Sports
Emma Raducanu's Andy Murray decision exemplifies tennis' battle with logic and emotion
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At the heart of the row over Emma Raducanu’s decision to blow off her Wimbledon mixed doubles date with Andy Murray is an irresistible three-way tug-of-war between emotion, rationality and karma that could only unfold in tennis.
After Raducanu confirmed that she would withdraw from their first-round match, scheduled for Saturday evening, via a Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) statement, Murray’s mother and first ever coach, Judy, ensured that she would forever be the leader of the emotional tug of all this with 11 taps of the keys on social media. She described Raducanu’s decision to break off the engagement with her son on No 1 Court, so ending his glittering Wimbledon career at age 37, as “astonishing”.
Raducanu, who is on her best run of form at a Grand Slam tournament since winning the U.S. Open in 2021, said she awoke with stiffness in her wrist and did not want to risk further injury ahead of her fourth-round match against Lulu Sun, a 23-year-old qualifier from New Zealand. They are due to play this afternoon, Sunday, on Centre Court.
The decision came just days after Raducanu talked about needing only seconds to accept Murray’s invitation to team up here. About how she had watched him play in the 2012 Olympics at Wimbledon with Laura Robson, winning silver medals, and dreamed that one day she might be able to partner him.
Murray’s camp emphasized on Saturday that he had been ready to play, and that there was no issue with his recently-operated-on back, which had forced him out of the men’s singles draw at his final Wimbledon.
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On one hand, it’s easy to understand Judy Murray’s emotional reaction to Raducanu’s decision. Her son had offered Raducanu, who has struggled with injuries and battled questions about her commitment to the sport the past two years, a chance to share some of the ethereal light from his career.
His invitation also served notice to a British sporting public that has been running out of patience with Raducanu’s trajectory. Their frustration is born to a certain extent of false perceptions. Injuries — requiring operations on both wrists, the site of her current ailment, last summer — have derailed her career for over a year; winning a U.S. Open title at 18 as a qualifier is abnormal as much as it is remarkable.
Raducanu has not yet been able to prove that she can be just a normal tennis player, and a very good one at that, because she hasn’t really had the opportunity, and given how prone she appears to injury, she is likely one of those players who may need to put in a lot of training work outside tournaments to stay as healthy as possible and reach her full potential.
Judy Murray attended her son’s Centre Court farewell match earlier this week (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)
The irony of all this is that when Murray was Raducanu’s age, he didn’t have the best reputation either.
In his case, much of the tennis-viewing populace took a sideways view of his often cranky on-court demeanor. It wasn’t how a rising force in a gentleman’s game was supposed to act in the era of Roger Federer, its greatest gentleman of all — once he figured out how to stop breaking rackets.
For Judy Murray to toss a bit of fuel on the fire that Raducanu had begun working hard to snuff out suggested a singular vision about the priorities of the fortnight, which for the players remaining in the singles draws, is to win titles rather than provide a stage for valedictories.
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The best way for Raducanu to prove her potential would be a deep run at Wimbledon off the back of the roughest period of her career.
Tiring herself into a possible defeat for the sake of a sporting occasion that is largely meaningless in the grand scheme of that career would not be a good way to do it.
Anyone mapping out a rational plan to best prepare Raducanu for a match on a Sunday would not put her on a tennis court late on the previous day for one that, while emotional, would likely have also had the air of an exhibition. They would put her on a couch, maybe with an ice pack on her stiff wrist, rather than a racket in her hand.
Playing a symbolic match with Murray in front of over 12,000 screaming fans in the evening is a good route to bad sleep and a body pumped full of adrenaline until the small hours of the morning, once you factor in a post-match treatment, eating, getting to bed and winding down.
Raducanu is looking to regain her consistency after a tough time with injuries (John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)
That’s not a rational plan for success during your best run at a Grand Slam tournament since you won one almost three years before.
But tennis is not a rational sport, it’s an emotional one filled with unique codes of etiquette that players are often loathe to mess with, lest they anger the sport’s karma gods. Blowing off the greatest tennis legend in your country’s tennis history in his final Wimbledon, during a week that has basically been all about celebrating him, when you are only in the singles thanks to a wild card, would seem like a good way to anger them — or at least Judy Murray, which has never been good etiquette.
Walking onto a court with that legend, the essence of good Wimbledon karma, maybe picking up a tip or two about what it takes to win in this place. That would seem like a good way to get the game’s mystical forces on your side.
Raducanu has made a decision that she thinks is right and is best for her tennis at this year’s Wimbledon.
So do those karma gods really exist? Maybe only if you believe they do.
(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
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Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Nyier Daniels was kicked off the team on Monday following his arrest on multiple charges resulting from a high-speed police chase, coach Kirby Smart said.
Daniels was arrested Sunday and booked into the Jackson County Jail in Georgia. He was charged with three felonies, including fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, and 10 misdemeanor charges.
Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Nyier Daniels (79) blocks against Georgia outside linebacker Quintavius Johnson (33) during the Georgia Spring game at Sanford Stadium on April 12, 2025. (Dale Zanine/Imagn Images)
The other felonies against Daniels were two counts of cruelty to children because his two younger siblings were in his vehicle at the time, officials said. The misdemeanor charges included reckless driving and speeding.
He reportedly reached speeds of 100 mph in a 25-mph zone in Commerce and 150 mph when the chase continued on Interstate 85.
“I have not had a chance to talk to him or his family, but obviously he’ll no longer be with us,” Smart said.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart reacts during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Charlotte, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Athens, Georgia. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)
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Brandi Canada Green, Daniels’ mother, was also arrested after she allegedly drove another vehicle that became involved in the chase. She faces a felony charge of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, as well as a misdemeanor charge of willful obstruction of law enforcement.
Capt. Cole Edwards said in the police report that he asked Daniels why he fled and Daniels responded “he did not want his mother to get a ticket.”
Daniels was able to get away from the police, but was arrested after officers learned he was a Georgia player and contacted team coaches, who provided assistance, according to an incident report.
Georgia Bulldogs offensive lineman Nyier Daniels (79) in the fourth quarter of the NCAA football game between the Marshall Thundering Herd and the Georgia Bulldogs on Aug. 30, 2025, at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. (John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Daniels was listed as a redshirt freshman and appeared in three games this season. He played in the Bulldogs’ 35-3 win over Charlotte on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
CITY SECTION
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
At Birmingham High
DIVISION III
#2 Hawkins (10-2) vs. #1 Santee (9-4), 2 p.m.
DIVISION II
#2 San Fernando (10-3) vs. #1 Cleveland (5-8), 6 p.m.
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
At Southwest College
DIVISION I
#5 Marquez (11-2) vs. #2 South Gate (10-3), 2 p.m.
OPEN DIVISION
#6 Crenshaw (10-1) vs. #1 Carson (8-3), 6 p.m.
SOUTHERN SECTION
(Games at 7 p.m. unless noted)
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
DIVISION 1
Santa Margarita (9-3) vs. Corona Centennial (11-1) at Rose Bowl
DIVISION 3
Oxnard Pacifica (13-0) at Palos Verdes (10-3)
DIVISION 7
Barstow (9-3) at Apple Valley (9-4)
DIVISION 8
Beckman (10-3) at Brea Olinda (10-3)
DIVISION 12
Santa Paula (8-5) at Grace (10-3)
DIVISION 13
Woodbridge (5-8) at Montebello (7-6)
DIVISION 14
South El Monte (9-4) at Pioneer (7-6)
8-MAN
DIVISION 1
Flintridge Prep (9-0) at Cornerstone Christian (11-0)
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
DIVISION 2
Los Alamitos (11-2) at San Clemente (9-4)
DIVISION 4
La Habra (10-3) at San Jacinto (10-3)
DIVISION 5
Rio Hondo Prep (13-0) at Redondo Union (9-4)
DIVISION 6
Ventura (11-2) at St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy (7-6)
DIVISION 9
Ramona (11-2) at Cerritos Valley Christian (10-3)
DIVISION 10
Tahquitz (10-3) at Hillcrest (8-5)
DIVISION 11
Baldwin Park (8-5) at Valley View (8-5)
8-MAN
DIVISION 2
Lancaster Baptist (9-3) at Cate (5-7), 1 p.m.
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The Seattle Seahawks came away with their eighth win of the season on Sunday, and once again, it was star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba playing a large role in the victory.
This time, though, Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s leader in receiving yards, made some Seahawks history in the process.
The second-year receiver out of Ohio State set the single-season franchise record for receiving yards after totaling 167 in the 30-24 victory.
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates after defeating the Tennessee Titans in the game at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 23, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)
Coming into the game, Smith-Njigba needed 150 yards to break D.K. Metcalf’s record of 1,303, which he set in 2020. After Sam Darnold found his favorite target for a 63-yard touchdown in the second quarter, it was not only another deep touchdown connection between the two, but it made it quite possible that Smith-Njigba would break Metcalf’s record in just his 11th game of the season.
Smith-Njigba later reached the yardage needed in the third quarter, and that total is only expected to grow with six games left in the regular season.
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It was clear that Smith-Njigba was going to be a great receiver in the league when he tallied 100 receptions for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns during his rookie campaign in 2024. But with a new quarterback in Darnold — Geno Smith was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason — there were questions entering the year about whether the offense would look the same.
Darnold has proven to be the right fit for Klint Kubiak’s offense, and Smith-Njigba has set a new career high in touchdowns and appears poised to shatter his receptions total as well.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates after catching a pass for a touchdown in the second quarter of the game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 23, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)
It’s worth noting that Metcalf was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, partly due to Smith-Njigba’s emergence as a top pass-catching option during his rookie season.
The Seahawks also announced that Smith-Njigba has moved into the league record books. He now has the fifth-most receiving yards through the first 11 games of a season in the Super Bowl era, passing the great Julio Jones on that list.
No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans’ offense made things interesting late, as Chimere Dike caught a touchdown to bring them within six points in the fourth quarter. But Seattle’s defense, which has been a solid unit all season, came through in the end.
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Smith-Njigba finished the game with two touchdowns for Seattle, while Zach Charbonnet added a rushing score for the Seahawks.
Smith-Njigba will look to add to his single-season total next Sunday when the Seahawks return home to host the Minnesota Vikings.
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