Bundesliga, referee: The long-time Bundesliga referee Manuel Gräfe is taking legal action against the German Football Association. “I am suing the DFB for age discrimination,” announced Graefe in an interview by Time magazine at. “The DFB takes away what I enjoy. Of course, there are also financial losses, I’ll try to assert them at least.”
Gräfe had to end his career at the end of last season despite very good performances because he had reached the age limit of 47 years set by the DFB. “I would have liked to continue. My feet, knees and hips are fine. But the DFB insists on an age-old guideline,” complained the Berliner, emphasizing: “I feel like I could whistle until I was 50 or longer.”
In court, he wants to fight for the entire referee guild, as the rule also affects other colleagues and even has serious consequences for the lower divisions. Gräfe, who had received praise from many coaches and players, made it clear: “I will no longer whistle myself, even if I should succeed with my complaint.”
Bundesliga, Covid: BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke has campaigned for fuller football arenas with clear words despite the ongoing corona pandemic. “Why should a stadium not be sold out only with vaccinated people? What is the problem? What if the first vaccinated people complain why they are not allowed to go into the stadium? Nobody worries about that,” said the BVB managing director on Thursday in Dortmund . On the sidelines of the introduction of coach Marco Rose, Watzke warned of “permanent panic”: “If we are not ready to allow that again at some point, we have to say: Okay, we surrender to Covid-19. Then we will never get our old life back . Or do any of you believe that there will be no more Covid cases in the next few years? Then we can also believe that there will be no more flu. Maybe no more Christmas either. ” Watzke referred to the positive development in the corona numbers with falling numbers of infected people and an increasing vaccination rate. The 62-year-old complained “that with an incidence of five we are already pretending to be the end of the world”. At the start of the season in mid-August, Watzke expects that the local arena, which can hold just over 80,000 spectators, will be a third full. “We’ll prepare for that in the first step,” he said.
Tennis, Wimbledon: Alexander Zverev easily reached the third round at Wimbledon. Germany’s top player won against Tennys Sandgren (USA) 7: 5, 6: 2, 6: 3 and will now face the winner of the US duel between Taylor Fritz and Steve Johnson. Zverev was able to rely on his serve against the 29-year-old Sandgren from the start. The 24-year-old from Hamburg already hit nine aces in the first set, and in the end it was a total of 13. Zverev had a good rhythm, moved forward more often and convinced with a varied style of play. In the first round, Sandgren kept up relatively well before he had to give up his serve to 6: 5 for Zverev in the eleventh game. He used the template and converted his first set ball to 7: 5 after 40 minutes.
In the second set, Sandgren, number 68 in the world, gave his opponent many easy points through his own mistakes. After two breaks to 2: 1 and 4: 1, Zverev made the 2: 0 set lead perfect after 70 minutes with the point to 6: 2. The only upset up to that point: Sandgren repeatedly fell the ball for the second serve out of his pocket. In the third set, Sandgren struggled as best he could, but had nothing to oppose Zverev’s massive game. The quick break to 2: 1 brought the world number six easily over time, after 1:45 hours Zverev transformed his first match point.
For Andrea Petkovic, however, Wimbledon is over. The former top ten player from Darmstadt lost in the second round 5-7, 4-6 against French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic. For the 17th in the world rankings it was already the 14th victory in a row. Petkovic held up to 5: 5 in the first set, but then the 33-year-old made too many mistakes. After losing the serve to 5: 6, she had the chance to immediately take the service from Krejcikova for her part, but could not use her options. Petkovic, currently ranked 130th in the world, converted a 1: 3 deficit into a 4: 3 lead in the second set and was all the more annoyed when she lost her serve again to 4: 5. The overall more solid acting Krejcikova ended the encounter shortly afterwards after 1:20 hours.
Cycling, Tour de France: The organization of the Tour de France has withdrawn its complaint against the spectator who caused a mass fall on the first stage. Deputy Race Director Pierre-Yves Thouault said the L’Équipe on Thursday that this happened because of the media hype. “The attention should belong to the drivers, not the spectators,” said Thouault. The woman had held a cardboard sign on the route on the first section and thus unintentionally triggered a mass fall.
The 30-year-old French woman presented herself to the police on Wednesday. The police also searched the woman’s home. She was due to be released later that day on Thursday. She faces a maximum of two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros. But for this you would have to be proven to have endangered the lives of other people.
Bundesliga, BVB: The move of the English national soccer player Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United is almost perfect. On Thursday, BVB confirmed a “fundamental agreement” between the two clubs. The English top club will pay a “fixed transfer fee of EUR 85.0 million”, according to an ad hoc announcement from the listed club. Including bonus payments, the English record champions are said to pay up to 95 million euros for the 21-year-old flank player. According to reports, Sancho has been awarded a five-year contract with the Old Trafford team.
The transfer of Sancho is one of the most expensive in the history of the Bundesliga. Only the French Ousmane Dembele cracked the 100 million mark, who moved from BVB to FC Barcelona in 2017 for 105 million euros (plus bonuses of up to 42 million). National player Kai Havertz moved from Bayer Leverkusen to Chelsea last summer for 80 million euros. However, the fee can be increased even further through bonus payments. Sancho’s contract in Dortmund was still valid until June 30, 2023. In the European Championship finals, however, Sancho has only played six minutes, and England won against Germany in the round of 16 (2-0) without Sancho’s help.
Olympia, basketball: The German basketball players can afford a six-point defeat in their last group match against Russia this Thursday (4.30 p.m. / Magentasport) at the Olympic qualifying tournament in order to still reach the semi-finals. On Wednesday all those involved assumed that a defeat with seven points would be enough, FIBA had also published this on its website. On Thursday, the world association corrected its information a few hours before the start of the game. Mexico is already sure of progress in group A. Only the winner of the tournament in Split with six teams qualifies for the Olympics.
Tennis, Wimbledon: Due to a five-set defeat against the two-time winner Andy Murray, the German tennis professional Oscar Otte was eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon. The 27-year-old from Cologne lost on Wednesday in London on Center Court 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4, 4: 6, 2: 6 against the 34-year-old Scot despite a strong performance. Otte had made his way into the main field of the Grand Slam tournament, which was played on grass, for the first time through qualification. Before that, Dominik Koepfer had moved into the third round for the first time at Wimbledon. The world number 62. defeated Kwon Soon Woo from South Korea after almost four hours of play 6: 3, 6: 7 (8:10), 7: 6 (7: 2), 5: 7, 6: 3. This Thursday, Hamburg’s Alexander Zverev will meet the American Tennys Sandgren. In the women’s category, Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic want to make it through to the last 32. A total of eleven German professionals started the Grand Slam tournament, which was played on grass.
Basketball, NBA: Led by old star Chris Paul, the Phoenix Suns have reached the finals of the North American professional basketball league NBA for the third time in their history. The 36-year-old contributed 41 points to a clear 130: 103 at the Los Angeles Clippers. Thus, the Suns, who have never won the championship, prevailed 4-2 in the final series in the west. The Clippers, highly traded before the season, who had to do without their injured Kawhi Leonard, are still waiting for their first participation in the finals. Phoenix meets the Milwaukee Bucks or the Atlanta Hawks in the Endgame series. In the duel to win the Eastern Conference, the score is 2: 2. “That feels damn good,” said Paul, who is in the finals for the first time: “And that after 16 years of hard work, many operations and heavy defeats.”
Soccer, England: Nuno Espírito Santo is the new head coach of the Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. As the English football club announced on Wednesday, the 47-year-old received a two-year contract until June 30, 2023. The Portuguese had left Wolverhampton Wanderers by mutual agreement after four years and succeeded José Mourinho, who was on leave. In between, Ryan Mason acted as interim coach at the Spurs. Santo, who once won the Champions League as a player with FC Porto, previously trained with FC Valencia and FC Porto, among others. “I am happy and looking forward to starting work. We have no time to lose and we have to start working immediately,” said Santo. Tottenham had finished the past season as seventh in the table.
Cycling, Tour de France: Defending champion Tadej Pogacar has won the first individual time trial of the 108th Tour de France with ease and thus underpins his favorite position. The Slovenian needed 32: 00.83 minutes for the 27.2 kilometers from Changé to Laval on Wednesday and relegated the Swiss European Champion Stefan Küng to second place with a clear margin. The yellow jersey is still worn by cross-country world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), who lost around half a minute to Pogacar.
In his win, Pogacar drove 44 seconds faster than his rival Primoz Roglic, who, however, was still affected by his fall injuries. The British ex-winner Geraint Thomas disappointed with over a minute behind. The four-time time trial world champion Tony Martin did not go to the limit after his crash and was satisfied with a time of 35:34 minutes. On Thursday the tour will continue with the sixth stage over 160.6 kilometers between Tours and Chateauroux. The sprinters could have their say again.