Davis Cup - Nadal to make return for Spain

The world number two, currently competing at the U.S. Open in New York, has not represented his country since helping them to a 3-1 triumph against Argentina in the 2011 final in Seville, Spain's fifth victory in the competition.

He will join up with Tommy Robredo, Fernando Verdasco and Marc Lopez for the Sept. 13-15 match on his favoured clay at Madrid's Magic Box arena, Corretja told a news conference.

"Nadal brings vitality and optimism and when I spoke to him in New York he expressed a lot of strength and desire," Corretja said.

"The good news is Rafa is back but the effort made by everyone in the team is the same," he added.

After returning from a knee injury at the start of the year, Nadal has been in scintillating form, claiming a record eighth French Open singles crown as well as Masters titles on the clay at Rome and Madrid and on the hard courts of Indian Wells, Montreal and Cincinnati.

The 27-year-old has won 20 of his 21 Davis Cup singles matches, including 16 on clay, and is unlikely to be given much of a challenge by any of the Ukrainians, whose highest-ranked player is world number 37 Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Second-ranked Spain are in the playoffs after losing away to Milos Raonic's Canada in the first round in February.

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Will Rasheed Wallace Return Soon? Ever?

I should begin by noting that today is mostly a day of celebration and promise for the Knicks, injury-wise. Iman Shumpert is set to debut in London tonight (three o'clock EST), and Raymond Felton will hopefully be back within a few games. Barring other injuries — which you can never really bar, but still — those returns will replenish New York's backcourt in full, and that's great.

The frontcourt, however, will remain depleted for the foreseeable future. Marcus Camby's plantar fasciitis could be a long-term thing, and Rasheed Wallace's foot injury ... man, we have no idea what the term is on that one. Wallace's problem was originally deemed a "sore foot" and "day-to-day," but you know where this is going. Wallace hasn't played since mid-December while the injury has been identified as a flare-up of an old issue and labeled as either a "stress reaction" or an outright "stress fracture," depending on who you ask. There have been rumors of the Knicks pursuing Kenyon Martin or some other replacement big man, though Mike Woodson continues to dismiss them. Sheed himself claimed to be "good money" yesterday, but nobody has any idea when he'll be back. Per usual, the situation is fraught with uncertainty and doublespeak. In this sporting environment, we can't even be sure he EXISTS, right?

Anyway, the most recent pang of Sheed-lessness fear came yesterday, when Ian Begley's source suggested Wallace might actually be done for the season, which, for a 38-year-old, might mean sliding back into retirement. Such an outcome would lose the Knicks one of their best interior defenders and deprive the NBA as a whole of the "Ball don't lie!" resurgence they've so enjoyed. Serendipitous and unexpected as Sheed's contributions this season have been, he'd be a pretty meaningful loss.

The Knicks, as is their wont, started downplaying those rumors at today's shootaround. At the very least, it seems like Wallace could get himself ready for the final stretch/playoff run of springtime, but that's only if he's committed to rehabilitating that foot and staying in decent shape. At 38, that might not be the case. We shall see, but at the very least, don't expect to see Rasheed Wallace on the floor any time soon.

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Why the Rangers Aren’t Begging Their Fans to Return

Rangers fans during the playoffs last season.

The NHL published a full-page apology to fans in newspapers today, thanking them for their patience and saying that the league is "committed to earning back your trust and support the same way it's earned on the ice: with hard work and unwavering dedication." It's a relatively empty gesture, as far as these things go, but it's telling that the league is still in apology mode with opening night just two days away. It knows there are certain types of fans it's in danger of losing, and the league desperately doesn't want to be seen as anti-fan after a lockout in which the league's supporters were the undisputed losers.

Contrast that with the tone and content of an e-mail Rangers owner Jim Dolan sent to a fan this week (the validity of which, by the way, was confirmed by a team spokesperson to Newsday). Here, first, is the e-mail the fan, Joseph Hellman, wrote to Dolan:

The line about accepting that attending games is a luxury is profoundly sad, but we'll let that go for now. Here's Dolan's response:

Believe as much as you'd like about that e-mail, like whether the team couldn't possibly have done more because it's so focused on bringing its fans a championship. (What exactly that means, we're not sure.) It sort of doesn't matter, though, because there's something else to be learned here. The Rangers don't really feel the need to make any big gestures to win back their diehard fans right now because they frankly don't have to. Would it be great if they slashed ticket prices? Of course. But go try to buy a ticket to opening night on the secondary market, and you'll see there's plenty of demand, even with tickets at full price. Dolan's e-mail doesn't beg the fan to stick with the Rangers; it doesn't have to.

If anything, Dolan is putting himself in the same boat as the fan, and he's not bullshitting when he says no one wanted to play hockey more than the Rangers. Not only does the team have the potential to be among the league's best, but Dolan knows that it's profitable, too. That isn't true across the NHL, and in many cities, the sport is still in its infancy, relatively speaking. (There are no third-generation Blue Jackets fans.) The league, representing both its strong franchises and its struggling ones, needs to make a show of being sorry, and must make an effort to, at the very least, maintain its existing fan base. That's not as big a priority for the Rangers, who can still count on their core supporters to care even after a work stoppage. (We are sort of curious to see what these "fan engagement tactics" are, though.)

This isn't to say the Rangers are the talk of the town right now; there's plenty of room to grow its fan base by winning over new fans, or further engaging the casual ones. But while the league has to consider fans across the continent, the Rangers know their situation was pretty desirable before the lockout and remains pretty desirable now. The NHL needs to do damage control, but the Rangers can go about their business, more or less as usual.

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