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Emma Raducanu's Andy Murray decision exemplifies tennis' battle with logic and emotion

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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.

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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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Murray disappointed after Raducanu withdrawal ends Wimbledon career

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.

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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.

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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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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.

It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.

So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.

We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

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10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)

After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.

9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)

How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.

8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)

This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.

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UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional

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UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional

No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.

During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.

“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”

Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.

“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”

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South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.

The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.

Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.

“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.

South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.

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The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.

Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.

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Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America

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Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America

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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.

But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.

Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.

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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)

He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.

“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.

“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”

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Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.

He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.

“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.

Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)

“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”

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Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.

“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.

National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)

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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”

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Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.

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