Wimbledon: No Kuerten

The world’s top-ranked men’s player will not be at Wimbledon.

As expected, French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten officially pulled out of the tournament Friday, citing an injury.

The Brazilian star, who won his third French Open title Sunday, previously had said that he planned to skip Wimbledon. He said Friday he had a sore groin and needed a rest.

But Kuerten also has complained about the seeding system at Wimbledon, saying it penalizes clay-court experts like him.

Wimbledon has said it will seed 32 players, instead of 16, but the order of the men’s seedings will take into account grass-court records. The tournament begins June 25.

Jennifer Capriati is fatigued from her French Open victory and has withdrawn from a Wimbledon warmup tournament in the Netherlands next week.

Pete Sampras won two matches on the same day, defeating Jan Siemerink and Jan-Michael Gambill to reach the semifinals of the Queen’s Club tournament at London. Sampras completed his rain-delayed match against Siemerink, winning 6-3, 6-4. He then defeated Gambill, 7-6 (1), 7-5, in a rain-delayed quarterfinal.

Sampras will play defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in a rematch of last year’s final. Hewitt also had to win two matches, defeating Zimbabwe’s Byron Black, 6-3, 6-2, and Britain’s Greg Rusedski, 6-4, 6-4.

“I’m young enough for it, at least on grass,” Sampras said. “I’ve never had that before, playing two matches, and it felt pretty good. I’ve got to be pretty pleased the way things went today.”

Defending champion Lisa Raymond endured five hours of rain delays before winning her quarterfinal match against Russia’s Elena Likhovtseva, 7-6 (5), 6-4, at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, England.

Meanwhile, one day after Alexandra Stevenson was defeated, her outspoken mother was in trouble with the Women’s Tennis Assn. Samantha Stevenson ripped down a WTA display of newspaper reports, most of which related to her daughter’s loss to Nathalie Tauziat on Thursday.

Patrick Rafter fought off match point and defeated Switzerland’s Roger Federer, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), to advance to the Gerry Weber Open semifinals at Halle, Germany. Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated France’s Nicolas Escude, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).

Jurisprudence

A judge in Bloomington, Ind., heard arguments in a lawsuit challenging Indiana University’s firing of former basketball coach Bob Knight last year. Lawyers representing Indiana basketball fans have asked Judge Cecile Blau to rule on whether the school violated the state’s open meetings law when trustees met with President Myles Brand in two separate groups to discuss Knight’s conduct the day before the coach was fired in September.

Kansas City Chief offensive tackle Victor Riley turned himself into police in Olathe, Kan., Friday morning on charges that he rammed his vehicle several times into another vehicle occupied by his wife and infant daughter.

The 26-year-old Riley was charged in Johnson County District Court with felony counts of aggravated assault and criminal damage to property and with misdemeanor counts of child endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident.

The charges stem from a dispute May 23 in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, where Riley lives.

A drug charge against boxer Hector “Macho” Camacho was dropped in New York after the prosecution said it could not prove its case.

Miscellany

Ricky Rudd put himself in the best position to end an 88-race Winston Cup losing streak race by taking the pole for the Pocono 500 at Long Pond, Pa. He qualified his Ford at 170.503 mph. . . . Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. criticized the overly aggressive driving at last week’s Indy Racing League race in Texas, which resulted in an accident and has prompted officials to contemplate disciplinary action. Davey Hamilton, injured in the race, remained in stable condition after having more surgery to repair injuries to his legs and feet. . . . Kenny Bernstein had the fastest top fuel run before rain forced the postponement of qualifying in the NHRA Pontiac Excitement Nationals at Hebron, Ohio.

John Lucas has accepted the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coaching job, according to The Associated Press. . . . Joe Juneau signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens after his rights were acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes. . . . Forward Rodney Rogers exercised a $2.4-million option in his contract to remain with the Phoenix Suns.

Food giant H.J. Heinz Co. has agreed to pay the Pittsburgh Steelers $57 million over 20 years to get its name on the team’s new stadium.

Jim Seminoff of San Clemente, a basketball player at USC who went on to play for the Chicago Stags and Boston Celtics in the early days of the NBA, died Tuesday of a heart aneurysm at USC Hospital. He was 78. Seminoff also was a college basketball referee for 15 years.

Lee Rose, who led North Carolina Charlotte and Purdue to the Final Four before heading to the NBA, retired as an assistant with the Charlotte Hornets, ending a 44-year coaching career. . . . UCLA hired former Princeton assistant Greg Meehan as an assistant coach for the women’s swimming team. . . . UCLA will host a softball doubleheader Sunday featuring players from the World Professional Softball League and two U.S. national teams. The WPSL team has nine players from the gold medal-winning Olympic team.

Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr is among former players scheduled to participate in a kids’ clinic and celebrity hockey game today at the HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo to benefit the Christopher Reeve Foundation. Tickets to the game are $10. Details: (310) 535-4510.