TENNIS
Teenager Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest year-end No. 1 in the history of the ATP computerized rankings and joins fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal as the first players from the same country to claim the top two spots at the close of a season since Americans Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1996.
The final men’s tennis rankings for 2022 were published Monday, and Alcaraz’s rise from No. 32 at the end of 2021 is the largest single-season jump to No. 1.
Iga Swiatek finished the year with a substantial lead in the final WTA rankings, which were released last month. The 21-year-old from Poland moved up from No. 2 in April to lead the list for the first time after Ash Barty suddenly retired. Swiatek never relinquished her hold, helped by earning major championships at the French Open and U.S. Open. Ons Jabeur – the runner-up at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open – closed the season at a career-best No. 2.
Alcaraz, who turned 19 in May, has remained atop the rankings since he won his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open in September by beating Casper Ruud in the final.
That made Alcaraz the first male teen at No. 1 since the ATP computerized rankings began in 1973.
He is the first man in 20 years other than Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray – since Andy Roddick in 2003 – to finish at No. 1.
Alcaraz ended his season early after tearing an abdominal muscle while competing at the Paris Masters a month ago.
OBIT: Nick Bollettieri, the Hall of Fame tennis coach who worked with some of the sport’s biggest stars, including Andre Agassi and Monica Seles, and founded an academy that revolutionized the development of young athletes, has died. He was 91.
Bollettieri died Sunday night at home in Florida after a series of health issues, his manager, Steve Shulla, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press .
Known for his gravelly voice, leathery skin and wraparound sunglasses – and a man who called himself the “Michelangelo of Tennis” despite never playing professionally – Bollettieri helped no fewer than 10 players who went on to be No. 1 in the world rankings. That group includes sisters Serena and Venus Williams, Jim Courier, Maria Sharapova, Agassi and Seles.
Bollettieri remained active into his 80s, touring the world to drop in on the top tournaments and, in 2014, became only the fourth coach to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. That was the same year another one of his proteges, Kei Nishikori, reached the final of the U.S. Open.
Six of his pupils already are in the Hall of Fame, a number sure to grow once others are eligible.
SOCCER
MLS: Former U.S. national team forward Bobby Wood agreed to a one-year contract with Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution.
The deal includes a 2024 team option.
The 30-year-old from Hawaii, selected in stage two of last week’s reentry draft, scored five goals in 31 regular-season appearances with Real Salt Lake during the past two seasons plus a goal in the playoffs.
He played in Germany with 1860 Munich, Erzgebirge Aue, Union Berlin, Hamburg and Hannover.
Wood has five goals in 14 appearances for the United States from 2013-18, including six games while current Revs Coach Bruce Arena led the national team in 2017.
STUTTGART: Stuttgart brought Bruno Labbadia back for a second spell as coach as it fights to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga.
Labbadia has been given a contract through June 2025 and will take charge of his first training session next week.
Stuttgart is 16th in the 18-team Bundesliga and in the relegation playoff spot. Michael Wimmer had been caretaker coach since Stuttgart fired American Pellegrino Matarazzo in October.
Labbadia took Stuttgart to a sixth-place finish and a German Cup final during his first spell at the club from 2010 through 2013. He also twice qualified the team for the Europa League, something it hasn’t managed since.
Both Stuttgart and Labbadia’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse since. Stuttgart is trying to avoid what would be its third relegation since 2016, while Labbadia has been without a coaching job since being fired by Hertha Berlin in January 2021 after nine months in the job.
TRACK & FIELD
AWARDS: World-record setters Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Mondo Duplantis were named Athletes of the Year by World Athletics, adding more accolades to a remarkable 2022 for both athletes.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the 23-year-old American, broke her world record in the 400-meter hurdles twice during the year, the last coming at world championships during the summer, when she finished the race in 50.68 seconds. That shattered her old mark by .73 and gave her a world title to go with her Olympic gold medal from the year before, where she also set a record.
McLaughlin-Levrone said she is still considering changing events, either to the 400 meter-flat or the 100-meter hurdles.
Duplantis set both the indoor and outdoor world records in pole vault this year. He jumped 6.2 meters at indoor worlds for the indoor record. His highest mark is 6.21 meters, which he set on the last jump in the last event at outdoor worlds over the summer. He said he never seriously considered going for an even higher mark that day in Eugene, Oregon.
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