A former business partner of German tennis player BORIS BECKER, who was last month declared bankrupt, is "demanding the payment" of €36.5M ($41.4M) which he claims he is owed by the former world No. 1. Swiss businessman HANS-DIETER CLEVEN claims he is owed 40M Swiss francs ($41.4M) by Becker but "did not reveal the origin of the sum" (AFP, 7/5). ... The "power of social media has been highlighted by a new report" which claims each of CRISTIANO RONALDO's Instagram posts earns him £310,000 ($351,200). A study by Instagram scheduler Hopper puts Ronaldo's influence third in its top-10 earners list, behind singer SELENA GOMEZ and KIM KARDASHIAN (London DAILY MAIL, 7/5). ... Football player LUKA MODRIĆ was questioned by Croatian prosecutors "over accusations that he gave false evidence about his financial deals" with a former Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb director charged with embezzlement and tax fraud. Modrić said, "I came here to state my defense and tell the truth, like every time so far." Prosecutors said that the Real Madrid midfielder "gave a false statement to a court last month" about his '08 transfer from Dinamo to Tottenham Hotspur (AP, 7/5). ... Former Premier League side Southampton coach BOB HIGGINS has been "charged with 65 counts of indecent assault." Hampshire Constabulary said that the offenses related to allegations involving 23 teenage boys dating back to the '80s (BBC, 7/5). ... Zimbabwe has not "formally replaced" national football team coach KALISTO PASUWA, who left the job. Instead, NORMAN MAPEZA is in charge of Nations Cup qualifying, RAHMAN GUMBO for the African Nations Championship campaign and SUNDAY MARIMO CHIDZAMBWA is leading the squad at the COSAFA Cup (BBC, 7/4). ... A Spanish judge denied former Barcelona President SANDRO ROSELL the "right to bail while he awaits trial on charges of money laundering." In a statement, the judge said that Rosell presents "risks of flight, the destruction of evidence and continued criminal acts" (AP, 7/5). ... The NBA Houston Rockets reached an agreement with Chinese player ZHOU QI on a four-year contract and Zhou will join the team for the '17-18 season. The financial details of the deal were not unveiled (XINHUA, 7/2).
DEFENSIVE DRIVING: Former Formula 1 driver GERHARD BERGER said that the FIA should forgive SEBASTIAN VETTEL for driving into LEWS HAMILTON during the Azerbaijan GP in Baku. On Monday, the governing body will meet to consider applying a further penalty for the infraction. But former Ferrari and McLaren driver Berger said, "I don't understand all the excitement. ... What we saw was two athletes with emotion, but no dangerous action" (GMM, 7/3).
