SPORT IN SHORT

SNOOKER

Willie Thorne has been placed into an induced coma in hospital in Spain after suffering respiratory failure.

The 66-year-old, who announced he was battling leukaemia in March, was taken to hospital last week with a dangerously low blood pressure.

Thorne’s carer Julie O’Neill said: “They are treating him with three different antibiotics for three types of infections, which appear to be consuming him at this time.”

Thorne reached two World Championship quarter-finals and won his only ranking title, the Mercantile Credit Classic, in 1982.

TENNIS

The US Open will go ahead as scheduled in late August behind closed doors.

The hard-court grand slam is set to be held at Flushing Meadows between August 31 and September 13 and would be the first major tournament to be held after the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States Tennis Association has also confirmed the Western & Southern Open, usually held in Cincinnati, will be held at Flushing Meadows in the lead up to the US Open.

What guise the tournament takes remains to be seen as the world’s top players may not be in New York.

World number one Novak Djokovic has said proposed safety protocols are ‘extreme’ and make it ‘impossible’ to play while defending men’s champion Rafael Nadal has also said he has no desire to travel overseas

Wimbledon has been cancelled for the first time since World War II while the French Open has been rescheduled.