Sports briefs
By NewsPress Now
Kevin Durant has calf strain, USA Basketball considers him day-to-day
LAS VEGAS | Kevin Durant is dealing with calf soreness that has kept him from being a full participant in USA Basketball’s training camp for the Paris Olympics, though he has assured team officials that he does not expect the issue to be a major one.
“Day-to-day,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re just going to show an abundance of caution.”
Durant is the second forward who hasn’t been able to be a full participant in the U.S. camp that had its second day of on-floor workouts Sunday; Boston forward Jayson Tatum was excused from the first two days of camp workouts for personal reasons and is expected to be on the floor with his U.S. teammates for the first time on Monday.
It’s not known when Durant will be cleared to play or if he’s in Kerr’s thinking for the Americans’ first exhibition game of the pre-Olympic season against Canada on Wednesday. The U.S. has five exhibition games before getting to Paris and opening Olympic play against Serbia on July 28.
“I think he tweaked it a few days before he got here,” Kerr said. “It’s not bad. He’s assuring me that it’s not bad. We’re just going to be really careful and smart and take it day by day and go from there.”
Durant could become the first four-time gold medalist in men’s Olympic basketball history this summer, after helping the Americans win titles at London in 2012, Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and the rescheduled Tokyo Games that took place three summers ago. He’s scored 435 points in Olympic play, 99 more than fellow three-time gold medalist Carmelo Anthony for the most in U.S. men’s history.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals
LONDON | There Carlos Alcaraz was, down on his backside at a baseline below the Royal Box, briefly taking a seat in the grass after doing the splits when he slipped while running to hit a forehand during his fourth-round match Sunday.
So now what? Give up on the point and get ready for the next? Ha. Not this kid. Alcaraz popped to his feet, sprinted to his left to get to a backhand wide of the doubles alley, then raced forward to reach a short shot and, eventually, watched his opponent send a volley long.
That allowed Alcaraz to claim the second set of what would become a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory against No. 16 seed Ugo Humbert at Centre Court. The defending champion at the All England Club celebrated the moment by raising his right index finger in a “No. 1” gesture and shouting “Vamos!” as thousands of spectators rose to salute him.
The 21-year-old Spaniard is making a habit of turning the impossible into the possible, figuring out ways to win points many other players would concede and, in the bigger picture, breaking new ground time after time. He’s been the first teenager to reach No. 1 in the ATP rankings, and last month’s French Open championship made him the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on three surfaces: hard, grass and clay courts.
Asked during his on-court interview how he’d describe the remarkable sequence against Humbert, Alcaraz offered a huge smile and responded: “Unbelievable, I guess. I just try to fight every point, every ball. It doesn’t matter what part of the court.”
Unbelievable, maybe, but certainly not unprecedented. For him, at least. Later, at his news conference, he recalled having made that same sort of recovery from a fall during his thrill-a-minute marathon against rival Jannik Sinner at the 2022 U.S. Open, a tournament Alcaraz went on to win.
“I think,” Alcaraz said, “that I can reach every ball.”
There is a possible rematch against the No. 1-ranked Sinner looming in the semifinals. Each just needs to win once more to get there. In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Alcaraz will face No. 12 Tommy Paul, and Sinner goes up against 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Sinner was bounced in last year’s Wimbledon semifinals by Novak Djokovic, who then lost to Alcaraz in a five-set final.
Sinner earned his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, and he advanced Sunday with a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (9) win against No. 14 Ben Shelton, breaking the big-serving left-hander four times — the same total number of breaks others had managed against the 21-year-old American through 15 sets entering the day.
Like Alcaraz, Sinner is capable of some improvised racket wizardry, as he displayed in the third set, bringing his racket around his back at the baseline and flicking a between-the-legs shot that he followed up with a passing winner.
“I’m not kind of player to have a lot of trick shots. But in this case, it was still the easiest shot. I didn’t have space to go right and left,” Sinner said, calling it a “lucky shot.”
Paul reached his first quarterfinal at Wimbledon by using a 41-14 edge in winners to extend his unbeaten run to nine matches, all on grass, with a 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over Roberto Bautista Agut. Medvedev moved on when Grigor Dimitrov stopped playing because of a leg injury in the first set.
There was another midmatch retirement in a women’s fourth-round match: 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys hurt her leg, took a medical timeout and then briefly tried to continue. But she was wiping away tears as she walked to the net when she decided she needed to quit at 5-all in the third set against Jasmine Paolini, who was a finalist at this year’s French Open.
“I’m so sorry for her. To end the match like this, it’s bad. What can I say?” Paolini said. “I’m feeling a little bit happy, but also sad for her. It’s not easy to win like that.”
Paolini next meets No. 19 Emma Navarro, who defeated reigning U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the day’s last match. The second-seeded Gauff’s exit comes the day after No. 1 Iga Swiatek lost and leaves just two of the top 10 seeded women in the bracket: No. 4 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, and No. 7 Paolini.
The other women’s quarterfinal established Sunday is Lulu Sun against Donna Vekic. Sun eliminated 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to become the first woman to get through qualifying and reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since 2010, and the first woman from New Zealand to get that far at the All England Club in the Open era, which began in 1968.
Vekic dropped to her knees at No. 2 Court after getting past Paula Badosa 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in a match disrupted by three rain delays to make her first quarterfinal at the grass-court event in 10 appearances.
“I feel,” said Vekic, a 28-year-old from Croatia, “like I’m living my dream.”
Frenchman Anthony Turgis wins tough Tour de France stage
TROYES, France | Frenchman Anthony Turgis emerged victorious from a long breakaway through the dust of gravel roads to claim the ninth stage of the Tour de France after a hectic day of racing, marked by relentless attacks on Sunday.
Behind the breakaway, race leader Tadej Pogacar tried to set the race on fire as the fight between the main contenders raged but could not gain time on his main rivals for the yellow jersey.
Turgis, who rides for the Total Energies team, posted the biggest win of his career in a sprint, edging Tom Pidcock and Derek Gee in the Champagne city of Troyes. It was the third stage win by a French rider since the race started last week.
“It’s incredible, it was a long time since I did not win,” said Turgis. “It was a long day, the team put its trust in me by giving me carte blanche today. I dedicate this win to all the people who trusted me.”
There was no major change in the overall standings, with Pogacar keeping his 33-second lead over Remco Evenepoel. Two-time defending champion Jonas Vingegaard remained in third place, 1:15 off the pace.
The tough stage took riders on a nearly 200-kilometre (124-mile) trek through 14 sections of so-called white roads — including six in the stage finale — that have become a trademark of Italy’s Strade Bianche.
Pogacar loves riding on this difficult terrain, having won the Strade Bianche twice, and proved it with a series of sharp attacks that put his rivals on the back foot. Primoz Roglic suffered but managed to bridge gaps every time he got dropped and kept his fourth place overall, 1:36 behind Pogacar.
Vingegaard adopted a conservative strategy and did not collaborate with Pogacar and Evenepoel when they had the possibility to break away from other top contenders.
“For sure I will remember,” Pogacar said. “But everybody have their own race, I have nothing against it. I like to race with the heart and that was one of those days.”
Asked whether he thought Vingegaard and his team were afraid of him, Pogacar replied: “I think they are scared of me and they just follow me.”
Evenepoel was also critical of Vingegaard’s strategy.
“It’s a bit of a shame that Jonas did not take turns with us, because otherwise the race would have been over, we could have taken three or four minutes,” Evenepoel said.
The peloton will enjoy its first rest day on Monday.
The Tour paid tribute to Norwegian rider Andre Drege, who died Saturday after crashing in a downhill at the Tour of Austria. To honor his memory, cyclists from the Norwegian team Uno-X Mobility arrived at the start line five minutes ahead of the start, with the rest of the peloton staying behind during a moment of applause.
There was a flurry of attacks from the start. A group of 10 riders including Turgis managed to escape before the first sector of gravel and were joined by a handful of counterattackers.
Behind, a traffic jam of riders formed at the foot of a very steep segment of white roads, with many competitors forced to dismount and to run up the climb. Vingegaard and Pogacar avoided the jam but Roglic got dropped, lagging about 30 seconds behind at one point before he bridged the gap.
Vingegaard later suffered a mechanical problem and teammate Jan Tratnik gave his leader his bike. Pogacar then sped up the pace, followed by Evenepoel. The pair could not break away from the pack, though, and Vingegaard’s Visma Lease A Bike teammates moved to the front to add to the frenetic pace.
The battle between the main contenders intensified when Evenepoel attacked with 78 kilometers left in the Côte de Chacenay. Pogacar and Vingegaard did not panic and managed to chase him down. Roglic, however, could not follow. Still on his teammate’s bike, Vingegaard did not take his turn in the lead as the trio joined the main break.
With Vingegaard refusing to collaborate, they finally slowed down and Evenepoel looked dejected by his rival’s attitude.
“It’s their tactics, there is nothing we can do,” Evenepoel added.
Pogacar attacked again with about 20 kilometers left as Evenepoel and Roglic could not follow. Vingegaard, with the help of teammate Matteo Jorgenson, stayed in his wake. Again, Vingeaard did not take his turn and Pogacar stopped his effort.
Pogacar tried to go away one last time with eight kilometers left, but once again Vingegaard responded.
John Cena announces his retirement from professional wrestling after 2025 season
John Cena announced Saturday night that he will retire from professional wrestling next year after two decades in the ring.
The wrestler-turned-actor delivered a heartfelt speech to a stadium of World Wrestling Entertainment fans in Toronto, who booed in disappointment as Cena said the 2025 season would be his last. He promised a farewell tour with dozens of dates and an epic final fight, and he assured fans he would remain involved with the wrestling franchise that launched his career.
“Thank you so much for letting me play in the house that you built for so many years,” Cena told the crowd.
In a news conference after the event, Cena told reporters that he feels physically “at my end,” but that doesn’t mean he needs to distance himself from the sport he loves.
Cena is a 16-time WWE champion who burst onto the scene in the early 2000s as the fan-favorite “Doctor of Thuganomics,” a rapper character decked in gold chains and a backwards hat who challenged his wrestling opponents to rap battles. He went on to portray other popular characters, both in the ring and on the big screen.
Cena played starring roles in the films “Blockers” and “The Suicide Squad.” He has made multiple appearances in the “Fast & Furious” franchise and appeared most recently in the comedy thriller “Argylle” and the box office hit “Barbie.”
—From AP reports
