for the 36-year-old Federer, whose forehand in particular was problematic. The turning point was the third-set tiebreaker, which Federer was a single point from winning on four occasions.

At 6-4, del Potro hammered a good return that caught Federer off-guard, resulting in a forehand into the net. At 6-5, del Potro delivered a service winner. At 7-6 — set up by a double-fault from del Potro — Federer missed a backhand, and his wife, Mirka, put her hands to her temples, before standing to offer encour-agement.

At 8-7, Federer’s fourth and last set point, del Potro hit a huge forehand winner.

That began a run of three points in a row for del Potro to claim that set, the last when Federer pushed a backhand volley long.

The suspense in the fourth set was brief: At 2-all, Federer dumped an overhead into the bottom of the net to gift a third break point of the game, which del Potro converted with a sting-ing cross-court backhand return winner to nose ahead for good.

(SD-Agencies)

Murray out for rest of season

Golden Nugget owner inks deal to buy the Houston Rockets

Tilman J. Fertitta

FIFA on Wednesday ordered that a World Cup qualifi er between South Africa and Sen-egal be replayed after the ref-eree was found guilty of match manipulation and banned for life.

South Africa beat Senegal 2-1 in the qualifi er last November, helped by a penalty awarded by Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey for a non-existent handball.

That result will be annulled and the game will be replayed this November, FIFA said.

FIFA found Lamptey guilty of breaching the rule relat-ing to “unlawfully infl uencing

match results” and banned him for life in March. The referee failed with appeals to FIFA’s appeal committee and now to CAS.

Lamptey awarded a penalty against Senegal defender Kali-dou Koulibaly in the game in Polokwane, South Africa, when replays clearly showed the ball struck Koulibaly’s knee and then dropped to the ground.

South Africa scored the 42nd-minute penalty and went on to win — its only victory so far in the fi nal round of qualifying.

Full details of Lamptey’s case have not yet been published and it hasn’t been confi rmed

if a betting scam was the reason suspected for Lamptey’s decision to award the penalty late in the fi rst half.

Lamptey joined FIFA’s list of international referees in 2005 but was never selected for a World Cup.

He did offi ciate matches at the 2015 African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

The Ghanaian referee has a history of suspicious perfor-mances.

He was previously suspended by the Confederation of African Football for allowing a criti-cal goal to stand in an African Champions League semifi nal in

2010 when it was clearly punched into the net.

His antics in an African Cup of Nations qualifi er last year also were suspect.

He allowed the game between Congo and Angola to continue for two minutes longer than the injury time displayed before awarding a disputed penalty to Angola. He blew for full time straight after Angola scored from the spot.

FIFA said that at least one of the South African national team’s friendly games in the weeks ahead of the continent’s fi rst World Cup in 2010 was fi xed by the referee.

(SD-Agencies)

World Cup qualifier to be replayed after match-fixing by ref

Juan Martin del Potro reacts during the match against Roger Federer in New York on Wednesday. SD-Agencies

Andy Murray