TENNIS
SERENA WILLIAMS SAYS HER SEASON COULD BE FINISHED: Serena Williams might miss the rest of the 2010 season because her injured right foot hasn't healed properly. "I am likely out for the year now," Williams said Sunday in a posting on her official website. Williams said she "re-strained" her foot by overtraining. If Williams is sidelined for the remainder of the season, it would be a blow to the WTA Championships later this month, as well as for the United States when it plays Italy in the Fed Cup final next month in San Diego. Last week, Williams' older sister Venus said she will miss the rest of the 2010 season because of an injured left knee. Both Williams siblings had said in August they would make themselves available for the U.S. Fed Cup team in the final.
NADAL BEATS MONFILS TO WIN JAPAN OPEN: Top-ranked Rafael Nadal beat No. 5 seed Gael Monfils of France 6-1, 7-5 to win the Japan Open tennis championships Sunday. Nadal, bouncing back from a semifinal defeat in Bangkok last week, took just 77 minutes to beat Monfils.
SOCCER
LIVERPOOL SALE TO RED SOX IN JEOPARDY: Liverpool's takeover by the owners of the Boston Red Sox will not go ahead if the English club is forced to enter a form of bankruptcy protection and gets penalized in the Premier League standings, people with knowledge of the negotiations said Saturday. Liverpool is already in the three-team relegation zone after its worst start to a season in more than 50 years and would receive a nine-point penalty from the Premier League if it became insolvent before the Boston deal was completed. A penalty could doom Liverpool to dropping down to English soccer's second tier and would cause New England Sports Ventures, which owns baseball's Red Sox, to walk away from the deal, two people with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because neither side is discussing the situation publicly.
HOCKEY
DEVILS' PLAYER SUSPENDED FOR STARTING FIGHT VS. CAPS: New Jersey Devils forward Pierre-Luc Letourneau-LeBlond has been suspended for one game without pay for instigating a fight in a loss to the Washington Capitals. The NHL said Sunday that Letourneau-LeBlond automatically misses Monday's game against Pittsburgh and forfeits $2,822.58 in salary. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Letourneau-LeBlond received an instigator penalty late in the third period of Saturday's 7-2 loss in Washington.
