Sports

Donna Vekic wanted to quit tennis in May. She's one win from an Olympic medal

Published

2 years ago

August 1, 2024

Donna Vekic wanted to quit tennis in May. She's one win from an Olympic medal

On the eve of the French Open in May, Donna Vekic had had enough. Her results hadn’t been great but it was more than that. Her energy and motivation had gone.

She told her coach, Nick Horvat, that she wanted to pull out of Roland Garros and that, at 27, she was thinking of quitting tennis altogether. She had thought about retiring two years earlier, following knee surgery, and she was back in that head space again.

The Croatian decided to have at least one more swing. She played that French Open, only to suffer a defeat to Olga Danilovic of Serbia in the third round that she described as “so, so painful”. After winning the opening set 6-0 and losing the second 5-7, Vekic squandered numerous break points in the third, and was broken when serving for the match on two consecutive occasions.

She then relinquished a 6-2 lead in the 10-point match tiebreak, losing 10-8. One set up against a player who had finished late the previous night, she again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Two months on, Vekic, who has a phenomenally powerful serve and forehand, has upended that narrative. Back at the same venue for the 2024 Paris Olympics and ranked world No 21 (up from 40 before Roland Garros), she is into the semifinals and on the brink of a medal. This would be the biggest achievement of her career — her four titles have all been at the 250 level, the lowest rung of the WTA Tour.

During this run in Paris, Vekic has taken out the Team USA flagbearer Coco Gauff, keeping her cool after the world No 2 had a lengthy exchange with the chair umpire and tournament supervisor over a disputed call. Vekic backed that up on Wednesday night against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, winning a typically up-and-down thriller 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(8) to ensure she will play in a medal match.

More on Coco Gauff…

This Olympic run also comes on the back of her best result at a Grand Slam. She reached the Wimbledon semifinals a few weeks ago — getting two points away from the final — at her 43rd major. Only four players had ever reached their first semifinal after more attempts.

Vekic’s Wimbledon run took her within two points of the final (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

As ever with Vekic, who turned 28 in June, mindset is crucial. After beating Lulu Sun in their Wimbledon quarterfinal, 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion Pam Shriver offered a window into Vekic’s achievements. Shriver, who is on her coaching team, explained that the ability to “reset” after a tough moment has been one of the key mantras for Vekic during this period of success.

It’s not been straightforward — so outwardly emotional, her matches are rarely stress-free — but this is how Vekic defied the doubts to become a Wimbledon and Olympic semifinalist.

Vekic was a hugely promising junior, and aged 16, she said she wanted to be the world No 1. She won her first WTA title, the 2014 Malaysian Open, at 17, and made steady if unspectacular progress for the next few years. After a few final defeats, it took until 2017 for her to win her second title — on the grass at Nottingham in the UK. She beat Britain’s Johanna Konta in the final, but then lost an epic to the same player at Wimbledon a couple of weeks later, 10-8 in the third set. It was an agonising defeat, but Vekic was showing her grass-court pedigree, and she cracked the world’s top 50 for the first time soon after.

The following year, Vekic reached the Wimbledon fourth round. Vekic said during last month’s Wimbledon run that she’s a “different person” from then, and has “matured more”. She ended 2019 at a career-high ranking of No 19 — now ranked No 21, she looks well set to beat that soon.

Vekic with the Nottingham title in 2017 (Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images for LTA)

Two years on, in January 2021, Vekic had knee surgery that kept her out until that year’s French Open. She thought seriously about quitting and at Wimbledon last month, she said, “Those couple of years were very tough. I didn’t think I was ever going to come back to the level that I even had last year.”

Vekic struggled on and got her reward at the Australian Open in January 2023 — though it ended in familiar heartbreak. Vekic battled to a second major quarterfinal, this time against Aryna Sabalenka, but appeared to freeze on the big stage. She served three double faults in the first game, nine in the first set and 13 overall, in what was a straight-sets defeat. Afterwards, she said that her serve “was all over the place”, before adding, with a rueful smile, “but I think mostly in the net”.

Vekic’s serve crumbled against eventual champion Sabalenka (William West / AFP via Getty Images)

That self-deprecation and sense of humour is an important part of the Vekic package.

Fast forward to this year, and after an indifferent run of results came that reckoning at Roland Garros.

“I didn’t have any energy, any motivation to keep practising, to keep pushing. The last couple months, I gave everything for tennis, and I wasn’t getting the results I expected,” she said.

“It was a very, very tough moment, but they (her team) were all there for me.”

Back on the grass, Vekic reached the final at Bad Homburg, changing her usual routine by playing an event the week before Wimbledon. It paid off.

She instantly looked comfortable at Wimbledon. Propelled by a bruising serve and beefy forehand, she bludgeoned (and drop-shotted) her way to the last four. Her three-set defeat to Paolini was the longest women’s semifinal in Wimbledon history and one of the tournament’s best matches, lasting nine minutes shy of three hours.

GO DEEPER

Jasmine Paolini beats Donna Vekic to reach Wimbledon final after knife-edge match tiebreak

Vekic’s ability to effectively employ the “reset” mantra defined her Wimbledon run as much as her tennis, and it’s been a key in Paris too. The Croatian actually pressed the reset button between Wimbledon and the Olympics, heading from London straight to the beach in her home country, where she could put the disappointment of the Paolini defeat behind her.

Against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the third round, Vekic gave up the second set having held a match point. She appeared to be slipping to another disappointing defeat. Instead, she came out and won the decider 6-1.

“She did a great job of resetting,” said Shriver, who travels with Vekic for the biggest events of the year, but for the Olympics is doing what she can remotely from her home in Los Angeles.

In the next round, Vekic said she was “freaking out” but then used a rain delay when trailing Spain’s Paula Badosa 5-1 in the second set to gather herself. Shriver told Vekic: “Just trust yourself on this one. You know how to deal with it.”

By the time Vekic was in the quarterfinals, “She was just in that place where you want to be in the quarterfinals of a major, which is like with the blinders on,” Shriver said.

“And so Nick (Horvat, her main coach) and I were like, ‘We just sit back and let her do her thing’.”

Part of her thing is admitting that she does not have much of a poker face. Vekic’s emotions are almost always writ large, and even when up in matches, it feels as if she would rather be anywhere than on a tennis court. At Wimbledon, she recovered from breaking down in tears — from physical pain, rather than emotion — against Paolini to play a magnificently composed point when match point down, forcing a match tiebreak from a position in which she looked ready to crumble.

“She lets people know what she’s feeling,” Shriver said. “But that’s OK. She’s learned to use the time between points, and she’s letting the stress out and resetting.

“You have to apply those resetting skills at the right time. She’s doing really good things. It could be breathing. It could be anything.”

Vekic’s tears at Wimbledon were caused by injury rather than emotion (Francois Nel/Getty Images)

One of Vekic’s most obvious and effective resets at Wimbledon came in the quarterfinal against Sun, the New Zealand qualifier playing with the obvious freedom of having nothing to lose. Vekic generally served brilliantly in the match, but when she served for the second set she hit five double faults — the second-most in a game by any player in Wimbledon history.

She reset, won the next game to take the set, and then won the first 13 points of the decider.

“I was so angry. I was so angry at myself,” Vekic said after the match.

“I was like, ‘No, this is not happening right now’. I could hear Pam shouting, ‘Reset, reset’. I was like, ‘Reset what?’.”

Vekic then laughed as she relived the fury she was feeling. She laughed again when asked if she had benefited from the new rules that allow players to speak to their coaches.

“Probably not,” she said. “I told them to shut up five times during the match.”

Keeping the serve solid has been a priority for Vekic and her team. “We’ve talked about a lot of things that she can do, whether it’s hit the second serve first because she has an aggressive second serve,” Shriver said.

“Sometimes ‘up, up’ is a team mantra on the serve because if you’re not going up after it that’s not good. She’s getting to the point where she can do a lot of this on her own, as long as she has the clarity.”

Vekic recovered from a disastrous service game against Lulu Sun (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

This is where the emotional element comes in, with the mental stresses of a match affecting the serve like no other shot. Shriver, who reached eight major singles semifinals and one final, but couldn’t get over the line, can relate. “If it gets too emotional, then it’s hard to be clear,” she said. “And I know that 100 per cent because I was very emotional as a player. And I look back and I’m like, ‘Dang, that definitely hurt me’. I let the emotions have a domino effect.”

Vekic was able to resist that domino effect against Gauff. After going 4-2 up on that disputed break point, after which Gauff had a lengthy discussion with the chair umpire and tournament supervisor, Vekic quickly went down 0-40. After missing one serve, the crowd booed, still feeling aggrieved for the American. “It’s not my fault,” Vekic said to herself.

She saved the break points, and won that game and the next one to win the match.

More on Coco Gauff…

Vekic is always quick to pay tribute to her support team, led by her main coach Horvat. Shriver is a big admirer of Horvat too and said they work well together — speaking to each other during matches about who should send what message and when. They collaborate on opposition analysis, too, which starts as soon as the opponent is known. “But Donna’s the leader,” Shriver said.

That extends to Vekic and her team being straightforward about her previous shortcomings. “Part of the mindset training is like, ‘Don’t let the elephants in the room just go quiet’,” Shriver said.

“We’re addressing it a little bit more as a team.”

Vekic stayed calm against Gauff to record a stunning win (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Against Kostyuk late at night in Paris, Vekic had to summon every ounce of the advice Shriver, Horvat, and her team had given her. She led 5-1 in a scintillating first set, before being reeled back to 5-4. She double-faulted when serving for the set, but closed it out.

She hit another double fault up match point in the third set, and was broken when serving for the match at 5-4, and again at 6-5 (when she also missed a match point), after breaking the Kostyuk serve at 5-5.

She went 4-0 down and then 5-2 down in the third-set tiebreak. She came back again. She went match point down. She hit a return winner inside-out. And after some more back-and-forth, it was fittingly an ace, delivered with the serve that has hampered her in the past, that secured victory. Vekic was involved in the best match of Wimbledon against Paolini, and here she was part of the best of the Olympics so far.

Her matches are often so full of emotion and plot twists that they make Andy Murray’s seem positively chilled out.

Always honest, Vekic is happy to admit that she doesn’t enjoy these big occasions. “No, not at all,” Vekic said at Wimbledon. “A lot of the times I’m like, ‘I just cannot wait for this match to be over’. It’s tough out there. Doesn’t matter if it’s first round, second round, quarterfinals, it’s tough to enjoy.”

She added: “The part that I do enjoy is playing on big courts with such an amazing crowd. That’s the part that I try to soak in while I’m playing. I have to always remind myself to enjoy it.”

As for her coaches, Vekic said, “What I like about her (Shriver) and everyone in my team, they always say it the way it is. They don’t try to sugarcoat things. They’re very direct, which I really appreciate.”

On Shriver, she added: “She’s an amazing person, amazing mentor. I’m really proud to have her in my team.”

Twelve years on from turning pro, this one-time prodigy is making good on her rich potential. And having considered retiring less than three months ago, Vekic is now all in — at 28, there’s nothing to hold back for.

“There’s a point in your career where you’re no longer the rising youngster, right?” said

Shriver, who herself was a teenage sensation, reaching the U.S. Open final as a 16-year-old. “You’ve been around long enough. You know your body well. So now it’s like, ‘OK, it’s not like you’re trying to protect a future 15-year career’. This also means not over-celebrating her achievements. This is the life of a tennis player — no matter what peak you scale, there’s always another match and tournament.

“She may well have other unbelievable opportunities. But the only one we want to concern ourselves with is this opportunity.”

Shriver was talking about Wimbledon but a few weeks on, those words are just as relevant to Vekic’s Olympics bid. All she needs to concern herself with is this opportunity. She is two wins away from a gold medal, which would have seemed impossible when she considered retirement at the same venue in May.

Additional reporting: Matthew Futterman

(Top photo: Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

Sports

Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’

Published

10 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’

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Eileen Gu released a statement on social media Monday, reflecting on her controversial decision to compete for Team China despite being born and raised in the U.S.

Gu’s statement tied the decision back to her passion for promoting women’s sports, and encouraging young girls to pursue sports.

“I gave my first speech on women in sports and title IX when I was 11 years old. I talked about being the only girl on my ski team, and, despite attending an all-girls’ school from Monday through Friday, becoming best friends with my teammates on the weekends through the common language of sport,” Gu wrote on Instagram.

Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China poses for photos after the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images) (Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)

“At the same time, I was made painfully aware of the lack of representation – at age 9, I felt that I was somehow representing all women every time I stepped in the terrain park. Landing tricks was about more than progression … it was about disproving the derisive implication of what it meant to ‘ski like a girl.’”

Gu went on to express gratitude for the one season in which she did compete for the U.S.

“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China. At the time, I had spent one season on the US team, and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person. I am forever grateful for that season, and continue to maintain a close relationship with the team. I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny. I felt like I knew everyone,” she added.

“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner.”

Gu’s statement concluded by acknowledging that certain people “don’t understand” her decision to compete for China over the U.S., while insisting the choice maximized the impact she would have.

“I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12 year old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls, who will never doubt their place in the sport. I can tell 15 year old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide,” Gu wrote.

“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions. Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say was once a dream is now a reality.”

Gu has become a target for global criticism this Olympics for her decision to represent China while remaining silent on the country’s alleged human rights abuses.

In an interview with Time magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts on China’s alleged persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

“I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media,” Gu answered.

“I’m just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general. … So, it’s not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to have a ton of evidence. I need to maybe go to the place, maybe talk to 10 primary source people who are in a location and have experienced life there.

“Then I need to go see images. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. This is a lifelong search. It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”

More controversy surrounding Gu erupted after The Wall Street Journal reported that Gu and another American-born athlete who now competes for China, were paid a combined $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2025.

Gu is the highest-paid Winter Olympics athlete in the world, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone due to partnerships with Chinese companies, including the Bank of China and western companies.

Her alignment with China prompted criticism from many Americans this Olympics, including Vice President J.D. Vance.

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”

Later, when Gu was asked if she feels “like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment,” she said she does.

“I do,” she said. “So many athletes compete for a different country. … People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So, it’s not really about what they think it’s about.

“And, also, because I win. Like, if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions.”

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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Gu has claimed she was “physically assaulted” for the decision.

“The police were called. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed,” Gu told The Athletic.

“I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.”

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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

Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame

Published

10 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame

From Hollywood actors to Olympic athletes and politicians, California’s newest Hall of Fame class runs the gamut in talent and achievements.

Academy Award-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and former governor/action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympic champions Janet Evans and Carl Lewis, authors Riane Eisler and Terry McMillan, chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, groundbreaking ensemble Mariachi Reyne de Los Ángeles and former state Democratic leader John L. Burton all earned a spot into the assembly of distinct Californians, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.

This class, the 19th in state history, will be formally enshrined during a ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento on March 19 as a “celebration of their contributions to civic life, creativity, and social progress,” according to Newsom’s office.

The inductees “have reshaped our culture and our communities. Resilient and innovative, these leaders and luminaries represent the best of the California spirit,” Newsom said in a statement.

To be inducted, candidates must have lived in California for at least five years and “have made achievements benefiting the state, nation and world,” according to the California Hall of Fame website. To date, 166 Californians have been selected by three governors since 2006.

Schwarzenegger, 78, served as the state’s 38th governor and last Republican head of state from 2003 to 2011. His renaissance man biography includes a career as a body builder, highlighted by his Mr. Universe titles, action film success, political stardom and even tabloid-fodder infidelity.

Curtis, 67, a Santa Monica native, is among Hollywood’s elite and teamed with Schwarzenegger in the action blockbuster “True Lies” in 1994. Her acting career dates to 1977, and she earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 2023 for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Evans, 54, is a four-time Olympic gold medal swimmer and Fullerton native who attended Placentia El Dorado High School, Stanford University and USC. She serves as chief athletic officer for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Lewis, 64, is considered by many one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. The track star won 10 medals, nine of them gold, in four Olympics.

Eisler, 88, and McMillan, 74, added multiple bestsellers to this Hall of Fame class.

Eisler’s critically acclaimed “The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future” examines roughly 20,000 years of partnership between men and women and male domination over the last 5,000 years. The futurist, cultural historian and Holocaust survivor who has degrees in sociology and law from UCLA said she was informed of the honor last year by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and recently was honored by the Austrian government with its Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class.

“I am very honored at this time in my life to be inducted into the California Hall of Fame,” Eisler wrote in an email. “I have worked tirelessly to help create a better world, and firmly believe that a new paradigm, a new way of looking at our world and our place in it, is crucial.”

McMillan has written a series of smash hits, including a couple that became major studio films in the ‘90s, “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got her Groove Back,” centered on Black women’s voices.

Matsuhisa, 76, know for his iconic Japanese restaurant Nobu, which has six locations in California, owns businesses across five continents.

Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles, founded in South El Monte, rewrote the rules of music, becoming the first all-woman mariachi ensemble that has entertained for more than three decades.

Burton, the former chair of the California Democratic Party who died last year at 92, boasted a political career that included time in the California State Assembly and Senate and the U.S. House.

“This year’s class embodies the very best of California — creativity, resilience and a spirit of community,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “These honorees remind us that innovation and courage flourish when people are lifted up by those around them.”

Sports

Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

Published

22 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

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Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.

They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.

Washington Redskins kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) talks to reporters at Jack Murphy Stadium during media day prior to Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. San Diego, California, on Jan. 26, 1988.(Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)

Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians

Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.

Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits.

Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.

And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.

“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.

Green Bay Packers kicker Al Del Greco (10) talks with New York Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) on Sept. 15, 1985, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Giants 23-20.

Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting

Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah.

“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.

“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”

Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.

“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”

Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel

Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.

Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.

“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.

“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”

This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh (68) of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks against defensive lineman Jevon Kearse (90) of the Tennessee Titans during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 24, 2000, in Pittsburgh. The Titans defeated the Steelers 23-20. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’

“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”

Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.

And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.

One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.

Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.

(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025).

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh of the Washington Redskins looks on from the sideline during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 7, 1997, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers defeated the Redskins 14-13. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence

And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.

“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?

“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”

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