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From The Associated Press

Phoenix Suns hire Terry Porter as new head coach

PHOENIX—Terry Porter will be the Phoenix Suns’ next coach, ending the club’s monthlong search for a successor to Mike D’Antoni.

Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr said Saturday he had agreed to terms with Porter, who was an assistant with the Detroit Pistons.

The 45-year-old Porter played in the NBA for 17 seasons and teamed with Kerr in San Antonio.

“He’s got a great combination of leadership skills,” Kerr said in a telephone interview. “He’s a great communicator. And his coaching experience, two years as a head coach, is important to me. The fact that he’s sat in that chair, that was a key factor. He’s very tough-minded.”

Porter is expected to sign a three-year deal worth about $7 million, and he likely will be introduced at a news conference early next week. His hiring was first reported by ESPN.

Porter emerged from an extensive list of candidates interviewed by the Suns. Last week, Kerr said the list had been pared to four — Porter and assistants Elston Turner of Houston, Tyrone Corbin of Utah and Mike Budenholzer of San Antonio.

Porter was the only one with head coaching experience, with two seasons at the helm of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ivanovic beats Safina to win French Open

PARIS—At last, Ana Ivanovic overcame her stage fright.

In two previous major finals, Ivanovic was so overwhelmed by the setting, so shaken by the stakes, that her focus fell apart and her shots went awry.

Not on this day.

Already assured of rising to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time, Ivanovic collected Grand Slam title No. 1 by beating Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 in the French Open final Saturday.

Rather than erasing the memories of those lopsided losses in championship matches against Justine Henin at Roland Garros a year ago and against Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open in January, Ivanovic used the bitterness to help her.

“Many, many people ask me, ‘Oh, you want to forget last year’s final?’ But I don’t, because it was a great learning experience,” said Ivanovic, a 20-year-old from Serbia.

She won only three games against Henin, then eight against Sharapova, and said of the latter defeat: “I had a few sleepless nights after that.”

Sportscaster Jim McKay dies at 86

NEW YORK—Jim McKay elegantly covered competitions from badminton to barrel jumping. Yet he may best be remembered for that grim day at the Munich Olympics when he broke the news with three simple words: “They’re all gone.”

The groundbreaking sportscaster died Saturday of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md. He was 86.

McKay was the one who spanned the globe to bring television viewers the constant variety of sports on ABC’s influential “Wide World of Sports,” where he told of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

A far different kind of agony awaited in 1972 when word came down in Munich that Palestinian terrorists had kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes. McKay was summoned from a day off, hurriedly putting clothes over a bathing suit to anchor ABC’s coverage of the drama as the games stood still.

The commando raid to free the hostages ended awfully. McKay told the world. Later, at the closing ceremony, he read a poem by A.E. Housman, “To an Athlete Dying Young.”

“I had to control myself,” he later recalled. “I was full of emotion. But when you are a professional, it is important to communicate what it is like, to capture the moment.”

President Bush lauded McKay for his “skill and sensitivity” during coverage of the 1972 Olympics.

McKay — understated, dignified and with a clear eye for detail — covered 12 Olympics. His last was in 2002 at Salt Lake City for NBC, after he received special permission to get out of his lifetime contract with ABC Sports to do it. NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol began working with McKay as a 19-year-old Olympics researcher in 1968.

Welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. retires

Although Floyd Mayweather Jr. has retired at least twice before, boxing’s pound-for-pound king says he’s really taking off his crown this time.

Mayweather abruptly retired Friday at the peak of his athletic skill and earning power, releasing a six-paragraph letter in which the unbeaten five-division champion said he no longer feels the passion that propelled him to the top of the family business.

Mayweather, a 31-year-old former Olympic bronze medalist, is calling it quits at the close of a remarkable 18-month stretch in which he beat Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, made more than $50 million in the ring and became a bankable celebrity outside it.

“This decision was not an easy one for me to make, as boxing is all I have done since I was a child,” said Mayweather, the son and nephew of three former fighters who all became top trainers. “However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport.”

The WBC welterweight champ (39-0, 25 KOs) hasn’t fought since knocking out Hatton last December, but was widely expected to take on De La Hoya in September in a rematch of their May 2007 bout, the richest fight in boxing history. Instead, Mayweather’s retirement clears De La Hoya’s schedule and opens a vacancy at the top of boxing just when it’s undergoing a revival built partly on Mayweather’s brilliance and showmanship.

Mayweather also made less-convincing retirement announcements after each of his last three bouts, but his letter somberly described his reasons to “permanently retire from boxing.”

The stars align at the US Open

Spectators filled all 452 yards of grass outside the ropes from the tee box to the green, in some cases standing 15 yards deep to watch Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson go toe-to-toe at Torrey Pines.

This was five years ago in the final round of the Buick Invitational.

Brad Faxon, the other member of the threesome who was known that day as “Switzerland” for his neutral role in this affair, stepped behind the fourth green and whispered to reporters, “Is it always like this when Tiger plays, or is it both of them?”

Imagine what it will be like at the U.S. Open.

Woods, Mickelson and Adam Scott — Nos. 1-2-3 in the world ranking — will be in the same group the first two rounds of the U.S. Open next week at Torrey Pines. That’s a dream group for television, and for fans in the front row and in grandstands.

But it could be a circus for the guys trying to win the second major of the year.

Bryant hopes for same opportunities in Game 2

BOSTON—One sub-par performance can happen to anyone.

Another, perhaps just a fluke.

Could three be a trend?

Nah, not in the case of Kobe Bryant.

“I get those looks again, I’m foaming at the mouth,” the Los Angeles star said Friday. “I want those looks again. I would never be bashful, you know that.”

Bryant’s remarks came in the wake of a horrendous — for him — shooting performance Thursday night, when he went 9-for-26 and scored 24 points in the Lakers’ 98-88 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA finals.

Bryant shot nearly 51 percent (169-of-332) and averaged 31.9 points in the Lakers’ previous 15 postseason games. The Celtics did a good job making him a perimeter player, but as he pointed out, there was no scarcity of open shots.

“They’re not going to let me get to the paint from the top of the floor or from a wing screen,” Bryant said. “I’ll be looking for my teammates in those situations. Other spots where I’m posting up or pin-downs, quick catch-and-shoots, things of that nature. That’s what I’ll be looking for.”

Bryant shot 15-for-46 and averaged 25 points in two regular-season games against Boston — both losses. So he’s 24-for-72 (33.3 percent) with 74 points in three unsuccessful matchups with the Celtics.