U.S./World Sports category, Page 4

NEW YORK — Ben Shelton had just acrobatically taken the third set of his U.S. Open third-round match, getting up from a tumble to the court during the point and then throwing his left arm into the air to encourage cheers after he won it. Just minutes later, he began...

The postmatch back-and-forth between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko remained a topic of conversation at the U.S. Open 24 hours later Thursday — but not for Ostapenko, who skipped speaking at a news conference, citing “medical reasons.” Townsend, an American who is ranked No. 1 in doubles, and Ostapenko, a...

NEW YORK — U.S. Open opponents Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko got into a face-to-face argument on the Court 11 sideline right after Townsend won their second-round match 7-5, 6-1 on Wednesday. Townsend, an American who is ranked No. 1 in doubles, said Ostapenko, a Latvian, who won the 2017...

AUSTIN, Texas — Arch Manning has waited for this moment. So have Texas fans. College football fans have, too, to see what the hype is all about. No more waiting. Manning leads No. 1 Texas against No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday in a season-opening matchup that will lift the...

NEW YORK — Caitlin Clark is Nike’s newest signature athlete, expanding the athletic wear company’s partnership with the WNBA star. Nike on Monday revealed a new logo of interlocking Cs to represent the Indiana Fever player. Clark’s first signature shoe and apparel collection will debut next year. Her logo collection...

NEW YORK — Pretty much from the get-go Monday at the U.S. Open, Madison Keys could tell she wasn’t hitting the ball well or feeling very much at all like the self-confident player who won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. After 89 unforced errors,...

LOS ANGELES — A professional wrestler has been assaulted in the ring by the son of former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Raja Jackson climbed into the ring and body-slammed Stuart Smith, known professionally as Syko Stu, before beating the apparently unconscious wrestler at the KnokX Pro Wrestling Academy. The...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Blaney parked his car against the high-banked outside wall at Daytona International Speedway and floored it, spinning his rear tires and sending plumes of smoke into the grandstands as fireworks lit up the sky. It was an unusual celebration for the Team Penske star. He...

ATLANTA — President Donald Trump says he will be at the opening round of the high-charged Ryder Cup next month in New York, and he thinks U.S. captain Keegan Bradley should be playing. Trump posted Saturday night on his social media site that he would be there on Friday, Sept....

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR’s playoff system is designed to give a long shot a chance to race for the championship. As a pack of underdogs hurtled toward the finish line at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night there was a real possibility of an upset and someone racing their...

NEW YORK — It’s a given that much of the coverage and attention devoted to Venus Williams’ return to the U.S. Open, where play begins Sunday, has focused — and will focus — on how old she is. The American is, after all, 45, an age at which no one...

NEW YORK — There is a fascination in all sports — all walks of life, maybe — with young stars, those such as tennis player Mirra Andreeva, a Russian who is still only 18 yet already has been a Grand Slam semifinalist and is seeded No. 5 at the U.S....

TACOMA, Wash. — Former NBA star Shawn Kemp was sentenced Friday to 30 days of electronic home monitoring for shooting at two men inside a vehicle in a Washington state mall parking lot. Kemp must begin home monitoring within two weeks, The Seattle Times reported. He must also serve one...

NEW YORK — If there’s such a thing as momentum from tournament to tournament in tennis, the American men have some right now. Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul are getting within reach of ending the country’s unprecedented Grand Slam men’s title drought, so maybe they’re finally...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR returns to Daytona International Speedway to finalize its 16-car playoff lineup, with two spots up for grabs and a win-and-you’re-in opportunity for any driver yet to visit Victory Lane this season. Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman hold the final two tenuous positions in the Cup...

LOS ANGELES — The record for the amount paid for a basketball card is about to be broken by Kobe Bryant on what would have been his 47th birthday … with some help from his “big brother,” Michael Jordan. The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs card featuring...

Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, has died. He was 84. Turcotte’s family said through his longtime business partner and friend Leonard Lusky that the Canada-born jockey died of natural causes Friday at his home in Drummond, New Brunswick. He won...

NEW YORK — OK, sure, maybe it wouldn’t be rational to say there’s no point in actually holding the full U.S. Open and instead just fast-forwarding to the inevitable matchup for the men’s championship between Jannik Sinner — assuming he’s healthy — and Carlos Alcaraz on Sept. 7. Seems reasonable,...

NEW YORK — An Ohio man was arrested for the throwing of a sex toy at a WNBA game in New York, police said Thursday. It’s the latest development in a string of disturbances where similar toys were tossed at WNBA games across the country, resulting in at least three...

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Recalling the damage her now-arrested coach inflicted on her and many of her gymnast friends, Finley Weldon said she feels a sense of pride. Free from the grip that Sean Gardner had during her years of training at an Iowa academy known for producing Olympians, Weldon...

The College Football Playoff selection committee announced Wednesday it will place more emphasis on strength of schedule this year when determining which teams make the 12-team field. The committee said in a statement that the schedule strength metric has been adjusted to apply greater weight to games against strong opponents....

Ten Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have asked the NCAA if and how college sports’ major governing body plans to protect the interests of female athletes as the largest portion of NIL and revenue-sharing payments continue to be directed to male athletes. The lawmakers, in a letter...

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The U.S. gymnastics world was only just recovering from a devastating sexual abuse scandal when a promising young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions. Liang “Chow” Qiao, the owner of Chow’s...

In his playoff-clinching victory at Richmond Raceway, Austin Dillon shared some NASCAR history on the venerable short track with the most famous driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt, the late seven-time Cup Series champion who amassed 76 victories in a Hall of Fame career, was the last Richard...