
Sir Andy Murray tells Grand Slams to ‘do better' as Coco Gauff reveals real size of French Open trophy she gets to keep
SIR ANDY MURRAY sent a message to tennis chiefs to do better after Coco Gauff revealed how much smaller her actual French Open trophy really is.
Gauff, 21, won Roland-Garros on Saturday by beating Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 6-2 6-4 in Paris to become the first American to win the crown since Serena Williams 10 years ago.
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The World's No2 passionately celebrated with the esteemed honour in front of the French crowd after winning her 10th career title, but that wasn't the trophy she was going home with.
The tennis star posted a video of herself in her private jet revealing her actual trophy... and how much smaller it really is.
Gauff said on TikTok while gesturing to a picture of her posing with the larger replica: 'This is the trophy that you guys see, the one that we take pictures with, do press with and all that.
'But, actually, we don't get to take this home. This stays with the tournament."
Gauff then showed the much smaller trophy and added: 'This is the one we take home. It's like a mini replica of the trophy,. It's… Really small.'
The Florida native then left fans aghast when she placed the trophy next to a tiny Perrier bottle, which was just a bit smaller than the esteemed title.
Gauff continued: 'That's how small it is. But, you know, it's the memories that matter the most.'
That left Murray, 38, shocked as he took to social media to address the situation.
The former World's No1 shared a clip of late night talkshow host Jimmy Fallon praising Gauff on his Instagram story.
Murray added the following post: "Surely the tennis majors can do a better job with the replica trophies!? They are tiny."
The British legend knows all there is about the French Open trophy as he won it himself back in 2016.
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Times
42 minutes ago
- Times
Rory McIlroy fades fast as Oakmont brings best to their knees
For a couple of hours all the talk of Oakmont's terrors seemed overstated and this near mythical beast by the Allegheny River looked about as dangerous as a stuffed fish on a marble plinth. The reputation has been well-earned, though, and by the end of the first day at a sun-baked US Open, players were using words like brutal and bloodbath, and Rory McIlroy's promising start had faded into more anti-climax. After a bogey-free first nine, he dropped six shots, finished at four over par and was not in the mood for discussing it afterwards. The frustration was palpable as he again walked past journalists shaking his head. For the fifth consecutive round at the majors, the man who inspired post-Augusta paeans had scribes sheathing their pens. Scottie Scheffler was just starting out on his own troubled path at that point, and JJ Spaun was talking into a camera after setting the clubhouse lead with a round of 66, some eight shots clear of McIlroy. It was very much a round of two halves for McIlroy. After all the talk about having to replace his 'non-conforming' driver at last month's US PGA Championship and his own questions about motivation, he began with the requisite calm and control. Playing the easier back nine first, he was able to open with an iron off the tee and on his third felt able to bludgeon a 392-yard drive down the middle. The ensuing eagle chance went awry but he was two under in three holes. The toughest course in the world? Pah. But as the day lengthened, that 'ugly old brute' of a course got under the skin and scraped the scabbing from weakness. Tiger Woods had warned that there is no faking it here, and it duly provided a true test of technique, strategy and psyche. It is a course where you need to make putts from inside ten feet to stay afloat and, significantly, McIlroy missed three from within seven feet after the turn. And then came his penultimate hole, the much-vaunted long par-three measuring 279 yards and due to get longer. He missed the green right and needed two swipes to get out of the dense rough. That double bogey was the final blight on a day of dwindling promise. One of the keys to winning here is damage limitation and the 4th hole, McIlroy's 13th, was a little odyssey. It took some time to locate his ball and, deep in trouble, McIlroy ignored caddie Harry Diamond's suggestion to take a drop. He could only hack his ball some 20 yards forward and the next shot was even worse, his relatively serene progress in danger of unravelling in one, disastrous hole. In fairness to McIlroy, he then managed to get up and down from 180 yards for what was a bonus bogey, but he had started to creak. It will be no consolation that he was better than his playing partners. Shane Lowry, who started the final round of the 2016 US Open here four shots clear, was nine over, despite an eagle from 160 yards, and Justin Rose was only two shots better. It meant a trio with a combined seven majors finished at a collective 20 over par. Pretty beastly, that. Although 23 of the past 24 US Open winners have been within four shots of the lead after the opening round, McIlroy was in good company in the trauma ward. Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick were among those on the same score, while Gary Woodland, the 2019 champion, was another whose flying start segued into an Icarus descent after six dropped shots in six holes. Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion, was alongside him at three over par after struggling with his putter, but predicted that could be the winning score if the rain holds off over the weekend. The sun and breeze sapped the course of any lingering moisture, and anyone finishing under par had cause for a panoramic smile. Bob MacIntyre, the pride of Oban, was one of those delighted to walk away at even par. 'You shoot four level-par rounds, you're walking away with a medal and a trophy,' he said. 'That's up there in the top ten rounds I've played. It's just so hard. Honestly, every shot you're on a knife edge. I felt I played beautifully and I drove it as good as I can drive the golf ball.' His excitement with a 70 shows the scale of this challenge. Belgium's Ryder Cup hopeful Thomas Detry, one of the select bunch in the red numbers, warned that it could even become 'a bloodbath' if the wind starts to blow harder. The rough is part of it, but the speed and slopes of the greens provide a potent combination. So Spaun deserved huge credit, as did Thriston Lawrence who was only a shot behind with Kim Si-woo , another stroke adrift. Spaun, beaten by McIlroy in the play-off at The Players in March, chipped in for a birdie on his opening hole and that set the tone for a scrambling round. 'I rode that momentum through the day,' he said. As for McIlroy, he does not need to rewind very far for proof that he can overcome first-round deflation. At the Masters he was written off by many after making two double bogeys down the first-round stretch. Opportunities for salvage streaks are scarcer at Oakmont, though, and his first task is to make the cut. Failure to do so would spawn more enquiries about how he can rekindle his fire after achieving his career goal. Even Scheffler said the post-major comedown last month left him feeling like he had been hit by a bus due to the heightened emotion. He probably felt something similar after a string of early bogeys had him fighting fire and rarely-seen foible. Patrick Reed was another suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with his 286-yard albatross from the fourth fairway straddled by bogeys. For all the suspicion that McIlroy needs time to regather his mojo, he hates the thought that anyone might think he is not up for golf's hardest tests and, indeed, after three missed cuts at the US Open, he has not been out of the top ten for six years. But Oakmont is tougher than the rest. John Bodenhamer, the USGA's chief championships officer, said with a tinge of sadism that part of the place's appeal is psychological. 'Oakmont is relentless,' he said. 'It's a grind and there are limited opportunities to catch up when you are behind.' They will all try to keep on hanging on today.


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Identity of mystery rapper dominates 22nd day of Diddy's trial as jury hears he watched male escort sex show with wife and flirted with Diddy's ex 'Jane'
A mystery rapper dominated the 22nd day of Diddy 's trial, even though he was never identified in court. The jury was told about the ultra-famous hip hop artist and his wife watching a male escort have sex in front of their friends and Diddy's ex-girlfriend, referred to only as 'Jane'. The rapper, described in court as an 'icon' of the music industry, flirted with Jane while watching the sexual performance at a hotel in Las Vegas in January 2024. The unnamed individual said he was part of 'the lifestyle' meaning that he liked having more than one sexual partner - and even asked for a recommendation of a porn star for future shows. Speculation about the rapper's identity overshadowed the cross examination of Jane, who claims she was forced to take part in Freak Offs - where she had sex with male escorts for Diddy's pleasure - during their three-year relationship, which ended with his arrest in September in 2024. Diddy, 55, whose real name is Sean Combs, denies sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges. Jane has previously testified to taking a trip to Las Vegas in January 2024 while on a break from Diddy. She said she flew on the mystery rapper's private plane with several others and went to a play, dinner and then a strip club. Jane described the rapper as an 'icon' in the music industry and recounted one time where he allegedly said was a part of 'the lifestyle' meaning that he liked having more than one sexual partner - and even asked for a recommendation of a porn star for future shows The trip was to celebrate the rapper's wife's birthday, the court has heard. Among the group out for the night was a porn star called Anton who had previously been hired by Diddy to have sex with Jane for Freak Offs. Later that night, Jane went to a hotel room with the rapper and his wife and saw Anton having sex with another woman while they all watched. In court on Thursday, Diddy's lawyer Teny Geragos asked Jane if the rapper in question is 'very close to Mr. Combs'. Jane said: 'Yes.' After showing Jane a picture of the rapper – it was not shown to the public gallery – Geragos asked: 'Is it fair to say Mr. Combs and this individual were really close to one another?' Jane replied: 'Yes.' Jane confirmed that Diddy and the rapper had recorded music together and had what Geragos called an 'ongoing professional and personal relationship? Asked if the rapper was an 'icon in the music industry', Jane said yes. Jane admitted that she knew Anton had a relationship with the rapper and that he would travel with him and his wife. Turning to the hotel room, Jane said: 'Anton was having sex with a woman and everyone was watching.' Jane said that Anton and the woman were on the bed and there were seven or eight people watching. While Jane admitted to 'flirting' with the rapper, she said nothing else happened. She confirmed that she flashed her breasts as she felt like doing it 'in the moment'. Jane said: 'He (the rapper) said he thought I was beautiful, and he always wanted to blank me', meaning have sex. Geragos asked: 'The rapper told you he'd always had a crush on you?' Jane said: 'Yes.' The jury heard that the subject of Kabrale came up, referring to another porn star that Jane and Diddy used for Freak Offs. Jane said: 'They were asking me if I knew anybody else in the lifestyle and they were looking for someone, this is why I (texted) Kabrale. If I was to recommend somebody, I would recommend somebody I knew for a while.' According to Jane, the rapper and his wife had 'picked up the energy from me' that she had sex with other men. 'Or they assumed they'd got an inclination that me and Sean had been doing similar things,' Jane said. Five months later, Jane finally told Diddy about the episode, and he was furious. In texts Diddy complained about Jane 'disrespecting me with my friends'. Jane said she was in Las Vegas 'with (the rapper), not for a Freak Off, I was with my friend'. Geragos asked Jane if Diddy told her during a violent argument: 'How could you go to another man's Freak Off?' Jane said yes. Jane confirmed that Diddy felt that Anton had 'something over him'. Earlier in her testimony, Jane recounted Diddy's reaction in more detail. She told the court that Diddy said: 'I can't believe you cheated on me. I can't believe you went outside of us.' Jane said: 'I understood that he was trying to reference that we were part of some sort of lifestyle and that I betrayed him by being a part of someone else's lifestyle moment, this porn type of thing.' Diddy went on for around two hours about his sense of betrayal and that Jane was a 'whore' and a 'cheater'. Jane said: 'He just kept saying all those same things over and over and over again, just kept saying that I was just, like, terrible.' In court Diddy's lawyer Marc Agnifilo tried to persuade the judge to amend his order granting Jane anonymity so that the names of other people on the Las Vegas trip could be read out in court. Doing so would allow members of the public to 'come forward' if they had information that might help the case, Agnifilo said, adding that using the names was 'important'. Prosecutor Maurene Comey said that making the names public would be a 'pretext to harass and intimidate this witness' and that enough had been revealed already so that anyone who had information about that event could come forward. District Judge Arun Subramanian agreed and said he wouldn't modify the order to allow the names from this episode to be used. The episode in Las Vegas was a 'collateral issue' and not related to the sex trafficking charges, the judge said.


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Rory McIlroy chewed up by course that's like rabid tiger as he suffers back-nine meltdown to trail early US Open leader JJ Spaun by six shots
First, he tickled the belly of the beast and then he was introduced to its teeth. If nothing else comes from Rory McIlroy's trip to the US Open, at least he will have a battle story to tell about Oakmont. Will that be shared with the media? We have to wait on that, because for the fifth major round in succession he bolted without saying a word. But given the tribulations of his opening 74, and indeed his mood of late, that snub was no great shock. More surprising was the meltdown on his back nine, which launched McIlroy from two-under-par and one off the lead at the turn to four-over by the close, six shots behind leader JJ Spaun. Such a journey from contention to cold shoulders was a messy tale of duffed chips and missed putts, amplified by a new driver that behaved as badly as its recent predecessors. Even for this place, and for all we have raved about its reputation, a return of four bogeys and a double from those inward nine holes was a nasty way to end an afternoon. JJ Spaun had a superb opening round at Oakmont and finished up at four under par With a face like thunder, McIlroy then walked straight past the microphones, presumably in need of a lie down and the sort of inspiration that pulsed through Spaun. It was Spaun who McIlroy defeated in a play-off to win the Players' Championship three months ago, in what became an important staging post in his journey towards Masters glory. Here, it was Spaun who proved the toughest course in major golf can be navigated without loss of blood as he emerged from the first wave of tee times to set the target at four-under. The world No 25 did not drop a shot in his 66. To contextualise the feat, the last time a US Open was played at Oakmont, in 2016, there was only one bogey-free round among the 443 completed. That belonged to Dustin Johnson, the eventual winner, and so Spaun's first-round accomplishment warrants great recognition, particularly for the manner in which he missed six greens and scrambled to make par each time. Does Spaun's score and a number of other sub-par rounds mean Oakmont is playing slightly easier than normal? It is like trying to identify differences between a rabid tiger and an angry one. For instance, Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion, laboured to a 73 and needed three shots to escape greenside rough at the 12th. Scottie Scheffler? He was among the late starters and found himself two-over through 10 holes. Shane Lowry, tipped to win by many this week and playing alongside McIlroy, had a rough day. He benefited from a chip-in par on the 17th and an eagle from the fairway on the third and yet still signed for a 79. Lowry's round was proof of Oakmont's many challenges — despite hitting 10 of 14 fairways, thereby avoiding too much extra time in the five-inch rough, he was still trending towards a missed cut, battered by his failure to find greens and an inability to thrive with the putter. When one tripwire is navigated on this course, a dozen more await your next step. Lowry's exasperation was best shown when he yanked an on-course microphone from the ground and hurled it as he approached the turn. The third member of the group, Justin Rose, who has been runner-up in two of the previous three majors, shot 77 — combined, he, Lowry and McIlroy were 20-over. So make no mistake, even in sedate weather, Oakmont is a brute. Just ask Matt Vogt, an American amateur who qualified with a good yarn to tell, for he is a former caddie here and these days works as a dentist. He needed 82 shots — you can make your own gags about pulling teeth. Of the British interests among the earlier starters, Robert MacIntyre had the best of it. He closed with a bogey, but after hitting 11 of 14 fairways in a level-par 70 he was well placed. McIlroy? Not nearly so much, which only extends the gloom of his post-Masters lull. Starting on the 10th, he opened well with a 30-footer for birdie on the 11th and another stroke followed when he reached the par-five 12th in two. At that stage, his game from the tee was showing a degree of improvement after switching to his fourth driver configuration in the space of three starts. By the turn, he was also showing plenty of grit, which was necessary because the latest driver had gone cold. He had hit only two fairways, but was saving pars. Alas, it unravelled spectacularly. On the first hole, his 10th, he three-putted back to one-under and on the par five fourth, the easiest on the card, he drove miles off line to the right, which was his pattern for the day. Buried in long grass, McIlroy ignored the advice of caddie Harry Diamond, who suggested a penalty drop in a better spot, and instead hacked into the grassy face of a bunker. The third shot then travelled barely 15 yards and eventually a 32-footer dropped for a six. It could have been worse. Difficulties in the sand on the sixth brought McIlroy back to one-over, a three-putt at the next extended the rut and the final indignity came on the eighth, an excessively long par three of 300 yards. Taking aim with a three wood, he sliced it into the deep stuff on the right, duffed his pitch and required another three to get down. The story of his post-Masters revival might have to wait for a kinder location.