Welcome back to Keeping Score, our Friday column that highlights the personalities, teams and games that sports fans are talking about — by the numbers.
4: How many games should win a set of tennis, according to Novak Djokovic
Baseball shortened the game with a pitch clock, and fans largely approved. Should tennis do something similar? Novak Djokovic revealed some radical proposals to speed up tennis matches on the Nick Knows the Ball podcast. Djokovic suggested shortening sets from six games to win down to four and eliminating ad-play on deuce games. "Best of five sets. Keep the matches within a two-hour window. It’s best for everyone,” he said. The 39-year-old Djokovic will be looking for his 25th grand slam title in men’s singles later this month at the US Open. He'll also be competing in the US Open's revamped mixed doubles format with Aryna Sabalenka.
245: Distance in yards from the green that Tiger Woods was when he hit a 2-iron from a semi-plugged lie in a fairway bunker to the front edge
Four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay is still telling Tiger Woods stories from their college days together at Stanford, and we're still listening. Asked on the Vanity Index podcast if he had ever seen Woods hit a shot that no one else could hit, Begay reminisced about a college round when Woods hit a fairway bunker shot so hard that "it sounded like the hand of God." After Woods' shot, a despondent Begay sat in his golf cart and said, "I'm just not that good."
5: Additional Sphere projects Knicks owner James Dolan wants to build in the next five years
Prior to the New York Knicks winning the 2026 NBA Championship, owner James Dolan's biggest success was his Las Vegas Sphere entertainment venue, which has hosted U2, the Backstreet Boys and currently packs them in for a special cut of The Wizard of Oz. This week, Sphere Entertainment Co. reported second-quarter revenue of $313.6 million, up nearly 30% from the same period last year. On the earnings call, Dolan predicted that next year's Knicks season will be "the most fun season as fans that we've ever had in my ownership."
96*: How many times Notre Dame has played USC in football
One of college football's great rivalries is only going to be on hiatus for a few seasons, after Notre Dame and USC announced they will face off again in 2030 for the first of a four-game series. After last season’s game (ND 34, USC 24), the future of the fixture was in doubt. The schools first played each other in 1926, and their legendary clashes include the 1977 "Trojan Horse Game," where the Fighting Irish surprised the Trojans by emerging from behind a student-constructed Trojan Horse in their rarely worn green jerseys. A 7-point underdog, Notre Dame won 49-19 in a game that Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana called one of his favorite college memories.
*Notre Dame leads the series 53 to 38, with 5 ties, but a 2005 USC victory was vacated due to NCAA sanctions so the teams have only played 95 official games.
14: Yankees who have hit a home run in their pinstripe debut
George Lombard Jr. joined an illustrious list that includes Aaron Judge and Yogi Berra after the rookie shortstop homered to left field Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. He also helped turn two smooth double-plays in a debut that gave warm and fuzzy feelings to Yankees fans. But that was just part of a big day for the Lombard family. An hour before George’s home run, his younger brother Jacob hit a home run in his debut for the Marlins’ Single A team in Jupiter, Fla. Interviewed in the stands at the Stadium, proud dad George Lombard Sr., a Detroit Tigers coach and former major leaguer, said, "You don't ever get these days back. This was as emotional as any day we've had with our boys."
58: Brands that will advertise during Super Bowl LXI
Disney announced during an earnings call this week that the company had sold all of its Super Bowl advertising inventory more than six months before game (on Feb. 14, 2027). Total advertising revenue was not disclosed. Disney had been seeking $10 million per 30-second spot, but the final price is believed to be between $8 million and $9 million per spot.
22: World's Top 50 golfers who are from outside the US
International players also make up two of the top 4, with Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy at No. 2 and England's Matt Fitzpatrick at No. 4. Texan Scottie Scheffler is No. 1 and New York native Cam Young is No. 3. All four will be in the mix for Player of the Year when the FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
99: Kyrie Irving's Handle Rating in NBA 2K27
The Dallas Mavericks point guard has the best handle in the league, according to basketball's most popular video game. Following Kyrie is Steph Curry (97) and Jalen Brunson (96). I used to think that Steph’s handle versus Kyrie’s handle was one of the great debates in sports until that time that Kyrie used his face to dribble and pretty much ended all argument.
20: Injured players on the San Francisco 49ers roster
NFL training camps opened less than a month ago and already 22.1% of the 49ers team is sidelined by injury. Last year, a conspiracy theory posited that the frequent injuries suffered by 49er players were the result of an electrical substation near the team's Santa Clara, Calif., practice facility. San Francisco GM John Lynch hired a scientist to investigate and later called the theory a "nothingburger. " In response, the Santa Clara Electrical Substation parody account on X said, "Zap." ⚡
Help Us Spread the Word
If you enjoyed this edition of Box Score, please pass it along to a friend and encourage them to sign up at boxscoresports.com. Have a great weekend!
