Sanders, Cowboys Agree on New Deal, but for How Long?

Despite salary-cap problems and Deion Sanders’ nagging toe injury, owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys has agreed on a contract extension for the all-pro cornerback.

Jones initially announced Thursday that it was a three-year deal. But Jones later said he misspoke about the time frame, Cowboy spokesman Rich Dalrymple said.

“The tentative agreement has been reached, although the contract has not been signed and the length of the agreement will not be released,” Jones later said.

Jones wouldn’t say how much the extension is worth, but he conceded that the decision is a calculated risk.

“We really don’t know if he’s going to play at the level we’d like for him to,” Jones said at Irving, Texas, where players were concluding a three-day mini-camp.

“But when I look at what our alternatives are and when I look at what he can bring to the table for our team this year, it’s worth the risk.”

The extension is expected to surpass the highest contract for a cornerback, a four-year, $22.8-million deal that Dale Carter signed recently with the Kansas City Chiefs.

*

Owner Art Modell of the Baltimore Ravens, eager to ease the debt of his financially strapped NFL team, is seeking an investor to buy a minority share of the club. . . . Offensive tackle Andy Heck, cut by the Chicago Bears this month, has signed a one-year, $450,000 contract with the Washington Redskins.

Tennis

Serena Williams, suffering from flu, will sit out Wimbledon. And sister Venus is also fighting the bug.

Serena’s sudden withdrawal ended the possibility of a fourth-round showdown between the sisters and left Wimbledon--which begins Monday--without one of its marquee players.

“She has a terrible case of the flu,” her father, Richard Williams, told the WTA Tour. “I took her to the doctor this morning and he told her it was best to rest and take it easy.

“Serena wanted to go to Wimbledon and give it a try . . . but the doctor said again it was better if she rested.”

Richard Williams described sixth-seeded Venus--who turned 19 Thursday--as feeling “a little sluggish” but optimistic of being at full strength for the tournament.

Anna Kournikova of Russia will take the place of Serena Williams to retain the usual complement of 16 seeded players, but the teenager will officially be known as the 17th-seeded player.

Kournikova stayed on course for her return to Wimbledon, beating Nathalie Dechy of France, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in the quarterfinals of a grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England.

Kournikova will face third-seeded Nathalie Tauziat, runner-up at Wimbledon a year ago. Tauziat lost the first seven games, then came back to defeat Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1.

A year ago in the quarterfinals at Eastbourne, Kournikova beat Steffi Graf, but suffered a strained right thumb, an injury that kept her from playing at Wimbledon.

There were no problems this time as the 18-year-old chased her first WTA Tour title.

Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands defeated Vincenzo Santopadre of Italy, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), to reach the quarterfinals of the Heineken Trophy at Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Krajicek will face fifth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany, who defeated Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

In women’s play, Kristina Brandi upset second-seeded Dominique van Roost of Belgium, 6-3, 6-3, to reach the semifinals. Brandi will face Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Laurence Courtois of Belgium.

Top-seeded Greg Rusedski of Britain reached the semifinals of the Nottingham Open in England, beating 18-year-old Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 6-4, 7-5.

Miscellany

Three people--rather than 10, as previously reported--died in riots during a Tunisia Cup soccer semifinal at Tunis, according to government officials.

The number of those seriously injured remained at 10.

The case’s examining magistrate confirmed the lower toll, as did a hospital official, speaking on customary anonymity. No explanation was given.

Fighting broke out early in the second half of Tuesday night’s match between supporters of Esperance Sportive de Tunis and Olympique de Beja.

Thousands of fans surged onto the field to try to avoid the violence.

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali expressed his “deep indignation” at the fighting. He said the incidents “damage the prestige of Tunisian sport, and soccer in particular.”

Lawrence Lozzano, who scored 10 goals two seasons ago but was scoreless in six games with the Galaxy this season, was claimed on waivers by the New York-New Jersey MetroStars.

Jury deliberations began in Boston in the malpractice case stemming from the death of Boston Celtic captain Reggie Lewis.

Dr. Gilbert Mudge and two consultants, Drs. Mark Creager and Peter Friedman, are accused by the player’s widow of misdiagnosing and mistreating Lewis’ fatal heart condition.

Donna Harris-Lewis is asking for the money her husband would have earned playing basketball had he lived, estimated at as much as $75 million by plaintiff’s attorneys.

Four cyclists were thrown out of the Tour de Suisse when they flunked a prerace drug test.

The four showed abnormal levels of red blood cells in tests given all 147 riders by the International Cycling Union.

Sergei Gontchar of Ukraine was banned for having a level of red blood cells above 50%. Also bounced from the race were Harald Morscher of Austria, Massimo Gimondi of Italy and Timothy Jones of Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, in Rome, Richard Virenque’s commercial team filed two appeals over the French cyclist’s ban from the Tour de France, Team Polti owner Franco Polti said.

Polti asked both the International Cycling Union and the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, to look into the prestigious race’s decision to bar the rider.

Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said that Virenque is “not welcome” because “his presence would be incompatible with the image of the Tour and the one we want to preserve.”

Leblanc also announced the entire TVM team and riders Laurent Roux and Philippe Gaumont, both suspended by their teams, were also banned from the race, which begins July 3.

Road racing specialist Boris Said, making his first start this year in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, won the pole position for today’s Grainger 225 race at Portland, Ore., with a speed of 91.144 mph.

Vince Reel, international track coach, died Monday in Pomona. He was 85. Reel, a former track coach at Claremont-Mudd, was the Olympic coach for India in 1960 and for Taiwan in the 1972 Games.