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Milos Raonic beats Dennis Novak in triumphant return to Wimbledon

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Milos Raonic of Canada plays a forehand against Dennis Novak at Wimbledon on July 5Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Court 16 at Wimbledon lies in the shadows of the championships’ famed Centre Court, and it’s usually reserved for the game’s lesser lights. It’s not where you’d expect to find a former Wimbledon finalist and one-time world No. 3 duking it out in front of a few hundred spectators and the odd passerby who cared to stop and watch.

But there was Milos Raonic on Wednesday, out on Court 16 for his first-round match against Austrian Dennis Novak, ranked 159th in the world. It was the start of an improbable comeback for the Canadian – whose ranking has plummeted to 849 – after a two-year absence from Wimbledon, the scene of some of his biggest triumphs.

The last time Raonic set foot in the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club he spent most of his time on the tournament’s show courts putting the fear of God into opponents with a blazing serve that once topped 236 kilometres an hour, still among the tournament’s fastest. He made it to the semi-finals in 2014, the final in 2016 and the quarter-finals twice after that.

A damaged Achilles tendon shut him down in 2021 and he limped away from the sport vowing never to return. He cut himself off from the game and refused to watch matches on television or talk about tennis with his family, his friends, or his agent.

Life moved in a different direction. He married his long-time partner, Camille Ringoir, in April, 2022, and they shuttled between the Bahamas, New York and the California coast; as far away as possible from the pressure and grind of being a professional athlete.

“I stayed away from Toronto, I think for a little while, because the question always was; what are you doing now? How is it? I just didn’t even want to be asked those questions,” he said Wednesday. “I realized that life after tennis will be okay.”

It was only by chance during a stay in the Bahamas last year that he felt the urge to pick up a racquet again. He passed a tennis court every day on his way to the gym. Finally, he stopped and thought about hitting a ball or two, but even warming up felt painful.

Then the longing set in. Tennis “would be on TV sometimes when I’d be in the gym. It was kind of always around and I kind of wanted to give it another go,” he said.

He refused to rush in. Being more grounded, and married, helped bring some perspective to his decision to launch a comeback. “When I wanted to play again, it wasn’t out of desperation or anxiousness. It was more out of, ‘Would it be something I’d enjoy and have fun with?’” he said. “I kind of decided that I wanted to get ready to get back when the timing was right. Not because I felt like, hey, I need to make Wimbledon, or I need to make it for the U.S. Open.”

He started training in earnest earlier this year and faced a string of setbacks. The return seemed out of reach until he entered a Wimbledon tune-up event in the Netherlands in June. He defeated Miomir Kecmanovic, a top-50 player, with relative ease: 6-3, 6-4. But he had to drop out of his next match because of a sore shoulder.

That put his return to Wimbledon in question. Could he handle multiple rounds of five-set matches?

His initial challenge in London was the weather. Rain delayed his first-round match against Novak by a full day. They had to wait another 90 minutes before the start of play on Wednesday and then faced two rain delays in the opening set. Flashes of 2011 went through his mind, when he slipped and ended up requiring hip surgery.

Raonic was so out of sorts that he didn’t know what to do during the stoppages in play. “Last time I dealt with a rain delay has been a very long time ago,” he said. “So, all these kinds of things you feel out of routine. You’re kind of always questioning yourself, like, what did I used to do when these things would happen before?”

He passed some of the time playing an animal trivia game with fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov, whose match was also suspended. “I learned that a turtle can be breathe through its butt,” Raonic said.

By the time play resumed for good, Raonic had found some of his old magic.

He unleashed his trademark serve on Novak, 29, and piled up 28 aces including one to finish the match. After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, Raonic powered through the next three sets and picked up steam as Novak faded. The final score read 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-1.

There were miscues, missed chances and plenty of mistakes, including 37 unforced errors. But for only his second match in two years, Raonic left the court happy. “I think I did a lot of things well,” he said.

The one thing he regretted was not enjoying the moment. “I think you just get caught up with the whole process of competing and trying to find a way to win and that passes by really quickly,” he said. “You know, it’s 5-1, serving for [the match], and you don’t really get to enjoy the match, you’re just competing.”

Raonic is only 32 years old – four years younger than Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic – but it seems like he has been at the forefront of Canadian tennis for eons. His breakthrough year came more than a decade ago in 2011 when he was named ATP World Tour Newcomer of the Year. He was the first Canadian male to break into the top 10, he’s won eight ATP Tour titles and he’s advanced to 10 Grand Slam quarter-finals, two semi-finals and one final.

He isn’t thinking much beyond his next match on Thursday. For now, his summer plans include the National Bank Open in Toronto and the U.S. Open, and not much more. “I just played one match,” he said. “No reason to look much further.”

Sitting court side on Wednesday, Sean Brown and his twin brother Cole cheered every point Raonic won. They’ve followed Raonic’s career for years and they came from Toronto when they heard he’d be at Wimbledon.

“It was awesome,” said Sean, a 24-year-old lawyer. “It seemed like the same old Milos that I’m used to. It’s good to see.”

 

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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