Reuters Sports News Summary

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs. MLBPA chief: Players want season, but no proposal presented

MLB Players Association director Tony Clark said the message he has received from players is they want to play in 2020, but they have yet to see a firm plan from Major League Baseball. Clark shared his views of how baseball is addressing its situation with respect to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic during an interview with ESPN's Marly Rivera on Tuesday. Governing bodies must balance calendar, says Becker

Tennis governing bodies should use the time during the lengthy coronavirus shutdown to align their interests and fix the imbalance in the calendar, six-times Grand Slam winner Boris Becker told Reuters on Tuesday. Roger Federer called for a merger between the men's and women's tours on social media recently, with the men's ATP Tour Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, and his women's WTA Tour counterpart Steve Simon, both welcoming the suggestion. Mike Tyson back in shape as he considers charity exhibitions

Mike Tyson's decision to return to training has been met with enthusiasm from fans and some fellow fighters after the release of a short video that shows the 53-year-old still has plenty of speed and power as he ponders boxing in exhibition bouts. The former world heavyweight champion, who said he could return to the ring in exhibitions to raise money for charity, posted a training video https://www.instagram.com/p/B_qAaOHFtwj on social media that has been viewed more than nine million times. French Open in talks with governing bodies amid rescheduling reports

French Open organisers have been in talks with the sport's governing bodies to fine-tune the tennis calendar amid media reports that the Grand Slam tournament is being delayed by a week. "We took the decision in mid-March to postpone Roland Garros from September 20 to October 4. Since then, we have been discussing with the international bodies of the various circuits (International Tennis Federation, WTA, ATP) the optimum calendar for the second part of the season, which will be finalised with the various stakeholders very soon," a French tennis federation (FFT) spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday. Tennis world commits over $6 million for COVID-19 player relief program

Tennis's governing bodies and the organisers of the four Grand Slams said on Tuesday they will raise over $6 million to help players affected by the sport's current shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The player relief program will target about 800 singles and doubles players collectively on the men's and women's tours, who are in need of financial support. Gronk, Big Ben favorites for Comeback Player of Year award

Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski is a trendy favorite to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors now that he's ended his retirement to play alongside Tom Brady. The Bucs acquired Gronkowski, who is listed at plus-300 on DraftKings and plus-400 on BetMGM Sportsbook, along with a seventh-round draft pick from the New England Patriots last month for a fourth-round pick from the New England Patriots. CVC, Blackstone consider investing in Itay's Serie A soccer league: FT

Private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone Group Inc are in separate talks about investments in Italy's Serie A soccer league, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. CVC is in talks to buy a 20% stake in the league for 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion), valuing the league at 10 billion euros, the newspaper reported https://on.ft.com/2xBzAPV, citing two people briefed on the discussions, which began at the end of last year. NFL: Favre received $1.1 million for appearances he didn't make

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre received $1.1 million from the state of Mississippi for public appearances he never made, an audit of the state's Department of Human Services showed. The Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported that Favre received two lump payments totaling that amount and was supposed to make speeches for the money. Koepka eyes return at Colonial: 'I'm going to be there'

World No. 3 Brooks Koepka said he is ready to return to competitive golf, whenever that time comes. As it stands, the next event on the PGA Tour schedule is the Charles Schwab Challenge beginning June 11 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. It was initially slated to be held May 21-24. Harrington accidentally unveils Luke Donald as Ryder Cup vice-captain

Europe captain Padraig Harrington let slip that former world number one Luke Donald is one of his vice-captains at this year's Ryder Cup during a live broadcast on Tuesday. Harrington was on the Sky Sports Golf Show discussing, among other things, whether this year's event would have to be played without fans present due to the COVID-19 pandemic when he let the cat out of the bag.