Tears of mourning, destroyed racket end wild French Open match

Steve Johnson sobs after defeating Borna Coric in the second round of the French Open. EPA

It was a tale of two emotions.

American tennis hopeful Steve Johnson, grieving the recent death of his father, broke down in tears after surviving a fourth-set tiebreak to beat tantrum-throwing emerging star Borna Coric, 6-2, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, on Wednesday in the second round of the French Open.

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Johnson’s father, Steve Johnson Sr., died unexpectedly at age 58 in his sleep on May 11. Steve Sr., a well-regarded coach in California, had introduced his son to tennis at the age of 2, and helped guide him to college tennis at USC and eventually onto the pro tour, according to Tennis.com.

So when Johnson laced a final forehand winner past Coric, he dropped to his knees and sobbed on the red clay.

“I just miss my dad. I wish he was following along, I know he is from upstairs,” Johnson said through tears in a post-match interview with Tennis Channel. “It’s just so emotional, it’s hard to describe. I just knew he was looking down on me on that last point and gave me the strength to finish it off.”

On the other end of the court, Coric smashed his racket to pieces in a stunning display of opposing emotions in a heated match. Coric later apologized on Twitter for his actions.

The match had featured the usual dramatics, especially for Johnson. A questionable ruling by the chair umpire docked a point from Johnson in the fourth set at 5-4 for ball abuse. That helped the match go to a tight tiebreak, where Johnson prevailed.

Johnson pulled out of the tournament in Rome two weeks ago after receiving word about his father’s death. Last week he played a warmup tournament in Geneva, where he reunited with his mom, sister and his fiancée. Johnson said they had been planning a family trip to Paris for a few years after his sister graduated from college.

“Physically, I’m OK, emotionally, I’m a mess,” said Johnson, who will face sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem in the third round on Friday. “He always wanted me to be a fighter and a competitor, so that’s what I’m going to do, day in and day out. That’s the only thing I can do.”

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Robinson reportedly leaving Sharks

SAN JOSE — Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Robinson will leave the Sharks organization when his contract with the team expires on July 1.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Robinson has received permission from general manager Doug Wilson to speak with other teams as he’s hoping to find work with an organization that’s closer to his home in Bradenton, Fla.

Robinson, 65, joined the Sharks as an associate coach under former-head coach Todd McLellan prior to the 2012-13 season, a role he performed for two years before serving as director of player development over the last three seasons.

The nine-time Stanley Cup champion spent most of the last three years working from his home in Florida, making trips out to San Jose for training camp and the occasional homestand. Robinson has been credited for playing a mentorship role with defenseman Brent Burns, who is a finalist for the Norris Trophy this year.

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Marcelo Bielsa dispensa 12 de 29 jogadores do plantel do Lille

Marcelo Bielsa assumiu o Lille há apenas três dias e já fez uma limpa no elenco do clube francês. O técnico argentino mandou embora 12 dos 29 jogadores que disputaram a última temporada pelo time, que terminou na 11ª posição no Campeonato Francês. As informações são do jornal francês “L’Équipe”.

Além destes, outros oito atletas também podem estar de saída, incluindo o capitão Rio Mavuba e o atacante Éder, que foi campeão da Eurocopa com Portugal, de acordo com a imprensa francesa.

"Minha equipe vai tentar ter protagonismo máximo dentro de campo e passar muito tempo atacando para defender bem. Também vamos tocar bastante a bola", disse o técnico na sua coletiva de imprensa, na segunda-feira, quando foi oficialmente apresentado.

Conforme o jornal francês, o Lille está disposto a gastar cerca de 40 milhões de euros (cerca de R$ 147 milhões) para reforçar o elenco. O dono da equipe, Gérard López, mandou um recado à torcida.

"Eu sinto a enorme responsabilidade que esta posição me implica. Mas quero dizer que os torcedores ficarão felizes novamente no estádio", disse o cartola.

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Ben Khalfallah joins Brisbane Roar

   Ben Khalfallah joins Brisbane Roar

Brisbane Roar have made the first signing of the post-Broich era, with Fahid 

  .Ben Khalfallah joining the A-League club for the 2017-18 season

The Tunisian winger, who will turn 35 when the new campaign begins in October, has moved to the Roar after scoring 12 goals in three seasons for Melbourne Victory.

But the 34-year-old announced last month that he would leave the Victory at season's end and he has been quickly snapped up by Roar coach John Aloisi.

Ben Khalfallah looms as the likely replacement on the left side in attack for departed great Thomas Broich.

It is Aloisi's first major move on the transfer market as he seeks to restock his attacking ranks after the departures of Broich, Jamie Maclaren and Brandon Borrello.

"I'm very happy to sign with Brisbane," Ben Khalfallah said.

"It was an easy decision to come to a club that has won many championships and grand finals.

"As soon as John Aloisi called me, I told him yes straight away.

"I wanted to play for a big club with great players and, in my opinion, Brisbane is one of the biggest clubs in Australia."

Ben Khalfallah came to the A-League after a distinguished career in France and quickly established himself as a fan favourite at Victory, winning the club's player-of-the-season award after one year.

Despite falling out of favour last season under Kevin Muscat and nearing the end of his career, Aloisi believes Ben Khalfallah can play an important role for the Roar in tandem with marquee attackers Tommy Oar and Brett Holman.

"Fahid's experience and versatility will strengthen our already talented squad," Aloisi said.

"His ability to play out wide or in the middle of our attack gives us greater unpredictability and creativity that will excite our fans.

"Most importantly, though, we believe he will suit our style of play."

Aloisi can still sign three more foreigners with Dane Thomas Kristensen the only other import on the Roar's books.

Borrello's exit has not yet been confirmed but it's expected he will sign for German 2.Bundesliga club FC Kaiserslautern.

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Reds face make - or - break clash with Force

RUGBY UNION: The phrase "a must-win game" is often overused in sport but for the Queensland Reds and Western Force, Friday night's Super Rugby clash at Suncorp Stadium is just that.

Neither side can afford to lose, with centre Samu Kerevi knowing just how much the clash means to the Reds' chances of reaching the playoffs.

"Everyone understands the importance of it all," he said.

"Obviously we're a chance of making the finals and I thought we played a more consistent game against the Rebels (two weeks ago).

"We want to do that against the Force as well."

The Reds are seven points behind Australian conference rivals the Brumbies, with the ACT side claiming seven bonus points to Queensland's four.

With poor results for Australian sides seeming to be the norm this season, the Reds' fate is still in their own hands.

If they lose and the Brumbies beat the Jaguares in Argentina, their season will be over.

But if the results are reversed, that would put the Reds in prime position to put their noses in front as the season reaches the pointy end.

They travel to Samoa next week to face a Blues team that is set to go up against the British and Irish Lions four days later, before hosting the Brumbies on July 7 following the June break for the winter Test match series.

The Reds will need to get some positive results from those three games as they finish the campaign with what looks like a near-impossible task - a trek to Dunedin to face the red-hot Highlanders.

Kerevi is wary of the Force in what looks like being the pivotal game of the Reds' campaign.

"They've got threats right across the board and they've got a good forward pack coming out," he said.

"For us, it's about our own game and we need to get an 80-minute performance out there to solidify ourselves as a finals contender."

The Force needs a win to keep its hopes of reaching the playoffs alive, and veteran Matt Hodgson returns to captain the side.

Hodgson, who missed the win against the Jaguares with an ankle injury and was rested for last week's 55-6 hiding at the hands of the Highlanders, could be key and his battle at the breakdown with George Smith will be a highlight.

Hodgson will lead the side in the absence of captain Ben McCalman, who has fractured his shoulder.

"It's great to have Hodgo back," Force coach Dave Wessels said.

"Maybe in retrospect, if I had my time again, maybe we would have pushed Hodgo a bit harder last week and put him in there, but all of those things are great in retrospect.

"Last week we felt with the wet conditions that the bigger forward pack would make a difference physically. It didn't turn out like that."

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Charles Harris is the right No 1 pick, for all the right reasons

Charles Harris is the right No  1 pick, for all the right reasons 

A confession: I may be somewhat — no, make that blatantly — predisposed to approve wholeheartedly of the Dolphins’ first-round selection of Missouri pass rusher Charles Harris in the NFL Draft on Thursday night. I happened to predict Harris-to-Miami in my annual Mock Draft (luck my Daddy would have referred to as a blind squirrel finding an acorn), so I love the pick first because it makes me look good, I’d admit. My nitpicking and yeah-butting what Miami did would be a little like a man who just hit the lottery complaining about the winning numbers. 

Miami Dolphins GM Chris Grier talks to the media about their selection of Charles Harris of Missouri as their first round pick in the NFL Draft.

But I love the pick for other reasons, too. By dumb luck it might make me look good, but by calculated reasoning and logic it makes the Dolphins look good. Makes this look like a team that has an understanding of its fundamental imbalance and has set out to correct that.

Miami has begun to show the signs of the maturity and self-awareness that capably run franchises tend to. This was a team, with reason, that spent a lot of years and capital trying to grow an offense — mainly trying to surround quarterback Ryan Tannehill with enough talent to erase all of the excuses why he might not be good enough and replace them with all of the reasons he could be.

Now, finally, it is time to turn attention to the neglected other side of the line of scrimmage, and the Dolphins are doing so. Unmistakably. Pretty impressively, too.

It is worth noting that Dolphins, a franchise most associated with Dan Marino’s bombardier attack, have a deeper heritage of stopping the other guys. The No-Name Defense. The Killer B’s. More recently, the prideful epoch fronted by Hall of Famer Jason Taylor and by Zach Thomas. The Dolphins used to make a point of making busy days for the other teams’ punters.

Miami won’t be more than what it is presently — a pretty good team that barely makes the playoffs then bows out quickly — unless its improving and potentially formidable offense is balanced by a new-era defense good enough to, I dunno, maybe even inspire a nickname or something.

The Dolphins recently made a clear emphasis of defense in free agency, led by the signing of longtime Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons, and the draft opened with Miami continuing that emphasis. It should continue Friday and Saturday as the seven rounds play out. Other than stockpiling talent on the interior offensive line (guard, center), defense should remain the imperative. A cornerback should arrive Friday.

I mean, seriously, if Tannehill can’t fly with the surrounding cast he’s been given, then that’s on him, on his own right wing. He has a young Pro Bowl running back in Jay Ajayi. They targeted improvement at tight end. He has Jarvis Landry, Devante Parker and Kenny Stills to play catch. Three-fifths of his blockers are first-round draft picks.

The offense seems set, solid.

Defense, please.

Charles Harris, the new No. 1, is not a perfect candidate or certain star because players selected 22nd overall seldom are. If 21 times other teams could have had you but said nah, that’s either a stupendous draft or you have a flaw or two. Harris may be slightly undersized. He isn’t great against the run. What he is great at is deploying that spin move of his to get to the other team’s quarterback, which in the modern NFL, increasingly, is paramount.

Cam Wake is 35. Miami needs its next great sackman. Harris is a promising candidate. And that’s good enough for now. Notice how Miami used very little of its allotted clock time to make its pick? Harris was their guy. That was clear.

The Dolphins could have given Tannehill another gift Thursday by drafting UM tight end David Njoku, but that would have been the luxury pick this club cannot afford. The Fins could have taken Western Kentucky guard Forrest Lamp at a need position but a first-round guard almost always is a reach. (Miami last drafted a pure guard in the first round with Roy Foster in 1982).

No, this draft needed to be about defense first, and promisingly it has begun that way. Harris can play defensive end. He can play outside linebacker. Mostly, he can find the pocket and pick it clean, make QBs quiver.

“I’m going to ball,” Harris told local reporters by way of introduction Thursday night. “I’m going to come into the league and I’m going to dominate”

Hey, if it starts with attitude, that’s a good start, right? “

Dolfans should like Harris as the pick, as a player, but mostly they should like that their team seems serious about getting back in balance with a credible defense.

Think of it like this, if you wish:

An appreciably better defense would rank way up there among all of the gifts this club has provided to make Ryan Tannehill’s life easier.  

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