Talk » maintain the 2-1 lead into halfti

All the consternation over whether golfs addition to the Summer Games makes sense raises the question of whether tennis -- another individual, professional sport with four annual Grand Slam tournaments and millions of dollars in prize money -- belongs, too.To U.S. Olympic mens tennis coach Jay Berger, the answer is obvious.When it first starts, people dont know what to expect. And I think golf is having this a little bit, in its infancy. They dont know what the meaning is going to be. But you look at the draw for the tennis, the very top players want to play, Berger said. Ive seen those top players cry for joy at having won a bronze medal. And Ive seen players cry because they lost a medal. When you get down to it, the Olympics kind of transfer to any sport, really.Sam Querrey, for one, isnt so sure.Querreys ranking made him eligible to be a member of Bergers team in Rio de Janeiro, where the draw is Thursday and play begins Saturday, but he opted to skip the trip to Brazil.His take, essentially: Let the gymnasts, swimmers and sprinters have their moment.I feel like the Olympics should only be sports where, like, thats the pinnacle of your sport: If you win the Olympics, theres nothing better, said Querrey, who ended Novak Djokovics 30-match Grand Slam winning streak at Wimbledon. But I think for tennis, you ask anyone, theyd rather win a Grand Slam over the Olympics.That might be the case for many folks, but certainly not for all.Venus Williams, who has won four gold medals, calls her Olympic success beyond anything I ever dreamed and places its importance always at the top -- above her seven major singles titles.The proudest moment for me, when they do the on-court announcements, she said, are the Olympic results.She and others would hate to see the International Olympic Committee, which brought tennis back in 1988 after a 64-year absence, drop the sport again.And make no mistake: The Olympics have helped tennis grow worldwide.If you look at whats happened from `88 to now, our sport has really become even more international because of the Olympic movement, International Tennis Federation President David Haggerty said, pointing to a more than 40 percent increase in the number of nations that belong to his organization.Just examine the WTA rankings. The week before Wimbledon in 1986, the top 100 women included 47 from the United States, and only 13 countries had more than one representative. The week before Wimbledon this year, the top 100 women included 14 Americans, and 21 countries had at least two members.Still, the sense that the Olympic tennis tournament is not all that much different from, well, any tournament held during any week is inescapable for some.The faces are, for the most part, familiar. So are the rules.The events -- mens and womens singles, mens and womens doubles, mixed doubles -- are found at each of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The U.S. Open starts a couple of weeks after the Rio competition ends and will be contested on the same surface, hard courts.All of which prompts suggestions for a format change.Have age restrictions of some sort, say, to promote future stars.Or take a break from Davis Cup and Fed Cup in Olympic years and use something similar to their setup.I dont think what we have now is broken, WTA CEO Steve Simon said, but I do think that the conversation about format, and potentially a team format, has merit.International Tennis Hall of Fame CEO Todd Martin, who calls barely missing out on participating in singles at Atlanta in 1996 one of my great disappointments, thinks Olympic tennis needs to do something different to make it look like something different.I look at it and say, `Why should the Olympics not be a team event? Other sports figure out how to make it a team event, said Martin, the 1999 U.S. Open runner-up. In tennis, we figure out how to make it an individual event, just like Roland Garros, just like Wimbledon.One proposal: Each country could have three two-person teams in mens and womens tennis that would face off in singles and doubles.Svetlana Kuznetsova, a two-time major champion from Russia, wants a totally different format and two full weeks of Olympic tennis, instead of nine days.Her father coached Olympic cyclists; her brother won a silver in cycling. So she insists on this: Tennis must remain in the Summer Games.Being from my family, I know how important the Olympics are and how big a deal the Olympics are, Kuznetsova said. So for me, tennis of course has to be in the Olympics. For Russians, winning a gold medal would be like winning a Grand Slam.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrichDraymond Green Warriors Jersey . 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Patrick McCaw Warriors Jersey . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.ATHENS, Ga. - Kristen Dodson scored two goals and added a pair of assists to guide Auburn to a 4-2 win at Georgia on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers (7-4-0, 3-1-0 SEC) trailed 2-1 at the break, but used three unanswered goals in the second half to win their fourth consecutive match on the road.Dodson became the first player to record two goals and two assists in a match since Katy Frierson did it on Oct. 5, 2008 against Mississippi State. She also was the first player to tally six points in a match since Tatiana Coleman accomplished the feat versus Kennesaw State, Aug. 28, 2011.What an unbelievable day from Kristen Dodson, said head coach Karen Hoppa. Two assists and two goals in our first come-from-behind victory and coming off a two-goal performance against Florida, it was an unbelievable weekend, as good of a weekend as a forward can have.The come-from-behind win was the first for Auburn in 2016 and the first since Oct. 19, 2014 at Arkansas.We just wanted to complete the weekend and show what we could do, stated Dodson.Casie Ramsier and Bri Folds also had strong showings, each contributing a goal and an assist in the 90-minute affair. Avery Batson notched her first career point on an assist to Dodson for her second goal of the contest.Georgia (3-7-1, 0-4-0) opened the tilt by scoring in the 12th minute by way of a goal from a corner kick.It took just four minutes to equalize as Ramsier took a feed behind tthe defense by Dodson and rifled it into the back of the net for her 28th career goal.ddddddddddddThe Bulldogs regained the lead in the 19th minute on a shot from long range. The home team would maintain the 2-1 lead into halftime.Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers got on the front foot right away as Dodson slotted home a goal on the top shelf of the frame to tie the match at 2-2.The Aurora, Ill. native then put her squad on top for the first time in the contest as she took a through ball from Batson on the left side and sent a curling effort inside the side netting in the 62nd minute.Folds put the game out of reach with five minutes remaining on the scoreboard when she poked a cross from Dodson across the line to make it 4-2 and cap the scoring. Auburn has now totaled three wins in its opening four conference matches for the sixth time in program history.Coming off the Florida win, we were worried about a letdown, and to be fair I thought we were flat in the first half, said Hoppa. I was really proud of my team with the way they responded out of halftime and just found a way to grind out a victory here in a tough place to play in Athens.The Tigers return home to face Missouri in their next tilt, Sept. 30. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Auburn Soccer Complex on Friday. ' ' '