TENNIS:
American Sam Querrey has reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time by knocking out the top seed and defending Wimbledon champion. The 24th-seeded Querrey trailed two sets to one before pulling out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 triumph over Andy Murray at All England Club. Querrey fired 27 aces, dominating down the stretch to stun Murray, who was visibly bothered by a sore left hip. No American male had advanced to a Grand Slam semifinal since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon eight years ago.
While Murray tried to play through his ailing hip, second seed Novak Djokovic had to give in to a right arm injury. The second-seeded Djokovic had to retire after falling behind 7-6, 2-0 to No. 11 Tomas Berdych. Next up for Berdych is third seed Roger Federer, who was a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 winner against 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic. Federer is in his 12th Wimbledon semifinal as he seeks his eighth title at All England.
Querrey's semifinal match on Friday will be against former U.S. Open champ Marin Cilic, who got past 16th-seeded Gilles Muller 3-6, 7-6, 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Querrey has dropped all four of his previous matches against Cilic, while Federer is 18-6 versus Berdych.
ESPYS:
Russell Westbrook won best male athlete at The ESPYS, while Olympic gymnast Simone Biles earned best female athlete honors Wednesday night. The 25th annual show honoring the past year's top athletes and sports moments was hosted by Peyton Manning, who humorously mocked his reputation as a control freak and an overexposed commercial pitchman in the retired NFL quarterback's opening monologue. Westbook was the NBA MVP, led the league in scoring and set a record for most triple-doubles in a season with 42. The Oklahoma City Thunder star won the trophy over Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
Biles became the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast at the Rio de Janeiro Games, winning five medals, including four golds and a bronze. She beat out Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, WNBA star Candace Parker and Serena Williams for the honor. Aaron Rodgers won best NFL player and shared best play with then-Green Bay Packers teammate Jared Cook. Another Packer, Jordy Nelson, earned best comeback honors.
The biggest ovation of the night belonged to former first lady Michelle Obama, who posthumously honored Eunice Kennedy Shriver with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for championing the rights and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities through her founding of Special Olympics. Her son, Tim Shriver, accepted the trophy.
NBA:
The Utah Jazz have added another defensive specialist to their lineup. Multiple reports say the Jazz have acquired swingman Thabo Sefolosha, who spent the last three seasons with Atlanta. ESPN first reported that Sefolosha would get a two-year, $10.5 million deal. He averaged 7.2 points last season and is considered one of the NBA's top defenders. The Jazz allowed the fewest points per game in the NBA last season.
Also in the NBA:
The Washington Wizards have signed shooting guard Jodie Meeks, giving the team another strong 3-point shooter. The 29-year-old Meeks averaged 9.1 points while hitting 41 percent of his 3-point attempts in 36 games for Orlando last season. He has averaged 9.8 points over a 454-game career that also includes stops with the Bucks, 76ers, Lakers and Pistons.
The NBA Board of Governors has unanimously approved some changes that will potentially eliminate four time-outs per game, help speed up the final minutes of games and emphasize a timely resumption of play after halftime next season. Teams will be limited to two time-outs in the final three minutes of a game, instead of having up to three. All four quarters will have two mandatory time-outs, after the 7- and 3-minute marks.
MLB: Tuesday's All-Star Game television ratings are up slightly from last year's record low.
The American League's 2-1, 10-inning win at Miami got a 5.5 national rating, 11 share and average audience of 9.28 million on Fox. Viewership was up 7 percent from last year.
NFL: Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians says he is facing the coming season with renewed energy after an offseason cancer scare. Arians reveals in his new book "The Quarterback Whisperer" that a small spot was detected on his kidney while he was being examined for a hernia problem in December. He says he feels great after a small portion of his kidney was removed in February. Arians beat prostate cancer in 2007.
The Dallas Cowboys are getting top billing on Forbes' latest ranking of the most valuable sports franchises. Forbes estimates the Cowboys' value at $4.2 billion, dwarfing the New York Yankees' runner-up status at $3.7 billion.
The next three are all European soccer clubs: Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid. The New England Patriots, New York Knicks, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Lakers round out the top 10. Of those seven North American teams, four missed the playoffs this past season. The average current value of the top most valuable teams is $2.5 billion, the highest to date. That's an increase of $300 million dollars over last year.
SOCCER: The United States is 1-0-1 in group play at the CONCACAF Gold Cup after barely knocking off a team that isn't a FIFA member.
Jordan Morris snapped a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the game before the Americans held off Martinique, 3-2 in Tampa. The U.S. blew a 2-0 lead within a 10-minute span of the second half before Morris tallied in the 76th minute.
The U.S. leads Group B with four points, ahead of Panama on goal differential. The Americans complete group play Saturday in Cleveland against Nicaragua.
OBIT:
Former FIFA member and U.S. soccer power-broker Chuck Blazer has died at 72.
Blazer was the No. 2 man at CONCACAF from 1990-2011 and a member of FIFA's ruling executive council from 1997-2013. It was his admissions of corruption that set off a global scandal that ultimately toppled FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
Blazer pleaded guilty in November 2013 of numerous charges, including one count each of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and willful failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. He also pleaded guilty on six counts of tax evasion, but he was never jailed as the investigation into FIFA corruption continued.
GOLF-BRITISH OPEN:
Former champion Ben Curtis has pulled out of next week's British Open at Royal Birkdale and been replaced in the field by fellow American Tony Finau. The Royal and Ancient has not given a reason for Curtis' withdrawal.
NASCAR: NASCAR driver Aric Almirola plans to return to action this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after missing two months with a fractured vertebra. Almirola suffered an acute compression fracture during a fiery multi-car wreck May 13 at Kansas Speedway.
Kyle Larson will be without his crew chief for Sunday's Cup race at New Hampshire. Chad Johnston has been suspended three races and fined $75,000 for failing post-race inspection at Kentucky. Larson's No. 42 Chevrolet was penalized for a rear brake cooling assembly that did not meet standards. His team also was penalized 35 points.
NHL:
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin has accepted a seven-year contract extension worth about $5.3 million per season. Slavin had five goals and 29 points this past season and led the team with 161 blocked shots, 83 takeaways and average time on ice at about 23½ minutes. His entry-level contract expires after this season.
The Arizona Coyotes have hired former NFL, NBA and college executive Steve Patterson as president and CEO. Patterson led a group that brought the NFL's Texans and a Super Bowl to Houston, and he served as GM of the NBA's Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers. The Coyotes also promoted general manager John Chayka to president of hockey operations.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL:
Former Mississippi coach Houston Nutt has filed a civil lawsuit against the university and its athletics foundation. Nutt alleges a breach of his severance agreement because of false statements he says school officials made during an ongoing NCAA investigation. The suit claims coach Hugh Freeze and other school officials created a "false narrative" in an effort to place primary blame on Nutt for the NCAA investigation instead of Freeze. Nutt was the Ole Miss football coach from 2008 to '11, and the program has been under investigation since 2012.
SWIMMING:
Ryan Lochte is returning to USA Swimming competition this week for the first time since completing his 10-month suspension for poor behavior at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The 32-year-old will compete at the L.A. Invitational and is entered in the 50- and 100-meter freestyles and 200 individual medley.
Lochte was ineligible to compete at the recent U.S. nationals, which kept him from qualifying for the world championships beginning July 23 in Hungary.
