Michigan State Quarterback Connor Cook Carves a Legacy With Pluck and Persistence

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/12/29/sports/29SPARTANS/29SPARTANS-master768.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="226" data-total-count="226" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">DALLAS — Alabama’s defense led the Football Bowl Subdivision with 46 sacks this season, but the Crimson Tide seemed to try to surpass that total in compliments directed at <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/michigan_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Michigan State University">Michigan State</a> quarterback Connor Cook on Monday.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="353" data-total-count="579" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">A few players likened Cook to the Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning for his ability to read defenses and adjust play calls. Alabama’s defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart, compared Cook to the Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan (when Ryan played at Boston College) and called Cook “by far” the best quarterback the No. 2 Tide (12-1) would face this season.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="208" data-total-count="787" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“We’re not going to put a defense out there now that Connor Cook hasn’t seen,” Smart said. “It’s not about tricking him. There is not a throw that he can’t make. He makes decisions so quick.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="301" data-total-count="1088" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook sealed his legacy in East Lansing Mich., by leading the No. 3 Spartans (12-1) to their second Big Ten championship in three years and a berth in Thursday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal in Arlington, Tex., with the winner advancing to play Clemson or Oklahoma for the national title.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="202" data-total-count="1290" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Hyperbole aside, the truth about Cook’s talents will be determined largely by Crimson Tide defenders who have treated most quarterbacks like human piñatas and forced opponents to pass at their peril.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="256" data-total-count="1546" id="story-continues-1" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook seemed slightly uncomfortable with all the praise, but his witty and engaging personality smoothly moved along the conversation. As a senior with a 34-4 record in three years as a starter, he certainly was not going to be rattled in a hotel ballroom.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="281" data-total-count="1827" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“I think he’s kind of playing it down a little bit,” Spartans center Jack Allen said. “He’s a perfectionist. At practice, you see guys, they make a mistake, it’s like they shrug it off as practice. But he’ll make a mistake, and it’s like it happened in the game.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="271" data-total-count="2098" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook’s style has been broken down into contradictions: He is accurate but does not have a gunslinger’s arm strength; he seldom outmaneuvers defenders, yet his footwork and clutch runs fueled a 22-play drive to beat Iowa in the final seconds of the Big Ten title game.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="146" data-total-count="2244" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“I’m not a dual threat by any means,” Cook said. “But a quarterback that I admire a lot is Tom Brady, even though he went to Michigan.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="278" data-total-count="2522" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook explained later that he was not comparing himself to Brady, a four-time champion with the New England Patriots. When Cook arrived at Michigan State as a freshman, though, he did want to fit the mold of Kirk Cousins, a former Spartans star now with the Washington Redskins.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="278" data-total-count="2522" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="361" data-total-count="2883" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“There were times in practice where the ball wouldn’t touch the ground,” Cook said, recalling Cousins’s workouts. “Every single ball was just right here, in the catch radius for every receiver. He was always making the right read; he was always putting in extra time in the film room. I just saw the way he carried himself on the field, off the field.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="255" data-total-count="3138" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“I thought, ‘Man, if I ever want to start one game here, I’ve got a lot of improvement to do.’ My goal was just to get better every single year, and with the first opportunity I got, I was going to go out there and grasp it and never look back.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="265" data-total-count="3403" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook, who won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and tied for ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting, needs 148 passing yards to eclipse Cousins’s Michigan State career record, 9,131. Cook has also thrown for 24 touchdowns this season, one shy of Cousins’s record.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="184" data-total-count="3587" id="story-continues-2" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“He wants to win more than anybody on the team,” wide receiver Aaron Burbridge said of Cook. “He’ll go out there, make a mistake, bounce right back and win the game for us.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="221" data-total-count="3808" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Burbridge added: “I think he has the same competitive drive as Tom Brady. Those long drives in the fourth quarter, you know he’s going to get the job done. It’s not just the arm and legs; it’s the drive to win.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="378" data-total-count="4186" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Like many Spartans, Cook was not highly rated as a recruit out of high school. Michigan State put Cook on its radar when he was a sophomore at Walsh Jesuit High in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where Pat Narduzzi, a Spartans assistant who is now Pittsburgh’s head coach, went to recruit another player. Cook was asked to help by throwing passes in the basketball gym for five minutes.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="296" data-total-count="4482" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“I’m some skinny sophomore probably throwing lollipops,” Cook recalled. Soon, he was receiving letters from Michigan State every week. When Cook threw 14 interceptions and only nine touchdown passes as a high school junior, he figured that his hopes of playing in the Big Ten were finished.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="150" data-total-count="4632" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“But I still got these letters from Michigan State,” Cook said. “Week after week. I’m thinking, ‘Why do they keep sending me these?’ ”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="101" data-total-count="4733" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook marveled at how the Spartans had kept faith in a three-star recruit they found by happenstance.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="218" data-total-count="4951" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“We’ve got guys who aren’t super highly recruited,” he said. “The coaching staff here is just very good at evaluating talent and getting guys that want to come in and are good players with good character.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="93" data-total-count="5044" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Cook took Alabama’s compliments in stride. Now he wants to avoid those Crimson Tide sacks.</div></div>

Michigan State Quarterback Connor Cook Carves a Legacy With Pluck and Persistence

DALLAS — Alabama’s defense led the Football Bowl Subdivision with 46 sacks this season, but the Crimson Tide seemed to try to surpass that t...

Read more »

A Young Athlete’s World of Pain, and Where It Led

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb01sub/05KARAGEORGEweb01sub-master675.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="264" data-total-count="264" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">COLUMBUS, Ohio — Linda Mulligan set off from her home around lunchtime, pushing a grocery cart, with her grandson Marcine at her side. It was a quiet day, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2014. The end of a holiday weekend, it was a fruitful day to scrap for cans.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="303" data-total-count="567" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">They came upon an alley lined with trash receptacles stuffed full. Mulligan had mapped out a specific route that would take her past about 20 Dumpsters and 45 smaller bins. A few blocks away was the drag of shops and bars that represented the eastern edge of the <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/o/ohio_state_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Ohio State University">Ohio State</a> campus, on North High Street.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="185" data-total-count="752" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">For the last few days, a search team had been combing the area, knocking on doors and handing out fliers. Kosta Karageorge, an Ohio State wrestler and football player, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/sports/ncaafootball/kosta-karageorge-ohio-state-walk-on-is-missing.html" style="color: #326891;">had gone missing</a>.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="188" data-total-count="940" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mulligan stopped at each of the Dumpsters, kicking them to make sure no animals were inside, before she got her footing, climbed in and sifted through the mess. Marcine, 8, mostly watched.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="178" data-total-count="1118" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">They looped around to another alley and then a third, wedged between Courtland Avenue and Indianola Avenue. Karageorge had last been seen at his apartment at the end of the lane.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="257" data-total-count="1375" id="story-continues-1" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">At the Ohio State-Michigan football game the day before, the administration had shown his picture on the scoreboard, hoping for leads. The only clue about his whereabouts had been a few text messages Karageorge had sent his mother the night he went missing.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="45" data-total-count="1420" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“im sorry i hope im not an embarrasment.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="84" data-total-count="1504" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“my heads been so [expletive] latly from a these concussioms i really am sorry.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="186" data-total-count="1690" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">In the alley, Marcine wandered ahead of Mulligan and checked a receptacle. The green Dumpster, coated in graffiti, did not typically yield anything of value. Mulligan usually skipped it.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="186" data-total-count="1690" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="186" data-total-count="1876" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Marcine lifted the lid, got on his tiptoes and peeked inside. He shut it immediately and ran to his grandmother with tears in his eyes. “Grandma,” he shouted, “there’s a body!”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="300" data-total-count="2176" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Mulligan peered inside. Next to three clear trash bags and a flattened cardboard box, a large man lay on his side, wearing all black, the hood of a sweatshirt pulled over his head. Kosta Karageorge, age 22. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/01/sports/ncaafootball/kosta-karageorge-missing-ohio-state-football-player-found-dead.html" style="color: #326891;">A gun rested next to his right hand</a>, and blood dripping from his mouth had dried on his chin.</div></div><h4 class="story-subheading story-content" data-para-count="15" data-total-count="2191" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.8125rem; margin: 33px 0px 14px 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">A Familiar Path</h4><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="224" data-total-count="2415" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Kostadinos Karageorge was born a hefty 10 pounds 13.4 ounces, the second child and only son of George and Susan Karageorge. From early on, the Karageorges found their son to be a bundle of energy, physical and always moving.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="443" data-total-count="2858" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">George and his brother, Jim, had grown up hooked on football and wrestling, the sport of their Greek ancestors. Jim cracked three helmets in high school, wrestled at Ohio University and withstood so many injuries that the trainer essentially had to beg him to quit. Once, George was knocked out while covering a punt and woke up in a hospital, disoriented. Someone had to pull off his leg hair to rouse him. He resumed playing two weeks later.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="256" data-total-count="3114" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Together, George and Jim Karageorge started young Kosta on the same path they took: contact sports at age 10, push-ups at 12, weight lifting at 14. They taught him football and coached him through wrestling, always looking over his shoulder, giving advice.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="125" data-total-count="3239" id="story-continues-2" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Family functions often ended with spontaneous wrestling matches in the living room, Kosta Karageorge trying to pin his uncle.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="256" data-total-count="3495" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">In eighth grade, after Karageorge failed to qualify for the state wrestling tournament, he became motivated to lift and wrestle more and more. He wrote his weight class on his hand, between his thumb and index finger, right where he would grip the barbell.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="269" data-total-count="3764" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: start; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Around the same time, the family noticed Karageorge was developing small bald spots. He was so self-conscious that he kept his hair buzzed short to hide them. A doctor diagnosed stress-related alopecia, attributed to all the sports-related pressure he was experiencing.</div></div><br /><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004450271 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004450271" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb02/05KARAGEORGEweb02-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; text-align: start; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Photographs of Karageorge. His father and his uncle taught him football and coached him through wrestling." data-mediaviewer-credit="Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times" data-mediaviewer-src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb02/05KARAGEORGEweb02-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb02/05KARAGEORGEweb02-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb02/05KARAGEORGEweb02-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; width: 645px;" /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-between; margin-top: 789px;"><div class="story-body story-body-1" style="flex-grow: 0; position: relative; width: 705px;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="446" data-total-count="4210" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">That pressure only intensified in high school, once Karageorge hit his growth spurt, showed big potential and started wrestling for Thomas Worthington High. He exercised year-round with his longtime wrestling coach, Jeremiah Webber, following two-hour lifting sessions with hourlong runs, stopping only to vomit. After a knee operation, Karageorge showed up in the weight room in a wheelchair. “I can lift my arms, can’t I?” he told Webber.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="410" data-total-count="4620" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">A growing force in football and wrestling, Karageorge obsessed over getting bigger. He snacked on grilled chicken during class for protein. He ate so much at lunch that he kept a trash can next to his table in case his gag reflex kicked in. Over four years of high school, he gained about 100 pounds, transforming himself from a short and stocky youth into a tall, well-toned athlete, a legitimate heavyweight.</div></div><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/sports/kosta-karageorge-cte-concussions-suicide.html?ref=ncaafootball&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=ED55EB1FD310B553336A774C334B067A&gwt=pay#story-continues-3" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); color: #326891; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a></div><div class="supplemental first" id="supplemental-1" style="display: flex; text-align: left; width: 360px;"></div></div><div class="story-interrupter" id="story-continues-3"><div class="ad mega-ad request-pending nocontent robots-nocontent" id="MegaAd" style="height: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; width: 1125px;"><div class="accessibility-ad-header visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;"><div style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em;"><div style="text-align: left;">Advertisement</div></div></div><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/sports/kosta-karageorge-cte-concussions-suicide.html?ref=ncaafootball&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=ED55EB1FD310B553336A774C334B067A&gwt=pay#story-continues-4" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); color: #326891; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a><br /><div class="mega-ad-creative"></div></div></div><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-between;"><div class="story-body story-body-2" style="flex-grow: 0; position: relative; width: 705px;"><h4 class="story-subheading story-content" data-para-count="26" data-total-count="4646" style="font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.8125rem; margin: 33px 0px 14px 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">‘A Bear’ of a Wrestler</h4><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="258" data-total-count="4904" id="story-continues-4" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">For at least a few months, Karageorge and a friend, Mitch Crocker, tried taking prohormones, a testosterone booster they bought hoping it would help them achieve faster muscle growth. But, Crocker said, the substance made them “just angry at everything.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="294" data-total-count="5198" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge and his friends took out their aggression by starting a fight club, modeling it after the one in the 1999 movie. They gathered in backyards and had two people brawl with their bare knuckles until someone quit or was knocked out. Karageorge would not stop until his opponent squealed.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="225" data-total-count="5423" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“He could never find anyone big enough to fight him,” Crocker said. “He would always want to fight. He would take on two guys at once, and no one even wanted to do that because he was so big and strong and just mean.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="347" data-total-count="5770" id="story-continues-5" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge eventually quit football to focus on wrestling. He dreamed of winning a state title and competing in the Olympics. One summer he trained in Russia with a renowned coach, wrestling against men. His senior year, Karageorge drew interest from two premier programs, Iowa and Oklahoma. Entering the state tournament, he was undefeated, 37-0.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="254" data-total-count="6024" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“The matches were ridiculous,” Webber recalled. “He had at least 10 kids forfeit, not even willing to wrestle him because he was such a monster. He had to treat these other wrestlers like children. It was like watching a bear play with children.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="188" data-total-count="6212" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge lost twice in the state tournament. After the first loss, he said he was quitting and started walking home. After the second loss, he threw his sixth-place medal in the garbage.</div></div><br /><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004451962 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004451962" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Karageorge, a star wrestler in high school, competing for Ohio State in 2013." data-mediaviewer-credit="Jim Davidson/the-Ozone.net" data-mediaviewer-src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub/05KARAGEORGEweb03sub-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; width: 645px;" /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="227" data-total-count="6439" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">In the weeks prior, he had shown signs of mental instability. He was stressed about the tournament, choosing a college and raising his standardized test score so he could qualify academically to compete at a Division I program.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="373" data-total-count="6812" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Before one of the final wrestling practices, Webber noticed Karageorge was absent. Webber drove to Karageorge’s house, let himself in the back door and found Karageorge alone in the basement. He was sitting on his weight bench, cleaning two of his guns, a pistol and a rifle, with tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know if I can win the state title,” he said.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="228" data-total-count="7040" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Alarmed, Webber wanted an explanation. Karageorge said cleaning his guns helped him relax, and Webber persuaded him to return to practice. Webber later pulled Karageorge aside. “What’s going on in your head? Are you O.K.?”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="84" data-total-count="7124" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“I don’t know,” Karageorge said. “I’m just so nervous. I’m so scared.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="44" data-total-count="7168" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“Were you going to hurt yourself today?”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="29" data-total-count="7197" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“No. I don’t know. No.”</div></div><h4 class="story-subheading story-content" data-para-count="24" data-total-count="7221" style="font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.8125rem; margin: 33px 0px 14px 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">A History of Concussions</h4><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="271" data-total-count="7492" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">One of Karageorge’s first concussions — at least that his parents knew about — he sustained early in high school when he accidentally head-butted his opponent, a fairly common occurrence when wrestlers grappled. “Got his bell rung pretty good,” his father said.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="477" data-total-count="7969" id="story-continues-6" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge started his wrestling career at Oklahoma and then transferred to Ohio State, joining the team there without an athletic scholarship. He sustained more blows to the head as he faced opponents his own size. But he learned to hide his concussion symptoms from his parents and his coaches, partly because the stakes were higher and also because he believed it was important to always do what he deemed most manly. That became the general rule by which he lived his life.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="233" data-total-count="8202" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">His senior year in college, he lived in an apartment with five other wrestlers and earned the title “alpha male of the house.” He challenged his roommates to outlift him, to outeat him, to beat him in the video game Call of Duty.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="297" data-total-count="8499" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">He had a weight bench installed on the porch and made his roommates lift in their downtime. He surprised them with wrestling moves, breaking furniture in the living room. Everything was a competition, so he kept a running score of everyone’s Man Points, awarding or deducting them as he saw fit.</div></div><br /><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004450259 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004450259" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb04/05KARAGEORGEweb04-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="A flier about Karageorge’s disappearance remained on a pole days after his body had been found." data-mediaviewer-credit="Jay LaPrete/Associated Press" data-mediaviewer-src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb04/05KARAGEORGEweb04-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb04/05KARAGEORGEweb04-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb04/05KARAGEORGEweb04-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; width: 645px;" /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="176" data-total-count="8675" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">On the wall of his room, Karageorge hung a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his idol. He also kept at least one of his guns, a .40-caliber pistol, safely tucked away in a case.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="348" data-total-count="9023" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">He had become something of a gun connoisseur. Following his father’s and his uncle’s lead, he took his first gun safety course at 11 and went on his first hunting trip as a young teenager. He brought his friends skeet shooting and to the gun range for fun. He attended gun shows, built his gun collection and bought and sold guns on Craigslist.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="94" data-total-count="9117" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“He was very much into the machinery — the power behind them,” his sister, Sophia, said.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="193" data-total-count="9310" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge felt similarly about trucks and motorcycles. Around campus, he was instantly recognizable, riding his chopper, his hair long, wearing a leather jacket adorned with the American flag.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="305" data-total-count="9615" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">And those tattoos. On his back he had Atlas holding up the globe because, he said, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He had an image of Zeus, and of Hades next to his three-headed dog, Cerberus. Down the back of one arm, he had “Pain is temporary.” On the other: “Pride is forever.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="65" data-total-count="9680" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">On the inside of his lower lip he tattooed the word “Brutal.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="150" data-total-count="9830" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“If you didn’t know him, he looked scary,” said Bo Jordan, a roommate. “In my mind he was the manliest guy I knew, the toughest guy I knew.”</div></div><h4 class="story-subheading story-content" data-para-count="18" data-total-count="9848" style="font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.8125rem; margin: 33px 0px 14px 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">A Football Walk-On</h4><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="283" data-total-count="10131" id="story-continues-7" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge joined the Ohio State football team as a walk-on his senior year, almost as if he wanted to prove he could. At 6 feet 6 and 285 pounds, he had the requisite size. Those close to him also knew he felt ashamed that, as a senior, he was merely a backup on the wrestling team.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="258" data-total-count="10389" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">After graduation, he planned to go into business with his uncle; move to Athens, Ohio, into a house next to his sister; and transition into a quieter life. He seemed to view playing football as perhaps his last chance to achieve the athletic glory he craved.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="248" data-total-count="10637" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">But Karageorge had not played football in more than four years. On the defensive line, one of the deepest position groups on a team that eventually won the national championship, he was lost in the shuffle. He did not play a single snap all season.</div></div><br /><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004450260 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004450260" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb06/05KARAGEORGEweb06-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Linda Mulligan, left, and her grandson Marcine in the alley where they found Karageorge’s body in 2014." data-mediaviewer-credit="Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times" data-mediaviewer-src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb06/05KARAGEORGEweb06-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb06/05KARAGEORGEweb06-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb06/05KARAGEORGEweb06-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; width: 645px;" /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="341" data-total-count="10978" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">On the last night of Karageorge’s life, he went to a party with his girlfriend and a football teammate, Craig Fada. It was the Tuesday before the Michigan game, the night of the Mirror Lake Jump, an Ohio State tradition. Thousands of students would be leaping into the lake at midnight. Many of them would keep warm by drinking beforehand.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="200" data-total-count="11178" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge seemed upbeat. He kept talking about the game. First thing that morning, he had called Webber, his wrestling coach, wondering aloud whether he might finally play that weekend on Senior Day.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="63" data-total-count="11241" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“Maybe I’ll get a couple of snaps,” he had said brightly.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="335" data-total-count="11576" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Midway through the party, Karageorge and his girlfriend got into a heated argument. She locked herself in a bathroom. When she emerged, she said she was leaving and marched out the door. Karageorge, Fada and her friends trailed behind. The yelling continued outside. Suddenly, Karageorge’s girlfriend struck him in the head and left.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="91" data-total-count="11667" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“Man,” Karageorge said, turning to Fada, “she just hit me in the face really hard.”</div></div><h4 class="story-subheading story-content" data-para-count="25" data-total-count="11692" style="font-size: 1.5625rem; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.8125rem; margin: 33px 0px 14px 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Questions After a Suicide</h4><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="274" data-total-count="11966" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“He shot himself here,” Karageorge’s father said, holding his right hand in the shape of a gun and pointing his finger at his forehead, between the eyes. “Was he leaning his head against the gun in the Dumpster because his headaches were so bad? You don’t know.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="363" data-total-count="12329" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">After the coroner ruled Karageorge’s death a suicide and an Ohio State doctor examined his brain, the family had it shipped to a brain bank in Bedford, Mass. The brain bank — operated in partnership with Boston University, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Concussion Legacy Foundation — had handled the brains of dozens of former football players.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="160" data-total-count="12489" id="story-continues-8" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">The Karageorges told the researchers that their son had sustained about 15 concussions. But they were not certain. He had rarely shared details of his injuries.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="195" data-total-count="12684" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">He sustained his last known concussion during football practice about two months before he died. It kept him out for about three weeks, his parents said. Ohio State doctors handled his treatment.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="417" data-total-count="13101" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="direction: ltr; text-align: left;">Dr. Andrew Thomas, the chief medical officer for the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, declined to discuss Karageorge’s care specifically, saying that his family had not given proper authorization. But Thomas expressed confidence in Ohio State’s team of medical providers. He said they were required to follow a detailed procedure in evaluating a concussed athlete before allowing the athlete to return to action.</div></div><br /><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004450262 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004450262" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb07/05KARAGEORGEweb07-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/05/sports/05KARAGEORGEweb07/05KARAGEORGEweb07-master675.jpg" /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="121" data-total-count="13222" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“It’s really in the hands of the trainers and doctors to make that decision,” Thomas said in a telephone interview.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="192" data-total-count="13414" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">After Karageorge died, Michael Bennett, a friend on the football team, told reporters he thought that Karageorge did not report more potential concussions because he wanted to keep practicing.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="274" data-total-count="13688" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">At one point that fall, Karageorge had called Webber, apologizing for not being in touch. He explained that he had not been able to look at his phone’s bright screen because it gave him a headache and made him dizzy. He had to ask his girlfriend to dial the phone for him.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="179" data-total-count="13867" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Karageorge told Webber about the headaches, the vomiting, the symptoms that scared him. Once, while shopping with his girlfriend, he had broken down crying for no apparent reason.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="375" data-total-count="14242" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Around the house, he stopped playing video games as often as he had and spent more time in his room. His roommates said he seemed moody, fighting over small things like the cable bill. He told friends that he felt as if someone were following him. He told others about a buzzing noise in his head. He often stopped conversations midsentence, having lost his train of thought.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="255" data-total-count="14497" id="story-continues-9" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“We raised our son to be a strong man, and maybe that was his downfall,” George Karageorge said. “He wasn’t complaining and crying. My wife coddled him, but I was more: ‘One of these days you’re going to be depended upon to step forward.’”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="72" data-total-count="14569" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Rubbing his forehead, George said, “There’s a ton of guilt there.”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="251" data-total-count="14820" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">After the concussion in football practice, Kosta Karageorge seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. He asked his mother for a ride to the doctor because he knew he was not supposed to drive. She took him every day for a few weeks, she said.</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="171" data-total-count="14991" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;">“They wanted him to come back sooner than he was ready,” Susan Karageorge said, referring to the football team, “and I remember telling him, ‘Do not go back.’”</div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="171" data-total-count="14991" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/22/sports/27KARAGEORGEweb10SUB/27KARAGEORGEweb10SUB-master675.jpg" /></div></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="171" data-total-count="14991" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; width: 570px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative; text-align: left;"></div></figure></div></figure></div></figure></div></figure></div></div></div></figure></div>

A Young Athlete’s World of Pain, and Where It Led

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Linda Mulligan set off from her home around lunchtime, pushing a grocery cart, with her grandson Marcine at her side. It wa...

Read more »

Two Defending Champions, but Two Outlooks, at Wimbledon

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/27/us/27clarey/27clarey-master675.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; justify-content: space-between; text-align: start;"><div class="story-body story-body-1" style="flex-grow: 0; position: relative; width: 705px;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="235" data-total-count="235" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">WIMBLEDON, England — The not-so-United Kingdom clearly has bigger concerns than a mere tennis tournament, with the focus on the country’s leaving the European Union and on England’s remaining in soccer’s European Championships.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="53" data-total-count="288" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">It’s rather strange how that timing has worked out.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="218" data-total-count="506" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">But no matter what is transpiring in the wider, less orderly world, there is still plenty to play for in the bubble of Wimbledon, where the grass — at least on Henman Hill — looks even greener than usual this year.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="164" data-total-count="670" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">On the eve of the tournament on Sunday, the defending champions <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/novak_djokovic/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Novak Djokovic.">Novak Djokovic</a> and <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/serena_williams/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Serena Williams.">Serena Williams</a> spoke back-to-back in the interview room at the All England Club.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="351" data-total-count="1021" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Neither has played an official event since the <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/french_open_tennis/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about the French Open.">French Open</a>. Both sat with their hands folded in front of them. Both spoke more softly and slowly than usual, but only Williams seemed subdued, keeping her answers terse, even to questions that lent themselves to rambling on, and not so subtly checking her watch as the allotted 15 minutes neared an end.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="300" data-total-count="1321" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">She has had a fine season by nearly anyone else’s standards, reaching the finals at the Australian Open and the French Open and remaining No. 1 in the rankings. But it has definitely been a downbeat year for her, with upset losses to Angelique Kerber in Melbourne and to Garbiñe Muguruza in Paris.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="286" data-total-count="1607" id="story-continues-1" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Williams’s mood on Sunday could be taken two different ways: One, she is still reeling, or two (and much more likely), she is simmering and much more interested in crushing serves and returns and restoring the tennis universe to its natural order than in the question-and-answer game.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="154" data-total-count="1761" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“I’m definitely ready to start playing at this point,” she said. “I’m kind of over practicing every day for two hours, then going to the gym.”</div><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/sports/tennis/serena-williams-and-novak-djokovic-the-defending-wimbledon-champions-have-disparate-story-lines.html?ref=tennis&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=66B3DC2053EF95F326518590B3875CBB&gwt=pay#story-continues-2" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); color: #326891; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a></div><div class="supplemental first" id="supplemental-1" style="display: flex; flex-flow: column nowrap; justify-content: flex-start; width: 360px;"></div></div><div class="story-interrupter" id="story-continues-2" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><div class="ad mega-ad request-pending nocontent robots-nocontent" id="MegaAd" style="height: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: center; width: 1125px;"><div class="accessibility-ad-header visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;"><div style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;">Advertisement</div></div><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/27/sports/tennis/serena-williams-and-novak-djokovic-the-defending-wimbledon-champions-have-disparate-story-lines.html?ref=tennis&mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=66B3DC2053EF95F326518590B3875CBB&gwt=pay#story-continues-3" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); color: #326891; height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a><br /><div class="mega-ad-creative"></div></div></div><div class="story-body-supplemental" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; justify-content: space-between; text-align: start;"><div class="story-body story-body-2" style="flex-grow: 0; position: relative; width: 705px;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="119" data-total-count="1880" id="story-continues-3" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">When she won here last year, Williams held all four of the Grand Slam singles titles. Now she holds only Wimbledon’s.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="348" data-total-count="2228" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Djokovic, her dancing partner at last year’s champions dinner, is the one on the history-making roll now. He’s the first man to hold all four major titles since Rod Laver in 1969 and the player with a chance to do what Williams could not quite manage last year by completing the Grand Slam and winning all four majors in the same calendar year.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="348" data-total-count="2228" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="208" data-total-count="2436" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">I asked Williams what she might tell Djokovic after her unsuccessful chase last year, which ended two rounds short of the Grand Slam when she was stunned in the <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/united_states_open_tennis/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about the U.S. Open (Tennis).">United States Open</a> semifinals by Roberta Vinci.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="117" data-total-count="2553" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“You know, he has every opportunity to do it,” she said. “I think he’ll get it easy, so he should be fine.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="121" data-total-count="2674" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Easy sounds unlikely, given the pressure and fatigue that will surely build up in a year that also features the Olympics.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="257" data-total-count="2931" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Less than an hour after Djokovic won the French Open this month for his first Roland Garros title, the former star Henri Leconte walked past the Djokovic camp in the players’ lounge and said theatrically: “Two to go! Two to go! Oh, my God! Two to go!”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="170" data-total-count="3101" id="story-continues-4" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Marian Vajda, one of Djokovic’s coaches, laughed. This was Leconte, one of tennis’s class clowns, after all. Vajda, in typical fashion, then acknowledged the reality.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="336" data-total-count="3437" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“Real Grand Slam, now we can think about it,” Vajda said. “This was a real mental breakthrough for Novak, to win in Paris. And now he needs to focus on going to Wimbledon fresh and going for the U.S. Open, and there’s obviously the Olympic Games in the middle, so it’s too many goals in a row. It makes it more complicated.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="283" data-total-count="3720" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">More compelling, too, and all the more so because Djokovic surely never gave the Grand Slam too much serious thought earlier in his career. He was too preoccupied with leveling the playing field with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to think about outclassing the field to this degree.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="299" data-total-count="4019" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Even Djokovic’s biggest supporters — his family — were not thinking about it. Vajda said he ran into Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, at a restaurant in Paris during the French Open. Srdjan was with a group of friends and asked Vajda to tell the group what Srdjan had told him when they first met.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="320" data-total-count="4339" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“You told me he will be No. 1,” Vajda replied, “and I started laughing because I thought you were joking with me. And Novak’s father said: ‘No, I was not joking. I knew he was going to be No. 1, knew it, but I forgot one thing. I didn’t know he would be dominating so much in the tennis world one day.’ ”</div><br /><br /><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004496041 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004496041" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/27/sports/27CLAREY-web/27CLAREY-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/27/sports/27CLAREY-web/27CLAREY-web-master675.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="311" data-total-count="4650" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">But here Djokovic is, undoubtedly the world’s top player on all surfaces, with a 47-6 record against the top 10 during the past two seasons. He has done it, in part, by learning how to conserve his physical and emotional energy — unplugging from the game when necessary, which he did again before Wimbledon.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="380" data-total-count="5030" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“Winning Roland Garros was obviously one of the most memorable and beautiful moments of my career,” said Djokovic, who will face James Ward of Britain in the opening match on Centre Court on Monday. “Also, it took a lot out of me. I thought that it’s more important for me to just rejuvenate and rest a little bit from tennis and then come back preparing for Wimbledon.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="390" data-total-count="5420" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">He does not plan to overplay. Defend his title at Wimbledon, and it is entirely possible that he will play only the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the United States Open in the two months that follow. But there are other temptations, including a Davis Cup quarterfinal versus Britain (and Andy Murray) in July and the Rogers Cup in Toronto, which could serve as a hardcourt warm-up for Rio.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="282" data-total-count="5702" id="story-continues-5" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">The Grand Slam is such a rare prize that it bears sacrificing other worthy goals, as Williams is better placed than anyone to grasp. She has not been the same irresistible force since that loss to Vinci in September, and Wimbledon is full of ghosts as well as big victories for her.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="430" data-total-count="6132" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Not that she remembers them all. On Sunday, she could not recall any of the details of her first appearance in 1998 (she retired in the third round versus Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain). But she surely remembers losing to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round in 2013 and to Alizé Cornet in the third round in 2014, just as she surely remembers beating Muguruza in straight sets last year to win her sixth Wimbledon singles title.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="216" data-total-count="6348" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“This year, I don’t feel as much tension as I usually do,” she said. “Well, there’s some years that I haven’t felt any tension, either. I’m feeling pretty good. I don’t feel any pressure or stress.”</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="294" data-total-count="6642" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">In truth, it was a challenge to sense what Williams was feeling on Sunday, and she will now let her racket do the talking, beginning with her first-round match on Tuesday versus Amra Sadikovic of Switzerland, 27, who retired in May 2014 but is now back for more and making her Grand Slam debut.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="225" data-total-count="6867" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Williams, at 34, knows too well that life is full of such surprises, and surprise has been the rule of late in the women’s game, with the now-retired Flavia Pennetta, Kerber and Muguruza winning the past three major titles.</div><button class="button comments-button theme-speech-bubble-large" data-skip-to-para-id="" style="align-self: center; border-radius: 3px; border: none; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; display: flex; flex-direction: column; float: right; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.6875rem; line-height: 0.8125rem; margin: 7px 60px 30px 30px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.3s; vertical-align: middle;"></button><br /><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="103" data-total-count="6970" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“Think about how many women now know that they have an opening,” said Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="493" data-total-count="7463" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">“During most of the Serena era, the players have felt there was no opening for them,” she continued, “so the question is, who is big enough to walk through it, especially at Wimbledon, where there’s more media and where you better have control of your breathing and know how to manage your nerves more than anywhere else? Because there’s a quietness and an aura about the place, and if you’re not firmly planted with two feet with your confidence, it will knock you off balance.”</div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"></div></figure></div></div></div>

Two Defending Champions, but Two Outlooks, at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — The not-so-United Kingdom clearly has bigger concerns than a mere tennis tournament, with the focus on the country’s le...

Read more »

Novak Djokovic Would Face Roger Federer in Wimbledon Semifinals

<div dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon1-web/25Wimbledon1-web-master768.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="198" data-total-count="198" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">WIMBLEDON, England — <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/novak_djokovic/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Novak Djokovic.">Novak Djokovic</a> and <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/roger_federer/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Roger Federer.">Roger Federer</a> have met in the last two Wimbledon finals, but if Federer is to stop the dominant run Djokovic is on, he will have to do it in the semifinals.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="204" data-total-count="402" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Federer, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, is seeded third here after missing the <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/french_open_tennis/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about the French Open.">French Open</a> with a back injury, and on Friday he was placed in Djokovic’s half of the draw, which will begin play Monday.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="145" data-total-count="547" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Friday’s draw laid out the possible obstacles to a historic summer for the top-ranked Djokovic, who currently holds all four Grand Slam titles.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="205" data-total-count="752" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Djokovic has won Wimbledon the past two years, and another victory at the All England Club would set up an attempt at the first men’s singles Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969 at the <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/united_states_open_tennis/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about the U.S. Open (Tennis).">United States Open</a>.</div><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004492661 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004492661" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon2-web/25Wimbledon2-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; text-align: start; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Roger Federer has won seven Wimbledon tournaments, the last in 2012." data-mediaviewer-credit="Peter Klaunzer/European Pressphoto Agency" data-mediaviewer-src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon2-web/25Wimbledon2-web-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon2-web/25Wimbledon2-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon2-web/25Wimbledon2-web-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; width: 645px;" /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="154" data-total-count="906" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">With an Olympic gold medal also at stake this summer, Djokovic would have a shot at a Golden Slam, a feat only achieved in singles by Steffi Graf in 1988.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="214" data-total-count="1120" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Djokovic, who opens against 177th-ranked James Ward of Britain, has a favorable draw until the quarterfinals, where he could face sixth-seeded Milos Raonic before a potential meeting with Federer in the semifinals.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="304" data-total-count="1424" id="story-continues-1" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Whether Federer is in strong enough form to make a deep run is one of this tournament’s biggest questions. He lost in the semifinals of grass-court events in Stuttgart and Halle coming into Wimbledon, but said <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/sports/tennis/for-injury-plagued-roger-federer-semifinal-loss-on-the-grass-is-progress.html" style="color: #326891;">he was “fairly satisfied”</a> with his rehabilitation from knee and back injuries this year.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="117" data-total-count="1541" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">The seeds in Federer’s quarter of the draw include No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 9 Marin Cilic and No. 17 Gaël Monfils.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="155" data-total-count="1696" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Second-seeded Andy Murray, who lost to Djokovic in the final of the Australian and French Opens this year, will open against his fellow Briton Liam Broady.</div><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004492666 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004492666" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon3-web/25Wimbledon3-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Serena Williams is seeking her first Grand Slam title since she won at Wimbledon last year. She opens play on Tuesday against a qualifier." data-mediaviewer-credit="Peter Klaunzer/European Pressphoto Agency" data-mediaviewer-src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon3-web/25Wimbledon3-web-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon3-web/25Wimbledon3-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon3-web/25Wimbledon3-web-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; text-align: left; width: 645px;" /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="245" data-total-count="1941" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">His half of the draw, which begins play Tuesday, is a who’s who of the future of men’s tennis, featuring eighth-seeded <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/18/sports/tennis/dominic-thiem-the-hardest-working-man-in-tennis.html" style="color: #326891;">Dominic Thiem</a>, 22; No. 24 Alexander Zverev, 19; and No. 15 Nick Kyrgios, 21, a potential fourth-round opponent for Murray.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="286" data-total-count="2227" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Thiem, coming off a semifinal berth at the French Open, achieved his highest seeding at a Grand Slam event, but in the first round will face Florian Mayer, who beat Thiem in the semifinals in Halle last week. Zverev or No. 10 Tomas Berdych are possible fourth-round opponents for Thiem.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="266" data-total-count="2493" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Also in Murray’s half of the draw, fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka will face the American teenager Taylor Fritz in the first round before a possible second-round meeting with Juan Martín del Potro, a former semifinalist here before wrist injuries derailed his career.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="196" data-total-count="2689" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">In the women’s draw, top-seeded <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/serena_williams/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="color: #326891;" title="More articles about Serena Williams.">Serena Williams</a>, who is seeking her first Grand Slam title since last year’s Wimbledon, begins play Tuesday against the qualifier Amra Sadikovic of Switzerland.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="249" data-total-count="2938" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">The highest seed in her quarter of the draw is No. 6 Roberta Vinci, who upset Williams in the semifinals of the United States Open last year. But Vinci faces a difficult first-round test against the American Alison Riske, who excels on grass courts.</div><figure aria-label="media" class="media photo embedded layout-large-horizontal media-100000004492668 ratio-tall" data-media-action="modal" id="media-100000004492668" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon4-web/25Wimbledon4-web-master675.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="clear: both; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin: 45px 0px; max-width: none; position: relative; width: 645px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/06/25/sports/25Wimbledon4-web/25Wimbledon4-web-master675.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="238" data-total-count="3176" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">In the third round, Williams could play Heather Watson of Britain, who<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/04/sports/tennis/heather-watsons-memorable-defeat-at-wimbledon-packs-a-sting.html" style="color: #326891;">came within two points</a> of beating Williams at Wimbledon last year, or Kristina Mladenovic of France, who lost a tight third-round match to Williams at the French Open.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="191" data-total-count="3367" id="story-continues-2" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska; No. 7 Belinda Bencic, who has struggled with injuries this year; and No. 10 Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, are also in Williams’s half of the draw.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="184" data-total-count="3551" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">The French Open champion, Garbiñe Muguruza, is seeded second after reaching the final here last year as the No. 20 seed. She plays Camila Giorgi of Italy in the first round on Monday.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="297" data-total-count="3848" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">The eighth-seeded Venus Williams is a possible quarterfinal opponent for Muguruza, while No. 4 Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open winner; No. 5 Simona Halep; and No. 9 Madison Keys, who entered the top 10 for the first time this week, loom in the other quarter as possible semifinal challenges.</div><div class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="170" data-total-count="4018" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.625rem; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 75px; max-width: none; text-align: left; width: 570px;">Muguruza’s quarter also features a first-round match between the doubles partners Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who have won two Grand Slam titles together.</div></div><div class="image" style="cursor: pointer; flex-shrink: 0; margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"></div></figure></div></figure></div></figure></div>

Novak Djokovic Would Face Roger Federer in Wimbledon Semifinals

WIMBLEDON, England —  Novak Djokovic  and  Roger Federer  have met in the last two Wimbledon finals, but if Federer is to stop the dominant ...

Read more »