Wimbledon officials will discuss the possible introduction of a fifth-set tiebreaker in the men’s singles next year to "prevent problems caused by long matches" such as this year's semifinal between Kevin Anderson and John Isner, which lasted six hours and 36 minutes. Presently, players "must win the deciding set by two games." Anderson won 26-24 in a 2-hour, 55-minute fifth set. There have been "growing calls" from players, coaches and pundits for all grand slam tournaments to play a tiebreaker at 6-6 in the fifth set (LONDON TIMES, 7/17).
The England & Wales Cricket Board scheduled the first trial events for its new competition, the Hundred, at Trent Bridge for men and Loughborough for women this September, before the end of the current season. The board announced in April that its "silver bullet new competition," set to launch in the summer of '20, would not be T20, as expected, but "feature 100-ball innings" (London EVENING STANDARD, 7/17).
FIBA announced Xi'an, China, will host the new FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup from Oct. 3-7. The event will be organized by the Chinese Basketball Association in cooperation with the ShanXi Province Basketball Association. Twenty men's and 20 women's teams will compete in the tournament. Besides the team events, there will be three individual contests: the Shoot-Out Contest (mixed), the Skills Contest (women) and the Dunk Contest (men) (FIBA).
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that the country is 99% ready for the 2018 Asian Games on the same day that Jakarta police revealed it "made thousands of arrests and killed 11 people as part of a drive to clear up the capital ahead of the Games." Widodo insisted the Jakarta and Pelambang event sites were almost ready and merely required "a little bit of repair" that should take just "two or three weeks" to complete (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 7/17).
