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Belinda Bencic’s tennis comeback and the challenge of returning to the WTA Tour after pregnancy

Published

1 year ago

January 11, 2025

Belinda Bencic’s tennis comeback and the challenge of returning to the WTA Tour after pregnancy

A dominant win in the last warm-up tournament before a Grand Slam doesn’t sound like an occasion for an Olympic gold medalist to express disbelief. But in Adelaide, after a 6-2, 1-0 (ret.) victory over world No. 14 Anna Kalinskaya, Belinda Bencic is at a loss.

“I didn’t even think I’d be here,” Bencic, 27 and the world No. 421, said in her on-court interview.

Bencic isn’t returning from a long injury. She’s done that already, recovering from wrist surgery and a five-month layoff in 2017 to rise from the 300s to a high of world No. 4 and then that Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, where she beat Marketa Vondrousova in the final. She’s doing what so many women do outside of tennis, but has until recently been a rarity in the upper echelons of the sport: coming back from a career break during which she gave birth to her first child, Bella in April 2024.

She may not have believed the speed of her return to form, but she has no doubts about where she can go now.

“I’m really confident about getting back to where I was and even better,” she said in a recent interview via Zoom from Slovakia, where both her parents are from.

“I felt really inspired and brave enough to have a baby mid-career because a lot of other athletes and tennis players have done it before. It’s not like this is not possible. Everyone showed that it’s possible, and they got back to the same level.”

There was a time not that long ago when having a baby was considered the end of a tennis player’s career. Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Kim Clijsters won Grand Slams after giving birth, but generally players would only start families in retirement.

Then, in 2016, Serena Williams won the Australian Open while eight weeks pregnant. She went on to reach four more Grand Slam finals after giving birth to her first child, Olympia, in September 2017 and coming close to death from complications. Williams’ announcement of her pregnancy was a watershed moment for tennis, with an increasing number of players feeling comfortable having a mid-career break to start a family as a result.

Victoria Azarenka reached the U.S Open final in 2020, almost four years after her son Leo was born, and the woman she lost to that night, Naomi Osaka, returned to the tour for the 2024 season after the birth of daughter Shai in July 2023. Osaka, 27, is looking to get back to her best in 2025 after an up-and-down comeback last year. In the 2024 Indian Wells main draw, Azarenka and Osaka were among seven mothers competing, including former world No. 1s and Grand Slam champions Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki, who faced off in the fourth round.

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Elina Svitolina enchanted the Wimbledon crowd in 2023 by reaching the semifinals only three months after returning to the tour and nine months after giving birth, equalling her best-ever showing at a Grand Slam in the process. The Ukrainian ended the year as world No. 25, winning the WTA’s ‘comeback player of the year’ award. America’s Taylor Townsend, 28, had her best-ever season last year. She won the Wimbledon women’s doubles with Katerina Siniakova (her first Grand Slam title), reached the U.S. Open mixed doubles final with Donald Young and achieved a singles career-high ranking of No. 46 following a run to the quarters of the Canadian Open WTA 1000 (one rung below the Grand Slams). Her son, Adyn, was born in March 2021.

Bencic, who enters the first Grand Slam of the season with her special ranking of No. 15, credits the significant shift in attitudes for helping her believe that she could follow in their footsteps.

Belinda Bencic and Martin Hromkovic celebrate her Olympic gold in singles at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

She cites the legendary American athlete Allyson Felix, who continued to win Olympic medals and break world records after giving birth, while also namechecking Williams, Azarenka and less-heralded tennis players such as Stefanie Voegele and Yanina Wickmayer as inspirations. She’s had conversations about the realities of coming back with Kerber, who retired at the Paris Olympics in July 2024 and has discussed balancing tennis and childcare with Swiss compatriot Roger Federer.

Bencic is also aware that, as with returning to the tennis court, preparation can sometimes be overtaken by factors beyond a player’s control. America’s world No. 11 Danielle Collins planned to retire in November aged 30 to start a family, but put that on hold when she was told that her endometriosis was presenting complications with her getting pregnant. Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, has spoken poignantly of her desire to have a baby — but only once she’s landed that elusive first major title.

“It felt like it was right for us at this moment of our lives,” Bencic said of her and her Martin Hromkovic’s figuring out when to start a family.

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My game in my words. By Ons Jabeur

The WTA Tour has become a more hospitable place for players returning after having children in the last few years. Since 2019, players have been able to use the ranking they had before going on hiatus to enter 12 tournaments over a three-year period from the birth of their child. If ranked high enough to be seeded in any of their first eight tournaments back, players are also protected from facing a seeded player in the opening round. When Williams began her comeback in 2018 having previously been world No. 1, she was having to enter tournaments unseeded.

There is also a performance health team, which offers tailored services throughout the process from support with breastfeeding or postpartum health to diaphragm and core physiotherapy to prevent delays in recovery. It offers personalized nutrition plans for lactation and athletic performance, and bespoke recommendations for postpartum sleep disturbances. At the Grand Slams and events ranging from WTA 1000s like Madrid and Rome to 500-level tournaments like the United Cup and Stuttgart, there is on-site childcare, but this is not a standard across the circuit. Wozniacki last year told PA that she had been treated well but also that “there should be more done for women coming back from maternity leave.”

A WTA spokesperson told The Athletic that regulatory differences in childcare provision across host countries make a universal childcare policy unworkable. They added that the WTA “encourages” tournaments to offer childcare on a case-by-case basis.

“We remain committed to providing resources to help balance parenthood and the demands of competing at the highest level,” the spokesperson said.

So far, those resources do not include maternity pay. Osaka last year said “having a kid shouldn’t feel like a punishment” from a financial perspective in an interview with the BBC, but there has been no movement on the subject since November 2023, when Steve Simon, then chief executive of the WTA, described it as “scheduled for review” in a letter to players.

Sources briefed on the initiative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships within the sport, have told The Athletic that the WTA is keen to institute such a policy and discussions with the players are ongoing. Osaka and Azarenka both emphasized that it would be lower-ranked players who need such an initiative more than former champions with significant sponsorship like themselves.

“I think we have a lot of work to do but they’re definitely moving on the right track because the questions are being asked,” Townsend told The Athletic in a recent interview.

Taylor Townsend waves to her family after winning the women’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2024. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

Like Bencic, Townsend believes that the normalization of having children while on tour will help to effect change. “Things can definitely move quicker now because there are a lot more moms on tour,” Townsend said.

“I think we’re going to see more as the years go on.”

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‘I think we deserve better’: How and why tennis lets women down

Bencic, who won the 2015 Canadian Open by beating four of the top six players in the world — including Williams — and reached the top 10 the following year at 18, played the San Diego Open in September 2023 while around eight weeks pregnant. Her first tournament back with a ranking was an ITF W75 in Petange, Luxembourg, in November 2024, when she was world No. 1213. By early December she was No. 913, leaping to world No. 421 after reaching the final of the WTA 125 in Angers, France and beating world No. 123 Chloe Paquet in the United Cup at the end of the month.

But the beginning of her return to the court was far from the start of her journey back. Around eight weeks after giving birth to Bella, Bencic starting doing pelvic floor and core stability exercises. Gradually she started trying to rebuild some of her muscle and playing a bit of tennis just in the forecourt. After about four months, she felt like she could start hitting again, but she says that it’s “your reactions” that take the longest to come back into focus. “On the return, your eyes are basically trained by playing every day and seeing the ball,” she explains. “This is not talent. You don’t have that, you have to train it.”

She described the transformation of pregnancy as at first “really strange,” a view shared by other players in a similar position to her. Speaking in a news conference at the Australian Open, Osaka said that it was “really tough to even run” post-partum.

“I do understand why it’s very difficult to, I guess, get to a professional level,” she added.

For Bencic, she quickly acclimatized to the changes to her body — until, as she puts it, “you’re not pregnant anymore, then it’s weird.”

“The only difficult thing was not being able to move or do a lot of sports. And in the end, it felt very limiting and I couldn’t wait until I could have a run again or go to the gym. So it really went from 100 to zero,” Bencic said.

“I have to say kudos to every woman out there because it’s really crazy how fast it changes in such a little time. You go from being 100 percent fit to pregnancy and then afterwards it takes like a lot of time. I think they say you’ve been pregnant for nine months or so and you need the same amount of time afterwards to feel like you were before.

“I’m so amazed by how the body works,” she said.

Bencic used the events in Luxembourg and France as a testing ground — not just to see where her game was at, but also how things would work logistically with a baby daughter in tow. The practice court and match court initially felt like “two different universes,” but that final in Angers and her win over Paquet helped build confidence. Even a sobering 6-1, 6-1 thrashing at the hands of world No. 4 Jasmine Paolini at the United Cup was both a reminder of how steep the top of the tennis mountain is and a positive reality check for where she wants to be.

Belinda Bencic in Hamburg, where competed without a ranking in one of her first events back. (Gregor Fischer / Press Alliance via Getty Images)

Logistically, she’s found a way of making it work, helped by Bella being a very good sleeper and Hromkovic, who is also Bencic’s physical trainer, looking after Bella while Bencic trains and competes. Hromkovic can often be seen with Bella in a sling on his chest, watching on while Bencic practices; both of Bella’s grandmothers pitch in and Bencic’s mother, Dana, will join mother, father and daughter at the Australian Open. Bencic is adapting to playing on less sleep, such a crucial thing for any athlete, but is grateful that Bella generally has pretty uninterrupted nights.

Logistical decisions like these also carry an emotional weight, with the feelings of guilt so many parents feel when having to prioritize their careers over childcare. Dealing with these challenges forms part of the mental health support players get from the WTA, and while Bencic is only just figuring these things out, for Townsend it’s been an ongoing concern.

“There’s a guilt sometimes that I feel being gone for so many weeks, then a guilt about coming home for two days after being gone for three weeks, that is so tough for me,” she said.

“So ultimately I focus on the quality over quantity and just try to be sure that the time I do spend with him is something that he’ll remember.”

Becoming a mother has lent Bencic this kind of perspective, both on her family life and her tennis. “Tennis used to be my one and only life, everything I ever worked for,” she says.

“I would put so much pressure on myself to deliver a good match and a good performance, and if I would have a bad practice, I would think all day about it. That’s completely different now.

“It’s more like a job, it’s more separate. It’s still important to me, I still have the passion and everything, but it’s not everything. I can lose a match and I don’t feel like ‘My god, this is it.’”

(Top photo: Steve Christo / Corbis via Getty Images)

Sports

Brooke Slusser sparks liberal social media meltdown by speaking about SJSU transgender volleyball scandal

Published

7 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Brooke Slusser sparks liberal social media meltdown by speaking about SJSU transgender volleyball scandal

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Left-wing social media users launched a volley of insults at 23-year-old Brooke Slusser in recent days.

In response, dozens of high-profile women’s rights activists have come to the former San Jose State University volleyball player’s defense.

Slusser has addressed the critics herself in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“I would just say people that don’t know my life or my trauma don’t have room to say how good or bad my time at SJSU was. I hope they never have to understand going through something as awful as that,” she said.

She has also acknowledged the responses in a series of TikTok posts, as she has become more active on the platform this week to speak about her alleged experience at SJSU.

The online hate campaign started after Slusser shared details about living arrangements in the same apartment with transgender volleyball teammate Blaire Fleming while at San Jose State university, in an interview with Fox News Digital.

During the interview, she said, “You find out you’re just chilling in a bed with a man that you have no idea about… I [was] unknowingly sharing a bed at that time with a man,” and alleged SJSU volleyball coach Todd Kress encouraged her to live in the same apartment as the trans teammate when another group of players were also looking for a final tenant.

The fallout of the interview has prompted high-profile activists, lawmakers and even an actor to speak out, taking a side behind or against Slusser.

Many critics echoed the sentiment that “nothing bad” happened to Slusser, despite the fact that the anxiety from the situation ultimately led to her developing an eating disorder and not being able to complete her college degree.

Former “Glee” actor Kevin McHale even appeared to mock Slusser’s appearance.

A coalition of “save women’s sports” activists rushed to Slusser’s defense, with OutKick host Riley Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova and former ESPN star Sage Steele leading the charge to defend Slusser from the pro-trans detractors.

“Brooke has every right to feel violated. This is a violation of her personal space and boundaries. She was lied to. She would not have agreed to room with or play with a man,” Sey wrote in response to one critic.

Navratilova wrote in response to that same critic, “Brooke has every right to be mad. Try again with the punishment wish…”

Slusser finds herself at the center of a sports culture war flashpoint at a time when the conflict over her school’s handling of her transgender former teammate has reached a political impasse.

‘HORRIBLE’ MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE ROPED INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL

After the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced at the end of January that an investigation into the university for its handling of a trans athlete and other players concluded that the school violated Title IX, SJSU and the California State University system declined to resolve the violation.

Instead, SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced Friday that the school and the California State University (CSU) system are suing the federal government to challenge the investigation.

“Because we believe OCR’s findings aren’t grounded in the facts or the law, SJSU and the CSU filed a lawsuit today against the federal government to challenge those findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the university, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding,” Teniente-Matson said Friday.

“This is not a step we take lightly. However, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of our institution and the rule of law, while ensuring that every member of our community is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Our position is simple: We have followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so.”

The school is also requesting that OCR rescind its findings and close its investigation.

Teniente-Matson affirmed the university’s commitment to defending the LGBTQ community in the announcement.

“Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years, remains unwavering. We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed have been unsettling for many in our community,” the university president said.

Among ED’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. The department claims “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”

Slusser alleged in a November 2024 lawsuit against the Mountain West that she and former assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose were made aware of a meeting between Fleming and Colorado State women’s volleyball player Malaya Jones on Oct. 2, 2024, during which Fleming discussed a plan with Jones to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match the following night.

Slusser’s own lawsuit partially survived motions to dismiss last week as well.

Colorado District Judge Kato Crews dismissed all the plaintiffs’ charges against the Mountain West Conference but did not dismiss charges of Title IX violations against the CSU system.

Crews deferred his ruling on whether to dismiss those charges until after a decision in the ongoing B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected in June.

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Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans call a play during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

The CSU provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to Crews’ ruling.

“CSU is pleased with the court’s ruling. SJSU has complied with Title IX and all applicable law, and it will continue to do so,” the statement said.

The outcomes of the lawsuits by and against SJSU on this issue could ultimately set a consequential precedent for the future of women’s sports in America.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

Sports

Jessica Pegula’s commitment to hard work every day has turned her into a leader

Published

7 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Jessica Pegula’s commitment to hard work every day has turned her into a leader

INDIAN WELLS — Jessica Pegula never needed tennis.

She simply kept showing up for it anyway, through the long and often anonymous slog of the professional tour.

Now 32 and the oldest player in the top 10, Pegula is having her best season start yet.

The fifth-ranked American reached the Australian Open semifinals for the first time in January, falling to eventual champion Elena Rybakina. She followed that by capturing the Dubai 1000-level tournament, just a rung below the majors.

She is 15-2 so far in 2026, tied with Victoria Mboko in match wins and second only to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina (17-3), who she defeated 6-2, 6-4 in the Dubai final.

Pegula is guaranteed to emerge from this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as the top-ranked American, overtaking No. 4 Coco Gauff, if she reaches the final.

Jessica Pegula kisses the Dubai trophy after defeating Elina Svitolina in the finals on Feb. 21.

(Altaf Qadri / Associated Press)

First, she will have to get past No. 12-seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, her fourth-round opponent on Wednesday. Bencic has not dropped a set in four previous meetings with Pegula.

“That will be a challenge for me,” said the characteristically even-keeled Pegula after defeating former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the third round on Monday.

A late bloomer, Pegula has taken the long road.

She failed to qualify for Grand Slam main draws in 12 of 14 attempts from 2011 to 2018, and didn’t reach the third round at a major until the 2020 U.S. Open at age 26. All three of her Grand Slam semifinal runs — along with her 2024 U.S. Open final — have come after she turned 30.

Pegula said this week that her patience and persistence stem from “always being a little more mature for my age even when I was younger.”

“I think as I’ve gotten older, your perspective changes as well,” she added.

Pegula, whose parents are principal owners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, acknowledges that her wealthy family background can cut two ways.

Financial security offers freedom to push through the sport’s early years on tour, when results are uncertain and the grind is relentless. That same cushion might make it easier to walk away if the climb becomes too frustrating.

Jessica Pegula plays a backhand against Donna Vekic during their match at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Pegula says her motivation to pursue tennis came well before her family’s fortune grew.

“I’ve been wanting to be a professional tennis player and No. 1 in the world since I was like 7,” she said in a small interview room after beating Ostapenko this week.

“It’s a privilege, but at the same time I don’t want to do myself a disservice of not taking the opportunity as well,” she explained. “I’ve always looked at it that way.”

In the last few seasons, that maturity on the court has dovetailed with a growing leadership role off it.

Pegula has served for years on the WTA Player Council and was recently tapped to chair the tour’s new Tour Architecture Council, a working group tasked with examining the increasingly demanding schedule and structural pressures players say have intensified in recent seasons. The panel is expected to explore changes that could reshape the calendar and player workload in coming years.

Pegula said she hadn’t put up her hand to be involved but agreed after several players approached her to take the lead role — though she declined to say who they were.

“I think maybe as you mature … you realize how important it is to give back to the sport,” she said last week.

Life has also provided grounding and a wider lens.

Pegula’s mother, Kim, suffered a serious cardiac arrest in 2022, a situation she discussed in detail in a moving 2023 essay for “The Players’ Tribune.”

The Buffalo native and Florida resident also married businessman Taylor Gahagen in 2021. Gahagen helps “holds down the fort” at home with the couple’s dogs and travels with her when possible. He is with her in Indian Wells.

“I have an amazing support system,” Pegula says.

Despite winning 10 WTA singles titles, achieving a career singles high of No. 3 in 2022 and the No. 1 doubles ranking, Pegula’s low-key demeanor means she flies a bit under the radar.

She’s not one for fashion statements, outlandish antics or attention-seeking initiatives, her joint podcast with close friend Madison Keys notwithstanding.

Instead, Pegula tends to go about her business quietly, relying on a calm temperament and a methodical style that wears opponents down over time.

She gets the job done — the Tim Duncan of the women’s tour.

“She’s just all about lacing them up and competing between the lines, and then trying to be as big an asset as she can to her peers off the court,” says Mark Knowles, the former doubles standout who has shared coaching duties with Mark Merklein since early 2024.

“I think one of her great attributes is she’s very level-headed,” Knowles adds. “She doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low.”

Her tennis identity echoes her steadiness.

Instead of bludgeoning opponents with power, the 5-foot-7 Pegula beats them with savvy, steadiness and tactical variety. A careful student of the game, she studies matchups and patrols the court with a composed efficiency that incrementally drains big hitters and outmaneuvers most rivals long before the final score confirms it.

Keys calls that consistency her “superpower.”

“She doesn’t lose matches that she shouldn’t lose,” the 2025 Australian Open champion said this week.

Because of injuries in the early part of her career, Knowles says Pegula might have less wear-and-tear than other players her age. And he and her team have prioritized rest and recovery, which included the decision to skip the tournament in Doha last month following her tiring Australian Open run.

On brand, there was no panic in Pegula after dropping the first set in her two matches so far at Indian Wells. As she’s done all season, she steadied herself to earn three-set wins.

Bucket-list goals remain, however. Chiefly, capturing a Grand Slam title.

Jessica Pegula returns a shot to Jelena Ostapenko during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Monday.

Pegula jokes that she briefly interrupted a run of American female success when she fell in the 2024 U.S. Open final to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. But seeing close friend and teenage phenom Keys capture her major in Melbourne last year — after many wondered if her window had passed — hit closer to home.

“I think Madison winning Australia just motivated me even more,” Pegula says.

Although Pegula believes she is among the best hardcourt players in women’s tennis, that confidence hasn’t translated into success in the California desert. She has reached the quarterfinals just once in 10 previous appearances in Indian Wells.

“Why not try and add that one to the resume?” says Knowles, noting that she had never won the title in Dubai until last month. “She’s playing still at a very high level.”

Pegula says the key to keeping things fresh is maintaining her love of the game by continuing to improve and experiment with new ideas, a process that keeps her engaged mentally and eager to compete.

“I’m not afraid to kind of take that risk of changing and working on different things,” she says, “which just keeps my mind working and problem solving.”

For a player who never needed tennis, she remains determined to see how much more it can give her.

Sports

Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

Published

19 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.

Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.

Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.

After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME

Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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