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2B Daily News – Tuesday, June 26, 2012 TENNIS (Continued from page 1B) stances that people don't normally have to deal with in this sport. But I can't be discouraged by that. ... There's no way I'm just going to sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six freakin' tournaments back.'' Later, as part of a slightly testy and awk- ward exchange with reporters, Williams said: ''I'm tough, let me tell you. Tough as nails.'' Her loss, in her first match since a second- round ouster at the French Open, was part of an odd Day 1, even if the true tournament favorites in action won easily: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapo- va. Among those sent home were sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up at Wimbledon; 11th-seeded John Isner; No. 16 Flavia Pennetta; and No. 18 Jelena Jankovic, who was rather easily beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Kim Clijsters, a four- time major champion who has been beset by injuries in her last season on tour and, like Williams, is unseeded. Other seeded losers: No. 23 Andreas Seppi, No. 24 Marcel Gra- nollers and No. 27 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who was upset by 100th-ranked Jamie Hampton of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (1). Truth be told, the biggest surprise might very well have been the way Isner — the highest- ranked American man — blew a match point, wast- ed a two-sets-to-one lead, dropped a tiebreak- er on grass, and bid a 6- 4, 6-7 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7- 5 farewell to Wimbledon in the first round against 73rd-ranked Alejandro Falla of Colombia. Then again, there's a pattern here. It's the third consecu- tive major tournament that Isner leaves after a five-set loss, including 18-16 at the French Open against 261st-ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu. This from a guy who's best known for winning the longest match in ten- nis history, 70-68 in the fifth after more than 11 hours, against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010. ''I didn't put my opponent away. I had my chances, and I didn't do it. It's all on me. Was just not great on my part,'' said the 6-foot-9 Isner, who hit 31 aces to Falla's four. ''I get out there sometimes, and lately it's happening quite a lot, and I get out there in the match and I'm just so clouded. I just can't seem to figure things out. I'm my own worst enemy out there. It's all mental for me, and it's pretty poor on my part.'' Mental strength has long been viewed as Ernests Gulbis' weak- ness, because his strokes are as good as they come, but the 23-year-old from Latvia who is ranked 87th stood tall in a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) victo- ry over Berdych. ''A lot of players mature later than others. Some mature at 15; some mature at 29. I hope it's somewhere in between; 23 is OK,'' Gulbis said. ''If I hit the ball well, I hit stronger than every- body else. It is like this, you know. Maybe only couple guys hit the ball as strong as I do.'' Williams could say that when comparing herself to other top women. She and her younger sister Serena rewrote the way the game was played in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with 120 mph serves and ferocious forehands. But Williams hasn't been that player for quite a while now. She announced in August that she had been diagnosed with Sjogren's syn- drome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain. Her match against Used to be that Vesnina was at Court 2, which was built three years ago; Serena com- plained about having to play on it in 2011. For years prior, the name ''Court 2'' was assigned to a venue about half the size and a few minutes' walk away, a place known as the ''Grave- yard of Champions'' because of a series of stunning losses by top players: Serena, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. Sharks go for center of attention in first round of NHL draft buster draft-night trade for the Sharks this year. SAN JOSE (MCT)— No block- Wilson used the 17th pick Friday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh to select Tomas Hertl, an 18-year-old cen- ter from the Czech Republic who became San Jose's first opening-round pick from Europe since 2004. Hertl, a 6-foot-2, 198-pound left- handed shot, drew the attention of scouts at the World Junior Champi- onships last winter as the leading Czech scorer with three goals and two assists in six games. Instead, general manager Doug "His upside potential is to be that centerman that you can use in all situa- tions," Sharks director of scouting Tim Burke said. "He will defend, he makes plays, he has a long reach, he strips pucks, he's able to play in low tight areas _ there's a lot of good qualities to his game." Asked to assess his game, Hertl said that "my strengths are working with the puck, around the net, passes, shots. I need to work on skating and strength and English." His speed is one aspect of his game criticized by some scouts. But a report by TSN, a Canadian sports network, noted that Hertl "has good quickness and agility and when combined with his very good sense, he's able to play at the higher and quicker pace necessary." Burke dismissed the concerns, cit- ing similar comments about Joe Pavel- ski and Logan Couture when they were drafted. "They questioned Pavelski's speed and Logan's, too, so I'm not worried about that," Burke said. Hertl scored 12 goals and 25 points in 38 games last season with Praha Slavia, a team in the Czech Republic's top league where he was coached by former NHL forward Vladimir "Rosie" Ruzicka. Through a translator, Hertl told CSNCalifornia.com that the Sharks have long been a favorite team of his and that he likes the fact fellow Czech Marty Havlat is on the roster. Care to guess where Serena is scheduled to play her first-round match Tuesday? Yep, that's right: Court 2. The older Williams has played only 18 matches in 2012, going 12-6, and looked rather ordinary against Vesnina, who is more accom- plished in doubles and never made it past the fourth round at a major tournament in singles. ''Of course I was scared. Not scared, but I was, like, aware of her serve. But I think she didn't serve that well today,'' said Vesnina, who recalled watching on TV when Williams beat Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Wimbledon final. ''Maybe for her, it was not one of her best days,'' about Monday. ''But for me, it was one of the best days.'' Williams fell behind 5-0, and needed 30 min- utes to win a single game. She got broken the first four times she served. She rolled her eyes or shook her head after missed shots. Her father pulled out his camera late in the second set and snapped some photos from the stands, maybe wondering right along with some specta- tors whether this might be Williams' last singles match at Wimbledon. At her news confer- ence, Williams was asked what will drive her, given the way she's struggling. ''Am I struggling?'' Vesnina said Williams replied. ''Am I?'' $100 June 19th Speed Training -July 9th 3 Months 89 Strongest Man July 21st Tehama's Free to Spectators! Tehama Family Fitness Center www.tehamafamilyfitness.com 2498 South Main St Red Bluff 528-8656 Membership $ Student • Tues, Thurs 4-5pm NEW YORK (AP) — The only things standing in the way of a major college football playoff are 12 uni- versity presidents. They figure to be more of a speed bump than a road block. nesota Wild engineered a major trade on draft day that brought Brent Burns and a second-round pick to San Jose for Devin Setoguchi, prospect Charlie Coyle and a first-round pick. This year, Wilson said, there were the usual conversations. But while the Sharks came close to trading down in the first round, they held their position when they saw Hertl was available. Wilson had talked earlier in the week about a shortage of wingers among the team's prospects, and one scouting report said Hertl had the potential to be a power forward as a wing. A year ago, the Sharks and the Min- That factor worked in Hertl's favor, the general manager said. "He's a big body that can play all The committee is head- ed by Virginia Tech's Charles W. Steger and includes one university leader from each of the 11 major football conferences, as well as independent Notre Dame. The BCS commission- ers will present their four- team playoff proposal to the presidential oversight committee Tuesday in Washington. irreconcilable for a long time — that they will give our advice appropriate weight,'' Big Ten commis- sioner Jim Delany said after last week's meetings in Chicago. ''Could there be a pre- sent with a bow on it and everything wrapped up (Tuesday)?'' Delany said. ''It could happen, if you're real optimistic. But I would think we'll probably need to spend some more time together, and probably resolve some outstanding issues.'' Whether approval will come quickly or the presi- dents will take some time to mull over the proposal, maybe toss it back for tweaks, is unknown. The commissioners have been careful not to get too far out in front of the presidents when publicly talking about a playoff. But it is safe to say the men who have spent hours upon hours hashing this out over the last six months believe their bosses will approve of their work. ''I'm confident as we brief (the presidents) over the next week or so, give them an understanding of the evolution of the ideas — what's been put off to the side, why it's been put off to the side, how we were able to manage the things that seemed to be MLB West Division Texas Angels A's Seattle East Division New York Baltimore American League WL Pct GB 45 29 .608 — 40 33 .548 4.5 35 38 .479 9.5 31 43 .419 14 WL Pct GB 44 28 .611 — 41 31 .569 3 Tampa Bay 40 33 .548 4.5 Boston Toronto 38 34 .528 6 37 35 .514 7 Central Division Chicago WL Pct GB 38 35 .521 — Cleveland 37 35 .514 .5 Detroit 36 37 .493 2 Kansas City 32 39 .451 5 Minnesota 30 42 .417 7.5 —————————————————— Monday's results Oakland at Seattle, late Detroit 8, Texas 2 Kansas City 8, Tampa Bay 0 Minnesota 4, Chicago 1 New York 7, Cleveland 1 Toronto at Boston, late Today's games Oakland (Blackley 1-2) at Seattle (Vargas 7-7), 7:10 p.m. Cleveland (Masterson 4-6) at New York (P.Hughes 7-6), 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles (C.Wilson 8-4) at Baltimore (Matusz 5-8), 4:05 p.m. Toronto (Laffey 0-0) at Boston (Matsuzaka 0-2), 4:10 p.m. Detroit (Smyly 2-2) at Texas (Darvish 9-4), 5:05 p.m. Chicago (Floyd 5-7) at Minnesota (Hendriks 0-4), 5:10 p.m. Tampa Bay (Archer 0-1) at Kansas City (B.Chen 6-6), 5:10 p.m. Wednesday's games Oakland at Seattle, 12:40 p.m. Cleveland at New York, 10:05 a.m. Chicago at Minnesota, 10:10 a.m. Toronto at Boston, 10:35 a.m. Tampa Bay at Kansas City, 11:10 a.m. Los Angeles at Baltimore, 4:05 p.m. Detroit at Texas, 5:05 p.m. forward positions, which is obviously something we like," Wilson said. Teuvo Teravainen of Finland, a left wing rated higher than Hertl by most scouting systems, was taken by the Chicago Blackhawks immediately after San Jose's pick. Wilson said the Sharks liked Teravainen, but he lacked the size and versatility that Hertl brings. The Sharks are retooling after a sea- son that was a step backward in their drive for a Stanley Cup as they finished the season with their fewest points since 2002-03, then made their earliest playoff exit in franchise history. The first step was acquiring veteran defenseman Brad Stuart from the Detroit Red Wings, then reaching agreement on a three-year, $10.8 mil- lion contract that will let him return to the city where his career began. The next came Friday with the selection of Hertl. First-round draft picks from Europe were not uncommon in the early years of the franchise when players such as Viktor Kozlov were taken in 1993 and Andrei Zyuzin in 1996. But Hertl is the first since Milan Michalek was taken in 2003 and Lukas Kaspar the following year. Burke didn't attach any significance to Hertl's background but credited San Jose's European scouts with making a strong case for him. "It was the support we had from our guys there," Burke said. "We went in to see him, and they weren't backing off." Next step on path to playoff: Presidents chime in did to The Washington Post last week: ''Clearly, that all the commissioners reached a consensus of some sort is a big step,'' he told the newspaper. ''I think the presidents would be reluc- tant to overrule the people that actually work in the area unless there was good reason to do so.'' The Big Ten presidents and their cohorts in the Pac-12 haven't been as quick to embrace the idea of a playoff. A model called the plus-one, which is basically the BCS but with participants for the No. 1 vs. No. 2 champi- onship game determined after the bowls are played instead of before, was deemed preferable to a playoff by those leagues. Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman, who is a member of the oversight committee, has said he still prefers the status quo to a playoff and that he will need convincing to sign off on the commissioners' plan. ifies his comments on changes to the college foot- ball postseason the way he But he also usually qual- MLB West Division Dodgers GIANTS Arizona Colorado Padres East Division Washington 41 30 .577 — Atlanta New York Philadelphia 35 40 .467 8 Miami Central Division WL Pct GB 38 34 .528 3.5 39 35 .527 3.5 34 39 .466 8 WL Pct GB Cincinnati 40 32 .556 — Pittsburgh 38 34 .528 2 St. Louis Milwaukee 33 40 .452 7.5 Houston Chicago 39 35 .527 2 30 42 .417 10 25 48 .342 15.5 —————————————————— Monday's results Los Angeles at San Francisco, late Chicago 6, New York 1 Cincinnati 3, Milwaukee 1 Colorado 4, Washington 2 Philadelphia 8, Pittsburgh 3 St. Louis 8, Miami 7, 10 innings San Diego at Houston, late Today's games Los Angeles (Kershaw 5-3) at San Fran. (Vogelsong 6-3), 7:15 p.m. Pittsburgh (Bedard 4-7) at Philadelphia (Worley 3-4), 4:05 p.m. Arizona (D.Hudson 3-1) at Atlanta (T.Hudson 5-3), 4:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Estrada 0-3) at Cincinnati (Arroyo 3-5), 4:10 p.m. St. Louis (Lohse 6-2) at Miami (Zambrano 4-5), 4:10 p.m. New York (Gee 5-5) at Chicago (R.Wells 1-2), 5:05 p.m. San Diego (K.Wells 0-0) at Houston (Lyles 1-4), 5:05 p.m. Washington (G.Gonzalez 9-3) at Colorado (Friedrich 4-4), 5:40 p.m. Wednesday's games Los Angeles at San Francisco, 12:45 p.m. Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 9:35 a.m. New York at Chicago, 11:20 a.m. Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m. Arizona at Atlanta, 4:10 p.m. St. Louis at Miami, 4:10 p.m. San Diego at Houston, 5:05 p.m. Washington at Colorado, 5:40 p.m. National League WL Pct GB 43 30 .589 — 40 33 .548 3 37 35 .514 5.5 28 44 .389 14.5 26 47 .356 17 would go into effect during the 2014 season. Under the proposal, national semifi- nals would be played on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. The sites for those games will rotate among the four current BCS games — Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta — and possibly another bowl or two. The plan to be presented The national champi- onship game would be played about 10 days later at another neutral site. The title game site would be bid on the way the NFL han- dles where the Super Bowl is played. Any city that can pay the multimillion dollar tab and accommodate a huge event could potential- ly host college football's championship game, including those that don't currently host bowl games. The plan also calls for college football's final four to be determined by a selection committee, though who will be on that NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Leaders 1. Matt Kenseth 2. Greg Biffle 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4. Jimmie Johnson 5. Tony Stewart 6. Kevin Harvick 7. Clint Bowyer 8. Denny Hamlin 9. Martin Truex Jr. 10. Brad Keselowski 11. Carl Edwards 12. Kyle Busch 13. Ryan Newman 14. Paul Menard 15. Joey Logano 16. Marcos Ambrose 17. Kasey Kahne 18. Jeff Gordon 19. Jeff Burton 20. Jamie McMurray 21. Aric Almirola 596 585 582 571 533 532 529 523 520 490 479 459 453 445 441 425 421 414 408 402 388 22. Juan Pablo Montoya 387 23. A J Allmendinger 24. Mark Martin 25. Regan Smith 26. Bobby Labonte 27. Kurt Busch 28. Casey Mears 29. David Ragan 30. David Gilliland 31. Travis Kvapil 32. Landon Cassill 33. Dave Blaney 34. David Reutimann 35. J.J.Yeley 36. Brian Vickers 37. David Stremme 38. Michael McDowell 39. Tony Raines 40. Ken Schrader 41. Josh Wise 42. Brendan Gaughan 43. Terry Labonte 44. Stephen Leicht 45. Scott Speed 46. Scott Riggs 47. Michael Waltrip 48. Boris Said 49. Hermie Sadler 50. Robby Gordon 365 341 338 336 331 296 278 264 228 227 219 198 117 106 103 83 61 60 59 50 42 37 31 27 26 15 13 11 Upcoming schedule June 30 — Quaker State 400, Sparta, Ky. July 7 — Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola, Daytona Beach, Fla. July 15 — Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Loudon, N.H. July 29 — Crown Royal Presents The Your Hero's Name Here 400 at The Brick- yard, Indianapolis committee and how big it will be is to be determined. The commissioners are also working on parame- ters and guidelines to give the proposed selection committee that they hope will eliminate some of the subjectivity that hampers the current system. want strength of schedule emphasized and to give conference champions some preference. They are also working on power rankings, similar to the RPI used by the NCAA basket- ball tournament selection committee. The commissioners have about four hours Tuesday to make their case. While they would like to have this wrapped up soon- er rather than later, there is really no hard deadline. The new format needs The commissioners will to be finalized by the time television contract negotia- tions begin in the fall. The current deal ends after the 2013 season. Current TV partner ESPN will have an exclu- sive first crack at making a deal, but there is no drop- dead date for that window to open. So even though there is no finish line, the end of this playoff process seems to be approaching. WNBA WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Minnesota 12 1 .923 — Sparks San Antonio 5 5 .500 5.5 Seattle Phoenix Tulsa 10 4 .714 2.5 5 7 .417 6.5 3 8 .273 8 1 11 .083 10.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Connecticut 9 3 .750 — Chicago Indiana Atlanta New York 7 3 .700 1 7 4 .636 1.5 5 7 .417 4 4 9 .308 5.5 Washington 2 8 .200 6 —————————————————— Monday's results No games scheduled Tuesday's games Indiana at Atlanta, 9 a.m. Seattle at Washington, 4 p.m. Los Angeles at Tulsa, 5 p.m. Wednesday's games Indiana at Chicago, 9:30 a.m. Phoenix at Minnesota, 5 p.m. GOLF 1. Luke Donald 2. Rory McIlroy World Golf Ranking ENG 9.96 NIR 8.89 3. Lee Westwood ENG 8.33 4. Tiger Woods USA 6.70 5.Webb Simpson USA 6.62 6. Bubba Watson USA 6.25 7. Matt Kuchar 8. Jason Dufner USA 5.75 9. Justin Rose 10. Hunter Mahan USA 5.41 11. Graeme McDowell NIR USA 5.90 ENG 5.61 5.16 12. Steve Stricker USA 5.03 13. Dustin Johnson USA 4.89 14. Phil Mickelson USA 4.86 15. Martin Kaymer GER 4.84 16. Adam Scott AUS 4.68 17. Charl Schwartzel SAF 4.60 18. Zach Johnson USA 4.58 19. Rickie Fowler USA 4.49 20. Louis Oosthuizen SAF 4.49 21. Jason Day AUS 4.30 22. Sergio Garcia ESP 4.13 23. Keegan Bradley USA 3.94 24. Bill Haas USA 3.91 25. Peter Hanson SWE 3.82