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On a Busy First Day at the U.S. Open, All Eyes Are on Serena Williams

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On a Busy First Day at the U.S. Open, All Eyes Are on Serena Williams

Observe dwell as Serena Williams performs Danka Kovinic on the U.S. Open.

Iga Swiatek is seeded No. 1 for the primary time this 12 months on the U.S. Open and is making an attempt to safe her first Grand Slam title someplace aside from the purple clay of Roland Garros.

However on the eve of the U.S. Open, Swiatek had one other precedence: lastly working up the braveness to fulfill Serena Williams, a formidable champion whom Swiatek stated made her really feel like “a child from kindergarten simply her.”

On Sunday, Swiatek posted {a photograph} of her with Williams on her social media accounts: “That is the spotlight of my day,” Swiatek wrote on Twitter. “Congratulations in your superb journey and legendary profession @serenawilliams. Large respect for every thing you could have performed for our sport.”

It has been that kind of buildup to this 12 months’s closing Grand Slam event. There are an abundance of established and rising gamers and story traces at the united statesT.A. Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Middle. However they’re all relegated to the background for now as Williams, one of many best athletes of any technology, prepares to play what could possibly be her closing singles match on Monday night time within the first spherical towards the unseeded Danka Kovinic.

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Till this 12 months, no Chinese language man had certified to play within the U.S. Open however two managed it this 12 months — 25-year-old Zhang Zhizhen and 22-year-old Wu Yibing — and they’re on Monday’s schedule after working towards collectively on Court docket 8 on Sunday with a small crowd of predominantly Mandarin-speaking followers applauding their efforts and besieging them for autographs and images when the coaching session ended.

On Monday, People Elizabeth Mandlik and Brandon Holt, each kids of U.S. Open singles champions, will make their very own Grand Slam debuts. Mandlik, the daughter of Hana Mandlikova, will face Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia. Holt, the son of Tracy Austin, will face Taylor Fritz, the No. 10 seed and top-ranked American who’s himself the son of former high 10 girls’s participant Kathy Could.

Additionally on Monday, Dominic Thiem, the 2020 U.S. Open males’s champion, will return to the event after lacking final 12 months’s Open with a severe wrist harm. He has a tricky task towards Pablo Carreño Busta, the smooth-moving Spaniard who has twice been a semifinalist on the U.S. Open and lately received the Masters 1000 event in Canada.

However all these intriguing tennis tales will take a again seat to Williams vs. Kovinic, and even the opposite tennis gamers have been in search of alternatives to fulfill and meet up with Williams.

“I watch her my entire life,” Swiatek, the 21-year-old Polish star, stated of the 40-year-old Williams. “Principally she was all over the place, as a result of she all the time received and was someplace within the semifinals or the finals. I didn’t all the time really feel like I’m this sort of participant who can play related tennis, as a result of she all the time appeared so sturdy, actually stronger than any of her opponents bodily. However mentally for certain, she’s the one who’s going to indicate you how you can use your place and how you can form of intimidate with being No. 1. I’m making an attempt to try this. I don’t know if it’s going properly or not.”

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For Swiatek, Williams’s potential to juggle exterior pursuits and motherhood together with her tennis profession have been a “nice instance.”

“I feel it’s nice that we’ve got someone like that in our sport who cleared the trail and confirmed us that you are able to do something,” she stated. “The sky’s the restrict.”

Naomi Osaka, a former No. 1 and two-time U.S. Open champion making an attempt to recuperate her mojo after an unsuccessful stretch, spent extra of her information convention on Friday answering questions on Williams than another matter.

“I feel that her legacy is de facto extensive to the purpose the place you’ll be able to’t even describe it in phrases,” Osaka stated. “She modified the game a lot. She’s launched those who have by no means heard of tennis into the game. I feel I’m a product of what she’s performed. I wouldn’t be right here with out Serena, Venus, her entire household. I’m very grateful to her.”

Osaka’s household did use the extraordinary success of the Williamses as a “blueprint,” in accordance with Osaka’s father Leonard Francois.

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Naomi Osaka made her Grand Slam breakthrough by upsetting Serena Williams within the 2018 U.S. Open closing in a match the place Williams was penalized a recreation after a sequence of code violations by chair umpire Carlos Ramos. Osaka ended up in tears on the on-court awards ceremony amid boos from the stands, which weren’t directed at her however on the approach the ultimate had unfolded.

She and Williams have lengthy since moved on from that traumatic night and developed a powerful intergenerational connection.

When Williams performed (and misplaced) within the first spherical of the Western and Southern Open earlier this month to Emma Raducanu, Osaka was in the stands, keen to not miss the chance after Williams had introduced that the top of her taking part in profession was imminent.

“I keep in mind seeing an interview she did, I don’t know what it was, like an on-court factor, that if she retires, she’ll by no means inform anybody,” Osaka stated. “I used to be actually scared: Dang, when is the final time she’s going to play? Simply to see her announce it and let individuals recognize her legacy is de facto cool.”

Monday night time is not going to be the final likelihood to take action: Win or lose towards Kovinic, Serena is entered within the girls’s doubles together with her older sister Venus Williams.

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However Monday night time needs to be fairly a second, a sporting and cultural occurring that comes on the twenty fifth anniversary of Arthur Ashe Stadium, nonetheless the most important everlasting tennis venue on the earth with its capability of 23,771.

Whereas Venus, unseeded, reached the ladies’s singles closing the 12 months Ashe Stadium opened in 1997, Serena didn’t get to play a match in the primary stadium. However she did make her Grand Slam and U.S. Open debut, shedding within the first spherical of doubles together with her sister to Kathy Rinaldi and Jill Hetherington.

1 / 4 century later, Venus, 42, and Serena are the one girls on this 12 months’s draw who additionally performed within the 1997 Open.

It’s a second to have fun, an period to commemorate, and although there is no such thing as a scarcity of matches on Monday price watching carefully, there could be little question about which match is producing the most important buzz.

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Julian Edelman recalls tense backstage moment between Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick at Tom Brady's roast

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Julian Edelman recalls tense backstage moment between Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick at Tom Brady's roast

There was a noticeable amount of tension in the air before Netflix’s “The Roast of Tom Brady” kicked off, according to former New England Patriots star Julian Edelman.

Edelman was joined by Drew Bledsoe, who was the Patriots starting quarterback before Brady took the reins, on a recent edition of the “Games with Names” podcast. The two former NFL stars , who both attended the roast, detailed the seemingly tense pre-show moment.

Edelman said his former coach Bill Belichick was initially enjoying his time in the green room and was “excited” to see so many of his former players. 

Julian Edelman speaks onstage during G.R.O.A.T The Greatest Roast Of All Time: Tom Brady for the Netflix is a Joke Festival at The Kia Forum on May 05, 2024 in Inglewood, California.   (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Netflix)

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“Pre-show, we’re in the green room. Randy [Moss], Drew [Bledsoe], me, [Rob Gronkowski], we were just chilling in there,” Edelman said. “Bill was opening up, he’s having fun, he’s talking war stories, talking rookies. Doing s— we know what Bill’s about, but it was like amplified, because he’s excited to see guys because he doesn’t have a job anymore.”

SUPER BOWL CHAMP ADMITS ‘OLD-SCHOOL MENTALITY’ WOULD HAVE KEPT HIM FROM BILL BELICHICK ZINGERS DURING ROAST

But, Belichick’s relaxed demeanor quickly went out the window once longtime team owner Robert Kraft walked in.

“The tension in that room, though, could cut f—ing glass,” Edelman said. “It was so awkward. … I was just like, ‘Oh s—, this could be some fireworks.’ I just walked away.”

Tom Brady and Julian Edelman walk

Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots and Julian Edelman #11 look on after Edelman scored a touchdown in the second quarter of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game at Gillette Stadium on January 04, 2020 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Bledsoe described the awkwardness as “some crazy s—” and hinted that the tension was “very, very real.”

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But, Bledsoe did note that Belichick and Kraft did manage to have a brief conversation.

“They did break it down and got together for 10 minutes at least, the two of them,” the former Patriots quarterback said.

At one point during the roast, comedian Kevin Hart encouraged Belichick and Kraft to both drink a shot of alcohol as a show of goodwill.

Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick and Kevin Hart

Bill Belichick, Kevin Hart and Robert Kraft speak onstage during G.R.O.A.T The Greatest Roast Of All Time: Tom Brady for the Netflix is a Joke Festival at The Kia Forum on May 05, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Netflix)

“I want to say this is the greatest coach in the history of the game that did what no one else has done,” Kraft told the audience. “And having Tom Brady and him was the greatest honor the good Lord gave me.”

Belichick left the Patriots earlier this year after a remarkable 24 seasons with the team. The Patriots said the organization and the coach “mutually agreed to part ways.”

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However, Belichick and Kraft’s relationship seemed to grow particularly sour in recent years. Belichick did not land another coaching job once he left New England, which is something Kraft may have contributed to.

In April, ESPN reported that Kraft contacted Falcons owner Arthur Blank following Belichick’s interview for Atlanta’s head coaching job and suggested that the coach was not trustworthy.

Belichick coached the franchise to six Super Bowls during his tenure. But, the Patriots largely struggled following Brady’s departure. Belichick never won another playoff game after Brady left, and New England finished the 2023 season with a 4-13 record.

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UC president recommends UCLA pay Cal $10 million a year for leaving Pac-12

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UC president recommends UCLA pay Cal $10 million a year for leaving Pac-12

In another possible blow to a UCLA athletic department awash in debt, the president of the University of California system is recommending that the Bruins pay sister school California $10 million a year through 2029-30 for leaving the Golden Bears to scramble for a new home after UCLA’s move to the Big Ten conference alongside USC contributed to the dismantling of the Pac-12.

The proposed subsidy, based on a projected $50-million difference per year in revenue between the schools’ athletic departments, is at the high end of the $2-million-to-$10-million annual payment that was discussed in December 2022 when the UC regents approved UCLA’s departure to the Big Ten.

The recommendation from UC president Michael V. Drake, which would start this year and run through the existing term of UCLA’s contract with the Big Ten, is expected to be discussed at the board of regents meeting May 14 to 16 at UC Merced. The regents could elect to reduce or adopt the suggested payment.

A $10 million annual payment on top of the amount UCLA has committed to spending to support its athletes — as much as $10.32 million a year for enhanced nutrition, mental health and academic tutoring in addition to more chartered flights to mitigate travel challenges — could put the Bruins at a competitive disadvantage against other Big Ten schools.

The payment known as “Calimony” will penalize UCLA after the school announced in June 2022 that it was leaving for the Big Ten and a much richer media rights deal starting in August 2024. Cal subsequently agreed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference alongside Stanford and Southern Methodist while taking a reduced share of the conference’s media rights deal.

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If enacted, this payment would put another dent in UCLA’s athletic budget. The Bruins have run up $167.7 million in debt since the 2019 fiscal year, one of the reasons the school sought an infusion of cash as part of its move to the Big Ten.

UCLA and the other Big Ten schools are projected to receive an annual media rights payment of roughly $60 million as opposed to around $11 million a year for Cal during its first seven years of membership in the ACC. Cal will receive larger percentages of the conference’s revenue pot over the next two years before getting a full share in Year 10.

“This is a materially different outcome for UC Berkeley than what was projected in December 2022 when there was still optimism about the follow-on Pac-12 media rights deal,” Drake wrote in suggesting the maximum possible subsidy.

The letter also suggested that if there was a change in revenues or expenses for either school exceeding 10% over the 2024-25 figures, the regents would further discuss UCLA’s payment to adjust accordingly.

Cal‘s athletic department is facing dire financial challenges of its own, requiring a reported $30 million in subsidies from the campus during the 2023 fiscal year to balance its budget. The letter from Drake’s office alluded to the measures that Cal was expected to take to address its financial shortfall.

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“These include the development of new department revenue streams, additional philanthropic support, consolidating athletic scholarships to the campus Financial Aid and Scholarships Office,” the letter read, “and an additional extraordinary payout from athletics-related endowed funds.”

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NBA champion Glen 'Big Baby' Davis sentenced to prison in insurance fraud scheme

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NBA champion Glen 'Big Baby' Davis sentenced to prison in insurance fraud scheme

A federal judge handed down a 40-month sentence after NBA player Glen “Big Baby” Davis was convicted in a scheme to defraud a health care benefits plan.

Last November, Davis was found guilty of health care fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to make false statements, and conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud. The convictions carried a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

In addition to the prison sentence, Davis will be subjected to supervised release for three years. During that time, Davis will have to attend a financial management class and undergo mandatory drug treatment as conditions of his release.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis of the Power shoots a free throw during the Big3 Playoffs at Smoothie King Center on August 25, 2019, in New Orleans.  (Chris Graythen/BIG3 via Getty Images)

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More than 20 people have been charged and sentenced for their roles in the scheme, which involved filing inaccurate medical claims with the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan, according to the indictment.

FORMER NBA PLAYER BRYN FORBES ARRESTED ON FAMILY FELONY VIOLENCE CHARGE ONE YEAR AFTER MISDEMEANOR ASSAULT

Terrence Williams was one of the individuals who was sentenced in the case.

Terrence Williams dribbling with Knicks

Terrence Williams of the New Jersey Nets is shown during the game against the Houston Rockets in Guangzhou, China, on Oct. 16, 2010. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

Williams, who was the 11th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, pleaded guilty to piracy and aggravated identity theft. He also admitted he led the plan to submit false claims for medical and dental expenses.

“Williams led a scheme involving more than 18 former NBA players, a dentist, a doctor, and a chiropractor, to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement in August 2022. “Williams also impersonated others to help him take what was not his — money that belonged to the Plan.”

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Terrence Williams with Kings

Terrence Williams of the Sacramento Kings is shown during the game against the New Jersey Nets in Sacramento, California, on March 31, 2012. (Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

Williams has agreed to pay restitution of $2.5 million and pay a fine of more than $650,000.

Davis was a member of the Boston Celtics 2008 NBA championship team. He was ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution.  

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

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