Boisson soars 296 places in rankings, Sinner keeps top spot despite French Open loss to Alcaraz
PARIS (AP) — Loïs Boisson, the revelation of the French Open, has rocketed 296 places up the WTA rankings after her fairy-tale run at Roland-Garros.
The Frenchwoman, who was 361st before making it to the semifinals at the clay-court Grand Slam last week, jumped to 65th in the latest edition of the rankings published Monday.
Coco Gauff defeated Boisson in the semifinals en route to her first French Open title. There was no change at the top of the rankings, with Aryna Sabalenka leading the pack ahead of Gauff and her fellow American Jessica Pegula.
Sabalenka lost to Gauff in the Roland-Garros final.
A wild-card entry in Paris, Boisson upset the third-seeded Pegula to reach the quarterfinals, then defeated sixth-ranked Mirra Andreeva before Gauff ended her unexpected run.
After retaining his title on Sunday in the longest ever final at Roland-Garros against top-ranked Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz remained in second spot in the men's ATP rankings behind his Italian rival.
Despite the loss, Sinner increased his lead to 2,030 points because Alcaraz, as the defending champion, was unable to add any points. Sinner gained 500 points by reaching the final, having lost in the semifinals last year.
Third-ranked Alexander Zverev dropped 900 points after his loss to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Djokovic moved up to fifth place behind fourth-ranked Jack Draper.
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Browse here. Three years ago, Teems didn't even know how to properly tie up skates. But, now, he's playing regularly. 'I got out of the army in 2020 and somebody took me to a hockey game,' said Teems, who spent six years in the infantry. 'I'd never been to one. I watched it and fell in love. Then I bought Panthers' season tickets. And then I was going to the bathroom at one of the games, and right above the urinal, it said, $500 to learn to play, full equipment and all that. So that's when I got into it.' That learn to play clinic was sponsored by the Panthers. In 1998, the Panthers moved to what's now known as the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., about a 40-minute ride on the expressway from Miami, if the traffic goes your way. It is the definition of a suburban arena, close to the freeway and surrounded by thousands of parking stalls. 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He's heard sniping from different corners of the league, that Florida teams have unfair advantages over their NHL counterparts. The 2025 Cup final between the Panthers and Oilers marks the sixth consecutive season that a Sunshine State-based team has won the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Bay Lightning took three in a row, and now it's the Panthers' turn to threepeat in the East . These two are divisional rivals to the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, so this is what these Canadian franchises are fighting, year after year. The rub? The fact that Florida has no state income tax. But that's not all. There's no inheritance tax, nor does Florida collect taxes on personal investments in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and the like. Compare that to Quebec, where the provincial tax rate is 25.75 per cent on those making $129,590 a year or more. Or Alberta, where it is 15 per cent on taxable income over $362,961 a year. Tax is a complicated thing for professional athletes. They pay based on where they play. So, for home games, the Lightning and Panthers players pay no state tax. But, if the Panthers are in Montreal for a day to play the Canadiens, they pay Quebec tax based on one day of their salaries. Still, for the majority of the season, Florida-based players are in the state and take advantage of a tax regime that is favourable. In fact, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly admitted ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final that noise has been made to make the tax disparities an issue for the next collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires at the end of next season . But Daly said there is very little the league can do to mitigate tax differences. 'Certainly it's an issue that some of our franchises have raised as a concern,' said Daly. 'What I'd say at this point is that we don't share the level of concern that they have, and what I'd say on top of that is that these imbalances have existed forever. There's nothing new here.' Zito said the tax issue is 'marginal at best.' That's not to say that Zito doesn't think the Panthers have a competitive advantage, but it has to do with the spending to make the team's facilities the class of the NHL, and not to be afraid to spend on players in order to be a contender year in, year out. He said when management asked owner Vincent Viola to greenlight a new practice facility, it was done. 'And it's beautiful, and it allows us the flexibility to try to do the things that we think are necessary to try to win and to try to have an excellent organization,' said Zito. 'I think the players feed off it. They know that if the chicken isn't right, we're going to get a new chicken. And it all sort of transcends all that we do. It sounds silly, but it's true and it's real.' It has to be noted that Viola is not a stranger to the courts. In 2017, the Panthers reached a confidential settlement with Raphael Estevez, who once wore the Stanley C. Panther mascot costume. He sued for wrongful dismissal and claimed more than 1,000 hours of unpaid overtime. He claimed the job damaged his mental health. Viola and his son, Michael, are also named in class-action lawsuit launched by an iron workers' pension fund. It is alleged that the Violas were part of a scheme to buy back US$400 million out of the company they control, Virtu Financial, and steering it away from other investors. In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched legal proceedings against Virtu Financial and its subsidiary, Virtu Americas. The allegations were that Virtu Americas did not adequately protect information about its customers and their trades. 'Virtu Americas' failure to safeguard this information created significant risk that its proprietary traders could misuse it or share it outside Virtu Americas,' states the SEC's complaint. The allegations of security issues with Virtu have also led to a class-action lawsuit. Virtu pleaded to dismiss that case earlier this month. In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Viola to be his Secretary of the Army, but the Panthers' owner later pulled himself out of the running for the job. There is an area where Florida's tax advantage is having an indirect effect on the hockey culture in the state. Since the COVID-19 pandemic got more people working from home, Florida's population has boomed. It is to the United States what Alberta is to Canada, the hotspot for in-country migration. Since 2020, almost one-quarter of America's intra-state migrants are choosing Florida. U.S. census stats show Florida's population is now at about 23.4 million, that's two million more people than lived in the state in 2020. A lot of those domestic migrants are coming from hockey-loving, northern states. Teems said the combination of the Panthers' build-it-and-they-will-come mentality is bringing more people to games, and more rec hockey players to the IceDen and IcePlex. 'Hockey started getting big, and the Panthers started making the playoffs, making those runs, and it got bigger and bigger,' he said. His Panthers Warriors teammate, Keegan Brown, agrees. He learned to play hockey when he was six years old at the IceDen. He's 29, and he started playing again four years ago. 'It's really picking up,' said Brown. 'Back in the day, I feel like no one is talking about hockey. It's really blowing up down here. I like it a lot.' And the Panthers' success is what is galvanizing it all. 'I feel like a lot of people like a winning team. Obviously, the Panthers weren't always like that. It was a tough beginning for them. Going from the roots back in the day, being nobodies where you could pay $30 and sit on the glass. Now, there's no way you can do that. 'They're fighting, they're dogs, they're shooting goals, everyone likes that.' Matthew Tkachuk was the key piece in a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames . It was a deal reminiscent of the NBA's sign-and-trade transactions. Tkachuk signed an eight-year, US$76-million deal with Calgary, and then was sent to Florida. Tkachuk said the pull of the Panthers is that players around the league know the team has a commitment to excellence. 'We've got such great ownership in the Violas,' he said. 'We've got great GM in Bill and the coaching staff, led by Paul (Maurice), is awesome, and it's all about winning. Winning and having fun. So I think that's what creates the culture, but I was just one of the lucky ones. I got to step into it a few years ago.' Carter Verhaeghe said it was the Tkachuk trade that signalled to every player in the league that the Panthers were pulling out all stops to win. Add to that the lack of relative media scrutiny, so players feel relaxed. 'I think when you come here, everyone puts you in an opportunity to be yourself, and I think that really benefits some guys who come here,' said Verhaeghe. 'It starts with the coaching staff, they give you the opportunity to be yourself and play in the position to succeed, and that's what we built here over the last little bit. Bringing in guys like Chucky here made a big impact, and everyone buys in and just is not expected to be something they're not.' And then there's the players who want to play for Maurice, who has finally been able to unleash his high-forecheck up-tempo game, of which he's always dreamed. Defenceman Nate Schmidt played for Maurice in Winnipeg, and signed a one-year deal to join the Panthers. 'He gives you a blueprint of all he wants you to play. And he moulds that around your strength as a player and doesn't ask you to do more than what you should be doing, right? And so I think he's done a great job of helping us discover ourselves and understanding what we need to do. 'But he expects a certain level out of each guy. If you give that to him, there's no problems, right? And that's something that I find it was freeing for me.' The closing argument is maybe the most powerful when it comes to tax vs. team culture. If the tax advantage was so meaningful, how come Florida teams aren't dominating the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball like they do the NHL? ssandor@ Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters . You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. 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