No. 1 pick Griffin could miss 6 weeks

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin has a broken left kneecap that could sideline the NBA's No. 1 overall draft pick for six weeks.

The Clippers confirmed Griffin's stress fracture late Monday. The team will reveal further information today.

Griffin won't be in the Clippers' lineup when they face the Lakers in their opener tonight, and the former Oklahoma star could be out much longer.

He broke the kneecap Friday during his team's preseason game against New Orleans, apparently after a dunk that left him wincing in pain.

• The wife of Cavaliers guard Delonte West filed a domestic violence report against her husband. In the report, filed with Cleveland police on Sunday, Kimberly West says that her husband had accused her of cheating on him and that they had argument in which he grabbed her and took her wedding ring and purse.

• The president of Maccabi Tel Aviv apologized to the NBA and the New York Knicks for its coach's behavior during an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden. Coach Pini Gershon also said he was sorry. Gershon refused to leave the court after being ejected.

• The Chicago Bulls exercised contract options on point guard Derrick Rose and forward Joakim Noah for the 2010-11 season.

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar withdrew from his upcoming title defense against unbeaten Shane Carwin because of an illness.

The former Gophers NCAA wrestling champion and pro wrestler was scheduled to fight Carwin in the main event of UFC 106 on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas. Lesnar said Monday he has been out of training for nearly a month while battling the unspecified illness. UFC hopes to reschedule Lesnar-Carwin for early next year.

TENNIS

U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki denied there was any wrongdoing involved last week when she quit a match one game shy of victory.

The WTA Tour is investigating a surge in online bets backing her opponent that occurred after her father, Piotr, was overheard telling Wozniacki, 19, to quit because she wouldn't be able to play in the next round of the Luxembourg Open.

She retired because of a hamstring injury while leading Anne Kremer 7-5, 5-0. Wozniacki acknowledged that her father told her to quit -- but only because she was in too much pain to continue.

"There was no chance for me to finish, so I decided to stop," she said ahead of the WTA's season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar. "I don't have anything to do with betting. ... So I don't see any problems."

Wozniacki was taped around her left thigh when training Monday but hopes to play in the lucrative eight-player tournament in Qatar.

• Dinara Safina reclaimed the No. 1 ranking from Serena Williams on Monday, but the margin is so slim that the player who performs better in Qatar will end the year at No. 1.

AROUND THE HORN

Golf: Brandt Snedeker and Boo Weekley won the Golf Skills Challenge in a playoff at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. In the final of the worse-ball portion of the contest, Snedeker and Weekly initially tied finalists J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry at par, forcing a playoff. Snedecker and Weekley won three of the first six skills challenges -- the bunker shot, chip shot and trouble shot.

Soccer: Hull fined U.S. striker Jozy Altidore for tweeting an apology after he was left off the squad against Portsmouth because he arrived late for Saturday's Premier League game. "That for me is information that stays in house," Hull manager Phil Brown said. ... AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani said David Beckham's return to the Serie A team on a loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy in January is nearly "100 percent certain."

Olympics: American skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender became the latest to complain about the limited access that organizers of the Vancouver Games are granting to their Olympic venues. Uhlaender said the "world is pretty disappointed" with those restrictions, adding that they are not consistent with Olympic ideals. ... The International Olympic Committee is sending an expert team to Brazil on Wednesday to begin shaping the $14.4 billion 2016 Games with Rio's organizing committee and government agencies.

FROM NEWS SERVICES