Hip Might Keep Agassi Out of Australian Open

Four-time champion Andre Agassi might sit out the Australian Open, which starts Monday, after injuring his hip in a tuneup tennis event today in Melbourne.

Agassi, 34, withdrew from his exhibition match against Andy Roddick when trailing, 5-6, at the Kooyong Classic.

The four-time Australian Open winner said he felt tightness in the muscle at the front of his right hip and would have an MRI exam to determine the damage.

“The good news is that it didn’t just tear, it was tightening up, and that can be your body protecting itself, which is hopefully more of the issue,” Agassi said.

“It’s very disappointing, and I’ll have to do my best to deal with it. Time will shortly tell if [the Australian Open] is a possibility or not.”

Agassi, seeded eighth for the year’s first Grand Slam, won the title in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

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Boxing

Promoter Don King filed a defamation suit, claiming he was portrayed in a false light in an ESPN “SportsCentury” segment aired in May, and his attorney said King was entitled to damages of more than $2.5 billion.

The lawsuit says the program accused King of being “a snake oil salesman, a shameless huckster and worse,” claimed the flamboyant promoter underpaid Muhammad Ali by $1.2 million and claimed King -- convicted in a 1967 beating death and acquitted in another killing in 1954 -- “killed not once, but twice.”

The suit, filed in state court in Broward County, Fla., names ESPN and its parent company, Walt Disney Co., among the defendants. Also named are Disney-owned ABC Cable Networks, which actually controls ESPN, and Advocate Communications, a cable and satellite system.

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College Football

Coaches delayed a vote at the American Football Coaches Assn. convention in Louisville, Ky., on whether to release the ballots for their weekly poll.

The ESPN/USA Today poll came under fire after Texas overtook California for the last bid in the bowl championship series in the final poll.

Nebraska safety Josh Bullocks announced that he was skipping his senior season to make himself available for the NFL draft.

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Winter Sports

Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo., placed fourth in a super-giant slalom at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, and moved within five points of taking the standings lead in her discipline.

Already the downhill standings leader, Kildow finished 0.52 seconds behind Renate Goetschl of Austria.

Michaela Dorfmeister of Germany leads the super-G standings with 215 points.

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Miscellany

The Galaxy acquired defender Todd Dunivant and goalkeeper Steve Cronin from the San Jose Earthquakes for forward Alejandro Moreno and defender Chris Aloisi.

The teams also traded picks in the first round of this year’s draft, with San Jose now owning the sixth selection in the first round and the Galaxy getting the fifth pick.

Dunivant spent the last two seasons with San Jose, getting a goal and six assists. Cronin didn’t appear in a game last season.

Spark center Lisa Leslie was hired by ESPN to be a studio analyst for women’s college basketball.

Ogonna Nnamani, Stanford’s senior outside hitter, was voted the nation’s top college women’s volleyball player, based on results of national balloting among NCAA member schools for the Collegiate Women Sports Awards.

British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur set a record in reaching Cape Horn and remained four days ahead of schedule in her bid for a solo round-the-world record.

She reached Cape Horn from Ushant, France, in 44 days 23 hours 36 minutes.

Golfer Michelle Wie, who missed the cut by one stroke last year, begins play today in the PGA’s Sony Open at Honolulu.

Ernie Els could become the first three-peat champion of the event.