ATP S-Hertogenbosch Final – Men’s Saturday Preview
Written by Diana on 18 June 2011. Dimitry Tursunov vs. Ivan Dodig In a busy day at Unicef Open were the quarter-finals and semi-finals matches were played, the Russian Dmitry Tursunov and Croatian Ivan Dodig emerged victorious to battle for 2011 title in s-Hertogenbosch. Tursunov ended the match with Giraldo and then won against Malisse showing a demanding form against the Belgian and is a deserved finalist. Dodig was rested and surprised Baghdatis, after the Cypriot let only one game against Gremelmayr earlier, but overall the Croatian capitalized on Cypriot’s errors. “I don’t know Dodig very well. I know that he’s been doing really well this year; he won Zagreb. He’s been doing well on all sorts of surfaces. He’s beaten good players this week, so I’m going to have to come out and play until the last point, and take the initiative when I have the chance”, said Tursunov about the final match. The Russian has the better serve, he serves consistent during the match and also from the back of the court looks the better composure player, he plays with long and deep balls pushing the Croatian way behind the baseline. Dodig needs to be decisive on serve and finish the points quickly as if the points will last longer Tursunov will have the upper hand. Tursunov has wins over other net rushers like Mahut, Kendrick, Muller, Dancevic over the years and he has the motivation to win his first title after he suffered ankle surgeries.
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Edwards edges Stenhouse in Nationwide race (AP)
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP)—Carl Edwards was impressed by how hard it was to pass teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as the two fought for the lead. After Edwards finally moved ahead, Stenhouse remained in second to give owner Jack Roush a 1-2 finish at Michigan International Speedway. “This is coming home for me,” said Roush, who has ties to Michigan dating to when he began working for Ford during the 1960s. “The fact that we’ve been able to have the success we’ve had in our backyard is really fun.” Edwards passed Stenhouse with less than 10 laps remaining Saturday to earn his fourth NASCAR Nationwide victory of the year. He had finished second in three straight Nationwide races since winning at Dover in May, but he was able to slip underneath Stenhouse and then cut in front of him before holding on to win by 1.669 seconds in the No. 60 Ford. It was Edwards’ 33rd career Nationwide victory. “The laps kept ticking down, and I was driving harder and harder and I was not catching him,” Edwards said. “His car wasn’t as balanced as mine, and we were able to get by him. With 15 to go, I didn’t think we were going to be able to get him.” It was Roush Fenway’s record fifth series win at Michigan. After his victory, Edwards did his usual back flip, then went running into the stands to celebrate. He finished second in a Nationwide race at MIS in August and won one in 2008. He also has two Sprint Cup wins at this venue and will race in that series Sunday. Mark Martin, seeking his 50th Nationwide win, was the leader coming out of the third and final caution on the 100th of 125 laps. Edwards and Kyle Busch quickly passed him, but Stenhouse moved to the lead not long after that. Stenhouse led laps 104-116, but Edwards remained patient and denied Stenhouse what would have been his second win of the year. “It was more work than I thought it was going to be,” Edwards said. “I really had to drive hard. He is really getting good at this. He is going to be very tough.” Edwards, the Sprint Cup points leader, isn’t eligible to earn Nationwide points. Stenhouse now leads the series standings. Elliott Sadler, eighth Saturday, is second. Reed Sorenson, the points leader entering the race, finished 11th following an early pass-through penalty for a commitment-line violation. “I guess that is a good thing for us for sure for the championship, but it doesn’t do anything for us not winning,” Stenhouse said. “We are right there where we need to be, we just have to cap it off. We have to get a little bit better. I think Carl is a little better at practice, getting his car where it needs to be.” Busch, trying to match Martin’s mark of 49 victories, had to settle for outlasting pole-sitter Paul Menard in a hard-fought race for third. “We certainly won a lot of races in three years so maybe I shouldn’t be in this position so fast, but yet it is a little frustrating that we’re not able to get another win to tie and then another win to break,” Busch said. “We’ve been close—seems like every week we’re a solid third, fourth, fifth-place car.” Although Menard had won the pole earlier in the day, he led for only one lap. Edwards led for 62 laps, and Stenhouse led for 38. Menard was the beneficiary of the final caution, which began on the 95th lap. Martin arrived for a pit stop moments before the yellow flag and was able to move to the front when the leaders went for pit stops during the caution, but he fell back and finished seventh. Brad Keselowski, who edged Edwards to win in Michigan last year, led for 11 laps, the most of anyone besides Edwards and Stenhouse. Keselowski, however, fell back after a pass-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire. He finished ninth. “That’s racing,” Keselowski said. “Stuff happens. It’s just part of the deal.”
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Packers reunite to get Super Bowl rings (AP)
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)—Although the ring was even heavier than Charles Woodson(notes) expected, it felt just right on his hand. Woodson and his Green Bay Packers teammates received their Super Bowl rings in a private ceremony at Lambeau Field on Thursday night, and the veteran cornerback’s smile beamed just as brightly as the diamond-encrusted ring he was showing off to the cameras. “I feel like it’s my right to wear this ring,” Woodson said. “I feel like I worked very hard playing this game. I feel like every time I go out on that field, I leave it all out there on the field. That’s the way I’ve always played this game. I feel like I deserve to win a championship, I feel like it’s my rightful place in history to be a Super Bowl champion.” Contact between players and teams generally is prohibited during the ongoing NFL lockout, but the Packers received special permission from the NFL to hold the ceremony. The Super Bowl was more than four months ago, and the joy-sapping nature of the unresolved labor situation makes it seem even farther in the past. But at least for one night, the memories came rushing back and concerns about the lockout faded away. “Everybody’s been separated too long,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “It’s great to see everybody on a personal level. Everybody’s anxious to get going on the next journey.” The Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win the Super Bowl on Feb. 6, then held a “Return to Titletown” celebration for fans at Lambeau Field the Tuesday after the game. But they haven’t been together as a team since then because of the labor situation, which has forced the cancellation of team-organized offseason conditioning programs and workouts. While several other teams have held informal player-organized, OTA-style workouts, the Packers haven’t done so yet. “Now, we have this ring, we’ll enjoy it tonight,” Woodson said. “And hopefully things will get moving along with the NFL and the lockout, and we can start preparing.” McCarthy put on a cowboy hat at one point in the evening—playfully ribbing Packers players who wore cowboy hats to a preseason luncheon last year, subtly but boldly announcing their intention to finish the season at the Super Bowl in North Texas. “It was definitely everything we expected,” McCarthy said of the ceremony. “The players, they were ecstatic about it, the way they were showing each other the ring, the platinum, the diamonds, the design, I think it’s something everybody is excited about it.” The actual ceremony Thursday was closed to fans and the media, but Packers players gleefully posted notes and photos from the party on their Twitter accounts. Linebacker Nick Barnett(notes) dubbed it “bling bling day!” and posted a photo of a colorful drink he called a “ringtini.” The rings feature a Packers “G” logo with 13 diamonds to symbolize each of the team’s championships. Surrounding it are four more diamonds to symbolize its four Super Bowl wins. “The one thing we knew was they wanted big, and they wanted ‘bling,”’ Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said. “So I think we were successful in that.” Woodson said he was most proud that one of his postgame speeches—urging his teammates to play with one mind, one goal, one purpose and one heart— inspired an inscription inside the ring. Still, he managed to keep his emotions in check. “I held it back,” Woodson said. “I cried enough this year, so I held it back. But it was definitely an emotional moment, a moment that I waited a long time for. And finally, it’s here. I get to hold up a championship ring.” One piece of a traditional Super Bowl celebration still is missing. The Packers haven’t been able to schedule a trip to the White House, and Murphy said the league’s labor situation is holding it up. “That really is kind of tied into getting some resolution on the labor situation,” he said. “Players don’t get many opportunities to go to the White House and I hope that the timing works out to be able to do that.” Murphy said Thursday’s ceremony gave everyone a chance to think about their place in the team’s history. “It was a chance for all of us to come together and really celebrate a remarkable season,” Murphy said. “I think a theme that a lot of people talked about was, now, we are part of the history and tradition of the Packers. There’s not a team in the league that has more tradition and history than the Packers, and we’re now a part of that.”
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Kurt Warner questions Marc Bulger’s desire to be a starter
Pretty much every QB-hungry team out there — the Cardinals, Panthers, Titans, etc. — has been linked to free-agent quarterback Marc Bulger(notes) at one point or another. It’s all purely fan and media speculation, of course, as 2011 free agency has not yet existed, and might not exist anytime in the immediate future. When it does happen, one or more of those teams will almost certainly call Bulger, but if they do, will he even be willing to take the call? Former teammate Kurt Warner told KATR radio Bulger might not want a starting opportunity. Via Pro Football Talk: Though Warner was careful to say that it’s not a “huge knock” to not want to be a starter, Warner explained that, in his view, “football [isn't] everything” to Bulger. “For too many guys, it’s all about winning and losing, it’s all about starting, it’s all about how much money you can make,” Warner said. “And that’s not Marc Bulger.” Warner pointed out that Bulger “got beat up pretty good” as the starter in St. Louis, and that it wouldn’t surprise Warner to learn that Bulger is “happy” as a backup, and that “he can just enjoy life and not have to worry about the pressure of being an NFL starter and everything that goes with it.” Bulger spent last year as a well-paid backup with the Ravens, collecting $3.8 million and never throwing a pass. Before that lucrative little year, Bulger had spent eight years with the Rams, compiling 95 starts, 122 touchdowns, 93 interceptions, and two Pro Bowl nods. At least two of those years were also spent getting beaten like a Weeble Wobble in front of an offensive line that offered roughly the strength and resistance of a wet paper towel. Warner’s opinion is interesting, though. He knows Bulger well, having played with him in St. Louis. But even if a guy isn’t all about the money, that still might not be a great predictor of what he does if one team offers him, for example, three million over three years to be a backup, and someone else offers him seven million guaranteed over two years to start. But if it’s true that he doesn’t want to start (and also doesn’t want to leave the East Coast), Bulger’s options are sudddenly really limited. This is all probably good news for Baltimore if they do indeed want him back as Joe Flacco’s(notes) caddie. Related: Kurt Warner, Joe Flacco
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Yanks’ Colon to DL with hamstring strain (AP)
NEW YORK (AP)—The New York Yankees placed Bartolo Colon(notes) on the disabled list Sunday with a strained right hamstring, the latest blow to an already ailing starting rotation. Colon pulled up lame while covering first base on a routine grounder in a 4-0 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday. He had an MRI exam after the game and the decision was made to put the resurgent veteran on the disabled list. “I feel good. I just have a little bit of pain,” Colon said through a translator before Sunday’s game. “I’m on the DL now, and hopefully I can pitch after that.” The 38-year-old Colon is 5-3 with a 3.10 ERA, helping solidify a rotation that has lost Phil Hughes(notes) to a shoulder injury for most of the season. “The MRI came back pretty good, so I’m not exactly sure what that means,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It was good they didn’t say it came back with a Grade 3 strain or something.” Colon, a two-time All-Star who won 21 games for the Los Angeles Angels in 2005, didn’t pitch at all last season because of injuries. He was treated in April 2010 in the Dominican Republic with a procedure designed to regenerate tissue in his shoulder and elbow. Whether the stem cell treatment, which is being scrutinized by Major League Baseball, is the reason for his sudden turnaround is unclear. But the portly pitcher has been terrific after earning a job in the rotation, going at least eight innings three times. Colon even tossed a complete-game shutout against Oakland on May 30. “I knew I was going to go on the DL,” Colon said of the moments after his injury. “I feel bad because I know our pitching needs some help, and now I can’t do that.” The Yankees brought back outfielder Chris Dickerson(notes) from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre just two days after they optioned him. In an unrelated moved, New York also brought up Hector Noesi(notes) from Triple-A to replace reliever Amauri Sanit(notes), who has an elbow problem. The 24-year-old Noesi is expected to work from the bullpen, but has been stretched out to about 80 pitches, Girardi said, making him a candidate to start Thursday against Texas, Colon’s next turn in the rotation. Noesi was 1-1 with a 3.92 ERA in four starts in the minors, and 1-0 with a 1.76 ERA in 15 1-3 innings of relief with New York earlier this season. In other injury news, Alex Rodriguez(notes) was back in the starting lineup after getting hit on the hip by a pitch during Saturday’s game. He initially remained in the game, but said the hip tightened up during a cool, wet afternoon. Catcher Russell Martin(notes) also was back in the lineup against Cleveland after missing four straight games because of a stiff back. Martin did some running, throwing and hitting at Yankee Stadium before the game and pronounced himself ready to play. “Feeling good,” Martin said as he walked past his locker.
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