ISTANBUL (AP) — Top-seeded Elise Mertens has retired from her opening match at the clay-court Istanbul Championship because of a leg injury. The 26-year-old Belgian was losing 7-5, 4-1 to Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson when she retired with pain in her right leg. Mertens was runner-up to Sorana Cirstea last year. Croatian player Petra Martic upset
Continue Reading By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer ROME (AP) — The president of the Italian Tennis Federation says five-time champion Novak Djokovic can come to Rome and play at the Italian Open next month even if he is still not vaccinated against the coronavirus. Federation president Angelo Binaghi says “the rules regarding players’ participation are established
Continue Reading By CHRIS LEHOURITES AP Sports Writer LONDON (AP) — Russian and Belarusian tennis players have been banned from competing at this year’s Wimbledon tournament because of the war in Ukraine. The All England Club’s move makes the grass-court Grand Slam tournament in southwest London the first top-level tennis event to bar players from Russia and
Continue Reading By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer MIAMI (AP) — These are Jimmy Butler’s three highest-scoring games in a Miami uniform: 40 points against Milwaukee, 40 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, 45 points against Atlanta. And those efforts have quite a bit in common. He had at least 20 shot attempts and 12 free throws
Continue Reading BIELEFELD, Germany (AP) — German club Arminia Bielefeld has fired Frank Kramer as coach in a last-ditch attempt to stave off Bundesliga relegation. The club says it has also released assistant coach Ilia Gruev “with immediate effect” and that Marco Kostmann is taking over as head coach for the rest of the season. Kramer’s last
Continue Reading DUBLIN (AP) — Six Nations champion France will begin its title defense at the 2023 tournament by playing Italy in Rome before facing Ireland the following weekend in Dublin. The schedule again features the Calcutta Cup in the first round with Scotland visiting Twickenham looking for a third straight victory over England. The competition kicks
Continue Reading By Aleks Klosok and Anna Chernova, CNN Wimbledon organizers announced on Wednesday that Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to compete at this year’s grand slam following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Given the profile of The Championships in the United Kingdom and around the world, it is our responsibility to play our part
Continue Reading By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer MADRID (AP) — Audio stolen from the Spanish soccer federation reveal that Gerard Piqué asked for help from the president of the Spanish soccer federation to play at the Tokyo Olympics. The details were published by the El Confidencial newspaper after other audio had revealed that the Barcelona defender
Continue Reading By Issy Ronald, CNN British Cycling says it has contacted five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins to offer him support following an interview in which he said that he was sexually groomed by a coach when he was a teenager. “We are deeply concerned by the matter raised by Sir
Continue Reading SYDNEY (AP) — World swimming powers Australia and the United States will contest a Duel in the Pool competition in August. It’s the first time the strong American and Australian squads will have competed against each other in a match-race situation since 2007. The countries collected 50 swimming medals between them at last year’s Tokyo
Continue Reading CNN By Ben Church, CNN Video produced by Amy Li, CNN Alex Honnold stunned the world when he climbed El Capitan without any safety ropes — and now the climbing sensation is giving fans a front row seat to his free soloing skills. Honnold is the star of a new two-part virtual reality (VR) series
Continue Reading By Ben Church, CNN Video produced by Amy Li, CNN Alex Honnold stunned the world when he climbed El Capitan without any safety ropes — and now the climbing sensation is giving fans a front row seat to his free soloing skills. Honnold is the star of a new two-part virtual reality (VR) series which
Continue Reading By CNN Sports Staff Maria Sharapova, who won all four tennis grand slam titles during her career, celebrated her 35th birthday on Tuesday but will remember the day for more than one reason after she announced she was expecting her first child with fiancée Alexander Gilkes. The former tennis star posted a picture on Instagram
Continue Reading Aimee Lewis, CNN Rivalries were put aside at Anfield Tuesday as Liverpool and Manchester United’s fans came together for a minute’s applause in support of Cristiano Ronaldo and his family following the death of the player’s newborn boy. In an emotional seventh minute, which Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp described as the “moment of the game,”
Continue Reading By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Liberty announced that they would be the first team in WNBA history to drop non-fungible tokens in the form of digital art. The release of the NFT will be on May 7 to coincide with the Liberty’s season opener against the Connecticut
Continue Reading By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Josh Paschal and Haskell Garrett count themselves among the lucky ones. They understand only a tiny fraction of football players get a chance to play in the NFL. Even fewer overcome frightening experiences like theirs to become legitimate draft prospects. Yet here they are, days away
Continue Reading By MICHAEL WAGAMAN Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif (AP) — Seth Brown hit a two-run double in the sixth inning, Cristian Pache made another spectacular defensive play and the Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1. A day after their lowest attendance for a home opener without COVID-19 restrictions in more than 30 years, the A’s
Continue Reading By DOUG PADILLA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Fried looked right at home, opening with five perfect innings while pitching the Atlanta Braves to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Los Angeles-area native, in his sixth career start at Dodger Stadium including playoff games, did not allow a baserunner until
Continue Reading By ROB HARRIS AP Global Soccer Writer LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick says the team needs a significant rebuild after another disappointing season. He was speaking after a 4-0 loss at Liverpool. It paints a bleak picture of what expected incoming manager Erik ten Hag will find at Old Trafford.
Continue Reading By JOSH DUBOW AP Sports Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Scott Reedy had his first career two-goal game and the San Jose Sharks snapped a 10-game winless streak by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. Rudolfs Balcers also scored and Kaapo Kahkonen made 22 saves to help the Sharks snap their longest skid since
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