Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Kenny Bednarek, Alison dos Santos unbeaten in Grand Slam Track
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Kenny Bednarek and Alison dos Santos are the only runners to win their first four races through the first two Grand Slam Track meets.
McLaughlin-Levrone completed her second consecutive 400m-400m hurdles group sweep on Sunday, taking the flat 400m in 49.69 seconds at Grand Slam Track Miami.
On Saturday, she won the 400m hurdles in 52.07, the fastest time ever run before the month of June.
McLaughlin-Levrone has won 12 consecutive 400m hurdles finals dating to her last defeat at the 2019 World Championships, breaking the world record six times in that span to bring it down from 52.16 to 50.37.
GRAND SLAM TRACK: Full Results
McLaughlin-Levrone said after the first Grand Slam Track in Kingston, Jamaica last month that she was looking at switching events for the next Grand Slam in Philadelphia (May 30-June 1, live on Peacock), running the 100m and 100m hurdles instead of the 400m and 400m hurdles.
McLaughlin-Levrone last raced the 100m in 2018 at age 18 — 11.07 seconds with heavy tailwind of 3.5 meters per second. The world's fastest woman can run under 11 seconds with no tailwind.
McLaughlin-Levrone has run the 100m hurdles a little more frequently with a best time of 12.65. The world's top women can break 12.50.
McLaughlin-Levrone could face some of them in Philadelphia, including Paris Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell, who on Friday ran the second-fastest time in history — 12.17 seconds.
Also Sunday, Kenny Bednarek, the two-time Olympic 200m silver medalist, stayed undefeated in the 100m-200m sprints group with a 200m victory in 19.84, the world's best time this year.
'I'm going to be dominant this year,' Bednarek said on the broadcast.
Brazil's Alison dos Santos won the 400m in 44.53, a personal best by one hundredth, to sweep the men's 400m-400m hurdles group, just as he did in Kingston last month.
Nick Zaccardi,
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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Coco Gauff's French Open title and a journey into the tennis unknown
ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — When it happens twice, it's not an accident. Coco Gauff is on her way. Nearly two years after her breakthrough win at the 2023 U.S. Open, Gauff staged a stirring comeback against the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open, to capture her second Grand Slam title 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. Advertisement After two hours and 38 minutes of tense and tight, often messy but occasionally breathtaking tennis from one of the great athletes on the planet, Gauff watched one last Sabalenka ball fly off the court. She collapsed on the clay and rolled over face-first in the red dirt. She cupped her mouth with her hand in disbelief. She looked up at her parents, her father pumping his fist in the air; her mother jumping for joy. There was a hug for Sabalenka, who had made her way around to Gauff's side of the net, and another for Spike Lee, the film director seated in the front row, one of dozens of celebrities who had come to Paris for this, because that's what happens when Gauff plays in a match of this magnitude. And then came the joyous stroll up into the stands to find her parents and the rest of the crew. To find the people who had lifted her out of the dark moments last year, when she had to confront the fact that what happened on a September night in New York might never happen again. Advertisement Gauff's win was for everyone who has ever looked in the mirror and felt that they are going backwards, not forwards; that what carried them to some early success isn't working anymore; that playing a long game, falling behind in the beginning, can make all the difference to coming out ahead. It was also a win for everyone who has ever fought hard to keep their cool when things aren't going their way, when mistakes are coming hard and fast, when the conditions attached to a dream aren't the ones they wanted. That's what Gauff did on a windy and wild day in Paris, as Sabalenka did the opposite. The world No. 1 came unglued, screaming at her coaches. Then she announced to the world Gauff had not won because she had played well, but because Sabalenka had played terribly. All of this has been nearly a year in the making and anything but guaranteed. Change, especially the kind Gauff needed, carries plenty of risk. But the bigger risk lay in not trying something new, even if trying something new involved entirely remaking the two most important shots in tennis while trying to stay at the top of the sport. Last September, just under a year on from her first great triumph, Gauff sat in a media room after hitting 19 double faults and missing countless forehands in a fourth-round defeat to Emma Navarro. The rest of the WTA Tour knew then that if they just stayed with her, put pressure on her serve and attacked her forehand, at some point, the house of cards would collapse. Advertisement 'I don't want to lose matches like this anymore,' she said. Nine months later, through some long stretches of doubt, she has a second Grand Slam trophy for her parents to store at home in Florida. 'I didn't think I could do it,' she said from the center of Court Philippe-Chatrier during the trophy ceremony. In her hotel room Friday night, trying to make herself believe, she wrote down over and over: 'I will be the French Open champion 2025.' Gabby Thomas, the Olympic 200-meter sprint gold medalist, had done her version of this for the Paris Games last summer. 'I was just looking at myself in the mirror and I was telling myself, trying to put it in my brain, so I had that belief,' Gauff said. Advertisement How she did that involves the rarest of innate athletic ability, but also some even rarer qualities in a person as young as Gauff. An honesty about who she is as a tennis player and a person. The drive to see how good she might really be, even if she has already earned enough money and fame to live without ever enduring another weight or track session in her life. Even before winning the 2023 U.S. Open, Gauff was so much more than a tennis player. She is an avatar for a certain type of worldly, TikTok-savvy, Gen-Z female strength. The first Grand Slam boosted her stature tenfold, landing her on the cover of Vogue and the red carpet at the Oscars. She is the world's highest-paid female athlete. That's not what Gauff is in this for. So she plunged headlong into the unknown. Out went the big-name coach, Brad Gilbert, who had helped her to that maiden Grand Slam title in 2023. In came a virtual unknown named Matt Daly, who, along with her longtime coach Jean-Christophe Faurel, convinced her that she was capable of big things once again — if she embraced change. Advertisement How radical? How about changing the way she holds her racket when she serves, even if she's been doing it one way for a decade? How about leaning in on her forehand and seizing the initiative, instead of leaning back and resorting to defense too often. A metaphor if ever there was one, because this has always been about more than tennis for Gauff, a Black American athlete trying, in her words, 'to use her racket to change the world.' 'There's a lot going on in our country right now,' Gauff said in her post-match news conference, the shiny silver trophy beside her. She was here to represent people who look like her, 'who maybe don't feel as supported during this period, and so just being that reflection of hope and light.' Last fall, at the start of all those changes, it looked like getting an opportunity to do that might take a while. Four months, maybe six. Maybe more. But, eventually, the serve was going to be more assured and she was going to be able to boss her way around the court as she never had against the best players in the world, being the aggressor rather than the counterpuncher, if that was what the moment required. Advertisement Very quickly, Gauff was all in. She doesn't do much halfway, and she didn't on Saturday, on the court or off it, even if this was a match in which she had to inhabit the role of supporting actor in the face of Sabalenka's desire to play first-strike from the off. She had won a Grand Slam already, but she said this one was harder. In between, she had had five more shots at a second, and the closest she had come were two semifinals. She didn't want to be a one-hit wonder, and she really wanted this title. With her speed, endurance and willingness to fight the wars of attrition that red clay can require, she had heard for years that this tournament offered her one of her best shots at a major. 'I felt like if I went through my career and didn't get at least one of these, I would feel regrets,' she said. She'd already had plenty of those. Before facing Iga Świątek in the 2022 French Open final, she cried, because she was so nervous. She struggled to breathe. She knew she'd lost before she'd even hit the first ball. Świątek rolled her over and continued to dominate this tournament as few have done — until this year, when Sabalenka, under the roof, proved one set too many. Advertisement On Saturday, Gauff said she felt ready to leave her heart and her lungs on the court, and regardless of the result, she could leave proud. Gauff fell behind early in the first set but clawed her way back as Sabalenka's errors mounted, and she grew more confident that she could put the ball past her when she needed to. She also began to weather Sabalenka's blistering returns, watching more and more of them pound into the net. She started reading the drop shots and legging out the net battles. Still, she ended up on the short end of a 77-minute first set when Sabalenka grabbed the last three points of a tiebreak. That would be as good as it got for Sabalenka. Gauff sat on her chair and told herself to take the pressure off the match. Losing would not be the end of the world. She hates losing, but it happens. She'd go home, she'd see her boyfriend, she'd reset. 'I was able to loosen up after that and play a little bit freer,' she said. Advertisement In weathering the Sabalenka storm but losing the set, she had also forced her opponent to confront her own discomfort. A 6-1 or 6-2 blowout and Sabalenka, who was less able to deal with the intangibles of wind and weather than Gauff, would have been relaxed. The grind she got pulled into sent her into a spiral from which she could not recover. Gauff embraced Sabalenka's descent from a first-strike machine with a lethal drop shot into a player swinging from side to side, trying anything to keep Gauff off balance but, in doing so, sending the American into the side-to-side defense dance that she can do better and longer than anyone in the world. Gauff applied just enough pressure to let the wind and Sabalenka's brain do the work. When it was over, Sabalenka's mind was still a jumble, claiming that some supernatural force had sent ball after ball off the frame of Gauff's racket into the corners of the court, 'like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like: 'Let's see if you can handle this.'' The person asking her if she could handle this was actually on the other side of the net. Advertisement Gauff knew it had been a decade since her inspiration, Serena Williams — or any other American — had won this title. Williams helped her dream that she could one day do it. With 15,000 people in the stadium chanting her name as the win grew closer, she had her chance to do that for someone else, 'to represent the Americans who look like me and people who support the things that I support.' Nine months after the start of her journey into the unknown, she found out what it was all for. Deep down, she had always known. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Tennis, Women's Tennis 2025 The Athletic Media Company
Los Angeles Times
30 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘A huge moment': Martin Jarmond discusses UCLA's plans after House settlement
Like a quarterback who completed offseason workouts, spring practices and fall training camp, Martin Jarmond had been preparing for this moment for nearly a year. On Saturday came the big unveiling. The UCLA athletic director discussed with the Times the plans for his department's operations in the new college sports world created by the House settlement agreement with the NCAA that will allow schools to pay athletes directly for the first time starting July 1. The big takeaways: UCLA will distribute $20.5 million in revenue sharing — the maximum allowed under the settlement — while keeping its Olympic sports programs and athletic department staff intact. The school will also preserve scholarship limits at their current levels for at least one year in order to distribute more revenue sharing money to each player. 'This is a pivotal moment in collegiate athletics and we have to continue to invest in our athletics program to compete at the highest level,' Jarmond said. 'That's why student-athletes come to UCLA, to get the best education and compete at the highest level, and we must invest in our student-athletes to provide that championship-level experience.' While Jarmond would not divulge the specifics of his revenue-sharing arrangement, it's expected that UCLA will follow other Power Four conference schools in using U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken's back-payment formula as a model for current athletes. Under this formula, which will distribute $2.8 billion to athletes who competed from 2016 to 2024 to compensate them for lost name, image and likeness opportunities, roughly 75% of the money will be shared with football players, 15% with men's basketball players, 5% with women's basketball players and 5% with all remaining athletes. 'We've worked really hard to look at the House settlement, along with other factors,' Jarmond said, 'to determine how we were going to split up the revenue share.' Jarmond told The Times last year that he anticipated a bigger share of revenue going to football and men's basketball players because they were 'responsible for more of the revenue based on the House settlement and the back pay for NIL and all those things.' Payments will rise each year as part of the 10-year settlement agreement. Even though roster limits could eventually rise to 105 for football and 15 for men's basketball as part of the settlement, keeping scholarship limits at their current levels — 85 for football, 13 for men's basketball — will allow UCLA to provide each player on scholarship a bigger share of revenue. As part of the settlement agreement, any money used for scholarships (which have an estimated value of $65,000 per athlete at UCLA) comes out of the revenue sharing pot. Jarmond said his department would re-evaluate this arrangement in a year to ensure it was best serving the school's athletes. UCLA is also committed to preserving its Olympic sports that have provided the lion's share of NCAA championships in an athletic department widely regarded as one of the best in the nation. Jarmond said there would be no staffing cuts, but some personnel might be reassigned to better serve the athletic department. 'We are looking at reallocating staff,' Jarmond said, 'to positions that better meet our needs in a changing landscape.' The ability to pay players directly could help UCLA in ways that go beyond compensating its athletes. Revenue sharing arrangements could help narrow the resource gap between the Bruins and other Big Ten Conference schools that had more deep-pocketed NIL collectives engaging in pay-for-play practices. Now, all new NIL deals exceeding $600 must be approved by NIL Go, a clearinghouse created by the College Sports Commission to analyze deals to ensure they serve a valid business purpose and provide fair market value. It's expected that all existing college NIL collectives — including UCLA's Men of Westwood (which serves men's basketball), Bruins for Life (football) and Champion of Westwood (women's basketball, Olympic sports) — will essentially become marketing agencies that try to find endorsement deals for athletes. Jarmond said UCLA was seeking a third-party partner to help secure so-called true NIL opportunities. Being based in Los Angeles should provide Bruins athletes with a clear advantage in securing marketing deals, Jarmond said. Other challenges remain. Having traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby for federal NIL legislation, Jarmond said he believed it was necessary to eliminate the imbalance that exists with more than 30 states having their own NIL laws. While distributing $20.5 million in revenue will be another financial blow to an athletic department that has run $219.5 million in the red over the last six fiscal years — though the entire debt has been covered by the university, bringing the balance to zero — Jarmond said he has long championed athletes being paid and believes the move is long overdue. As part of the settlement involving back pay to athletes, UCLA's share of NCAA revenue will be reduced by more than $1 million annually for the next 10 years. UCLA's finances could soon improve under a College Football Playoff revenue sharing agreement that is expected to provide Big Ten schools an additional $8 million to $12 million annually beginning in 2026. That's on top of media rights deals tilted heavily in favor of Big Ten and Southeastern Conference schools, giving the Bruins another infusion of much-needed cash. The athletic department has a new ally in chancellor Julio Frenk, who signaled his intention to be closely involved with the school's sports programs during a recent interview with The Times. 'Chancellor Frenk has been extremely supportive of athletics and the impact that it has on our community,' Jarmond said. 'He has been supportive of our efforts every step of the way. He hit the ground running during a pivotal time not just for athletics but the university, and he has demonstrated support at a high level and I'm grateful for his leadership at such a pivotal time for athletics.' While acknowledging that UCLA athletics needed to be more creative with revenue generation as part of what he called 'a huge moment' that would forever change the trajectory of college sports, Jarmond said the school's commitment to sports was unwavering. 'We have to be bold and innovative in this new world,' Jarmond said. 'UCLA has always been on the forefront and been a leader and that's not going to change. We will embrace this new era and we will continue to support our student-athletes at a championship level.'
USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
French Open final highlights: Coco Gauff wins title in thrilling battle over Aryna Sabalenka
French Open final highlights: Coco Gauff wins title in thrilling battle over Aryna Sabalenka After a slow start in the first set, Coco Gauff staked her claim as one of this season's queens of clay, storming back to upset top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a sloppy, mistake-filled French Open final on Saturday. It's the second Grand Slam title for the 21-year-old Gauff, who adds the 2023 U.S. Open crown to her triumphs. Gauff, who had split the previous 10 matches with Sabalenka, became the first American woman to win the French Open singles title since Serena Williams in 2015, despite eight double faults and having trouble with her serve at times in the match that took two hours and 37 minutes. Down 3-1 in the third set, the Belarus native broke Gauff to even the match at three, but was broken again in the seventh game, as the rain started to come down at Court Philippe-Chatrier with the roof remaining open, but couldn't maintain the momentum. Sabalenka, who had 70 unforced errors and six double faults, was clearly frustrated with her play at times, yelling at her coaches in the stands after a shot out of play or into the net and nearly hitting a kid running after a ball following one of those mistakes. Despite the loss, Sabalenka will keep the No. 1 spot in the next WTA rankings. After winning the first game of the match, Gauff was broken in the third and fifth games. Sabalenka neutralized Gauff's serve, sprinting out to a 4-1 lead and a 40-love lead in the next game. But Gauff showed resilience, breaking back after losing seven straight points on serve before saving a triple break point. Sabalenka was broken again in the eighth game, and Gauff squared up the match, thanks to the top-seed unraveling, at one point losing 12 straight points. In a recurring theme, Sabalenka, who had four double faults and 32 unforced errors, thanks to a nearly 30 mph gusting wind, and Gauff took turns breaking each other's serve, including Gauff getting the upper hand in a 13-minute 10th game. The hour and 17-minute set went to a tiebreak, with Gauff taking the first three points, before Sabalenka stormed back to take the set 7-6. Here's a recap of the French Open women's final: OPINION: Gauff doesn't dominate, and that's OK. She's still rare. In the second set, it was Gauff who got out to a 4-1 lead, and Sabalenka continued to pile up the unenforced errors. After racking up 32 unforced errors in the first set, Sabalenka added 15 more, as Gauff settled down and blitzed the three-time major winner, taking the second set 6-2. On to the third and deciding set, in what has been a thrilling, yet mistake-filled final. After winning the first game of the match, Coco Gauff was broken in the third and fifth games as Aryna Sabalenka neutralized Gauff's serve, sprinting out to a 4-1 lead and a 40-love lead in the next game. But Gauff showed resilience, breaking back after losing seven straight points on serve before saving a triple break point. Sabalenka was broken again in the eighth game and Gauff squared up the match, thanks to the top-seed unraveling, at one point losing 12 straight points. In a recurring theme, Sabalenka, who had four double faults and 32 unforced errors, thanks to a nearly 30 mph gusting wind, and Gauff took turns breaking each other's serve, including Gauff getting the upper hand in a 13-minute 10th game. The hour-and-18-minute set went to a tiebreak, with Gauff taking the first three points before Sabalenka stormed back to take the set 7-6. The head-to-head matchup between Gauff and Sabalenka is tied 5-5 overall, 1-1 in majors and 1-1 on clay. Most recently, Sabalenka edged out Gauff 6-3, 7-6 to win in the Madrid finals on clay in Spain last month. Their last meeting in a major came in the semifinals of the 2024 Australian Open, where Sabalenka defeated Gauff 7-6, 6-4 on a hard court. Before that, Gauff defeated Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3 in the 2023 U.S. Open final – also on hard court – to claim the first Grand Slam singles title of her career. What time does French Open women's final start? The French Open women's final between American Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is set for Saturday at 9 a.m. ET (3 p.m. in Paris). What TV channel is showing French Open women's final? The French Open women's final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka will be broadcast live on TNT. Watch the French Open women's final on Sling Coco Gauff has won one Grand Slam singles title: the 2023 US Open women's singles championship. She has reached the French Open final twice: 2022 and this year. Her best result in the Australian Open is the semifinals in 2024. She has reached the fourth round of Wimbledon three times (2019, 2021, 2024). Aryna Sabalenka has won three Grand Slam women's singles titles: the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open and the 2024 US Open. She reached the final of the French time for the first time in her career this year and the Wimbledon semifinals in 2021 and 2023. Tournament's No. 2 seed 1st round: Defeated Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-2 Defeated Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-2 2nd round: Defeated Tereza Valentova 6-2, 6-4 Defeated Tereza Valentova 6-2, 6-4 3rd round: Defeated Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) Defeated Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) 4th round: Defeated (20) Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 7-5 Defeated (20) Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 7-5 Quarterfinals: Defeated (7) Madison Keys 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-1 Defeated (7) Madison Keys 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-1 Semifinals: Defeated Lois Boisson 6-1, 6-2 Tournament's No. 1 seed 1st round: Defeated Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 Defeated Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-0 2nd round: Defeated Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-1 Defeated Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-1 3rd round: Defeated Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3 Defeated Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-3 4th round: Defeated (16) Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-3 Defeated (16) Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-3 Quarterfinals: Defeated (8) Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 Defeated (8) Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 Semifinals: Defeated (5) Iga Swiatek 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-0 Odds to win the 2025 French Open women's singles final, via BetMGM (as of Thursday, June 5) Sabalenka -190 Gauff +160 Is there a live stream of the French Open women's final? The French Open women's final between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka can be streamed live on Max and Sling TV.
