4B • FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2011
SALISBURY POST
SPORTS
Djokovic defeats Federer Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer saved a parting shot for anyone who thinks his time is up and a changing of the guard in tennis awaits. “Yeah, I mean, they say that very quickly. ... Let’s talk in six months again,” he said. The heavily hyped duel between Federer and Rafael Nadal will not happen in Melbourne, opening a rare window for someone else. Federer, the defending champion, lost to Novak Djokovic 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-4 in the Australian Open semifinals Thursday night. It marks the first time since 2008 neither of tennis’ most dominant men will play in a Grand Slam final. Less than 24 hours earli-
er, an ailing Nadal’s pursuit of a Rafa Slam evaporated in a quarterfinal loss to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer. Djokovic will play Ferrer or Andy Murray in the final. On the women’s side, the title match is set with Kim Clijsters facing Li Na. Clijsters beat Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3, and Li eliminated top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 7-5, 63. Federer and Nadal have combined to win 21 of the last 23 majors. This is also the first time since 2003 that Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, will not hold at least one of the four major trophies. The Swiss great was outplayed by Djokovic, who reveled in the cooler night weather. It was the second straight time Federer has lost to the
Serb — he had match points before losing in the U.S. Open semifinals. “It’s disappointing and it hurts in the moment itself,” Federer said. “I wish I could have won here again for the fifth time. But wasn’t possible tonight. It’s not the end in any way. It’s a start for many other tournaments after this.” Federer said he didn’t play the key points well. He fell behind quickly in the first-set tiebreaker on backhand errors, giving Djokovic four set points. In the second set, he got up a break. Djokovic was scrambling, twice tumbling to the court and losing his racket as he tried to stay in rallies. But Federer, so used to moving in for the kill, let a 5-2 lead slip and dropped the set. From
FroM 1B
CHANGE FroM 1B ple can follow.” NASCAR also tweaked the eligibility requirements for the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field. The top 10 in points after the 26th race of the season will make the Chase field, while the final two spots will be “wild cards” designated for the highest race winners not already eligible. The wild cards will only go to drivers ranked inside the top-20 in points. If no driver outside the top 10 has any victories, the spots will go to the drivers ranked 11th and 12th in the standings. Adding the wild card was designed to reward winning, which two-time champion Tony Stewart, the only driver in attendance at the announcement, applauded. “I think that’s a twist that really makes sense,” Stewart said. But what didn’t make sense to many, teams and fans alike, was why NASCAR felt the points system was its biggest problem heading into the new season. NASCAR is stuck in a steady decline in both attendance and television ratings, and not even last year’s Chase — the closest since the championship-deciding format was introduced in 2004 — seemed to ignite the dwindling interest. Although NASCAR made numerous changes last season that dramatically improved competition, fans still found reasons to gripe. And for the
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serbia’s Novak djokovic gestures to his supporters as he celebrates his win against roger Federer. ously a bit of a blow. At the same time, I played a good tournament. I have no regrets.” Djokovic planned to relax and eat popcorn while watching Friday night’s semifinal between Murray, the 2010 fi-
nalist, and No. 7-ranked Ferrer. Murray was leading Nadal in the quarterfinals last year when the Spaniard retired in the third set because of a knee problem that put him off the tour until March.
Rogers stands up for Cutler
FISHER In the end, neither Fisher nor Young survived with the Titans. Even though Adams announced he was sticking with Fisher for the final year of his contract the move meant Fisher would be coaching for his future in 2011. Fisher has repeatedly said he wanted to finish his career with the franchise, but the coach known for never losing his cool in public while hiding behind his sunglasses may have decided Adams’ decision wasn’t good enough. A team spokesman did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. Fisher did not answer a message left on his cell, and his agent also did not respond to messages from the AP. More details could come out Friday when the team is expected to hold a news conference to discuss the first coaching change since the franchise relocated to Tennessee from Houston in 1997. One of the leading candidates to replace Fisher is Mike Munchak, the Titans offensive line coach. The Hall of Famer is a favorite of Adams. A flurry of coaching changes didn’t help Fisher’s situation. He fired his defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil a week ago after giving him a contract for the 2011 season. Defensive line coach Jim Washburn decided last week to take the same job with Philadelphia and his departure was followed by running backs coach Craig Johnson, who signed with Minnesota as the Vikings quarterbacks coach. Fisher has coached more NFL games for one franchise
there it was just about over. “Every time I had slight opportunity, either I didn’t play my best or he played his best,” Federer said. “It was a tough night from this standpoint. Those are sometimes the way matches go.” Nadal limped away from his match, saying he had a small muscle tear in his upper left leg and casting doubt on his readiness for at least a few weeks. Federer has no ailments to speak of. “I feel very good. I’m very optimistic about the next 15 tournaments, however many I’m playing,” he said. “I’ve barely lost matches lately really, so I’m happy with where my game is at, with where my condition is at. “I’m really excited for what’s to come. This is obvi-
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ttians coach Jeff Fisher, left, never seemed to be on the same page with quarterback Vince Young. than all but six Hall of Famers: George Halas, Tom Landry, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Curly Lambeau and Bud Grant. He ranks third among active coaches in career wins with a record of 147-126, behind only Bill Belichick (176) and Mike Shanahan (160), and he is 20th all-time in coaching victories. Adams promoted Fisher from defensive coordinator to interim coach with six games left in the 1994 season after firing Jack Pardee. Adams removed the interim tag after that season and has stayed with Fisher longer than any other coach with the franchise the billionaire founded. Fisher oversaw the team’s relocation from Houston in
which the Oilers played in four different stadiums between 1996 and 1999 before moving into their current home. Since 1999, Tennessee ranks seventh in the NFL in winning percentage with a 110-82 record. The Titans also are tied for fourth with six playoff seasons since 1999, though a second straight miss this past season will drop the team down that list. But the Titans haven’t won a playoff game since beating Baltimore in a 2004 wild-card matchup. Tennessee lost a wild-card game in San Diego in 2007 and wasted the AFC’s top seed in 2008.
three days leading into France’s big news, drivers and team owners took their turn weighing in on issues NASCAR needs to address. “I absolutely think the races ought to be shorter, and I think the season ought to be shorter,” said Rick Hendrick, NASCAR’s winningest team owner. “It’s just so long. If it we had three more months off, I think the fans would be more eager to get back and watch it.” David Hill, chairman of Fox Sports, called on NASCAR to shorten its races so that they fit into a 3-hour broadcast window. Hill argued there’s far too many distractions for fans to sit and watch races that stretch four-plus hours. Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver, called the refusal to shorten races at tracks such as Pocono Raceway, which at 500 miles has long been considered by drivers to be 100 miles too long, “this huge pink elephant nobody wants to talk about.” But he speculated that promises made with handshakes long ago had given many tracks lifetime agreements to host two 500-mile races a year. And the monetary issues, Earnhardt said, made it impossible to shorten a 38-race season that runs from February to November. “I think that the financial rewards from having the season as it is are too great,” Earnhardt said. “It’s almost as if each race is a limb that you can’t amputate. It’s too big a deal to shorten the season. There’s tons of money involved and tons of livelihoods involved, and people’s careers.
“I don’t believe we’ll ever see a shorter season. I think in my lifetime we’ll see shorter races across the board at 85 percent of the events, but never a shorter season.” Only France bristled at the notion that there are larger issues confronting NASCAR than a need to simplify the points system. “There’s a positive start to the season,” he quipped. “Look, we’re very satisfied with the most important thing: the level of competition. Obviously, we want to be trending up, not down. And television ratings ... we want to see a lot of things with attendance improve. “We’re 63-years-old. Every sport is going to have periods where, for lots of reasons, you’re in a peak or a valley. We’re going to have moments where you can select something that’s not going well. That’s fine. But we are on our course to deliver the most exciting racing in the world, and we’re going to get there.” NASCAR president Mike Helton insisted the sport’s leadership is hard at work addressing the sport’s problems, even if no solutions were offered Wednesday night. “Everything we do is to make the sport better for the entire community. Everything we don’t do doesn’t mean we’re never going to,” Helton said. “We know we have issues to address. I promise you, we haven’t spent the last 365 days just working on these topics that we announced.”
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Before the Green Bay Packers really start cramming to get ready for the Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers wanted to make a few things clear. First, Rodgers says he didn’t sustain a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet hit from Chicago Bears lineman Julius Peppers in Sunday’s NFC championship game victory. He believes his new helmet may have helped prevent another head injury. And while he’s speaking on the subject of injuries, Rodgers has heard people questioning the toughness of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler this week and thinks it’s “very inappropriate” and “disrespectful.” “I was real disappointed, to be honest with you,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “I’ve known Jay for a few years now and know what kind of competitor he is. I thought it was disrespectful, some of the stuff said about him.” Cutler was criticized by current and former players, fans and media members after leaving Sunday’s NFC championship game with a knee injury. Rodgers is friends with Cutler — the former Vanderbilt player helped Rodgers’ younger brother, Jordan, get settled at the school when he decided to play there — and doesn’t believe the criticism was justified. Rodgers applauded Bears coach Lovie Smith and players such as safety Chris Harris and linebacker Brian Urlacher for sticking up for their teammate. “To attack a guy’s toughness, when you’re not playing in the game especially, I thought was very inappropriate,” Rodgers said. Unlike Cutler, Rodgers generally has earned praise for his conduct on and off the field in three seasons as the Packers’ starter. But even Rodgers’ positive public image took a recent hit when a local television station did a story about a female cancer patient who went to the airport hoping to get Rodgers’ autograph. The station showed footage of Rodgers walking past her. Some fans and bloggers
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Bears quarterback Jay cutler has been criticized by players and the media after getting hurt in the NFc title game. took that as a sign that Rodgers intentionally snubbed a fan with a serious illness, although the woman later said Rodgers had signed for her before. “You realize when you get in this league, you can’t please everybody,” Rodgers said. “You can’t fulfill every request. You just be the person you are. And I think through the whole thing, with the airport incident, I just realized, you know what, I’m myself, and I was raised the right way.” So while Cutler goes into the offseason perhaps needing to mend his image, Rodgers is waiting for his body to heal. He was roughed up a little in Sunday’s victory over the Bears, taking a shot to the shoulder in addition to the hit from Peppers. Rodgers shot down speculation that he sustained another concussion on the Peppers hit and credited his helmet for potentially preventing another significant head injury. Rodgers switched helmets af-
ter sustaining two concussions earlier this season, although he has been hesitant to share details about how the new helmet might be safer. “Not too much to talk about,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t have a concussion. I want to dispel that rumor. No concussion. I was fine. Yeah. Helmets are designed to prevent concussions, I think.” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said this week that Rodgers was sore, adding that all players have bumps and bruises at this point in the season. Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said Rodgers’ toughness is unquestioned. “Unfortunately, he’s been sacked a bunch since he started playing in ‘08 — more times that we’d like to admit,” Philbin said. “So I think his physical toughness has really never been in question. How this particular game compares to other games, I don’t really have a good feel for. But certainly he’s a tough, physical guy.”
First-time Pro Bowlers soaking it all in Associated Press KAPOLEI, Hawaii — Arian Foster usually gets where he’s going in a hurry — at least on the football field. This week, the first-time Pro Bowl selection is in no hurry. Houston’s All-Pro running back was one of the last players to leave the practice field Thursday as he posed for photos, signed autographs and chatted at length with reporters. Foster is one of 35 first-timers selected for Sunday’s NFL all-star game, including 23 from the AFC. The most is when 44 firsttimers were selected to the game in 2000, including 26 on the NFC. And it’s usually not difficult to spot a firsttimer. Besides being the last off the field, they’re also the ones that look like they’ve had too much sun — but still grinning ear to ear. “You have no choice but to enjoy Hawaii. You’ve got a problem if you don’t,” Foster said. “This is like heaven. I’ll die and go to Hawaii. That’s all right with me.” The 24-year-old Foster earned a spot by
going from undrafted member of the Texans’ practice squad to the league’s leading rusher with 1,616 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. Foster said it first sunk in that he was among the NFL’s all-stars when he saw AFC teammates such as Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Baltimore Ravens linebackers Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs at the first meeting. “When you just see them, it’s just surreal,” he said. “(Then) you kind of realize they have the same amount of respect for you as you do for them. That makes it all worth it.” The new Pro Bowlers generally take guidance from the veterans as far as how to act, where to go and what to eat. But they really don’t know what to expect on game day. “I have no clue. This is my first rodeo. I don’t know if these guys are really going to come out and try to hit hard,” Foster said. While Foster made his first trip in his second year in the league, others have had to wait much longer, like Atlanta Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli, who is in his eight season and will start for the NFC.