Mardy Fish's last U.S. Open memory will be of the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd roaring for him.

Failing to serve out the match, his legs cramping badly at the end — those details are less important than the fact he was there, playing all out and pushing a top-20 player to the limit.

Tony Parker is back and France will be looking to retain the title at the European Basketball Championship that starts over the weekend in four cities across the continent.

Originally scheduled to be held in Ukraine, the competition was moved because of the unrest in the east European country and will be spread around before the medal round in France.

Copa America winner Chile rises two places to No. 8 in the FIFA rankings still led by Argentina.

Chile's swap with No. 10 England is the only top-10 movement after no elite teams played last month. Ranking changes reflect matches played since 2011 reducing in value.

Borussia Dortmund attacking midfielder Marco Reus has been ruled out of Germany's European Championship qualifiers against Poland and Scotland after breaking his big toe in his left foot.

The German Football Federation says Reus suffered the injury while playing for Dortmund against Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Fiction writer Vanessa Hua and nonfiction writer Meehan Crist are among this year's recipients of the Rona Jaffe Awards, $30,000 prizes for emerging female authors.

Hua is working on a novel about a Chinese factory girl, and Crist is studying traumatic brain injury.

Country star Luke Bryan may have one of the most popular albums in the country, but Loretta Lynn made his day when she gave him a kiss.

Bryan, Lynn, Eric Church and the band Alabama were honored by their peers in country music with special achievement awards from the Academy of Country Music during a special event Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee. The stars were celebrated with performances by Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves at the 9th annual ACM Honors event at the Ryman Auditorium.

The world's top-ranked player Novak Djokovic will play an exhibition match against longstanding rival Rafael Nadal in Thailand next month.

Suwat Liptapanlop, president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand, said Wednesday that the match would be played on Oct. 2 at Bangkok's Hua Mark Indoor Stadium.

First-division Portuguese club Boavista has introduced Rivaldo's son as its newest signing on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Rivaldinho was presented to fans and journalists at a news conference alongside his father, the former Barcelona and Brazil star.

With Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes dominating Formula One, the real drama at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix could come from frightening tire deterioration on a Monza circuit that features the highest speeds in the sport.

Two weeks ago at the Belgian GP, the right rear tire of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari was torn to shreds at 320 kph (200 mph) in the penultimate lap. That came two days after the same thing happened to Nico Rosberg in practice, prompting the Mercedes driver to demand action from tire supplier Pirelli before Monza.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be nearing his 63rd birthday, but he can still beat a team of kids in hockey. With the help of some of Russia's most formidable hockey veterans, that is.

Putin marked the opening of the school year on Tuesday by taking part in a game against student players from the Sirius academy for gifted children at the Shaiba arena in Sochi, one of the hockey venues at the 2014 Olympics.