Tennis: Belgian former world number one and seven-times grand slam singles champion Justine Henin headlined the list of nominees up for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Also being nominated in the recent player category are Russian former world number one Marat Safin and Czech doubles specialist Helena Sukova, the Hall of Fame said. Henin, who was powered by an explosive and unique one-handed backhand, won 43 singles titles during her career, including four French Open titles, two at the US Open and one at the Australian Open. While smaller in stature than many of her competitors, Henin was applauded for her mental toughness and an all-around game that included a powerful forehand, superior volley skills and court coverage.
Formula One: Britain’s Jolyon Palmer will follow in his father Jonathan’s footsteps and race in Formula One next season after signing a deal with the Lotus team. The team said in a statement that the 24-year-old, who won the GP2 support series last year, would join Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in their 2016 line-up. No details about the length of the contract were given by either party. Palmer has been Lotus reserve this season, taking part in practice sessions. He replaces Romain Grosjean who is joining the US-based and Ferrari-powered Haas F1 team who are due to debut next year. Jonathan Palmer started 83 races for Williams, RAM, Zakspeed and Tyrrell between 1983 and 1989 with a highest placing of fourth in Australia in 1987.
Basketball: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will succeed Mike Krzyzewski as head coach of the US men’s team after the 2016 Olympics. USA Basketball announced yesterday that Popovich, who has led the Spurs to five NBA titles, will take over starting with 2017 training camp and lead the Americans into the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China and 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, assuming US qualification. Krzyzewski, who is Duke’s head coach, is planning to step down after the Rio 2016 Games. Coach K led the USA to Olympic gold medals in 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London.
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Motorcycling: Spain’s Dani Pedrosa (picture, left) will start today’s Malaysian GP from pole position after recording the fastest ever lap by a MotoGP bike at Sepang. Pedrosa set a time of 1:59.053 on his opening lap in the second qualifying session to secure his first pole position since the Catalan GP in 2014 and his 28th in MotoGP.
Marc Marquez made it a 1-2 for Repsol Honda, albeit four tenths of a second behind, with championship leader Valentino Rossi third.
Rossi had been in fourth place as the chequered flag was waved, but pulled out his best time on his last lap to leapfrog Yamaha team-mate and title rival Jorge Lorenzo by just 0.011secs.
Motor Sport: Red Bull were talking to Volkswagen about a Formula One partnership before a diesel emissions scandal seemingly scuppered plans, team boss Christian Horner said. “There has been discussion with the VW Group which obviously... with their current issues probably Formula One is the last thing on their mind,” he told reporters. “There were other discussions that will become apparent no doubt in the future as well, other promises that were made,” added the boss, whose team still have no confirmed engine partner for next year. “There’s an awful lot of speculation and conjecture about our situation at the moment. Once everything is finalised I’m sure it will all become extremely clear.”