The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Rising star Stephens slams Serena as a sore loser
- Unheralded American Derek Ernst passes playoff test to win Wells Fargo
- China still strong despite leaving out Lin Dan from Sudirman Cup
| Rising star Stephens slams Serena as a sore loser Posted: 06 May 2013 05:47 PM PDT LOS ANGELES: Rising US star Sloane Stephens has slammed Serena Williams, describing her Fed Cup team-mate as a sore loser and saying she snubbed Stephens on Twitter after losing to her at the Aussie Open in January. In excerpts from an interview with ESPN Magazine, Stephens said Williams has not spoken to her since the 20-year-old beat the 15-time major winner in the first Grand Slam of the year. "People should know," Stephens said. "They think she's so friendly and she's so this and she's so that – no, that's not reality." In the interview conducted last month, Stephens said she now gets the silent treatment from Williams in the locker room and through social media since their last WTA Tour match. The two were team-mates at a Fed Cup tie two weeks ago in Florida. "She's not said one word to me, not spoken to me, not said hi, not looked my way, not been in the same room with me since I played her in Australia," Stephens told ESPN. "And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter. "You don't unfollow someone on Twitter, delete them off of BlackBerry Messenger. I mean, what for? Why?" Stephens said two days following their quarter-final match in Australia, Williams posted a backhanded tweet on her social networking page. "I made you," Williams wrote. Said Stephens, "You really don't think I know that's about me." Stephens also told a story of the time when she was 12 and watched Serena and her sister Venus play for the first time at a Fed Cup tie. She said she was left with a bad impression of the two after they ignored autograph requests. "I waited all day (for an autograph)," she said in the May 13 edition of the magazine. "They walked by three times and never signed our posters." The Williams sisters and Stephens are three of just a few African Americans playing on the WTA Tour. Contrary to popular belief, Stephens said Williams was never her favourite player and certainly not a mentor as she has been portrayed. The Williams sisters grew up in crime-plagued, drug-ridden Compton, California before moving to Florida, while Stephens is from Plantation, Florida. "For the first 16 years of my life, she said one word to me and was never involved in my tennis whatsoever," says Stephens. "I really don't think it's that big of a deal that she's not involved now. "If you mentor someone, that means you speak to them, that means you help them, that means you know about their life, that means you care about them. "Are any of those things true at this moment? No." — AFP |
| Unheralded American Derek Ernst passes playoff test to win Wells Fargo Posted: 06 May 2013 05:26 PM PDT CHARLOTTE (North Carolina): Derek Ernst beat England's David Lynn in a playoff on Sunday to win his first US PGA Tour title at the Wells Fargo Championship after Phil Mickelson squandered a late lead. Ernst, ranked outside the top 1,200 at the start of the week and in the field as the fourth alternate, birdied the 72nd hole of regulation to seize a share of the lead, then returned to the 18th for the first hole of the sudden-death playoff. Lynn, who was also seeking a first US PGA Tour title, hit his drive into the rough along the bank of the stream left of the fairway. He found a greenside bunker with his second shot, while Ernst was on the fairway and landed his approach 15 feet from the pin. Lynn's bunker shot flew the green and he chipped seven feet past. Ernst's birdie putt lipped out, but his tap-in for par was enough for the victory that also brought him an invitation to next week's prestigious Players Championship. The two finished four rounds at Quail Hollow on eight-under 280. In a rainy final round in which the tee times were brought forward to avoid the worst of expected inclement weather, both Ernst and Lynn had four birdies and two bogeys as both shot two-under 70. "This feeling is unbelievable right now," said Ernst, a 22-year-old Californian playing just his ninth US PGA Tour event. "Just at the beginning of the week not even knowing I was going to be in the field. "I was fourth alternate last time I heard, and then a couple of people dropped out so I got in." Ernst's four-foot birdie putt at the last hole of regulation was just one of four birdies at the 18th all day. "Winning was not on my mind," he said of his mindset at the 72nd hole. "On 18, I had 190 something, I don't know. I hit a six-iron and choked up a little bit and hit a draw in there. "I was trying to hit it as close as I possibly could, yeah. I knew Dave (Lynn) was at eight (under), so I didn't know what Phil was or where he was at. "So I was just trying to get tied with David at eight." Three-time Masters champion Mickelson, who shared the overnight lead with Nick Watney, arrived at the 16th hole with sole possession of the lead, but he bogeyed 16 and 17 and didn't even make the playoff. His approach at 18 was in the back fringe and he missed a 19-foot birdie attempt that would have given him a share of the lead. Mickelson finished with a 73 for third place on 281. England's Lee Westwood and Sweden's Robert Karlsson both posted last-round 72s to share fourth on 282. World number two Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who notched his breakthrough US PGA Tour win at Quail Hollow in 2010 and lost in a playoff last year, carded a second straight 73 to finish in a group sharing 10th place on four-under 284. — AFP |
| China still strong despite leaving out Lin Dan from Sudirman Cup Posted: 06 May 2013 05:49 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: China have left out their mega star Lin Dan from the Sudirman Cup squad. But they are still looking good to win the world mixed team event for a record ninth time when the 13th edition begins from May 19-26 at Stadium Putra in Bukit Jalil. The closing date for entries ended yesterday but it was learnt that China did not include their famed four-time world champion and two-time Olympic Games champion Lin Dan when they submitted their list to the Badminton World Federation (BWF). They, however, continued to show that they had faith on another of their aging senior stars – men's doubles four-time world champion and reigning Olympic gold medallists Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng – by including them. With China BA's surprise decision, it will be the first time that Lin Dan will not be in the mixed team event since helping them recapture the crown in 2005 at Beijing. He was also the lead player in the team who won three more crowns in 2007, 2009 and 2011. China also won in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001 but lost to South Korea in 2003 at Eindhoven, Holland. In Lin Dan's absence, China are set to use the services of one of their other three players – reigning All-England champion Chen Long, Du Pengyu and Wang Zhengming – to win the points in the men's singles tie. Top seed China have been drawn in Group A with Indonesia and India. In Group B are Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong while Group C consists of hosts Malaysia, Germany and Taiwan. In Group D are Denmark, Japan and Singapore. Only the top two in each group will advance to the quarter-finals. The top four teams based on the latest world ranking will be seeded and a draw will be conducted to determine their last eight opponents. For the record, with China's decision, the hope of seeing a re-match between Lin Dan and Malaysia's No 1 player Lee Chong Wei will not materialise during the Sudirman Cup. Fans are hoping that China will include Lin Dan for the World Championships in Guangzhou in August. Lin Dan did not qualify but China can drop one of their players to accommodate their star player when the second phase of qualifiers is finalised by BWF next month. Chong Wei and Lin Dan last met at the 2012 London Olympic Games final with the former going down fighting and, thus, failing in his bid to become Malaysia's first Olympic gold medallist. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan