Knee Injuries

As some of the top swimmers in the world gathered at the Santa Clara International Invitational over the weekend, the hot topic was a woman whose best days -- competing in the pool anyway -- are probably behind her. Amanda Beard's Playboy pictorial was all the rage. Asked whether she would consider posing nude, Leisel Jones of Australia, world champion in the breast stroke, laughed and told Times reporter Lisa Dillman, "I don't think I have the body for it. She's got the looks; she can do it."

Danilo Gallinari, the Denver Nuggets' second-leading scorer, will be out for the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a 95-94 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. As Gallinari dribbled down the lane with less than four minutes and 30 seconds left in the second quarter, his knee buckled. Gallinari, who was not touched on the play, fell to the ground and appeared as though he was in immense pain. He had to be carried to the locker room.

USC tight end Dominique Byrd, who has not practiced in more than 11 months because of knee injuries, said Wednesday that there is a chance he could return next week. "It just depends on where my knee is, if I'm feeling comfortable with cutting and everything," said Byrd, a junior who started six games last season and caught 14 passes for 168 yards. Byrd had surgery after suffering torn ligaments in his left knee against Stanford on Oct. 11.

After his team's embarrassing finish to the 2012 season, USC Coach Lane Kiffin began spring practice determined to implement a more physical style to workouts. The switch has generally resulted in spirited, hard-hitting practices. But the approach comes with a cost. Kiffin announced Thursday that highly regarded freshman safety Su'a Cravens would have knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus Friday. Cravens, USA Today's 2012 defensive player of the year at Vista Murrieta High, had worked extensively with USC's first-team defense and appeared on track for a large role in the fall.

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova overcame a painful knee to beat seventh-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, Friday at Eastbourne, England, and, for the 11th consecutive year, reached the final of the Eastbourne grass court warm-up for Wimbledon. Navratilova will play Gretchen Magers for the title today. Magers reached her first tournament final since October by beating Lori McNeil, 7-6, 6-2. Women's Tennis Assn.

The knee problems that kept Jim Fox off the ice all of last season have forced his retirement. Fox made the announcement Saturday, early in his 10th season with the Kings, his only NHL team. After surgery on both knees, after an entire season of working with therapists, after an all-out effort in training camp and in 11 games this season, Fox said: "I just wasn't able to do a lot of the things that I did before. I was digging, digging, digging. I was getting frustrated.

Falling linemen rolled up the left knee of the Washington Redskins' Joe Jacoby during a field-goal attempt in Philadelphia last year, dislocating his kneecap and ending his season. The game before, teammate Mark May blew out his right knee during a home game against the Cowboys. In the third game this season, tumbling players bent Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien's left knee backward, knocking him out of that and subsequent games.

As the high school football season nears, a team of sports-medicine researchers has added new emphasis to an injury-prevention campaign that predictably begins about this time each year. In a new review on injury research published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, experts from the Hughston Orthopedic Clinic in Columbus, Ga., conclude that two combined factors may pose the greatest risk of knee injury in young football players.

Both Kim Dill of Poway High and Jerome Price of University City High suffered knee injuries while competing at the 32nd Mt. San Antonio College Relays on Saturday. But Price felt the pain more than Dill. Dill won both the 300-meter low hurdles (44.77) and the 100 low hurdles (14.58). Dill's 300-meter time was the section's fastest this year by one-tenth of a second. Price, too, placed first in his event, the long jump, with a wind-aided leap of 25-feet-4 3/4.

If the Buffalo Bills are going to make the playoffs, they'll have to do it without quarterback Jim Kelly. Kelly, 34, said Monday he is finished for the regular season, having sprained his left knee during Buffalo's 21-17 loss to Minnesota on Sunday. An MRI showed a stretched anterior cruciate ligament, but team doctors said they want to check again in three days to make sure there wasn't also a minor tear. "I know I'm definitely out for the next two games," Kelly said.

USC receiver George Farmer suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will sit out the 2013 season, a person close to the situation said Wednesday. Farmer, a junior, was injured Tuesday while catching a pass in a non-contact practice drill. He will undergo surgery in a few weeks. It is the latest setback for Farmer, who was slowed by injuries his first two seasons but was enjoying a productive spring and making a push to become a regular part of the receiver rotation.

MINNEAPOLIS - Metta World Peace sustained torn cartilage in his left knee during Monday's game at Golden State, the latest somber injury news for a Lakers team that has had plenty of it this season. World Peace is to fly back to Los Angeles on Wednesday and consult with team doctor Steve Lombardo. A timetable for his return will then be issued. In a tweet that was quickly deleted from his account, World Peace apologized for being injured and said he hoped to be back in a week and a half.

USC receiver Marqise Lee will be an interested observer Wednesday when former teammates such as quarterback Matt Barkley and receiver Robert Woods go through their pro day workout for NFL scouts on campus. But Lee, who will be a junior in the fall, said he was not envious of those getting ready to make the leap to the pros. "I'm going to be cheering them on," he said after the Trojans returned to practice Tuesday. "My time will come around. " Lee, the Biletnikoff Award winner as college football's top receiver, remains sidelined because of a knee injury he suffered during a drill two weeks ago. He said he was ready to practice but Coach Lane Kiffin was holding him out. Lee is expected to be among the front-runners contending for the Heisman Trophy in the fall and an eventual first-round NFL draft pick.

No pressure Philadelphia guard Evan Turner, on the possibility of Andrew Bynum returning to the 76ers after sitting out this season because of knee injuries: "I don't want to sit here and scream out, 'Come back, come back, come back.' Dude's going through surgery, know what I'm saying? It's going to be tough enough rehabbing and everything. " Comes with territory Denver guard Ty Lawson, on the evolution of Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant, currently featured in a Nike campaign dubbed "K.D.

On a hot summer-like Sunday afternoon, in a stadium that rises out of the Southern California desert like a huge misplaced castle, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal slid onto his back and into the bright lights of his sport once again. It was match point of the men's final in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The clock showed that he had been out there 21/2 hours. A crowd of 16,741 squeezed into this 16,100-seat spectator mansion had waited for this moment. Winning this tournament is always a huge deal, but they all knew that, for Nadal, this would be even bigger.

USC tailback Silas Redd , the Trojans' leading rusher last season, will have knee surgery Tuesday but will be ready to play in the fall, Coach Lane Kiffin said Saturday. Redd suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee during practice Thursday. He attended Saturday's scrimmage at the Coliseum but was in sweats. Before he was injured, Redd had displayed improved speed and nimbleness. The senior, who transferred to USC from Penn State on the eve of training camp last year, also had taken on the role of mentor for younger players.

Just last September--after the unexpected had paid him a second painful visit--Ram linebacker George Andrews figured that his football career was over. Andrews, a seven-year veteran and a four-year starter for the Rams at right linebacker, was attempting a quick maneuver around a New England Patriot blocker in the final exhibition game of 1985. As he moved, untouched by defenders, Andrews planted his right foot and felt his cleats catch in the turf. "I felt my knee explode," he said.

USC's quarterback competition could take a slight turn in the next week because of a knee injury suffered by Max Wittek. Wittek did not practice Tuesday because, he said, of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Wittek was injured Saturday during a drill before the Trojans' scrimmage at the Coliseum. On Tuesday, he wore a brace on his right leg and said he might sit out Thursday and Saturday before the Trojans break for a week. "If there's ever a time for this to happen, I guess it would be right now," said Wittek, who is competing against fellow third-year sophomore Cody Kessler and freshman Max Browne.

Kentucky's basketball team received the news it dreaded when freshman forward Nerlens Noel was declared out for the season because of a torn ligament in his left knee. Noel tore his anterior cruciate ligament on Tuesday night when No. 25 Kentucky lost at Florida. An MRI test revealed the injury, and the 6-foot-10 forward will have surgery in the next two or three weeks. The projected recovery period is six to eight months. :: Defending champion Roger Federer cruised into the second round of the ABN AMRO tournament, beating Grega Zemlja , 6-3, 6-1, at Rotterdam, Netherlands.