Tennis » Dinara Safina finished the best year of her career with tears in her eyes on Wednesday, as a serious back injury ended her season and her hold on the No. 1 ranking she owned for much of 2009.

Safina lasted just 13 minutes in her first round-robin match of the Sony Ericsson Championships at Doha, Qatar, before calling it quits while serving at 1-1 against Jelena Jankovic .

Her withdrawal meant she lost the year-end No. 1 ranking to Serena Williams , a sour ending to a season that saw her become firmly established as one of the sport's stars.

 

FC Dallas fires its general manager

MLS » FC Dallas has fired general manager Michael Hitchcock , who ran the front office for the last four years.

Hitchcock's dismissal was announced Tuesday by team owner Clark Hunt .

FC Dallas reached the playoffs twice under Hitchcock, but fell short this season. The team was 48-47-27 in his tenure.

The team will not hire a new GM. Instead, a technical director will be hired to assist coach Schellas Hyndman .

 

LPGA selects a new commissioner

Golf » The LPGA Tour has picked Michael Whan to be its new commissioner, turning to a former marketing executive in golf and hockey equipment to rebuild the tour's relationships with sponsors.

He was selected

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following a three-month search to replace Carolyn Bivens , whom the players forced out in July as the LPGA Tour kept losing sponsors.

Acting commissioner Marty Evans will stay on the rest of the year. Whan will start in January.

The Associated Press