Orantes elected to Tennis Hall of Fame

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02/23/2012 - Newport, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Spanish star Manuel Orantes has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Orantes, who starred on the ATP World Tour in the 1970s and 1980s, defeated a top-seeded Jimmy Connors to capture the 1975 U.S. Open title and also played an instrumental role in Spain's Davis Cup efforts for many years.

"Manuel Orantes' 1975 U.S. Open victory is in the books as one of the most impressive in tennis history," said Tony Trabert, a 1970 Hall-of-Famer and chair of the Enshrinee Nominating Committee. "That achievement, as well as his many other victories, and his leadership as a dedicated Davis Cup player for Spain, make him a true legend of tennis. He is well deserving of induction to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. We look forward to celebrating with Manuel at the induction ceremony in July, along with honoring the additional inductees, the remainder of whom will be announced shortly."

Orantes reached the world No. 2 ranking in 1973 and remained in the year-end top 10 for five consecutive years. In addition to his notable U.S. Open victory over Connors, he was also runner-up to Bjorn Borg at the 1974 French Open.

In all, Orantes captured 33 singles titles and compiled a record of 647-247. He also has a career doubles record of 298-155, which includes 22 titles.

Orantes was an integral member of the Spanish Davis Cup team from 1967-1980. In his first year of playing Davis Cup in '67, his team advanced to the final, only to fall to Australia. His Davis Cup career resulted in 60 wins and 27 losses, including 39 singles victories. In 2009, Orantes was presented the Davis Cup Award of Excellence by the Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Federation. He was also a member of the victorious Spanish team that won the 1978 World Team Cup.

The 63-year-old Orantes is now the third member of the Class of 2012 and the only inductee in the Master Player category. It was previously announced that tennis administrator and promoter Mike Davies had been elected in the Contributor category and that Randy Snow had been elected in the Recent Player category for his achievements as a wheelchair player.

Additional members of the Class of '12 will be announced within the next month. The induction ceremony will be staged July 14 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum in Newport.

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The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.

New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).

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Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.

Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.

Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.

The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.

Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.

The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.

Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.

However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).

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Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.

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Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.

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