Arenas signs new contract

Gilbert Arenas signed his six-year, $111 million contract with the Washington Wizards yesterday, securing the return of a franchise player who is accepting less money than he was offered.

Arenas and the Wizards agreed to the deal July 3, but both sides waited until Arenas returned from an overseas trip to settle the details.

The Wizards offered Arenas a max contract -- $127 million over six years -- leaving it up to the unpredictable Arenas to decide whether he would live up to his previous statement that he would take a lesser amount if it would help the team sign other players and improve the prospects of contending for an NBA title.

Because Arenas did not accept the max contract, the Wizards have room to make another significant addition this offseason without going over the luxury tax limit.

A three-time All-Star point guard, Arenas has proven to be one of the most exciting players in the NBA when healthy, averaging 22.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds in his seven-season NBA career.

But a major knee injury kept him out most of last season. After his first surgery on the knee in April 2007, he came back too soon and had a second operation in November.

During an appearance in Europe, Arenas said his knee was "about 95 percent" and that he didn't want "to touch a basketball until August" because he wanted to make sure he was healthy.

More basketball

Nikki Blue scored a career-high 13 points, including two key free throws in the final minute, and the Washington Mystics (8-12) held off the visiting Connecticut Sun (13-8), 69-64. ... Jia Perkins and Candice Dupree scored 18 points apiece to help the Chicago Sky (6-13) snap a four-game losing streak with a 79-66 victory against the Atlanta Dream (2-19) in Chicago.

• Former Louisiana Tech and Baylor coach Sonja Hogg will be among the inductees in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's 2009 class June 13 in Knoxville, Tenn. The new class also includes Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Jennifer Azzi, Jennifer Gillom, Jill Hutchison and Ora Washington.

Horse racing

Harlem Rocker won the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes race to capture the second jewel of Canadian thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown in Fort Erie, Ontario.

Tennis

Fabrice Santoro captured his second consecutive Hall of Fame Tennis Championships title in Newport, R.I., beating Prakash Amritraj, 6-3, 7-5.

• Sara Errani of Italy captured her first WTA Tour singles title when she beat Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine, 6-2, 6-3, in the Palermo International final in Palermo, Sicily.

• Juan Martin del Potro won his first ATP title, upsetting second-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-5, in the clay-court Mercedes Cup final in Stuttgart, Germany.

Wild Things

Tim Alberts went 3 for 3 as host Washington (26-24) defeated the Evansville Otters, 5-4, in Frontier League baseball action.

Skateboarding

With $75,000 and a tricked-up SUV on the line, Pierre-Luc Gagnon flew through and above the halfpipe better than everyone else, including "The Flying Tomato" himself, Shaun White. Gagnon won the pro vert competition at the inaugural Maloof Money Cup in Costa Mesa, Calif. The skateboarding championships are sponsored by Joe and Gavin Maloof, the brothers who own the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

Track and field

The United States swept the relay races at the World Junior Championships by successfully defending the men's and women's 1,600-meter titles in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Elsewhere

• Former Pirates catcher and coach, Dave Ricketts, 73, has died in St. Louis of cancer. Ricketts played college basketball at Duquesne, averaging 17.9 points and was a member of Duquesne's 1955 NIT championship team. Ricketts also was a longtime St. Louis Cardinals coach, who played on their 1967 World Series championship.