THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
3B
TENNIS
Gonzalez advances to semi-finals
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal limped out of the Australian Open complaining his leg was too sore to challenge Fernando Gonzalez in the quarterfinals. With Gonzalez stinging winners past him from both the forehand and backhand sides, even a fit Nadal might have struggled.
The 10th-seeded Gonzalez had 41 winners in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 upset over the second-seeded Nadal on Wednesday, earning him a semifinal spot along with top-tanked Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Tommy Haas.
Gonzalez, who will be playing in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, will get a day off to watch Thursday's semifinal between defending champion Federer and sixth-seeded Roddick. Gonzalez will face Tommy Haas Friday.
French Open champion Nadal was the only player to beat Federer at this stage of a tournament last year, doing it four times in finals. Federer was 91-1 against everyone else — his only other loss an upset to Andy Murray at Cincinnati.
It was a five-setter against Murray on Monday that Nadal thinks derailed his prospects of making the Australian Open final.
"I can't run a lot," he said Wednesday. "It was difficult to play one match like this, quarterfinals of one Grand Slam, with pain. If I am playing bad, well, you can go home and say disappointing. But today I just say, 'Well, I can't do more. I try my best.'"
He called for a medical time-out in the third set and went to the locker room for treatment on his upper left leg and buttock.
Gonzalez was hardly a contender until he beat local favorite Lleyton Hewitt in the third round and fith-seeded James Blake in the fourth. The 26-year-old Chilean won 12 of 15 matches to end 2006 and made
three finals — losing two to Federer.
He always had a powerful forehand but was too erratic with it, often criticized for swinging and missing too many times on big points. But since starting work last year with Larry Stefanki, who coached John McEnroe and helped Marcelo Rios and Yevgeny Kafelnikov reach No. 1, Gonzalez has been improving.
"I used to just hit, hit, hit, and maybe I win the point — now I have other strategies," he said. "I am playing great tennis. I can do great things in my game."
He had support from Chilean supporters wrapped in flags and chanting in Spanish.
Rick Stevens/Associated Press
Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, right, shakes the hand of Spain's Rafael Nadal after winning their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Wednesday. Gonzalez won in straight sets 6-2 6-4 6-3.
>> NFL
League cracks down on drug users
Stricter penalties enacted for athletes who use performance enhancers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The NFL is going deeper into the wallets of players who get caught using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
After four months of sometimes intense negotiations, the league and union announced Wednesday more extensive testing for performance-enhancing drugs and the addition of the blood-boosting substance EPO to its list of banned substances.
The union also agreed that players suspended after testing positive will, for the first time, forfeit a portion of their signing bonuses in addition to the salary they will lose during their time away. That is significant because the signing bonuses often are the only guaranteed portion of a player's salary and can be larger than salaries, which sometimes are kept artificially low to keep the team under the salary cap.
"It is important that the NFL and its players continue to be leaders on the issue of illegal and dangerous performance-enhancing drugs in sports," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. "These latest improvements will help ensure that we continue to have a strong and effective program. As we have done in the past, we will review and modify the policy on an ongoing basis."
urine testing for EPO in 2005. Rob Manfred, MLB's executive vice president for labor relations, said Wednesday there were no positives among the 500 samples tested.
The enhancements to the drug policy were pending for almost six months — from about the time Goodell succeeded Paul Tagliabue as commissioner. The league and union began negotiating on additional tests and substances in September, but didn't reach agreement until this week.
Those discussions followed reaction to a story in the Charlotte Observer on steroid prescriptions given to Carolina Panthers players by a South Carolina doctor in 2003.
NCAA
In addition to the new test for EPO, the agreement included an increase from seven to 10 of the number of players on each team randomly tested each week during the season for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. That means there will be 12,000 tests each season, up from the current 10,000.
"These changes show what sports leagues and their players' associations can accomplish when they set their minds to eradicating steroids from their sports," said Rep. Tom Davis, R.Va.
The new policy will make the NFL the only North American sports league to regularly test for EPO. Urine was be tested, not blood, for EPO. Baseball did a round of
NCAA Athletic director named association commissioner
Johnson will succeed Ralph McFillen, who will retire June 30 after 10 years as commissioner.
OVERLAND PARK — Texas A&M Commerce athletic director Jim Johnson was named Tuesday as the next commissioner of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
The MIAA, based in Overland Park, is made up of 10 NCAA Division II schools.
"I'm humbled by this selection. The MIAA is clearly one of the leading Division II conferences in the country and the opportunity to serve as the commissioner is an honor," Johnson said. "I look forward to continuing to build on the foundation Ralph has established." —Associated Press
Johnson has been in his post at Texas A&M-Commerce, also a member of NCAA Division II, since July 2005. He is also chairman of the Division II Membership Committee.
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