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Leagues and Governing Bodies

WTA Tour Loses Another Star For Bulk Of '17 Season With Serena Williams' Pregnancy

The news of Serena Williams' pregnancy will "only add to the pressure" on the WTA Tour, which has had to "put up with so many unscheduled absences over the past year," according to Simon Briggs of the London TELEGRAPH. Williams is the "second leading player" to become pregnant, with Victoria Azarenka having had a son "shortly before Christmas." Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been "recuperating from the knife attack she suffered in December," and Maria Sharapova just today returned to play from a doping ban. Williams "won the Australian Open in January to move to 23 major titles, one ahead of Steffi Graf." Now there is a "possibility that the Melbourne final ... could prove to have been her swansong as a professional tennis player" (London TELEGRAPH, 4/19). Publicist Kelly Bush Novak said that while Williams "would miss the rest" of the '17 season, she "intended to return to the circuit" in '18. Bush Novak: "Serena said that I should make sure if anyone asks that that is clear." In N.Y., Christopher Clarey writes it has been an "extraordinary, and extraordinarily unsettled, stretch in women’s tennis, with major stars missing extended action for both joyful and downbeat reasons" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/20). The AP's Howard Fendrich noted Williams' absence for the rest of this season is a "blow to a sport in which she is an unqualified star." But there is a "recent precedent for tennis players to return to action after becoming a mother." Kim Clijsters retired briefly but "then came back to action and won Grand Slam titles." Azarenka also recently announced "she’ll be getting back on tour soon" (AP, 4/19). 

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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