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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Australian Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt have entered the doubles competition at the Australian Open as a wild-card entry, with both players admitting theyre planning to have "a bit of fun. Mikhail Grabovski Islanders Jersey ." It comes less than a month after John McEnroe criticized the current state of the doubles game, saying the standard of players is poor and the money would be better spent on struggling singles players. On Sunday, the 41-year-old Rafter said he would come out of more than a decade of retirement to play with Hewitt, although how far they go in the doubles draw might depend on how long Hewitt stays active in singles. The 32-year-old Hewitt plays his first-round singles match against No. 24 Andreas Seppi on Tuesday. Rafter hasnt played since Australias Davis Cup final loss to France in Melbourne in 2001. He and Hewitt, both two-time Grand Slam singles champions, were drawn to play American Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen of South Africa in the first round of the doubles. Hewitt, when asked if there was a serious side to the doubles pairing, responded: "Not really. Just a bit of fun." "I think he still thinks hes got it in him, so... Hope I dont have to carry him too much," Hewitt added, smiling. "Hes hitting the ball well enough. Beat (Goran) Ivanisevic and (Tim) Henman and those guys over in the seniors tour." Rafter appeared to play down any long-range plans for the twosome. "Listen, nothing is happening just yet," Rafter said. "Were in the draw, but it will all depend on how he goes. Its really important for him to play great singles. Thats what its all about. "But Ill have fun. Im playing with one of the best players in the competition. Figure its like eating chocolate or having broccoli, sort of equal it out." McEnroe, despite having won 71 doubles titles, many of them with regular partner Peter Fleming, in addition to his 77 singles titles, was scathing in his criticism of doubles during a gathering in London during a Masters tournament in December. "If you cut out doubles and gave that money to singles players ranked between 200 and 1,000, maybe that would do something for the game," McEnroe was quoted as saying. "Most doubles players, I hate to say, are the slow guys who were not quick enough to play singles. Why we are even playing doubles at this point is a mystery to me." The winning mens and womens doubles pairs at the Australian Open will each receive almost a half-million dollars. Rafter, who could split $12,000 with Hewitt even if they lose in the first round, was asked whether he had any concerns about passing a doping test in his comeback. "If theres a law, mate, against eating too much chocolate, Im in trouble," Rafter said. Nikolay Kulemin Islanders Jersey . Ray gave up one run in his major league debut and got plenty of run support, especially from Miguel Cabrera, to help Detroit rout the Houston Astros 11-4 on Tuesday night for its season-high seventh straight win. Clark Gillies Jersey . The Blue Jackets entered this series against the Metropolitan Division champions as heavy underdogs, but they sit tied with the Penguins at two wins apiece. Columbus has arrived at this point with a pair of overtime victories, including a 4-3 triumph in Wednesdays Game 4 clash at Nationwide Arena that gave the franchise its first home playoff win.EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin will be going into the season with a little more job security. The Giants confirmed Friday that they gave the 67-year-old Coughlin a one-year extension, putting him under contract through the 2015 season. The agreement had been expected since the franchise has a history of not allowing its head coach go into a season as a lame duck. "The Giants have always done that," Coughlin told reporters at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. "That was always indicated to me. I didnt pay a whole lot of attention to it to be honest with you. Weve had a lot of work going on in our business and our building, as you know. So I had great confidence that it would happen, and it did." Coughlin said that his agent and the Giants never talked about getting a longer contract, which is not surprising. The Giants have missed the playoffs the past two seasons and three of four. However, his Super Bowl titles in 2008 and 12 earned him at least another season. Coughlin and the Giants had wanted to get the deal done earlier, but it was delayed while Coughlin reshaped his offensive staff. Coordinator Kevin Gilbride retired after the Giants (7-9) missed the playoffs and two other longtime assistants, running backs coach Jerald Ingram and tight ends coach Mike Pope, were fired. Coughlin also reassigned quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan and receivers coach Kevin M. Gilbride, with Ryan taking over the receivers and the younger Gilbride moving to tight ends. Former Packers assistant Ben McAdoo was hired as the offensive co-ordinator. Coughlin said making the changes was very difficult. "You have coaches that have, in many cases, been with you a long, long time with Kevin (Gilbride) retiring and with Mike (Pope) and Jerald (Ingram) -- they had been with me a long time," Coughlin said. "I have great respect for them. Its never easy. Its verry difficult thing for a head coach to do, whether it be a player, whether it be a coach, guys I have respect for.Mike Bossy Authentic Jersey. "They were very, very good football coaches. I just felt like in those situations that I needed to make some other changes after Kevin retired in the best interest of our team. And in doing that, were back on track now trying to get ourselves ready for the spring." Coughlin said there will be some noticeable changes to the offence next season, but not everything will change. "I think definitely we would maintain a commitment to the run, and that will be a factor no matter what," he said. "And thats been agreed upon by all. But as far as changes, they may be subtle; there may be some drastic ones. "But the number one thing will be the players, the team, the opportunity to again get ourselves back on track the way we need to be, the ball security issues being first and foremost. The obvious questions being made about the offensive line, well see where that goes. Who knows what that would have been like last year had a couple of our guys been able to stay on the field." The Giants offensive line was decimated by injuries last season. Center David Baas and guard Chris Snee missed much of the season and left tackle Will Beatty broke a leg in the final game. Guard-centre Kevin Boothe is a free agent, backup Jim Cordle will be coming off a knee injury and veteran David Diehl retired. That leaves only tackle Justin Pugh returning healthy after an excellent rookie season. The problems up front had Eli Manning and the offence being described by owner John Mara as "broken" after the season. "Did I agree that the offence was broken?" Coughlin said of the comment. "I certainly agree that some things have to be fixed, lets put it that way. But I wouldnt have used that word." wholesale nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' ' |
