U.S./World Sports category, Page 26
Jimmy Butler returns from suspension, plays for Miami Heat
MIAMI — Jimmy Butler got introduced to the Miami Heat crowd for the first time in two weeks Friday night. Not everyone seemed thrilled. It was a mixed reaction — some cheers and definitely some boos, the latter of which is unusual for the home team to be hearing during...
Iga Swiatek rolls past Emma Raducanu at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia — The only women’s match featuring Grand Slam singles champions in the third round at the Australian Open turned out to be an overpowering win by Iga Swiatek over Emma Raducanu on Saturday. Swiatek won the final 11 games of the match to beat 2021 U.S. Open champion...
Shohei Ohtani is giving $500,000 for fire relief. Here’s how other LA sports figures are helping.
LOS ANGELES — The local sports community has reached out to help those impacted by the massive wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles County for more than a week. The area’s 12 major professional sports teams — Dodgers, Angels, Lakers, Clippers, Sparks, Rams, Chargers, Kings, Ducks, Galaxy, LAFC...
Title IX memo throws wrench in plans for schools to pay NIL money directly to athletes
NASHVILLE — Plans for colleges to pay athletes directly for their name, image and likeness deals would run afoul of Title IX, the Department of Education said in guidance issued Thursday that adds more confusion to the shifting landscape in college sports. The nine-page memo from the department’s Office for...
Defending Australian Open champ Aryna Sabalenka advances
MELBOURNE, Australia — It wasn’t often pretty, but two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka extended a few impressive streaks Friday while becoming one of the first players to advance to the fourth round of the year’s opening Grand Slam tournament. In a tougher-than-expected match, Sabalenka beat Clara Tauson, 7-6...
Gus Williams, who led Sonics to NBA championship, dies at 71
SEATTLE — Gus Williams, the point guard “Wizard” who helped lead the SuperSonics to their only NBA championship in 1979, died Wednesday nearly five years after suffering a stroke. He was 71. Nicknamed “the Wizard” for his combo of speed, athleticism and scoring, Williams spent six seasons of his NBA...
Tiger Woods makes indoor golf debut and finds humor in blowout loss, noting ‘how bad pros can be’
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods was the sixth and final player to emerge from the tunnel and onto the field of play for his TGL debut on Tuesday night. No one announced his name. Wasn’t necessary. Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blared and that was more than enough...
Gael Monfils outduels fellow Frenchman in Australian Open 1st-round match for the agesVideo
MELBOURNE, Australia — The pragmatic pro in Gael Monfils would like to have finished off his first-round win in straight sets against up-and-coming fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the Australian Open. The entertainer’s instinct in him got a lot of value out of clinching it in five. In a...
Texas man charged with stalking WNBA star Caitlin Clark
Authorities in Indianapolis have charged a 55-year-old Texas man with felony stalking of Indiana Fever star and WNBA rookie of the year Caitlin Clark. Michael Thomas Lewis is accused of repeated and continued harassment of the 22-year-old Clark beginning on Dec. 16, the Marion County prosecutor’s office wrote in a...
Auburn rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 after Tennessee loses, Georgia is ranked for 1st time since 2011
Auburn has climbed to No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll for its second stint at the top in program history, while fellow Southeastern Conference program Georgia is in the rankings for the first time in 14 years. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers (15-1) claimed 60 of 62 first-place votes...
Notre Dame, Ohio State in uncharted territory: They’re playing 16-game seasons for the 1st time
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The year was 1894. Yale put together a football schedule that was daunting: games on Wednesdays and Saturdays, basically every week from late September to late November, 16 contests in all. No major college football team — what we now call the FBS level — had...
Coco Gauff starts her Australian Open with a straight-sets win over Sofia KeninVideo
MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff had a little difficulty adjusting to the sun at one end of Rod Laver Arena and dropped an early service game but quickly settled into a rhythm to start her Australian Open a 6-3, 6-3 win Monday over 2020 champion Sofia Kenin. Third-seeded Gauff won...
76ers reportedly reverse course, won’t build contentious stadium
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers decided not to build a $1.3 billion downtown arena, a surprising move that comes just weeks after the team received approval for the controversial project from the city council. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday that multiple council members had confirmed the change in plans. The...
Australian Open 2025: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have a real rivalry atop men’s tennisVideo
MELBOURNE, Australia — When Carlos Alcaraz is on court for a training session, perhaps working on his newly revamped service motion, he is doing so to buttress a game already good enough to have won four Grand Slam titles. He also has his young rival, Jannik Sinner, in mind. “The...
Bill McCartney, who coached Colorado to its only football national championship in 1990, has died
BOULDER, Colo. — Bill McCartney, who coached Colorado to its only football national championship in 1990, has died. He was 84. The charismatic figure known as Coach Mac died Friday night “after a courageous journey with dementia,” according to a family statement. His family announced in 2016 that he had...
Jordan Spieth sees wrist surgery as chance to reset, plans to return at Pebble BeachVideo
Jordan Spieth has been playing golf for a month without pain and plans to return from wrist surgery at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, ending his longest stretch without competition and looking at his time off as a chance to reset. “I had some really bad habits for a long...
Former rivals Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray team up at Australian OpenVideo
MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have known each other for a quarter of a century. They played from the age of 12, meeting 36 times as professionals, including 10 Grand Slam matches. Yet they’ve never been able to talk shop and freely trade all sorts of thoughts...
Doping clouds tennis talk at Australian Open with pair of stars facing scrutinyVideo
MELBOURNE, Australia — It is a topic that shadowed tennis in 2024 and is still a talking point as the 2025 Grand Slam season opens at the Australian Open on Saturday: doping and the cases involving Jannik Sinner — which is still not resolved — and Iga Swiatek. Both spent...
NBA postpones game between Lakers and Hornets due to wildfires in Los Angeles areaVideo
LOS ANGELES — The NBA postponed the Los Angeles Lakers’ home game against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. It is the second straight day a game slated to be played in downtown Los Angeles has been postponed. The NHL’s...
Australian Open 2025: How to watch on TV, betting odds and more to know
MELBOURNE, Australia — Get ready for the Australian Open before play begins with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch the year’s first Grand Slam tennis tournament, what the betting odds are, what the schedule is, who the defending champions are and more:...
Big Ten, SEC each have 4 top 10 teams in AP women’s poll as UCLA, South Carolina still lead way
The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference both have arguments to be considered the top league in women’s basketball. Each has seven teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll Monday, including four apiece in the first 10. Both leagues have been bolstered this season by conference realignment,...
Tennessee, nation’s lone unbeaten, strengthens grip on No. 1; WVU, Michigan, Utah St. enter AP Top 25
Tennessee tightened its grip on No. 1 in the AP Top 25 on Monday following a pair of lopsided wins, including one over SEC rival Arkansas, that left the Volunteers as the only undefeated team in men’s Division I college basketball. The Vols picked up four more first-place votes and...
Teddy Stiga scores on OT breakaway to give U.S. 2nd straight world junior title over FinlandVideo
OTTAWA, Ontario — Teddy Stiga scored on a breakaway at 8:04 of 3-on-3 overtime to give the United States a 4-3 victory over Finland on Sunday night in the world junior hockey championship game. The Boston College forward beat goalie Petteri Rimpinen through the leg pads to end it. The...
Coco Gauff beats Iga Swiatek again as U.S. wins United Cup for 2nd time in 3 yearsVideo
SYDNEY — Coco Gauff overcame second-ranked Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 in the opening singles of the United Cup mixed teams tennis event and the United States went on to win the final by beating Poland 2-0 on Sunday. Taylor Fritz beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4) at the Ken...
Heat begin a new chapter: Life without Jimmy Butler
MIAMI — For the 119th time since Jimmy Butler joined Miami, the Heat were set to play a game Saturday night without him. This is different from the others. Butler is gone, banished by the Heat for seven games over what they called conduct detrimental to the team — and...
