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Wimbledon 2022: Tournament bosses consult government over possible ban for Russia & Belarus players
Wimbledon bosses are consulting the government about whether to allow players from Russia and Belarus to compete in this year's tournament.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club said the issue is "complex and challenging".
Belarusian and Russian players, such as men's world number two Daniil Medvedev, have been allowed to play on tour, but not under their countries' flags.
"We plan to announce a decision ahead of our entry deadline in mid-May," an AELTC statement said.
Russia has been banned from defending its Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup team titles after the country's invasion of Ukraine - a military operation supported by Belarus.
Teams and athletes from both countries have been subject to a variety of suspensions and sanctions from a number of bodies across the sporting spectrum.
"We have noted the UK government's guidance regarding the attendance of Russian and Belarusian individuals in a neutral capacity at sporting events in the UK," the AELTC statement added.
"We are continuing to engage in discussion with the UK government, the Lawn Tennis Association and the international governing bodies of tennis."
Wimbledon will be held from 27 June to 10 July.
Justin Thomas has 'underachieved' in majors, but has 'faith' in game going into Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. – In 24 major starts, Justin Thomas has one victory (2017 PGA Championship) and five top-10 finishes. And if you ask Thomas, that's not good enough.
“I know I have,” he said Tuesday at Augusta National when asked if he’s underachieved in the majors. “I have not even close to performed well in my entire career in majors.”
If that sounds a tad harsh, consider that since the ’17 PGA Championship he’s only had one realistic chance to win a major – a fourth-place finish at the ’20 Masters, and even that was eight shots off the winning pace – and his best finish at the four Grand Slam stops last year was a tie for 19th (U.S. Open).
“In terms of a result standpoint, which is at the end of the day all that matters when it comes to tournaments is how you finish, I feel like I've performed very, very poorly,” he said.
There is some optimism this week, however, where Thomas has never missed the cut and is 24 under par in his last 16 rounds at Augusta National.
“I feel like I've learned but I've just put too much pressure on myself in the past and maybe put the tournament on too much of a pedestal and just overdo things when in reality I should have faith in my game and the things that I can do on the course,” he said. “I just need to get a little bit better at kind of getting in my own world and just going to play golf.”
Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo is close to agreeing a new long-term contract with the club, his agent confirmed on Tuesday.
Araujo's deal is due to expire in 2023 and ESPN reported last month that both Manchester United and Liverpool were keen on signing the Uruguay international.
Barca's previous offer to Araujo was worth around €5 million annually, with sources saying the money on offer from the Premier League sides was worth almost double.
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However, Barca have now upped their proposal, with the player's agent, Flavio Perchman, revealing an agreement is close after a meeting with sporting director Mateu Alemany on Tuesday.
"It's close," Perchman told reporters. "There is a desire on both sides [to finalise the renewal] and Ronald wants to stay at the club."
Araujo, 23, has been on the same deal at Barca since 2018, when he first joined the "B team" from Boston River in his homeland in a deal worth an initial €2m.
That made him one of the lowest-paid players in the first team going into the current campaign, with his agents keen for his salary to rise along with his status at the club.
Under coach Xavi Hernandez he has emerged as a key player this season, making 34 appearances in all competitions and scoring four goals, including in the recent 4-0 Clasico win over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
With Barca having to adhere to LaLiga's strict financial rules due to their financial problems, though, they have played hardball during negotiations with Araujo's camp.
At the same time as they have been holding talks with Araujo, Barcelona have also been negotiating the signing of Andreas Christensen and even met with Antonio Rudiger's agent last week.
ESPN previously reported that Christensen will join the club from Chelsea on a free transfer in the summer, but a move for Rudiger is less likely.
The public nature of those negotiations forced the club to up their offer to Araujo, who was willing to accept a lower deal to remain with the LaLiga side.
Araujo, Gerard Pique and Eric Garcia have been Barca's first choice centre-backs under Xavi, with Christensen set to compete with them from the summer onwards.
Clement Lenglet, Oscar Mingueza and Samuel Umtiti, meanwhile, could leave in the summer due to a lack of game time.
LIVE: Man City, Liverpool continue their Champions League journey
Yorkshire announce 'Clean Slate' as Headingley's new principal sponsor
Yorkshire County Cricket Club have announced a new sponsorship deal with Clean Slate Studio, an Indian media firm, who will take over as principal sponsor at Headingley for the 2022 season.
The two-year agreement replaces the previous naming rights deal at Headingley, which had been held by Emerald Publishing until they cut ties with Yorkshire at the height of the club's racism scandal in November.
The announcement comes days after Yorkshire's Emergency General Meeting, at which key governance changes were agreed to meet the ECB's criteria for the return of international cricket to Headingley - starting with the third Test against New Zealand in June.
As part of the new deal, Headingley's pavilion will be known as the "Clean Slate Pavilion" and the name will appear on club kit of Yorkshire and the Northern Diamonds.
"It is a clean slate... the name is one thing, but it is everything else from now on that happens that is important," he said. "There's a lot of good primary schools around Headingley and a big diverse community.
"I just want them to be able to walk past Headingley and look at Headingley and think this is my club."
Clean Slate, a female-forward streaming platform due to launch globally in 2023, say their mission is to challenge gender stereotypes in Indian film and want to help make Headingley "a flagbearer for inclusivity and diversity in cricket".
"This new partnership - with a vibrant Indian brand that knows how to entertain diverse communities - is an exciting step for Yorkshire," Lord Patel, the club chairman, said.
"Our proud club has a great future, welcoming everyone into our ground and this game, and our new partners are champions of inclusivity, diversity, and equity."
Karthik and Shahbaz inspire Royal Challengers' scrappy win
Royal Challengers Bangalore 173 for 6 (Shahbaz 45, Karthik 44*, Chahal 2-15) beat Rajasthan Royals 169 for 3 (Buttler 70, Hetmyer 42*, Padikkal 37) by four wickets
It was the Rutherford wicket that brought Karthik (23-ball 44*) and Shahbaz (26-ball 45) together, and they smacked 67 runs in 5.2 overs. Karthik punished R Ashwin as he erred, especially with his lines, and Shahbaz rose to the occasion by pulling Saini and Trent Boult for sixes at the back end, and Royal Challengers completed their fifth straight win over the Royals in the IPL. It was also their second win in a row this season after opening with a loss.
Royal Challengers began their chase of 170 well, courtesy a positive start from Faf du Plessis and Rawat, but soon after the powerplay, Sanju Samson turned to Chahal. He bowled legbreaks landing on middle stump for most of his first over to du Plessis, but then dragged one outside leg to force a mis-hit down the ground. Saini then used a slower ball to trap Rawat, who nicked behind to Sanju Samson. The two ex-Royal Challengers men had struck big blows.
Kohli's battle against Chahal promised premium entertainment, but it didn't last long. Kohli, at the non-striker's end, tried to steal a single that David Willey was not interested in, and an acrobatic run-grab-and-throw from Samson to Chahal had Kohli walking back for 5. Next ball, Willey was fooled by a Chahal legbreak and was bowled. From 55 for no loss, Royal Challengers had slipped to 62 for 4 in the space of 12 balls. Rutherford's wicket not long after made it 87 for 5.
That partnership
Karthik hammered Ashwin, who up until his final over had gone for only 18. First, he walloped him through backward square-leg, then over long-on, followed by mid-off and finally third man for a 21-run over that reignited Royal Challengers' hopes. He then took a toll on Saini with three boundaries through the leg side, and then left the stage for Shahbaz.
Shahbaz had taken the back seat to reach 16 in 14 balls, before he got moving too. He struck a six and a four each off Prasidh Krishna and Boult, and even though he couldn't finish the game off, the match was practically over at the time of his dismissal.
For Karthik, it was another chance to show why he is among the most dangerous finishers in T20s. He has not yet been dismissed in the IPL, making 90 runs in 44 balls so far, and used the depth of the crease to great effect to put bowlers off their mark, maximising the area behind square on the leg side.
It took a scrappy innings from Jos Buttler, some counter-punches from Devdutt Padikkal - also against his former team - and some big hits from Shimron Hetmyer to lift Royals to 169 after they were asked to bat first.
Padikkal hit two fours and two sixes in his 29-ball 37 from No. 3 after Willey had dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal early. But he was done in by a slower ball from Harshal Patel, who finished with figures of 1 for 18 in four overs.
Hetmyer took seven balls to get off the mark and, by the 16th over, Royals had made only 107 with seven wickets in the bank. Buttler had faced only 36 of those deliveries and scored 39 till that point.
But the slog-overs push did finally come, with Hetmyer punishing Mohammed Siraj and Harshal in the 17th and 18th overs, and Buttler creaming back-to-back sixes off Siraj's 19th to reach his fifty in 42 balls.
Akash Deep, off whose bowling Buttler was dropped twice in one over in his first spell, then conceded three sixes in the 20th for the current Orange Cap holder to finish on 70 from 47, with Hetmyer ending unbeaten on 42 in 31 balls.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
Marcus North hands Ashton Turner poisoned chalice of Durham T20 captaincy
Turner, who has won 27 limited-overs caps for Australia, played alongside Durham's director of cricket, Marcus North, for Western Australia in the early years of his career and will be making his first appearance in county cricket at the age of 29.
"The Blast is a competition that I've watched with a keen interest from afar and I'm really excited to be able to take part in it this summer," Turner said. "I'm excited to achieve some success with the club and no doubt we will have some fun along the way."
Durham have struggled in T20 cricket since their last Finals Day appearance in 2016, and have only qualified for the knockout stages once in the past five seasons. The Blast captaincy has been a poisoned chalice: Paul Coughlin, Tom Latham, Stuart Poynter, Peter Handscomb, Nathan Rimmington and Cameron Bancroft have all taken on the role, but five out of those six players left the club after their respective seasons in the role and the other, Poynter, has since been released.
"We're extremely pleased to welcome Ashton to Durham this summer to lead us out in the Vitality Blast," North said. "In addition to his powerful batting performances, Ash is a proven leader having captained the Scorchers and Western Australia to multiple championships in recent years and will be a great addition to Durham."
Ellis and Finch star as Australia leave Pakistan with a win
Australia 163 for 7 (Finch 55, Shaheen 2-21) beat Pakistan 162 for 8 (Babar 66, Ellis 4-28) by three wickets
But when Shaheen Afridi goes for three boundaries in a wicketless first over in a T20, perhaps it isn't your day. Australia got off to a flyer thanks to Travis Head at the start and Josh Inglis a little later. They targeted Hasan Ali, who it's apparent to everyone but Pakistan's selectors would benefit from a break. The fast bowler was smashed around for 30 in three as Australia brought the asking rate down sharply in the early overs.
A lovely start from Qadir with the ball brought Pakistan back into the contest, his two quick wickets raising hopes of a collapse. Shaheen, too, removed two in an over at the death, threatening to blast out the lower order, but by then, too much damage had been done. Australia needed four off the final over, and when Haris Rauf strayed down the leg side, one ball was all it took Ben McDermott to get them there.
Doom post the Powerplay
Pakistan began the innings cautiously, with just 22 runs in the first three overs, but had managed to correct the rate by the time the fielding restrictions were lifted. Then it happened. A couple of tight overs from Zampa, and a dramatic dual-wicket opening over from Green rocked Pakistan, and they never quite managed to recover.
Babar, so sumptuous in the Powerplay, appeared to lose his timing altogether, scoring just 23 off 19 balls across the rest of his innings before holing out to deep extra cover off Zampa once more. Between the seventh and 15th overs, Pakistan managed just 56 in 54 balls, despite losing just three wickets by that stage of the game. Questions around the pacing of the innings, and whether they picked the personnel to control it to their satisfaction, will likely need addressing.
Ellis, Green star on debut
Not many cricketers kickstart a T20I career by dismissing Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman in their first over, but that was precisely how Green's began. After Pakistan were speeding along in the Powerplay, Green started with a tight first three balls before knocking back Rizwan's off peg, while a slice of fortune saw him remove Zaman with a juicy full toss first up. It was no less than he deserved for his bowling performance all evening, with his wily variations of pace and line keeping Pakistan honest, and ensuring he was the only bowler from either side who went at less than a run-a-ball.
Ellis took a more circuitous route to success, however. With Finch ringing the changes early on - the first four overs were all bowled by different people - Ellis' first saw Babar stroke him for three successive fours to get Pakistan off and running. When he returned in the second half of the innings, however, he got Iftikhar Ahmed and Asif Ali early, before a scintillating 19th over saw him take two wickets and concede just two runs. The pair's combined figures read 7-0-44-6; they might not register better figures playing together throughout their careers.
Finch works his way out of his rut
If Finch hadn't captained Australia to a maiden World T20I title fewer than five months ago, the criticism coming his way would have been coruscating. It hasn't exactly been mild either way, after just two double-digit scores in his last eight T20I innings. The ODI series that preceded this game was especially deleterious to his prospects, with Finch looking a shadow of the player he has been for much of his career.
Against that backdrop, he couldn't have asked for a better game. His chopping and changing of the bowlers saw Pakistan restricted to a below-par total, and Head and Inglis' truculence with the bat allowed him to take a back seat at the other end. He played his way into form, trying out his footwork, routinely skipping down his crease as he searched and scratched his way to a a 37-ball fifty. When the wickets fell at the other end, his reassuring presence meant Australia always looked ahead of the game, and before long. He wouldn't get to hit the winning runs, holing out to square leg as he went for the glory six, but Australia had got over the line, and their captain had taken them there.
Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000
Follow live: Man City open first leg of Champions League quarterfinals vs. Atletico Madrid
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Stepdad expects Zion to play for Pels this season
Zion Williamson's stepfather, Lee Anderson, said he expects Williamson to return to play this season but understands that it's a decision that has to be made with the New Orleans Pelicans' medical staff with a look toward not only the present but also the future.
Anderson made the comments on Tuesday to "The Jordy Culotta Show," an online show based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
When asked directly whether he thought Williamson could return this season from a fractured right foot that has kept him out the entire season, Anderson said that it was a "tough" question to answer but that he did think so.
"I expect him to play. If you were to ask Zion, I'm sure he would probably say the same thing," Anderson said. "But with just a couple of games left, with the magnitude of what's going on in New Orleans and the opportunity to qualify for the play-in game and possibly get into a seven-game series, that would be off the charts in the city of New Orleans. That would be a plus in New Orleans. That would be a plus for Zion with the way things are right now."
"Do I expect him to play? Certainly I do. That's on me, though. That's purely me. I don't think there's anything else that would hinder him from doing that right now."
Williamson has been cleared by the Pelicans to do one-on-one work as he continues his rehab. He did travel with New Orleans on its current four-game road trip to continue doing work with the Pelicans' training staff. Anderson didn't say whether Williamson has done any more work but did mention that the Pelicans staff has talked about looking at the long-term picture.
"He's feeling great," Anderson said. "Speaking for the Pelicans staff, and not saying any names, they mentioned to me that they are just one player away from being where we need to be at. That was enough for me to know that they are putting some stock in Zion getting healthy and being ready for the long haul.
"But my thing with the long haul, you have to wait on it. The short haul, sometimes when you're faced with an opportunity right now, you never know when you're going to be presented with that opportunity again in the long haul or how long it'll be from that time. I'm a guy that believes in taking advantage of the moment at hand. Let's deal with it right now and let's go forward and see what happens."
There was initial optimism from Williamson and the Pelicans that he would be able to play on opening night, but instead various setbacks have occurred that have pushed back his timeline.
"I guess certain circumstances with the rehab didn't initially go the way we wanted it to go or the way the team wanted it to go," Anderson said. "He just wasn't able to make the opening day tipoff, which we thought was going to be a possibility. It just became out of our control how things worked."
Anderson said that right now he believes Williamson is healthy and is willing to do whatever he can to "help instill that winning fabric, that winning culture that New Orleans wants right now. I think it's burning him to the core for him to get back out there and help his team win basketball games."
On March 22, Williamson posted a video to his Instagram story that showed him doing a between-the-legs dunk after catching the ball off the backboard. At that point, he wasn't cleared by the team to be doing many weight-bearing exercises. The next day, he was cleared to do one-on-one.
"I think Zion for the most part, being the person he is and the competitor he is, he just kind of wants to do something different," Anderson said. "He was telling us the entire time that 'I am a lot better than I've been and you guys have to trust me.' Doctors were pretty much agreeing with what he was saying. We kind of rely on the medical staff and our medical people and the Pelicans' medical people to make sure the best judgment is being made for his success and his career."
Aside from the injury, Anderson also addressed the reported frustrations around the Williamson family about being in New Orleans.
Anderson admitted to there being frustrations that come with losing but said there has never been a fractured relationship with the Pelicans front office.
"I don't know where the comments or the rumblings or the misunderstandings came from. It's always someone referring to someone in Zion's camp. And 'sources say.' There are only four sources in Zion's camp. Zion's mom [Sharonda Anderson]. That's me. That's Noah [Williamson's little brother]. And that's Zion. If it didn't come from one of us, they are not sources," Anderson said.
"We have not sourced information to anybody on Zion's behalf at any time. If anybody can come back and say we said that, we'll discount that. We're enjoying New Orleans. We're enjoying the fabric. We love the pickups that the Pelicans have made the last month or so. We're excited about that. We think -- the acquisitions they have made and Zion being on the mend 110 percent -- we think the future is very bright in New Orleans right now."
Anderson praised the move for New Orleans to pick up Willie Green, Williamson's third coach in as many seasons as he's been with the organization.
"They smacked a walk-off home run," Anderson said. "They did an amazing job. Willie Green has come in and righted the ship. I'm not throwing shade at no coach, I'm not doing that; I'm just saying what's happening right now. He's come in, he's a young coach, and evidently he's a player's coach because the players have really bought into what he was doing."
Anderson said that while Williamson was doing his rehab work in Portland, Oregon, he was adamant that he wanted to come back as the Pelicans made a push for the play-in tournament because of the culture Green was fostering.
The Pelicans are currently the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference and would have to win two games to make the playoffs. If they do, they'd be slotted at No. 8 and take on the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.
"The play-in game will give us additional experience," Anderson said. "If all the pieces are in place, even for the play-in, go ahead and lock that in and get that taken care of and win what we're supposed to win with everybody included, I'm just saying everybody because I think if everybody, everybody is included, we are a dangerous team.
"I was telling my wife yesterday, even in eighth place and we'd have to face Phoenix in the opening round, I would love that opportunity to go against Phoenix see what the full team, the complete team, reacts to being in the playoffs. I would love to see that. If I had any money, I'm putting it on the Pelicans."
Before the interview ended, Anderson reiterated that there was no "bad spirits" between the family and the organization and that they're happy where they are.
"But for them to put Zion's family name out there and say that we're not happy in New Orleans, that is false information," Anderson said. "And it's coming from the horse's mouth. You don't have to look anywhere else for any further information, I'm telling you right now that it's false."