Sports

AMMAN  — The Jordan Pro Football League heads into Week 9 on Thursday with Faisali atop the pack as the action restarts after a 3-week break for the national teams’ Asian agendas.

As teams wrapped up Week 8, Faisali snatched the lead from Hussein after beating Wihdat 1-0. Hussein were held 2-2 with Jazira to settle for second while Shabab Urdun beat Ramtha 3-0 and are now third.

Aqaba tied Sahab 1-1 and are now fifth, followed by newcomers Mugheer Sarhan, who beat Ma’an 3-1 as the latter dropped to last. Salt moved up from last to 10th after holding Sarih 2-2.

Ramtha are the defending champs against traditional rivals Faisali and Wihdat. In two of the 2022 competitions played so far, Faisali won the 35th Jordan Football Association (JFA) Shield title when they beat Ramtha in the season opening competition. Reigning league champs Ramtha upset Jordan Cup holders Faisali 2-0 in the 39th Jordan Super Cup. 

In the 2021 season, Ramtha won the Jordan Professional League title for the third time in their history ending a 39-year drought. Newcomers to the Pro League, relatively unknown Jalil, overcame Wihdat to win the 34th JFA Shield; Wihdat beat Jazira in the 38th Jordan Super Cup, while Faisali beat Salt to win the Jordan Cup. 

In the league, Ramtha were trailed by Wihdat second, Salt third, and Faisali fourth. Hussein, Shabab Urdun, Jazira, were trailed by Ma’an, Aqaba and Sahab, who managed to hold on to their spot among the top teams as Baqa’a were relegated in their worst season yet, and were accompanied by Jalil. Mugheer Sarhan and Sarih were promoted from the First Division.

Since the league kicked off in 1944 with only Faisali, Ahli, Urdun and Homenetmen competing, Faisali are 34-time record league champs while Wihdat won 17 times since they joined in 1980. Although Faisali are the all-time record titleholders, Wihdat have won the majority of titles since 1980. Ahli won eight times, Ramtha and Jazira three times each, Shabab Urdun twice, Amman and Urdun clubs once each.

During the league’s break, the national football secured qualification to the 2023 Asian Cup, while Jordan’s younger U23 squad was eliminated from Round 1 at the 5th Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship

Regionally, like last season, Wihdat were eliminated in the group stages of the AFC Champions League. In 2021, Wihdat became the first of the Kingdom’s clubs to play in the continent’s leading club tournament’s group stages.

No Jordanian teams are competing in this season’s AFC Cup due to financial and technical constraints. It will be the first time Jordanian teams miss the competition since 2005.

AMMAN — Muhammad Al Quttob has clinched the Amman International U18 Tennis Championship hosted by the Jordan Tennis Federation, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Featuring 93 players from 22 countries, Quttob showed his home crowd why is one of the most exciting youngsters on the circuit by beating Lebanon Mustafa Al Natour in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) to take the singles crown.

The youngster didn’t drop a single set all tournament with earlier victories over India’s Krishan Gulati, Switzerland’s Oscar Rashid, India’s Ryan Sajid Kawtharat, and then tournament top seed, Laurent Gyuri of Hungary, in the semifinal.

LONDON — Nick Kyrgios came out on top in a fiery Wimbledon five-setter on Tuesday and blasted fans’ “disrespect” as well as “90-year-old” officials before admitting he spat towards one of his tormentors in the crowd.

The Australian’s 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5 first-round victory over British wildcard Paul Jubb showcased his brutal shotmaking, which reaped 30 aces and 67 winners.

But the dark side of the 27-year-old crowd-pleaser was also on show.

Even as early as the first set on a packed and raucous Court Three, Kyrgios demanded some fans be removed.

“There were a couple of people not shy of criticising me — this one’s for you,” said the 40th-ranked player. “You know who you are.”

At a later news conference, Kyrgios jousted with reporters as he hit out at the abuse he says he receives on a daily basis, both on and off court.

“Just pure disrespect, just anything,” said Kyrgios, who revealed one fan used an expletive to describe his game.

“Have you ever gone to a supermarket and just started berating someone scanning the groceries? No. So why do they do it when I’m at Wimbledon? Why is that?”

In his testy news conference, Kyrgios was himself accused of lacking respect for the line judges.

He had been overheard saying “90 year olds can’t see the ball”.

“No, I said most of the umpires are older, and I just don’t think that’s ideal when you’re playing a sport of such small margins,” explained Kyrgios.

“Factually, people that are younger have better eyesight. When you’re playing at a sport for hundreds and thousands of dollars, do you not think that we should have people that are really ready to call the ball in or out?

“I hit a ball in, the old man called it out, it was in. So arguably if the guy was 40, he may not have called that out.”

As well as his displeasure with a section of the crowd, Kyrgios also called a line judge “a snitch with no fans”.

“I didn’t do anything and she went to the umpire and told her something that I didn’t say,” said Kyrgios.

“She found it relevant to go to run to the umpire at 30-love and make it about her.”

Kyrgios also admitted that as he celebrated his victory, he spat in the direction of one spectator.

He said it was a deliberate response.

“Yes. I would not be doing that to someone who was supporting me.”

Kyrgios, who stunned Rafael Nadal on his way to the quarter-finals at the All England Club in 2014, arrived at the tournament after semi-final runs in grass-court events in Stuttgart and Halle.

In Stuttgart, he claimed he was racially abused.

“I’ve been dealing with hate and negativity for a long time,” he said on Tuesday.

“Some spectators think there’s just no line there anymore. They can just say something and they film it and then they laugh about it.”

Nadal overcomes scare

Rafael Nadal overcame a scare in his opener, fighting back from dropping the third set and falling a break down in the fourth to eventually see off Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.

Second seed Nadal triumphed 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 over 41st-ranked Cerundolo, who was making his All England Club debut.

But the 36-year-old Spaniard, who has already captured the Australian and French Opens this year to stand halfway to the first men’s calendar Slam since 1969, did it the hard way.

After coasting through the first two sets on Centre Court, he surrendered an early break in the third set and then had to claw his way back from 3-1 and 4-2 down in the fourth.

Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 Wimbledon champion, will take on Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania for a place in the last 32.

The Spaniard’s bid for a third title at the tournament was boosted earlier Tuesday when 2021 runner-up Matteo Berrettini, a potential semifinal opponent, withdrew after testing positive for COVID.

Swiatek racks up victory

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek racked up her 36th successive victory to reach the second round, equalling the winning streak of Monica Seles in 1990.

French Open champion Swiatek defeated Croatian qualifier Jana Fett 6-0, 6-3 to remain undefeated since February.

The 21-year-old Pole will face Dutch lucky loser Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove for a place in the last 32.

AMMAN — Juliana Al Sadiq retained her gold medal at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in South Korea to complete a memorable event for Jordan, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The Kingdom won a total of six medals, with Sadiq’s triumph the icing on the cake from a memorable weekend.

She remains the best on the continent for the -67kg category, and was joined on the podium on the last day of competition by Olympic medallist Saleh Al Sharabaty, who won -80kg silver, and Zaid Al Halawani, who won a -63kg bronze medal.

These successes were added to the silver medals won earlier in the event by Luay Humaidan (-54kg), Zaid Mustafa (-68kg) and Fahd Ammar (-87kg). Sadiq lived up to her top seed billing by surging into the final with wins over Nguyen Thi (Vietnam) and Mukro Khalimova (Tajikistan), before overcoming China’s Junhong Liu in the gold medal match.

This was her third Asian gold following last year’s win in Beirut and her first in 2018.

Meanwhile, Al Sharabaty, silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics and No. 1 in Asia, beat Mongolia’s Altangerel Azbayar and South Korea’s Seo Gan Woo before losing in the final to Uzbekistan’s Slave Shukhrat. He was also a winner last year in Beirut. Al Halawani settled for bronze after losing at the semifinal stage to South Korea’s Tim Tae-Young. He too medalled last year when he won silver in Beirut.

AMMAN — Following dramatic matches on the final day of Round 1, Jordan has settled to play for 7-8th spots at the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship Division B when Round 2 starts at Prince Hamzah Arena on Tuesday.

Jordan lost 68-41 to Iran, 77-56 to Kazakhstan before losing 60-56 in the final minutes to Lebanon. They will now have a tough match against unrelenting Indonesia for 7th place in Group B.

Group A saw Syria score a dramatic buzzer beater against Indonesia 75-74 to move to Round 2 and play Iran for a spot in the semifinals, while Kazakhstan plays Samoa in the match deciding the other semifinalist.

Group A leaders Philippines will play the winner of the Kazakhstan versus Samoa match in the semis while Group B leaders Lebanon play the winner of the Syria versus Iran match. Teams losing the semifinal qualifying matches will play for 5-6th spots. The event’s top team will be promoted to Division A.

Teams competing in Division A are Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand and the tournament qualifies the region’s four teams to the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022, that will take place in Hungary in July. The Championship has been held five times since 2009, with China winning the title three times and Japan and Australia once each.

After hosting the Women’s Asia Cup Divisions A & B earlier, hosting the FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Women in Jordan marks another milestone for the game. Jordan played at the U16 tournament once in 2013 finishing 11th. Jordan also took part in FIBA Asia U18 in 1996 finishing 8th, and hosted the event in 2014 finishing 11th. 

Jordan hosted the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021 finishing second in Division B, marking the first time the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2021 Division A was held in an Arab country. Lebanon were promoted to Division A for the 2023 tournament, replacing India which finished last in Division A. Indonesia beat Kazakhstan for third place, as Syria beat Iran to finish fifth. 

Making it to the final after the national team was absent from Asian competitions since 1995, was an achievement in itself. Jordan’s senior team was back to Asian competition after an absence of 26 years when the squad first took part in Shizuoka, Japan in 1995. That historic participation was the Kingdom’s first ever Asian appearance for a women’s sports team. Jordan then won one match, beating Indonesia, and lost to Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia to finish 11th.

In men’s events, Jordan’s best showing at the FIBA Asia Cup (previously named FIBA Asia Championship) was third in 2009 and runner-up in 2011. This year, Jordan qualified to the FIBA Asia Cup after an unbeaten streak in qualifiers. The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 will be played in Jakarta, Indonesia in July 2022, right after the window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Asia qualifiers. 

On the world scene, Jordan previously reached the FIBA Basketball World Cup — the world’s premier basketball competition twice — in 2010 and 2019. The basketball squad was the first and only Jordanian team to actually reach a World Cup in a team sport alongside the junior men’s team in 1995.

LONDON — Wimbledon marks the 100th anniversary of its famed Centre Court at this year’s tournament which gets under way at the All England Club on Monday.

Australia’s Gerald Patterson and France’s Suzanne Lenglen were the first champions to lift the trophies on the world’s most famous lawn in 1922.

Here AFP Sport looks at 10 memorable Centre Court moments:

2019 - Longest final: After four hours and 55 minutes, Novak Djokovic captured his fifth Wimbledon title with a 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 13-12 (7/3) victory over eight-time champion Roger Federer. The great Swiss had two championship points at 8-7 in the fifth set that lasted two hours and two minutes.

“It’s quite unreal,” said Djokovic while Federer admitted: “Man, that was crazy.”

2013 - Murray ends Britain’s agony: Andy Murray became Britain’s first Wimbledon men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936 with a 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win over Novak Djokovic in the final.

Murray won on a fourth match point, sinking to his knees in triumph with victory coming one year after a tearful loss to Roger Federer.

2009: Roof cover-up: Centre Court showed off its new £80 million retractable roof in 2009 with Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo having the honour of being the first competitors to experience playing under it as the rain fell outside. Court One also boasted a roof by 2019.

2008 - Nadal versus Federer, the greatest final: In the last year before the roof was installed, Centre Court witnessed what many have described as its greatest ever final.

Rafael Nadal downed Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (8/10), 9-7 in a match which stretched over almost seven hours due to rain delays and ended in near darkness.

“To me, it was the greatest match I’d ever watched, the greatest match ever played anywhere,” said US legend John McEnroe.

1996 - Naked truth: Melissa Johnson never won Wimbledon but she hogged the headlines at the start of the men’s final between Richard Krajicek and Malivai Washington when she streaked across Centre Court, wearing just a pinny.

“My employers were very po-faced,” waitress Johnson said. “They wanted my pinny back.”

1993: Novotna’s royal tears: Jana Novotna was tantalisingly close to the title in 1993 when she led Steffi Graf 4-1 in the final set and was a point from 5-1 when she was broken on a double fault.

The Czech went on to lose five games in a row and such was her distress that she cried into the shoulder of Britain’s Duchess of Kent.

Novotna was to lose the 1997 final to Martina Hingis before finally winning the title in 1998 with victory over Nathalie Tauziat.

Novotna died in November 2017 at the age of 49

1990 - Navratilova’s ninth title: Martina Navratilova won a record ninth Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Zina Garrison, also the last of the 18 Slam titles she achieved in her career.

It took her past the previous record of eight held by Helen Wills Moody who won her titles in the 1920s and 1930s.

“The event overtakes any single person. I didn’t care if I scraped and scratched to get this. They don’t put an asterisk next to your name saying you won but didn’t play that well,” said Navratilova.

1980: Borg, McEnroe and an epic tiebreak: Borg and McEnroe’s 1980 final would make any list of great Wimbledon championship matches.

Borg came out on top 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16/18), 8-6 in a final which lasted seven minutes short of four hours and gave the Swede a fifth straight title at the All England Club.

The fourth set defined its greatness.

McEnroe saved seven match points, five of them in the tiebreaker which extended to 34 points and 20 minutes.

McEnroe avenged the loss in 1981, winning the first of his three Wimbledon titles.

1957 - Gibson makes history: Having won the French Open in 1956, Althea Gibson triumphed at Wimbledon in 1957, becoming the first black woman to win the title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over compatriot Darlene Hard.

“Shaking hands with the queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the coloured section of the bus,” said Gibson on receiving the trophy from Queen Elizabeth II.

Gibson would win five Grand Slam singles titles, including a second at the All England Club in 1958.

Serena and Venus Williams continued the Gibson legacy with 12 titles between them and featuring in four all-Williams finals on Centre Court.

1940 -Bombed out: On October 11, Centre Court was partially destroyed when five 500-pound bombs fell on the club.

Around 1,200 seats were destroyed.

LONDON — Emma Raducanu is poised for a return to the grass of Wimbledon next week as a Grand Slam winner — under pressure to end Britain’s 45-year-wait for a women’s singles champion.

The teenager caught the eye during her run to the last 16 at the All England Club 12 months ago before withdrawing from her match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic because of breathing difficulties.

But her Wimbledon debut merely proved the prelude to an astonishing triumph at the US Open in early September, where she beat Leylah Fernandez in the final.

Raducanu, a qualifier, did not drop a set at Flushing Meadows, becoming the first British female player to win a Grand Slam singles crown since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977.

That victory propelled her to global stardom, with endorsement deals stacking up as she cashed in on her stunning success in New York.

It has not all been plain sailing for the 19-year-old, currently ranked 11th in the world, who has not won more than two matches at a tournament since.

Raducanu has come under scrutiny over her failure to settle on a long-term coach and has also struggled with fitness issues, as well as having a bout of coronavirus.

But despite her early exits at the Australian Open and French Open, the pressure at her home Grand Slam is bound to be intense.

Andy Murray ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men’s champion in 2013, repeating the feat three years later.

45-year wait

But Wade’s triumph at Wimbledon in Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee year remains the last time a British woman has won at the All England Club.

Raducanu’s Wimbledon preparations suffered a blow when she was forced to retire from her first-round match in Nottingham against Viktorija Golubic earlier this month.

The British number one, who is listed as the 10th seed at Wimbledon, subsequently pulled out of the WTA event in Birmingham and did not appear in Eastbourne.

That leaves her with less than a set of grass-court tennis under her belt before Wimbledon.

Raducanu sparked more fears around her recovery from a side strain when she pulled out of a scheduled second practice session with Garbine Muguruza on Friday.

Earlier this month she admitted she had done things “backwards” by winning a Grand Slam so early in her career as she settles into life as a full-time professional.

“For that to happen very soon definitely comes with a lot of challenges,” she said.

“But managing, learning and growing through the adversities that I have faced, I would much rather have that, learn from those experiences and keep building and progressing.”

Retired British player Tim Henman, who sat courtside during Raducanu’s run to the US Open title, has been advising her on how to cope with being the home star at Wimbledon.

“What’s being said in the newspapers or on social media or television, you can’t control it so why worry about it?” said the former Wimbledon semifinalist.

“When you’re young and you haven’t had the experience, that’s not always easy but, when I think of her mental fortitude with the way that she played in New York going through those 10 matches, she’s incredibly strong mentally,” he told the PA news agency.

“Her tennis ability is there for everyone to see. The challenge for her is to build up this physical robustness. But she’s 19, she’s got so many opportunities ahead of her.”

World number four Paula Badosa has urged British fans to turn down the pressure on Raducanu, backing her to adjust to life on the WTA Tour.

“She needs time and she needs more experience on tour and she will get it. People have to stop putting all this pressure on her and expectations,” she said.

“What she did is play very well at one Grand Slam and she won it, so you can see how good she is.”

LONDON — Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal headline the title chase at Wimbledon where eight-time champion Roger Federer, the world’s top two players and cherished ranking points will all be missing.

Djokovic is bidding for a seventh title at the All England Club to move level with US great Pete Sampras.

Nadal, fresh from a 14th French Open victory and a record-extending 22nd major, is halfway to the first men’s calendar Grand Slam in more than half a century.

The season’s third Slam tournament has already made political waves even before the first ball is served on Monday.

The decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine means there is no place for World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev or eighth-ranked Andrey Rublev.

Both the ATP and WTA, who control the men’s and women’s tours, retaliated by stripping ranking points from the tournament.

For the first time since his debut in 1999 — notwithstanding the Covid-cancelled 2020 edition — Federer will be a no-show as the 40-year-old recovers from knee surgery.

Also missing is Germany’s World No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who suffered serious ankle ligament damage in an horrific injury in his French Open semi-final against Nadal.

However, Medvedev and Zverev have never shone at Wimbledon with neither man making it past the fourth round.

Djokovic and Nadal, ranked three and four, are the top seeds meaning if they are to face each other for the 60th time, it can only be in the final.

‘I love Wimbledon’

Djokovic, the champion in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021, could be playing in his final Slam of the year.

His refusal to be vaccinated is likely to rule him out of the US Open later this year.

A bruising quarter-final loss to Nadal at the French Open which saw him deposed as champion in Paris will also likely provide extra motivation.

Nadal won the last of his two Wimbledon titles in 2010 having captured his first with an epic triumph over Federer two years earlier.

The 36-year-old Spaniard arrives at Wimbledon with the Australian and French Opens secured.

He is halfway to becoming only the third man — and first since Rod Laver in 1969 — to complete a calendar Grand Slam.

Nadal has endured a bittersweet relationship with Wimbledon.

Two titles have been accompanied by three lost finals as well as injury-enforced absences in 2004, 2009, 2016 and 2021.

There remains a question mark over his durability for the two weeks at Wimbledon having played the entire French Open with his troublesome left foot anaesthetised.

Nadal has since undergone a course of radiofrequency stimulation, a treatment aimed at reducing nerve pain in his foot.

“I love Wimbledon,” said Nadal. “I had a lot of success there. A player like me, I am always ready to play Wimbledon.”

Berrettini waits

Should Djokovic or Nadal fall, then Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, runner-up to Djokovic in last year’s final, would be the most likely beneficiary.

World No. 11 Berrettini  has won back-to-back grasscourt titles at Stuttgart and Queen’s.

“I don’t know if I’m the favourite as Novak and Rafa [Nadal] are always there; Rafa has already won two Slams and no-one expected him to win in Australia,” said 26-year-old Berrettini of his Wimbledon chances.

“I don’t feel like I’m the favourite but I know I can do it, I can’t pull the wool over people’s eyes.”

Of the remaining top 10, French Open runner-up Casper Ruud has lost in the first round on his two previous trips to Wimbledon.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has fallen at the first hurdle three times out of four while Spanish teen star Carlos Alcaraz only made his main draw debut in 2021, reaching the second round.

Felix Auger-Aliassime made the last-eight last year while 10th-ranked Hubert Hurkacz, the champion on grass in Halle last weekend, was a semi-finalist in 2021.

On the way, the Polish player defeated Federer in the quarter-finals which was the Swiss star’s last appearance on the tour.