COLLEGES

Deion Sanders wiped away tears of joy and passion before speaking.

Jackson State’s new football coach then stated “I believe” many times about what he envisions happening on and off the field.

“I have a commitment to excellence in each and every thing I do,” the Hall of Fame cornerback said during his introduction as the Tigers’ 21st head coach, a number also significant because of his jersey number and Monday’s date.

“We’re going to win. We’re going to look good while we win, and we’re going to have a good time while we win.”

Sanders’ introduction followed his announcement Sunday night on the first episode of the “21st & Prime” podcast with Jamie Dukes on Barstool Sports. The player known as “Prime Time” added: “Isn’t this the time? Isn’t this the moment? Isn’t this what’s needed? It’s a match made in heaven.”

Currently the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School-Cedar Hill in Texas, Sanders is taking his first head coaching job.

• UMass says it will play football this fall, reversing an August decision to postpone the season until the spring.

One of few independents in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the school says it will start in mid-October. Games still need to be scheduled, which could be a challenge because most leagues are playing a limited number of nonconference games, if any.

There will be no fans at any of the team’s home games in Amherst.

UMass was an occasional power in Division I-AA, now known as the Football Championship Subdivision, winning it all in 1998 and returning to the title game eight years later. But since making the jump to the FBS in 2012, the Minutemen have gone 19-77. They left the Mid-American Conference and became an independent in 2016.

TENNIS

HALL OF FAME NOMINEES: Billie Jean King and the other members of the Original 9 who laid the groundwork for the women’s professional tennis tour are the first group nominated together for the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

They join Jonas Bjorkman, Sergi Bruguera, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Lleyton Hewitt, Lisa Raymond and the late Dennis Van der Meer on the ballot announced Monday for the Hall’s Class of 2021.

Wednesday is the 50th anniversary of when King, elected to the Hall in 1987 for her accomplishments on the court, and eight other players – Peaches Bartkowicz, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville Reid, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey and Valerie Ziegenfuss – signed $1 contracts to participate in the first women-only tennis tournament, taking a stand against the disparity in prize money between men and women at the time.

That group and Van der Meer, who advocated for a universal teaching method in tennis, were nominated in the Contributor Category. Van der Meer died last year.

ITALIAN OPEN: Fifteen days after he was defaulted from the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic had plenty to celebrate on Monday.

Djokovic beat Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3 to win his fifth Italian Open title; he passed childhood idol Pete Sampras for the second-most weeks at No. 1 with 287 — trailing only Roger Federer’s 310 weeks in the top spot — and he re-asserted his dominance before the French Open starts in six days.

“I don’t think I played my best tennis throughout the entire week but I think I found my best tennis when I needed it the most, in the decisive moments today, yesterday, practically every match,” Djokovic said. “That makes me very satisfied and I’m proud that I managed to find that fifth gear when it was most needed.”

Djokovic improved to 31-1 this year — with his only loss against Pablo Carreño Busta in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. That, of course, was when Djokovic unintentionally hit a line judge in the throat with a ball in a fit of anger – resulting in him being thrown out.

In the women’s final, top-seeded Simona Halep won her first Rome title when 2019 champion Karolína Plíšková retired midway through their match with a left thigh injury.

Halep was leading 6-0, 2-1 when Plíšková stopped playing after just 31 minutes.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR CUP SERIES: Ross Chastain snagged one of the coveted open Cup seats in a promotion at Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 42 next season.

This year marks a particularly active free agency period with heavy turnover expected among a limited number of rides. The No. 42 Chevrolet at Ganassi has been filled by Matt Kenseth, who came out of retirement to drive after Kyle Larson was fired in April.

Chastain, a 27-year-old Ganassi development driver, could have gotten the nod when the seat first opened. Ganassi instead went with stability from veteran Kenseth to placate sponsors left skittish after Larson was fired for using a racial slur while playing a video game.

The opening was considered one of the top available seats in NASCAR’s “silly season” period.

SOCCER

SUPER CUP: Bayern Munich fans could face quarantine when they return to Germany after the Super Cup in Budapest.

Bayern is scheduled to face Sevilla on Thursday, but Germany’s center for disease control has deemed the Hungarian capital a “high risk” area for the coronavirus.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said Sunday that 2,100 supporters were traveling to the game, although news agency dpa reported Monday that a few hundred had already canceled their plans.

Bavarian governor Markus Söder said quarantine rules will be tightened, meaning traveling fans could face mandatory self-isolation periods upon their return.

• Ilkay Gundogan has become the latest Manchester City player to test positive for the coronavirus.

The Premier League club gave no details of Gundogan’s condition, only saying he would be self isolating for 10 days based on government protocols.

“Everyone at the club wishes Ilkay a speedy recovery,” City said.

Two weeks ago, City announced Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte had contracted COVID-19.

RETIREMENT: Ivan Rakitic has decided to end his international career, Croatia’s soccer federation said.

The 32-year-old Rakitic played 106 times for his country in a storied midfield partnership with Luka Modric that lasted for more than a decade.

They were key to Croatia reaching the 2018 World Cup final where it lost 4-2 to France.

Rakitic scored the decisive penalty in shootouts to beat Denmark and host Russia in the first two knockout rounds.

COVID-19: The fourth-division team scheduled to host Tottenham in a League Cup match reported several coronavirus cases among its players, and a Manchester City player also tested positive.

Leyton Orient closed its stadium and training grounds after “a number of our first-team squad” tested positive, the London club said Monday. Orient is scheduled to face Tottenham on Tuesday.

There was no immediate comment from Tottenham, which picked up its first Premier League points on Sunday in a 5-2 victory at Southampton.

OLYMPICS

TOKYO OLYMPICS: A consulting company working for the Tokyo Olympic bid committee paid about $370,000 to the son of then-influential IOC member Lamine Diack before – and after – the Japanese capital was picked in 2013 to host the 2020 Games, news agency Kyodo reported.

The payment is reported to be part of $2 million transferred by the bid committee to Black Tidings, a now shuttered consulting company based in Singapore.

Tsunekazu Takeda, the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee at the time, acknowledged signing off on the $2 million payment.

Takeda denied any wrongdoing, but the issue forced him to resign from his position in 2019 amid the looming investigation by French authorities. He also resigned from the International Olympic Committee.

 

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