John&nbsp;McEnroe&nbsp;says the ATP Tour must consider reviewing its schedule in a bid to cut down on injuries after Canadian Milos Raonic joined the list of top players sitting out the U.S. Open.

While Raonic (wrist) is expected to rejoin the Tour later in the year, the three other high-profile absentees from Flushing Meadows, Novak Djokovic (elbow), Kei Nishikori (wrist) and Stan Wawrinka (knee), have been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Seven-time grand slam winner&nbsp;McEnroe&nbsp;said players had become more prone to injuries as the game evolved over the years and said officials should take another look at the schedule to see if they can lighten the load.

&quot;They have worked over the years to get it down to nine or 10 months,&quot;&nbsp;McEnroe&nbsp;told ESPN. &quot;I think perhaps they would be better served to continue to look at that.

&quot;Sometimes it&#39;s unpredictable. But certainly, the wear and tear are there because the ball is being hit harder so you have to react quicker. So things happen more often than they did in the past. That&#39;s part of why you&#39;re seeing a lot of injuries.

&quot;But let&#39;s face it, there have been injuries for a long time. This is nothing new. They are going to continue to look at it... we should continue to try to figure out ways to get the maximum out of all the players.&quot;

Swiss ace Roger Federer and world number one Rafa Nadal were sidelined for the latter stages of last season as they sought to recover from long-term problems.

Federer withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month due to a back injury while world number two Andy Murray has struggled with a hip problem since the French Open but both have said that they would play in New York.

The US Open, the final grand slam of the season, is being held from Aug. 28 to Sept. 10.

While Raonic (wrist) is expected to rejoin the Tour later in the year, the three other high-profile absentees from Flushing Meadows

John McEnroe says the ATP Tour must consider reviewing its schedule in a bid to cut down on injuries after Canadian Milos Raonic joined the list of top players sitting out the U.S. Open. While Raonic (wrist) is expected to rejoin the Tour later in the year, the three other high-profile absentees from Flushing Meadows, Novak Djokovic (elbow), Kei Nishikori (wrist) and Stan Wawrinka (knee), have been ruled out for the rest of the season. Seven-time grand slam winner McEnroe said players had become more prone to injuries as the game evolved over the years and said officials should take another look at the schedule to see if they can lighten the load. "They have worked over the years to get it down to nine or 10 months," McEnroe told ESPN. "I think perhaps they would be better served to continue to look at that. "Sometimes it's unpredictable. But certainly, the wear and tear are there because the ball is being hit harder so you have to react quicker. So things happen more often than they did in the past. That's part of why you're seeing a lot of injuries. "But let's face it, there have been injuries for a long time. This is nothing new. They are going to continue to look at it... we should continue to try to figure out ways to get the maximum out of all the players." Swiss ace Roger Federer and world number one Rafa Nadal were sidelined for the latter stages of last season as they sought to recover from long-term problems. Federer withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month due to a back injury while world number two Andy Murray has struggled with a hip problem since the French Open but both have said that they would play in New York. The US Open, the final grand slam of the season, is being held from Aug. 28 to Sept. 10.

McEnroe calls for tennis schedule review as injuries mount

US actor John Malkovich took French daily Le Monde and two of its journalists to court on Friday for defamation over a report alleging that he held a secret Swiss bank account. 
 
Dangerous Liaisons star Malkovich is suing the paper over two articles published in February about the tax evasion scheme run by British banking giant HSBC out of its Swiss affiliate. 
 
Malkovich, 62, was among several celebrities listed by Le Monde among the &quot;elite tax evaders&quot; to have had a secret Swiss account between 2005 and 2007 - a claim Malkovich has rejected. 
 
&quot;Not only did John Malkovich not defraud tax authorities&quot;, he &quot;never had an account with HSBC&quot;, Julia Minkowski, one of his lawyers, told a Paris court. 
 
The only Swiss account he ever had was a securities portfolio with a bank that was later bought by HSBC, Minkowski added. 
 
The actor had declared that account to US tax authorities before closing it on November 30, 1999, a month before the creation of HSBC&#39;s Swiss private banking arm, she said. 
 
Herve Temime, another of the actor&#39;s lawyers, said Le Monde&#39;s linking of the actor to the Swissleaks revelations was &quot;shameful&quot;, calling his client a &quot;man of great integrity&quot;. 
 
Prosecutor Annabelle Philippe rapped the two journalists who authored the report, and who were absent from the proceedings, for not having the &quot;decency to come and recognise the lack of professionalism of their investigation&quot;. 
 
Le Monde&#39;s lawyer Christophe Bigot, for his part, accused Malkovich of &quot;creating a fuss&quot; despite having had an account &quot;in a discreet little bank in a country (that was) uncooperative&quot; with other countries on tax matters. 
 
The court will rule on the case in October. 
 
(AFP)

The Hollywood actor took two journalists to court for alleging he held a secret Swiss bank account

US actor John Malkovich took French daily Le Monde and two of its journalists to court on Friday for defamation over a report alleging that he held a secret Swiss bank account. Dangerous Liaisons star Malkovich is suing the paper over two articles published in February about the tax evasion scheme run by British banking giant HSBC out of its Swiss affiliate. Malkovich, 62, was among several celebrities listed by Le Monde among the "elite tax evaders" to have had a secret Swiss account between 2005 and 2007 - a claim Malkovich has rejected. "Not only did John Malkovich not defraud tax authorities", he "never had an account with HSBC", Julia Minkowski, one of his lawyers, told a Paris court. The only Swiss account he ever had was a securities portfolio with a bank that was later bought by HSBC, Minkowski added. The actor had declared that account to US tax authorities before closing it on November 30, 1999, a month before the creation of HSBC's Swiss private banking arm, she said. Herve Temime, another of the actor's lawyers, said Le Monde's linking of the actor to the Swissleaks revelations was "shameful", calling his client a "man of great integrity". Prosecutor Annabelle Philippe rapped the two journalists who authored the report, and who were absent from the proceedings, for not having the "decency to come and recognise the lack of professionalism of their investigation". Le Monde's lawyer Christophe Bigot, for his part, accused Malkovich of "creating a fuss" despite having had an account "in a discreet little bank in a country (that was) uncooperative" with other countries on tax matters. The court will rule on the case in October. (AFP)

John Malkovich a 'man of integrity', French court told lawyer in defamation case

An airplane powered solely by the sun landed safely in Seville in Spain early today after an almost three-day flight across the Atlantic from New York in one of the longest legs of the first ever fuel-less flight around the world. 
 
The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 touched down shortly after 7.30 a.m. local time in Seville after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 2.30 a.m. EDT on June 20. 
 
The flight of just over 71 hours was the 15th leg of the round-the-world journey by the plane piloted in turns by Swiss aviators Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg. 
 
&quot;Oh-la-la, absolutely perfect,&quot; Piccard said after landing, thanking his engineering crew for their efforts. 
 
With a cruising speed of around 70 kilometres an hour (43 miles per hour), similar to an average car, the plane has more than 17,0000 solar cells built in to wings with a span bigger than that of a Boeing 747. 
 
(Reuters)

The flight of just over 71 hours was the 15th leg of the round-the-world journey piloted by Bertrand Piiccard and Andre Borschbe

An airplane powered solely by the sun landed safely in Seville in Spain early today after an almost three-day flight across the Atlantic from New York in one of the longest legs of the first ever fuel-less flight around the world. The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 touched down shortly after 7.30 a.m. local time in Seville after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 2.30 a.m. EDT on June 20. The flight of just over 71 hours was the 15th leg of the round-the-world journey by the plane piloted in turns by Swiss aviators Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg. "Oh-la-la, absolutely perfect," Piccard said after landing, thanking his engineering crew for their efforts. With a cruising speed of around 70 kilometres an hour (43 miles per hour), similar to an average car, the plane has more than 17,0000 solar cells built in to wings with a span bigger than that of a Boeing 747. (Reuters)

Solar plane lands in Spain after three-day Atlantic crossing

A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. 
 
The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York&#39;s John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane&#39;s website. 
 
&quot;Such a pleasure to land in #NYC! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability,&quot; said the project&#39;s co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. 
 
The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. 
 
The solar craft&#39;s cruising speed, akin to that of a car, required pilots to take up meditation and hypnosis in training to stay alert for long periods. 
 
Borschberg alternates with fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard at the controls for each segment of what they hope will be the first round-the-world solar-powered flight. 
 
On April 24, Piccard landed in San Francisco, completing a trans-Pacific crossing after a nearly three-day trip that began in Hawaii. The flight took more than three times the 18 hours Amelia Earhart took to fly solo from Hawaii to California in the 1930s. 
 
The propeller-driven Solar Impulse flies without a drop of fuel and its four engines are powered solely by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings. 
 
Surplus power is stored in four batteries during the day, to keep the plane aloft on extreme long-distance flights. 
 
The carbon-fiber plane, with a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 747 and the weight of a family car, is unlikely to set speed or altitude records. It can climb to 28,000 feet (8,500 m), and cruise at 34 to 62 mph (55 to 100 kph). 
 
In a precursor of their globe-circling quest, the two men completed a multi-flight crossing of the United States with an earlier version of the solar plane in 2013.

The plane collects energy from more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings. It can climb to 28,000 feet and cruise at 34 to 62 mph

A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. "Such a pleasure to land in #NYC! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar craft's cruising speed, akin to that of a car, required pilots to take up meditation and hypnosis in training to stay alert for long periods. Borschberg alternates with fellow pilot Bertrand Piccard at the controls for each segment of what they hope will be the first round-the-world solar-powered flight. On April 24, Piccard landed in San Francisco, completing a trans-Pacific crossing after a nearly three-day trip that began in Hawaii. The flight took more than three times the 18 hours Amelia Earhart took to fly solo from Hawaii to California in the 1930s. The propeller-driven Solar Impulse flies without a drop of fuel and its four engines are powered solely by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings. Surplus power is stored in four batteries during the day, to keep the plane aloft on extreme long-distance flights. The carbon-fiber plane, with a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 747 and the weight of a family car, is unlikely to set speed or altitude records. It can climb to 28,000 feet (8,500 m), and cruise at 34 to 62 mph (55 to 100 kph). In a precursor of their globe-circling quest, the two men completed a multi-flight crossing of the United States with an earlier version of the solar plane in 2013.

Solar plane lands in New York City during bid to circle the globe

Switzerland opens the world&#39;s longest and deepest rail tunnel through the heart of the Alps on Wednesday in an engineering marvel that stands as a symbol of European unity at a time of increasing fragmentation. 
 
The 57.1-km (35.5 mile)-long Gotthard Base Tunnel, 17 years under construction and designed to last a century, is part of a 23 billion Swiss franc infrastructure project to speed passengers and cargo by rail under the mountain chain that divides Europe&#39;s north and south. 
 
Typically Swiss, the project that federal transport office director Peter Fueglistaler called &quot;a masterpiece of timing, cost and policy&quot; came in on schedule and on budget. 
 
High-speed trains will whisk passengers in 17 minutes through a passage that took days until the first Alpine rail tunnel opened in 1882. Around 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains will traverse the two-tube tunnel daily once final testing ends later this year. 
 
The Swiss, as a rule rail fanatics, are throwing a party to mark the event that will draw the leaders of all its neighboring countries in a show of European solidarity. 
 
&quot;It is just part of the Swiss identity,&quot; Fueglistaler said of the Swiss fondness for major engineering feats. &quot;For us, conquering the Alps is like the Dutch exploring the oceans.&quot; 
 
The tunnel along Europe&#39;s main rail line that connects the ports of Rotterdam in the north to Genoa in the south snakes through the mountains as much as 2.3 km below daylight and through rock as hot as 46 degrees Celsius (114.8&deg;F). 
 
The rail route goes over the pass now in a series of loops and tunnels. The new flat route means even heavy trains will need only one locomotive rather than two or three. 
 
Engineers had to dig and blast through 73 kinds of rock as hard as granite and as soft as sugar. Nine workers died. 
 
Swiss voters -- despite opposition at times from the government and parliament -- supported the gargantuan rail project in a series of binding referendums in the 1990s. 
 
Fittingly, the first ones to travel the tunnel at the official opening will be 500 lucky winners plus guests from the 130,000 who entered a ticket lottery for the inaugural trip. 
 
The overall project includes the Loetschberg rail tunnel that has already opened, the Cereti tunnel still being built and renovations to make rail tunnels at least 4 meters high at the corners to be able to handle big freight containers. Work is due to finish in 2020. 
 
The mammoth rail venture is being financed by value-added and fuel taxes, road charges on heavy vehicles and state loans that are due to be repaid within a decade. 
 
Major contractors included Alpiq, Balfour Beatty, Thales and Heitkamp. 
 
(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Construction took two decades, will provide high-speed rail link under the Swiss Alps between northern and southern Europe

Switzerland opens the world's longest and deepest rail tunnel through the heart of the Alps on Wednesday in an engineering marvel that stands as a symbol of European unity at a time of increasing fragmentation. The 57.1-km (35.5 mile)-long Gotthard Base Tunnel, 17 years under construction and designed to last a century, is part of a 23 billion Swiss franc infrastructure project to speed passengers and cargo by rail under the mountain chain that divides Europe's north and south. Typically Swiss, the project that federal transport office director Peter Fueglistaler called "a masterpiece of timing, cost and policy" came in on schedule and on budget. High-speed trains will whisk passengers in 17 minutes through a passage that took days until the first Alpine rail tunnel opened in 1882. Around 260 freight trains and 65 passenger trains will traverse the two-tube tunnel daily once final testing ends later this year. The Swiss, as a rule rail fanatics, are throwing a party to mark the event that will draw the leaders of all its neighboring countries in a show of European solidarity. "It is just part of the Swiss identity," Fueglistaler said of the Swiss fondness for major engineering feats. "For us, conquering the Alps is like the Dutch exploring the oceans." The tunnel along Europe's main rail line that connects the ports of Rotterdam in the north to Genoa in the south snakes through the mountains as much as 2.3 km below daylight and through rock as hot as 46 degrees Celsius (114.8°F). The rail route goes over the pass now in a series of loops and tunnels. The new flat route means even heavy trains will need only one locomotive rather than two or three. Engineers had to dig and blast through 73 kinds of rock as hard as granite and as soft as sugar. Nine workers died. Swiss voters -- despite opposition at times from the government and parliament -- supported the gargantuan rail project in a series of binding referendums in the 1990s. Fittingly, the first ones to travel the tunnel at the official opening will be 500 lucky winners plus guests from the 130,000 who entered a ticket lottery for the inaugural trip. The overall project includes the Loetschberg rail tunnel that has already opened, the Cereti tunnel still being built and renovations to make rail tunnels at least 4 meters high at the corners to be able to handle big freight containers. Work is due to finish in 2020. The mammoth rail venture is being financed by value-added and fuel taxes, road charges on heavy vehicles and state loans that are due to be repaid within a decade. Major contractors included Alpiq, Balfour Beatty, Thales and Heitkamp. (Editing by Richard Balmforth)

World's longest, deepest rail tunnel opens in Switzerland

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