A tired and nauseous Andy Murray was beaten by Russia's Marat Safin at the Kooyong Classic yesterday, while Marcos Baghdatis started with a win at the Australian Open warm-up.
Defending champion Andy Roddick thrashed Ivan Ljubicic while David Nalbandian, the form player of the end of last season, joined Roger Federer on the sidelines after suffering a back spasm in training.
Britain's Murray, who began his season by winning the Qatar Open on Saturday, said he was close to vomiting during the 6-1, 6-4 loss to Marat Safin in the relegation-promotion eight-man event.
PHOTO: AFP
"I had a run at the track this morning and our match was moved up," said the world No. 9. "I felt like a couple of chicken sandwiches were ready to come up. I'm glad there were not that many long rallies."
Baghdatis, a late call-up after the top-ranked Federer dropped out with a stomach complaint, shrugged off his jet-lag to register a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Nikolay Davydenko.
"I was a bit tired from the travel, I need to play better for the Open," said the 2006 Australian Open finalist. "I felt a bit heavy on court, I was not fluid. I had a bit of a pain in the knee but it was because of the jet-lag."
Roddick, winner of the last two editions, easily handled Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-0.
"This is an important event, I'm getting matches," said the American, who trained for the hot weather in Hawaii. "And traditionally, players who have done well here have also done well at the Aussie Open."
"There's nothing wrong with playing matches against top-20 guys," Roddick said.
Murray, now surrounded by a revolving team of coaches after parting company with the high-priced Brad Gilbert, was also focused on the Open.
"I didn't feel too great on the court, but after a couple of days the jet-lag will be better. I want to arrive at the Australian Open in 100 percent condition," he said.
Nalbandian now faces a battle to be fit for the season's first grand slam, which starts on Monday.
"The doctor told me it was a distension of the muscle," said Nalbandian, who was to have faced Fernando Gonzalez in his Kooyong start. He was replaced by Australian Open junior champion Brydan Klein.
"I need to rest, take treatment and we'll see how it goes," said Nalbandian, who ended last season with back-to-back Masters titles in Madrid and Paris.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when