Michael Jordan's No. 23 has long been synonymous with greatness. Now that number has a completely different meaning for him.

As Jordan watched from his luxury box, his Charlotte Bobcats lost their 23rd consecutive game Thursday night 104-84 to the New York Knicks and finished the shrunken season with the worst winning percentage in NBA history (.106). That means the man recognized globally as the greatest basketball player ever is the not-so-proud owner of the worst NBA team ever.

World number one Victoria Azarenka said she was sorry to reach the quarterfinals of Stuttgart's WTA tournament on Thursday as Germany's Andrea Petkovic exited with a serious injury.

Azarenka took the first set 6-2, but with the scores tied at four-all in the second, Petkovic shouted in pain after twisting her right ankle and was in great distress as she was helped off in their second-round tie.

Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid set up an all-Spanish Europa League final on Thursday as La Liga found some solace after the Champions League misery suffered by Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Athletic reached their first European final in 35 years when they grabbed a winner two minutes from time to beat Sporting Lisbon 3-1 in their semi-final second leg for a 4-3 aggregate.

Jose Mourinho pledged his future to Real Madrid on Wednesday despite failing to reach the Champions League final for the second straight season.

"If the club and the players want me to continue, I will," Mourinho said after Madrid bowed out 3-1 on penalties to Bayern Munich after the two-legged series closed 3-3 on aggregate.

Women's world number two Maria Sharapova reached the quarter-finals of Stuttgart's WTA tournament on Wednesday while ex-world number one Ana Ivanovic suffered a shock first-round exit.

Sharapova progressed to the last eight of the clay-court tournament after French qualifier Alize Cornet was forced to retire after the first game of the second set with a shoulder injury in the second-round tie.

Rafael Nadal began his title defense at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who had defeated the king of clay two years ago in Thailand.

Top seed Nadal, champion at the Real Club de Tenis in six of the last seven editions - he missed 2010 with knee trouble - claimed his 30th match victory in a row at his home event.

Chicago, already assured of the top seed in the NBA's Eastern Conference playoffs, used Derrick Rose and other key players in their 92-87 victory over playoff-bound Indiana.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said injuries throughout the season had left his preferred starting unit of Rose, Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah needing more playing time together.

Growing up as the odd one out may be what gives left-handed people an advantage in the sports arena, where they have the element of surprise, said a study published Wednesday.

About one in ten people are left-handed, but in a number of sports like boxing, fencing and table tennis, they were overrepresented to the tune of about one in five, study co-author Mark Panaggio told AFP.

Juventus and AC Milan's thrilling tussle for the Serie A title continued on Wednesday as they both scraped 1-0 wins against struggling sides.

Juventus maintained their three points lead over Milan as a late goal by Marco Borriello - his first in 17 games for the club - was enough to defeat Cesena and consign the losers to Serie B for next season.

Manuel Neuer was the hero for Bayern Munich on Wednesday as his side went through to the Champions League final after beating RealMadrid 3-1 on penalties in the Santiago Bernabeu.

They will face Chelsea in their own Allianz Arena in Munich on May 19th after losing their return leg 2-1 after extra-time, to send the tie into penalties with the Germans having won by the same score in the first game.