Federer-Roddick exhibition at MSG on March 5

NEW YORK - Roger Federer and Andy Roddick have met 22 times overall and in four Grand Slam finals, including a 16-14 fifth set at Wimbledon in 2009. Now they're taking their rivalry to a new venue: Madison Square Garden. Federer and Roddick will play a best-of-three-sets match as part of the annual BNP Paribas Showdown exhibition March 5, which also will include Maria Sharapova against top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki. Federer owns a record 16 Grand Slam titles, and he's 20-2 against Roddick, including 4-0 in major finals. Federer faced Pete Sampras in an exhibition at MSG in 2008; Roddick never has played at the arena used for New York Knicks and New York Rangers games. Tickets go on sale Oct. 3.

Capriati, Kuerten, Kafelnikov nominated for Hall

NEWPORT, R.I. - Grand Slam title winners Jennifer Capriati, Gustavo Kuerten and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, along with coach Nick Bollettieri are among the nominees for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Capriati turned pro at age 13 and wound up winning three major championships and an Olympic gold medal. Kuerten won the French Open three times. Kafelnikov won the 1996 French Open and 1999 Australian Open. All three were ranked No. 1. Also up for induction in the Class of 2012: 1975 U.S. Open champion Manuel Orantes; Thelma Coyne Long, who won 19 major titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles in the 1930s, '40s and '50s; the late wheelchair player Randy Snow; promoter and administrator Mike Davies; and Eiichi Kawatei, who worked to boost tennis in Asia. The induction is July 14.

Federer on Woods: 'It's been hard to watch'

NEW YORK - Roger Federer says "it's been hard to watch" his pal Tiger Woods struggle lately. "It's hard to follow, because you know what an athlete wants to do. He wants to be out there and compete and that's what he's not able to do with his injuries right now," Federer said Saturday after a third-round win at the U.S. Open. Federer said he and Woods chatted briefly on the phone earlier this week. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here The two used to take part in a friendly competition over who would reach the Grand Slam record in their sport first. Federer tied Pete Sampras' mark of 14 at the French Open in 2009 and broke it two months later at Wimbledon. He's now at 16. Woods, meanwhile, remains stuck on 14 — four short of Jack Nicklaus — without a major victory since the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. "He's done so much in such a short period of time and for such a long time, actually, which is where I also draw the inspiration from," Federer said. "To see those great athletes do it for a very long time, I've been able to do something similar in that regard." As the undisputed leaders in their sports for much of the last decade, Federer and Woods were both represented by the same agency and worked together as pitchmen for Gillette. They also struck up a personal friendship; they shared texts and phone calls, hung out some and Woods was in Federer's guest box to watch him win the 2006 U.S. Open and they shared a champagne toast after the final. But Woods' career has spiraled downward, first because of personal problems that began when he drove his SUV over a fire hydrant and crashed into a tree beyond his driveway in November 2009, then with a series of injuries that have turned his 2010 and 2011 seasons into a bust. "It's been tough for him the last year. He knows that," Federer said. "It's been hard to watch. I only wish him the best."

Washed out

NEW YORK - A little after 3 p.m. Tuesday, Rafael Nadal settled in at a table in the U.S. Open players' cafeteria and sprinkled some salt on his lunch of salmon and rice. The day's work for the defending champion was complete, consisting of a 1½-hour practice session indoors at Flushing Meadows instead of his scheduled fourth-round match outdoors, because steady rain washed out all of Tuesday's action. Sitting a couple of seats away, Toni Nadal — Rafael's uncle and coach — laughed at a question about the scary scene during a post-match news conference over the weekend, when his nephew grimaced and called for a trainer's help for right leg cramps, then slid out of his chair to the floor. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here "He's perfectly healthy, with no problems at all," Uncle Toni said. "He's good. Practice was normal yesterday, and normal today." During last year's run to his first U.S. Open title, which completed a career Grand Slam, Nadal served superbly — "His best serving in one tournament," Uncle Toni called it — regularly hitting aces at more than 130 mph and getting broken a total of five times in seven matches. This year, Nadal already was broken nine times in three matches, and six in his opener alone. "In the first round, he played no good. He made so many mistakes. He was broken so much. But after, he played so much better," Uncle Toni said. "I'm not worried about his serve. His serve isn't a problem." Indeed, their biggest concern suddenly is when the weather will allow players to get back on court. As it is, the men in the second-seeded Nadal's half of the draw — such as No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 21 Andy Roddick and No. 28 John Isner — could be forced to play four matches in five days, or even worse. "We would prefer to play today, because after not playing today, every day is one day less," Uncle Toni said. "That makes it more complicated." The men in the other half of the field, including No. 1 Novak Djokovic and 16-time major champion Roger Federer, already have progressed to the quarterfinals. "It's a huge advantage for the top half right now. They have one match to play in the next four days, and the other guys have two — and then they'll have two more after that," said U.S. Davis Cup captain Jim Courier, a four-time Grand Slam title winner. "It's the luck of the draw." There is no permanent or retractable roof on any court used for matches at the U.S. Open, unlike at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. The French Open announced plans to install a retractable roof on center court by 2016. Citing financial concerns and technical complexities, the U.S. Tennis Association says it doesn't have plans to put a roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium, although it is still studying possible options. Past estimates put the cost of a roof at $150 million to $200 million. And so wet weather affects plans at the year's last Grand Slam tournament, where rain pushed the men's final back a day to Monday in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The two-week U.S. Open began Aug. 29, and is scheduled to end Sunday. Tuesday was the first time play has been delayed by rain this year, postponing a total of 54 matches — four in the fourth round of men's singles, two in the quarterfinals of women's singles, along with doubles and juniors — at least until Wednesday, when the forecast predicts more rain. The men's matches originally set for Tuesday were Nadal against unseeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg; Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, against No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain; Isner against No. 12 Gilles Simon of France; and three-time Grand Slam finalist Murray against unseeded Donald Young of the United States. In women's singles, No. 2 Vera Zvonareva was to face No. 9 Sam Stosur, and No. 26 Flavia Pennetta was scheduled to play unseeded Angelique Kerber of Germany. Those six matches now are on Wednesday's schedule, plus the other two women's quarterfinals — 13-time major champion Serena Williams vs. No. 17 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki vs. No. 10 Andrea Petkovic — and the first two men's quarterfinals — Djokovic vs. No. 20 Janko Tipsarevic, and Federer vs. No. 11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. "It's going to get crazy once it gets going," Courier said. The schedule-juggling produced a couple of notable tweaks. Because the tournament wants to try to ensure that if tennis is played Wednesday, the held-over men's matches can get on court as early as possible, Roddick-Ferrer was shifted from Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night to Louis Armstrong Stadium at 11 a.m. Wednesday. And Young's first Grand Slam quarterfinal, against the far-more-experienced Murray, was shifted from the 23,771-seat Ashe to the 6,106-seat Grandstand. "Donald might be more comfortable on a smaller court ... out of the spotlight," Courier said. Roddick hasn't played anywhere at Flushing Meadows other than Ashe since Sept. 3, 2002, when he beat Juan Ignacio Chela at Armstrong in the fourth round; that's 39 consecutive U.S. Open matches at Ashe. Roddick acknowledges that gives him a sort of home-court advantage there. "Yes, yes, there's definitely things that are always the same out there and things that appear to be one way and they are definitely the other way," Roddick explained after his third-round victory Sunday. "I would sit here and go through them all, but that would pretty much waste all of the experience that you are asking me about." ___ Follow Howard Fendrich at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Williams tweets about looking forward to return

NEW YORK - Venus Williams says she's eager to return to action after withdrawing from the U.S. Open because of an immune system disease. Williams took to Twitter on Sunday, writing: "Thank you everyone for all your well wishes! It's good to have support! Looking forward to getting better and back on tour!" When the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion pulled out of the tournament before her second-round match Wednesday, Williams revealed that she's been diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, which can cause fatigue and joint pain. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here She tweeted Sunday: "Thank you 4 sharing all your sjogrens & auto immune stories w/me. Feels good to know I'm not alone! feel better to you and your loved ones!"

Pennetta surprises Sharapova in 3rd round

NEW YORK - That Maria Sharapova's shaky serving contributed to her early exit at the U.S. Open — to the tune of a dozen double-faults — came as no surprise. She's faced that problem for quite some time. That Sharapova's other strokes also were problematic Friday could be explained away by the perpetual motion of her opponent in the third round, 26th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy. That three-time major champion Sharapova's nerve would fail her in the crucible of a third set? Now that was the real stunner. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here Unbeaten this year in 12 previous matches that went the distance, the third-seeded Sharapova faltered down the stretch and dropped the last seven points of a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 loss to Pennetta that took 2½ hours. "She's a good fighter, you know. You can never give up with her. You have to be focused until the last game; until the last point, actually," Pennetta said. "But I think (at) 5-4, she's starting to feel a little bit of pressure." After trailing 3-0 and 4-1 in the last set, Sharapova turned things around briefly, getting to 4-all, 15-30 on Pennetta's serve. But the 2006 U.S. Open champion wouldn't win another point. "I came back. I had chances. There's no doubt I had chances," Sharapova said. "But I guess today was the day I didn't take them." Aside from all of those double-faults — including two to begin the final game — Sharapova finished with a total of 60 unforced errors, twice as high as her winner count. "I didn't feel comfortable with most of my game today," Sharapova said. Because of her Grand Slam pedigree and recent play, she was seen as someone who'd stick around deep into the second week at Flushing Meadows. Instead, Sharapova joined the reigning Wimbledon (Petra Kvitova) and French Open (Li Na) champions in leaving quickly, while two-time defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters didn't enter because of injury. 2010 Wimbledon and U.S. Open runner-up Vera Zvonareva beat No. 30 Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4, 7-5, and No. 13 Peng Shuai defeated No. 19 Julia Goerges 6-4, 7-6 (1).   Slideshow  

Bryan brothers upset in first round of US Open

NEW YORK - The Bryan brothers aren't quite sure what to do with all the free time suddenly on their hands. The top-ranked Americans lost a first-round doubles match at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2001 Australian Open. Unseeded Ivo Karlovic and Frank Moser beat the twins 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 at the U.S. Open on Wednesday. Bob and Mike Bryan had won three of the last four major titles, tying the Open era record with their 11th Grand Slam championship earlier this summer at Wimbledon. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here "We're used to being in the second week," Mike Bryan said. "It's going to be weird." They struggled against the 6-foot-10 Karlovic's powerful serve. "It was an awkward matchup," Mike said. "And we're never really playing our best tennis early in these Grand Slams." Bob will still play mixed doubles here with Liezel Huber as the two defend their title at Flushing Meadows. Mike's Open is over. Karlovic, who has been ranked as high as 14th in singles, leads the ATP Tour in several serve-related statistical categories. He wins 80 percent of points on his first serve and 91 percent of his service games and saves 72 percent of break points. The Croat is in the second round of the singles draw at the U.S. Open. Moser, a 34-year-old German, has never been ranked better than 288th in singles, and that was in 2003. His best doubles performance in a major tournament was twice reaching the second round at Wimbledon with different partners. "That was the match of his life," Bob Bryan said. ___ THE LONG ROAD BACK: His rankings and his prospects seemed unlimited when Alex Bogomolov Jr. scooted across the court, suddenly lost his balance and landed hard, shattering his left wrist and nearly destroying his promising tennis career in the process. Relgated to a life of teaching tennis instead of playing it, Bogomolov found the motivation he needed to return when his son was born two years ago. Now, he's rising once again — to 44th in the world and, this week, into the second round of the U.S. Open. Down two sets to his doubles partner, Steve Johnson of University of Southern California, Bogomolov rallied for a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory Wednesday. "I've had a great summer. I've had a great year," Bogomolov said. "To go down in the first round would have been devastating because we have higher goals. We worked for those goals." In addition to the injury, Bogomolov had to overcome the stigma and 45-day suspension resulting from a positive doping test — received for taking an asthma medicine before receiving proper clearance — and a divorce after his brief marriage to former junior star Ashley Harkleroad. He has since remarried and has a 2-year-old son, Maddox. He said his motivation since Maddox's birth is to stay in the sport long enough for his boy to see him play ... to see him play the way Bogomolov got to see his own father, Alex Sr., play back when he was a boy. Alex Sr. was a renowned coach in the former Soviet Union, who worked with Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andrei Medvedev, among others. The relationship with his father was "Everything. Everything. Everything," Alex Jr. said. They moved to the United States when Bogomolov was 11 and his tennis career took off. He beat Andy Roddick to win the USTA national boys 16-year-old championships and was ranked first in the 18s in 2000. He spent time ranked in and around the 100s for a lot of years. He was on the verge of a surge when the injury hit three years ago. After the injury and the surgery to repair his left wrist, Bogomolov couldn't hit his topspin backhand anymore. He was teaching tennis in the New York area, thinking that might be it. But he never put the idea of a comeback completely out of his mind. "It was basically, 'You're never going to be able to hit a two handed backhand,'" he said. "To learn a one-hander at 26, 27, come on, it was ridiculous. But as far as my mentality, I always thought that there was something undone." Robby Ginepri and teenager Jack Sock joined Bogomolov as U.S. winners Wednesday, with John Isner and Andy Roddick playing late matches. ___ DEL POTRO DEBUT: Juan Martin del Potro won the U.S. Open in 2009, and thinks maybe he can do it again. In 2012. The 18th-seeded Argentine played at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday for the first time since that championship. He missed most of last year because of right wrist surgery, preventing him from defending his title, and doesn't think he's quite playing at the level of the top players — yet. He looked like a former champion in his return, beating Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-3, 6-1, 6-1. "Has been a really sad year, 2010, for me," he said. "This year to be playing the U.S. Open, it's amazing. It's great, and I'm feeling really glad to see the crowd again, to see the Argentinian fans come to see me especially play here in the U.S. Open." Del Potro hopes that by this time next year, he'll be ready to compete for major titles again. He'll always have the memory of that first breakthrough. "To be honest, I feel like the final was yesterday, because when I was walking around the street or when I talk with the fans, they say, 'I remember your final. You can repeat; you can win again,'" he said. ___ AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.