Jul 1, 2018 2 min read

Murray withdraws

Two-time champion Andy Murray has pulled out of Wimbledon because of a hip injury.

Murray’s withdrawal was announced Sunday by the All England Club.

The tournament begins Monday. Murray’s first-round match against Benoit Paire was scheduled for Tuesday.

Murray had surgery on his hip in January and returned to competition only two weeks ago.

Froome banned

Le Monde newspaper says Tour de France organizers have forbidden four-time champion Chris Froome from taking part in this year’s race.

According to the newspaper, the Amaury Sport Organisation has informed Team Sky it doesn’t want Froome, who is currently at the center of an ongoing doping case, to be on the starting line in order to protect the image of the race.

Summer league challenges

The NBA will experiment with a coaches’ challenge for summer league games, one where teams will have the ability to seek a review of certain calls in the final 2 minutes of regulation and overtime.

Coaches will have to call a time-out before live play resumes, and then trigger a blinking light on the scorer’s table to initiate the challenge.

Among the plays that coaches will be able to challenge: if a basket or foul occurred before the shot clock expired, who the ball went off when it’s out of bounds, if a foul meets clear-path criteria, if goaltending or basket interference was properly called, and if a player was in the act of shooting when fouled.

Coaches will also be able to challenge if a player was in the restricted area on block-charge calls, such as the one in Game 1 of the NBA Finals where Golden State’s Kevin Durant and Cleveland’s LeBron James collided in the lane at a very pivotal moment in that series.

Referees will be the only ones who can initiate a review of potentially flagrant fouls and end-of-period situations. In the last 2 minutes of regulation, only referees can seek review to check if a shot was a 2- or 3-pointer, and if a shot hit the rim and whether the shot clock should be therefore adjusted.