REMEMBERING JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH: Former IOC chief Juan Antonio Samaranch — who died of a heart attack on Wednesday at age 89 — spent his final moments at home watching tennis before being taken to the hospital in Barcelona. “He watched Nadal‘s match — he loved tennis — and after the game he wasn’t feeling great, so we decided to come [to the hospital] around six or seven at night,” said his son, Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. “Then he collapsed. They stabilized him but he never came out. And that was the last time he was conscious.” Without Samaranch, who headed the IOC from ’80 to’01, there wouldn’t have been a Golden Slam for Steffi Graf; tears of joy for Andre Agassi on the medal stand in Atlanta in ’96; redemption for Elena Dementieva in Beijing in ’08. After all, it was Samaranch who championed the sport’s reinstatement as a full medal sport in ’88 following a 64-year absence.
WITHIN THE LINES: Kiprono Cheruiyot‘s record-breaking victory at the Boston Marathon was upheld this week after race officials said the Kenyan did not deviate from the course when he briefly ran onto a sidewalk. Said Guy Morse, “There are no specific out-of-bounds areas. It’s not like a tennis match.”
BUT DO WE HAVE TO WEAR THOSE GOOFY GLASSES?: The French Open will be televised in 3D.
VENUS A NO-GO FOR FED CUP: Mary Joe Fernandez was holding a spot for Venus Williams on the U.S. Fed Cup team, but on Wednesday the seven-time Slam champ said her troublesome knee will keep her sidelined for the semifinal matchup against Russia. “I waited until this moment in hopes that I would have an opportunity to play,” she said, “but I’m being advised by my medical support team that I’ll need more time to recover.”
HEADLINES
Has Murray Peaked or Is He Biding His Time?
THE NUMBERS
37,500: Cap on spectators who will admitted to the All England Club grounds on a daily basis at Wimbledon this year — a cut of 2,500.
QUOTEBOOK
“Even in the best of times, the sun seldom shines in [Andy] Murray‘s world. But lately, he’s walking around under his own private ash cloud.” — John Wertheim
“As much as any sport embraces parity, it also requires an element of dominance: the Yankees, the Lakers, a Muhammad Ali or Arnold Palmer. It wouldn’t be much fun if every team or individual mirrored each other. There has to be a higher standard, a mountain to climb, and when a second element joins in — the Dodgers, the Celtics, Joe Frazier, Jack Nicklaus — the public edges closer. Tennis may never recapture the rampant popularity it enjoyed in the 1970s and early ’80s, but the Nadal-Federer rivalry brought an undeniable resurrection back into the realm of must-see theater.” — Bruce Jenkins
