TENNIS
Taylor Fritz has come back after dropping the opening two sets to defeat two-time Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3 and reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Fritz is a 26-year-old from California who equaled his career-best showing at a major tournament. Monday's match was the 35th to go five sets at the All England Club this year, tying the record for the most at a Slam event in the Open era. And Fritz's comeback is the 11th from a two-set deficit in this edition of Wimbledon, more than in any other year. Fritz faces Lorenzo Musetti next.
Well, maybe the Centre Court spectators were saluting Novak Djokovic’s opponent by saying his name. Maybe they were booing Djokovic, trying to rattle him. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was sure it was the latter — and he let everyone know he was not happy about it. Djokovic easily beat 15th-seeded Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just over two hours Monday night to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals, then made sure to get a message across to those fans he thought were against him. Rune’s supporters at various tournaments often will stretch out his last name, saying, “Ruuuuuune!” — which sounds rather similar to “Boooooo!” — and that happened again Monday.
MLB
Mitch Keller pitched eight innings for his 10th win of the season and Joshua Palacios’ home run capped a five-run sixth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the New York Mets 8-2. Keller allowed two runs and seven hits in a 107-pitch outing while striking out six and walking none. He is the first Pirates pitcher to have double-digit victories before the All-Star break since Gerrit Cole in 2015 and Pittsburgh earned a split of the four-game series. Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz and New York’s Brandon Nimmo each hit two-run home runs.
Meanwhile, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies were off last night. New York plays the first of a three-game set against the Rays at 6:50 tonight in St. Petersburg; Boston starts a three-game series against Oakland at 7:10 tonight at Fenway, and the Phillies’ first game of three against the Dodgers is 6:40 tonight at home.
Jake Rogers led off the eighth inning with a double and broke a scoreless tie on an error, helping the Detroit Tigers outlast the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians for a 1-0 win Monday night. Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio was charged with the error when Mark Canha’s grounder got under his glove, allowing Rogers to score from third after advancing on Wenceel Perez’s single. Tyler Holton picked up the win and Shelby Miller pitched the ninth for his first save of the season, combining for 2 2/3 perfect innings.
Brooks Lee and Manuel Margot drove in runs in the 11th inning and the Minnesota Twins topped the Chicago White Sox 8-6. Lee’s second RBI single of the game scored automatic runner Max Kepler. Byron Buxton raced home from third on Margot’s soft groundout, and the Twins won their third straight while improving to 8-0 against the major league-worst White Sox this season. Jhoan Duran pitched a hitless 10th for the win. Kody Funderburk, the seventh Twins reliever, worked a perfect inning for his first career save. Jared Shuster took the loss as Chicago fell a season-worst 41 games below .500 at 26-67.
Corey Seager extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a 457-foot, two-run homer, Nathaniel Lowe had three hits and the Texas Rangers' offense remained hot in a 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Wyatt Langford also went deep as the Rangers had 12 hits to push their winning streak to four games. The defending World Series champions tied a season high on Sunday with 19 hits in a 13-2 victory over Tampa Bay. Anthony Rendon had an RBI single in the seventh inning after being activated off the injured list before the game for the Angels, who have dropped seven of eight. The oft-injured third baseman missed 68 games due to a left hamstring strain.
Paul Goldschmidt and Alec Burleson homered, Miles Mikolas pitched into the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 6-0. Burleson drove in three runs for the Cardinals, who took three of four games in the series and have won six of eight overall. St. Louis is 33-18 since Mother’s Day, good for second-best in the majors behind Cleveland. Goldschmidt’s 12th homer of the season came off Mitchell Parker in the fourth. The 36-year-old slugger has 352 career home runs, tying Ryan Braun and Ellis Burks for 96th place in big league history. He needs 11 hits to reach 2,000. Burleson had a two-run single and his 14th homer. Mikolas scattered six hits over 6 1/3 innings.
Rece Hinds homered and doubled in his major league debut, Andrew Abbott pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies 6-0. All-Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz had an RBI double and scored twice. He also stole two bases in the first inning, giving him 45 this season to pass Billy Hamilton for the most in Reds history before the All-Star break. Abbott retired his first nine batters with five strikeouts, setting the tone for an outstanding outing. He struck out eight and walked two. A pair of relievers finished the four-hitter.
Sean Murphy hit a tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning and Marcell Ozuna drove in the decisive run with a sacrifice fly in the 11th as the Atlanta Braves rallied past the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 for their third straight victory. Murphy tied it 3-all with a two-run shot off closer Paul Sewald. It was Sewald’s third consecutive blown save after converting his first 11 opportunities this season. The teams traded runs in the 10th on sacrifice flies by Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies and Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo. Raisel Iglesias got the win with two hitless innings of relief. Joe Jiménez worked a scoreless 11th for his second save.
NFL
The NFL has suspended Pittsburgh Steelers safety Cam Sutton for the first eight games of the 2024 season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. The suspension stems from Sutton’s involvement in an alleged domestic violence dispute in Florida in March. Sutton eventually surrendered to authorities and entered a pretrial diversion program in April after the charges were reduced from a felony to misdemeanor battery. His agreement with prosecutors required Sutton to take a mental health evaluation. The NFL did its own investigation into the incident, leading to the suspension. Sutton will be eligible to apply for reinstatement on Oct. 29.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UConn and men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley have agreed to a six-year, $50 million contract through the 2029-30 season, nearly a month after he turned down a lucrative offer to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley, who passed on guiding the storied NBA club to return to the two-time defending NCAA champions, can also earn more through performance-based incentives, a Monday release from the school stated. He will receive $6.375 million next season, in addition to his $400,000 base annual salary, which includes compensation from speaking, consulting and media obligations. Hurley is 141-58 in six seasons with the Huskies.
GOLF
Keegan Bradley is the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2025 matches at Bethpage Black. The PGA of America made the surprise announcement on Monday. It follows months of negotiations with Tiger Woods. That was the first choice. Woods was trying to decide if he had time to fulfill all the duties. Bradley will be one of the most inexperienced captains when the Americans try to win back the cup from Europe. He has played on only two Ryder Cup teams and both ended in losses. He last played in 2014 in Scotland. Bradley has never been an assistant.
SOCCER
U.S. women’s coach Emma Hayes sidestepped a question on whether she should get a raise if a high-priced star such as Jürgen Klopp is hired to replace Gregg Berhalter with the American men. Berhalter has a contract through the 2026 World Cup. U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Matt Crocker has not spoken with media about Berhalter’s status since the team’s first-round elimination last week in the Copa America. Hayes says “with regards to matters relating to the men’s team and gender equity, they’re not questions for now or for me.”
OLYMPICS
For Ukrainian athletes, the Paris Olympics are more than just sports. They're a way to draw attention to their country's fight for survival against Russia — a sort of war on another battlefield. But an Associated Press analysis found Russia's war is making it increasingly difficult for Ukraine, once a post-Soviet sports power, to get those headline-capturing medals. Ukrainian performances began dipping after 2014, the year of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Ukraine’s haul of 11 medals at the 2016 Rio Games was its smallest as an independent nation and it tumbled to a low of 22nd in the country rankings. Ukraine recovered to 16th at the pandemic-delayed Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 but just one of its 19 medals was gold — another new low.
Ukrainian athletes training for the Paris Olympics are torn between their sports demand for complete concentration on the here and now, and the war back home that is never far from their minds. Kateryna Tabashnyk is a 30-year-old high jumper who is training in southern Portugal. Her hometown, the city of Kharkiv, is under daily bombardment and she thinks often of the Russian missiles that have stolen so much: her mother, her apartment, a pain-free childhood for her nephew, even the fields where she trained. Her coach says she is among many Ukrainian athletes who feel the burden not just of being competitive but of using the international stage to draw attention to their country's struggle to survive.
When the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team has an off day in Paris, they'll be checking out other events. And if Simone Biles is competing that day, she'll be who they want to see. Count the U.S. men among Biles' many fans heading into the Paris Games. LeBron James says she's the greatest. Kevin Durant says she's why he started watching gymnastics. Bam Adebayo just wants a picture with her.
Olympic medal-winning gymnast MyKayla Skinner Harmer is drawing criticism for saying the U.S. Center for SafeSport is making it difficult for coaches to do their job. Skinner won silver on vault at the Tokyo Olympics. In a since-deleted YouTube video, she says that coaches “can’t get on athletes” out of fear of being reported to SafeSport. Safesport is an independent entity that handles allegations of abuse from various governing bodies across the U.S. Olympic movement. Skinner later walked back her comments in an Instagram post, saying she did not intend to disrespect any of the five women who will compete for the U.S. at the Paris Olympics.
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