Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Thursday 23 November 2017

Grand Slams planning to cut

seeds from 32 back to 16 in 2019

By HOWARD FENDRICH ing “strictly enforced” pre- the opening round.
AP Tennis Writer match timing, which will With 32 seeds, none was
Grand Slam tournaments give them one minute to forced to play someone
are planning to return to meet at the net after walk- ranked higher than No. 33
seeding only 16 players, in- ing on the court, five min- before the third round.
stead of 32, as of 2019, and utes for warming up, fol- The changes with regard
now will give a player who is lowed by one minute to be to first-round withdrawals,
a late withdrawal because ready for play to begin. retirements and lack of full
of an injury 50 percent of The four Grand Slam tour- effort appear to be in re-
the first-round prize money. naments — the Australian sponse to what happened
Also among the announce- Open, French Open, Wim- at Wimbledon this year.
ments by the Grand Slam bledon, U.S. Open — dou- Novak Djokovic’s first-round Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria lifts the trophy after defeating David
Board on Tuesday after two bled the number of seeded match at Centre Court Goffin of Belgium in their ATP World Tour Finals singles final tennis
days of meetings in London players to 32 in June 2001. lasted all of 40 minutes, match at the O2 Arena in London, Sunday Nov. 19, 2017.
last week: That decision was made and Roger Federer’s went Associated Press
— A player who retires from partly in response to com- 43, before their opponents Slam tournament if they simply to collect their prize
a first-round match or “per- plaints from clay-court spe- stopped playing because are “unfit to play” and money before quitting.
forms below professional cialists that they wanted of pre-existing injuries. withdraw onsite after noon The 25-second serve clock
standards” could face a more draw protection at Two other men also on Thursday but before the gives players 5 more sec-
fine as high as the entire Wimbledon, the only ma- stopped mid-match that main draw begins. The per- onds than ATP rules current-
prize money due a loser in jor tournament played on day, bringing the first-round son replacing them in the ly allow on the men’s tour.
that round. grass. retirement total to seven field — a “lucky loser” who But Grand Slam Board Di-
— A 25-second serve clock Going back to 16 seeds in and sparking discussion failed to advance out of rector Bill Babcock said the
will be tried out at the Aus- 2019 would, in theory any- about whether spectators the qualifying rounds — will clock will be used at the
tralian Open in January, way, make early upsets were being shortchanged. get the other half of that 2018 Australian Open on a
but like at this year’s U.S. more likely. That’s because The rule changes issued money, plus whatever they trial basis the way it was at
Open, not during main- if all of the highest-ranked Tuesday, and taking effect might accumulate by win- the U.S. Open, which test-
draw matches. players enter the field, who- next year, let players col- ning matches. ed it only for events such
— Players could be fined ever is No. 1 could wind up lect half of the first-round The reasoning: Injured or ill as qualifying and junior
up to $20,000 for violat- facing whoever is No. 17 in prize money at a Grand players won’t start a match matches.q

Indian police probe Maria Sharapova housing fraud case

who used the tennis star to was the reason most peo- site went unanswered.
endorse a luxury housing ple put their money into the “The project never saw the
project that never took off. project. light of day,” Singh said.
Real estate firm Home- Singh said his client, Bha- Singh said the police inves-
stead Infrastructure is ac- wana Agarwal, paid tigation based on his cli-
cused of taking tens of mil- Homestead Infrastructure ent’s complaint was testing
lions of rupees (millions of 5.3 million rupees ($81,678) relatively new legal ground
dollars) from home buyers in 2013 because she was - that celebrities endors-
for a project named “Bal- impressed by Sharapova’s ing projects that draw vast
let by Maria Sharapova,” a association with the project sums of money from inves-
luxury apartment complex located in Gurgaon, a sub- tors had a responsibility “to
with its own helipad, tennis urb of the Indian capital. do some due diligence” on
academy and other ame- The cost of an apartment in the project before lending
nities. The five-time Grand the swanky project was 20 their name and credibility
Slam champion travelled million rupees ($308,000). to it.
to India in 2013 to launch Agarwal then spent the Sharapova isn’t the only
the project at a glitzy cer- next three years chasing international sports celeb-

In this Monday, March 7, 2016, file photo, tennis star Maria emony. the builders for updates on rity that the real estate firm
Sharapova speakings during a news conference in Los Angeles. Police began the investiga- the property and her invest- roped in.
Associated Press tion on Nov. 16. ment in it but they stopped Its website also advertises
By MUNEEZA NAQVI tigated by police in India Piyush Singh, a lawyer rep- taking her calls, Singh said. a project with Formula One
Associated Press in a cheating and criminal resenting one of the home On Wednesday, several great Michael Schumacher
NEW DELHI (AP) — Maria conspiracy case involv- buyers, said Wednesday calls to the numbers of the called the Michael Schum-
Sharapova is being inves- ing a real estate company that Sharapova’s celebrity building company’s web- acher World Tower.q