Chances of Williams's return fading

Baseball
Bernie Williams wants a guarantee, not a maybe, so it appears he won't be with the New York Yankees for his 17th season when position players start workouts tomorrow. Manager Joe Torre planned to call Williams again, but catcher Jorge Posada thinks Williams can't be persuaded to accept a minor league contract. "I called him and he hasn't returned my call," Posada said yesterday. "That just tells me something negative. That just tells me he won't be here." . . . Ken Griffey Jr. is finally saying what broke his throwing hand -- wrestling with his kids. The Cincinnati Reds center fielder said he was wrestling with his daughter and two younger sons on his yacht in the Bahamas this past December when the oldest jumped in and knocked him off balance. He landed awkwardly on his left hand. Griffey, who said the hand feels fine and he expects to be ready to go for spring training, had been silent about the cause of the offseason injury . . . Second baseman Ronnie Belliard agreed to a non-guaranteed, minor league contract with the Washington Nationals that will pay him $750,000 if he makes the team . . . The Los Angeles Dodgers and catcher Kelly Stinnett agreed to a minor league contract.

Tennis

Amelie Mauresmo won enough diamonds to last a lifetime. Kim Clijsters will have to do with golden memories. Mauresmo won a $1.3 million diamond-studded racket trophy, beating Clijsters, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), in the final of the Diamond Games tournament in Antwerp, Belgium. The victory spoiled Clijsters's farewell home match before a frenetic crowd of 14,500 at the Sports Palace. The 23-year-old Belgian has said she will retire at the end of the season. The 8.8-pound gold racket trophy studded with 1,702 diamonds was for the first player to win three titles in any five-year span, and Mauresmo also won in 2005 and last year . . . Gilles Simon won his first career title, beating seventh-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), at the Open 13 in Marseille, France . . . Wild card Guillermo Canas upset top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, in the Brazil Open final in Costa do Sauipe to win his first tournament since returning from a 15-month doping ban . . . Defending champion Andy Murray won his second career title, neutralizing Ivo Karlovic's big serve to win the SAP Open final, 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), in San Jose, Calif. . . . Yaraslova Shvedova won her first WTA Tour title by upsetting top-seeded defending champion Mara Santangelo, 6-4, 6-4, at the Sony Ericsson International in Bangalore, India.

Hockey

Rangers forward Brendan Shanahan was released from the hospital one day after he was knocked unconscious and taken off the ice on a stretcher. Then he made a surprise visit to New York's dressing room about an hour before the club's game against the Blackhawks last night. The 38-year-old left winger sustained a concussion when he slammed into Philadelphia's Mike Knuble during New York's 5-3 loss to the Flyers Saturday. Rangers coach Tom Renney said there didn't appear to be any neurological damage, but there is no timetable for Shanahan's return to the lineup . . . The Edmonton Oilers sent defensemen Marc-Andre Bergeron (eight goals and 16 assists in 55 games this season) to the New York Islanders for defenseman Denis Grebeshkov, a first-round draft pick in 2002 who is spending this season with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv in the Russian League . . . The Hartford Wolf Pack beat the host Providence Bruins, 4-1, to sweep the weekend series and drop the Bruins to third in the AHL's Atlantic Division.

Winter sports

Austria won the team competition title and finished with the most medals at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Are, Sweden. The host country was second in the team competition, while Switzerland finished third. The United States, without injured Bode Miller and many of its other top skiers, finished last among the 11 teams, finishing with 77 points, the lowest point total ever in the event. The Americans started badly with their first three skiers -- Kaylin Richardson, Ted Ligety, and Resi Stiegler -- all going off course in the super-G. Tim Jitloff was the only American to contribute significantly, posting the fourth-fastest time in the final speed leg. Miller skipped the team competition after injuring his knee in the opening leg of Saturday's slalom . . . Yevgeni Popov led Russia to a World Cup win in the four-man bobsled in Winterberg, Germany, and increased his lead over Steven Holcomb of the United States in the season title race. Russia I completed its two heats in 1 minute 51.08 seconds, with Holcomb's United States I finishing second in 1:51.11. With one race left, Popov has 640 points to Holcomb's 570 . . . Enrico Fabris of Italy edged Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands in the men's 1,500-meter speedskating event in Erfurt, Germany, setting up a showdown at the final World Cup event to decide the season title. Fabris finished in 1:45.50, with Wennemars at 1:45.82. Both Fabris and Wennemars have 440 points with only the World Cup in Calgary, Alberta, left to decide the title. Martina Sablikova won the women's 5,000 in 6:50.39.

Miscellany

Ronda Rousey of Wakefield won all four judo matches to win the 70-kilogram division at the Vienna World Cup . . . The San Diego Chargers finished the first round of interviews for their head coaching vacancy when they met with New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs . . . Brett Favre will have ankle surgery in the next few weeks, and Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy said the three-time MVP will have plenty of time to recover for minicamps . . . Levi Leipheimer repeated his winning performance from last year, leading an American sweep in the Amgen Tour of California prologue. First-year pro Jason Donald finished second in 4:50.49 and Ben Jacques-Maynes was third in 4:54.26 . . . Juan "Pachin" Vicens, a Puerto Rican basketball star who played in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, died at home in Ponce. He was 72.