Alex Rodriguez said he could change his mind and play beyond 2017, but the New York Yankees slugger repeated his current intent is to quit after two more seasons. Rodriguez, who turns 41 in July, is fourth on the career home-run list with 687. He revealed his intentions Wednesday during an interview with ESPN. ‘‘I stand by my comment,’’ Rodriguez said Thursday before the Yankees played Tampa Bay. ‘‘In baseball 30 days is an eternity. I can’t tell you what can happen in two years. I’m going to fulfill my contract, and I have a right to make a decision then, too. With two years out it’s a little different.’’ Rodriguez is 75 homers shy of matching Barry Bonds’ career record and likely would be unable to reach it unless he plays into 2018. Also ahead of him are Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755).

Olympics

Russian to forfeit goldRussian race walker Sergei Kirdyapkin stands to be stripped of his gold medal from the 2012 London Olympics, making runner-up Jared Tallent of Australia the winner four years later, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified Kirdyapkin’s results as part of a doping ban. A sanction imposed by the Russian anti-doping agency didn’t cover Kirdyapkin’s results at the Olympics, letting him keep the 50-kilometer gold that Tallent considered to be his. “I’m just very, very happy to know that I am rightfully and will be officially named as the Olympic champion from London,’’ Tallent told the Associated Press. ‘‘It’s something that I felt on the day and ever since when I raced. This is a victory for clean athletes.’’ China’s Si Tianfeng would move up to silver, with bronze for Ireland’s Rob Heffernan . . . . . . Austrian cross-country skier and two-time Olympian Harald Wurm, 31, was banned for four years for blood doping and taking the banned substance cobalt and using several prohibited methods for blood enrichment, which boosts endurance.

Auto racing

F1 drivers seek overhaul Just one race into the season, Formula One drivers want an overhaul of a sport whose decision-making they said was ‘‘obsolete and ill-structured.’’ An open letter by the Grand Prix Drivers Association, FIA, the sport’s sanctioning body, came under fire after a rushed decision to change qualifying rules and then subsequently scrap them at last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix . . . . Gary Thomas Brabham, 55, the son of three-time Formula One champion Jack Brabham of Australia, was found guilty of rape and indecent treatment of a young girl in Brisbane District Court . . . NASCAR fined driver Danica Patrick $20,000 for walking near the track after a crash last Sunday at Fontana, Calif., and reigning Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch $10,000 for skipping post-race media obligations after losing a last-lap lead to Austin Dillon in last Saturday’s Xfinity Series race in California.

Miscellany

Federer: injury a freak deal

Roger Federer admitted the left knee injury he suffered two months ago was not tennis-related, but came while the tennis champion was preparing a bath for his twin daughters, forcing him to have surgery for the first time in his career Feb. 3. ‘‘It was a very simple movement, probably a movement I’ve done a million times in my life,’’ said Federer, 34, who drew a first-round bye and will face Juan Martin del Potro in his return Friday as the No. 3 seed at the Miami Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. ‘‘I didn’t think much of it when it did happen.’’ . . . Jason Day overcame an aching back, exhaled deeply after driving his tee shot to within 12 feet for an eagle on the 381-yard opening hole, and went on to beat Thongchai Jaidee, 5 and 3, in the WGC Match Play at Austin (Texas) Country Club. Other winners included top-ranked Jordan Spieth and third-ranked Rory McIlroy . . . Inbee Park shot a 5-under 67 for a share of the lead in the Kia Classic, the final event before the major ANA Inspiration next week in Rancho Mirage, Calif. . . . Senior Patrick Steeves told the Harvard Crimson he is leaving the Harvard men’s basketball team as a graduate transfer . . . Johan Cruyff, regarded as one of soccer’s mightiest players and iconic figures who was the centerpiece of the great Dutch teams of the 1970s, died of lung cancer in Barcelona. He was 68. Obituary, B10.