MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Spectators booed an injured Novak Djokovic as he left the court in Rod Laver Arena after quitting one set into his Australian Open semifinal against Alexander Zverev on Friday. Dealing with what he said was a torn muscle, Djokovic lost the opening set 7-6 (5) when he put a forehand volley into the net, then began shaking his head and immediately walked over to tell Zverev the match was over. The 37-year-old Djokovic packed up his equipment and walked off toward the locker room, pausing to respond to the jeers by giving two thumbs-up. At his news conference, Djokovic said the pain in his taped left leg was “getting worse and worse.” He hurt it during his quarterfinal victory over Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday night. “I knew,” Djokovic said, “even if I won the first set, it was going to be a huge uphill battle for me.”
LeBron James is extending his All-Star records. And Giannis Antetokounmpo is the people’s choice, again. The NBA revealed the starters — some of them, anyway — for the revamped All-Star Game on Thursday night, and there wasn’t much in the way of surprises. James is now officially an All-Star for the 21st year, and Antetokounmpo is now the ninth player to win the fan vote in back-to-back seasons. The other starters:
— New York’s Jalen Brunson and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell as the Eastern Conference guards.
— Boston’s Jayson Tatum and New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns as the East frontcourt players alongside Antetokounmpo.
— Golden State’s Stephen Curry and NBA leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as Western Conference guards.
— Phoenix’s Kevin Durant and Denver’s Nikola Jokic as the West frontcourt players alongside James. The starters were picked through a system of weighted balloting: 50% was fan voting, 25% was a media panel and 25% was voting by current players.
SEATTLE (AP) — Alex Ovechkin moved within 20 goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with an empty-netter, helping the Washington Capitals beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory. Ovechkin scored his 22nd goal of the season to push his career total to 875. Gretzky scored 894 goals in the NHL. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves in his first start since Jan. 10 for his first shutout of the season — and the NHL-leading Capitals’ third in five games after Logan Thompson blanked Anaheim and Ottawa in consecutive games last week. Aliaksei Protas and Ethen Frank also scored. Joey Daccord made 30 saves for Seattle in his fifth straight start and 100th NHL game.
SEATTLE (AP) — Alex Ovechkin moved within 20 goals of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with an empty-netter, helping the Washington Capitals beat the Seattle Kraken 3-0 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory. Ovechkin scored his 22nd goal of the season to push his career total to 875. Gretzky scored 894 goals in the NHL. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves in his first start since Jan. 10 for his first shutout of the season — and the NHL-leading Capitals’ third in five games after Logan Thompson blanked Anaheim and Ottawa in consecutive games last week. Aliaksei Protas and Ethen Frank also scored. Joey Daccord made 30 saves for Seattle in his fifth straight start and 100th NHL game.
THURSDAY SCORES
NCAA MEN TOP 25
Maryland 91, No. 17 Illinois 70
No. 24 Memphis 61, Wichita State 53
NCAA WOMEN TOP 25
No. 1 UCLA 84, Rutgers 66
No. 3 Notre Dame 89, Boston College 63
No. 7 Texas 80, No. 17 Tennessee
No. 12 Ohio State 74, No. 8 Maryland 66
Texas A&M 61, No. 11 Kentucky 55
No. 13 North Carolina 76, Wake Forest 51
No. 14 Duke 81, SMU 46
No. 18 Georgia Tech 75, Virginia 62
No. 20 NC State 74, Syracuse 66
No. 22 California 75, Stanford 72