Briefs | Serena Williams ends injury layoff by winning match

Tennis

American is coming back from ankle, knee problems: American Serena Williams, a winner of seven major tournaments, ended a four-month injury layoff when she beat Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-4, 6-0 in a first-round match Monday at the Hobart International in Australia.

A former No. 1 player, Williams is ranked 95th. She has not played since last year's U.S. Open because of ankle and knee problems.

"The whole match, I didn't play my best," the 25-year-old Williams said. "I'm a little rusty ... I only played four tournaments in 2006, so I think there's a little bit of rust coming out."

Williams said she wants her serve working better before she heads to Melbourne for the Australian Open next week.

Nadal suffers injury: Rafael Nadal of Spain retired from his first-round match at the Sydney International in Australia because of a groin injury.

Meanwhile, Martina Hingis of Switzerland is out of the tournament after one round. The fifth-seeded Hingis lost to unseeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Defending champion Nieminen loses: Olivier Rochus of Belgium beat defending champion Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 in the first round of the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand.

Hewitt picks coach: Lleyton Hewitt of Australia has selected ex-Davis Cup teammate Scott Draper as his coach for the Australian Open.

Auto racing

Johnson doesn't apologize for golf-cart tumble: Goofing around on top of a moving golf cart probably wasn't the brightest idea Jimmie Johnson has had.

But the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion offered no apologies for the horseplay that caused him to fall off the cart and break his left wrist Dec. 8.

"I work hard and I focus on my job and give it everything I've got," Johnson said at the first day of testing at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. "But the flip side of that is that I like to play hard."

With a splint on his arm, Johnson climbed into the No. 48 Chevrolet for the first of three days of practice.

Earnhardt's future at DEI is in limbo: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s battle with his stepmother heated up when perhaps NASCAR's most popular driver said his future with the family company could hinge on their rocky relationship.

The latest issue concerns comments Teresa Earnhardt made that questioned Junior's commitment to winning. "Right now the ball's in his court to decide on whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or whether he wants to be a public personality," she was quoted as saying in The Wall Street Journal on Dec. 14.

Of the comment, Earnhardt said, "I was trying not to get involved in it, [but] I really didn't appreciate it."

Soccer

FIFA criticizes players: FIFA criticized players at the World Cup for the "deplorable habit" of faking injuries, disruptions the governing body said marred last summer's tournament.

In FIFA's report on the 2006 World Cup, the ejection of France's Zinedine Zidane for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the final was a footnote.

D.C. United operating rights are sold: Brian Davis and Christian Laettner, former Duke basketball co-captains, are part of a new, minority-led ownership group that is paying a Major League Soccer-record $33 million for the operating rights to D.C. United.

Horse racing

Breeders' Cup expands: The Breeders' Cup World Championships were expanded to two days, with three additional races. Each of the three new races, which will be run Oct. 26 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., will carry a $1 million purse, joining eight Oct. 27 races at Monmouth for a two-day purse of $23 million.

The new races are the Dirt Mile (actually a mile and 70 yards at Monmouth), the Filly & Mare Sprint (6 furlongs this year, 7 furlongs in the future) and the Juvenile Turf at a mile.

Seattle Times news services