Your Guardian Sport weekend: French Open finals, football, cricket and much more
Can Coco Gauff seal French Open glory? Harry Brook will hope to taste more success against West Indies. And Spain are looking to retain the Nations League on Sunday night.
Can Coco Gauff seal French Open glory? Harry Brook will hope to taste more success against West Indies. And Spain are looking to retain the Nations League on Sunday night. Composite: Guardian Pictures; Reuters; Getty Images; Sampics/Getty Images
Saturday
8am
Matchday live
Football
Join Emillia Hawkins and Barry Glendenning with all the breaking news as we build towards Saturday afternoon's England men's World Cup qualifier against Andorra at 5pm (all times BST). The match is being staged at Espanyol's 40,000-capacity RCDE Stadium in Barcelona. since Andorra's national stadium is unavailable after hosting the Games of the Small States of Europe. The last time the Three Lions visited Andorra in October 2021, they won 5-0.
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11am
England v West Indies, third women's ODI live
Cricket
Over-by-over coverage gets under way before the first ball of the day at Taunton is due at 1pm. Tanya Aldred and James Wallace are at the helm for what should be another run-fest for the hosts. England have outclassed West Indies across the 20-over and 50-over formats so far, hammering them by 143 runs in the second one-day international in Leicester. That came hot on the heels of a bruising 108-run win for England in the first ODI at Derby. Stars of both those shows were the openers Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont, who both hit their second successive centuries. Raf Nicholson reports from the County Ground.
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12.30pm
Derby day live
Racing
Tony Paley helms our live blog and Greg Wood reports from Epsom in the build up to the Flat season's highlight. Aidan O'Brien's No 1 runner Delacroix has solid claims in the Derby, but he perhaps lacks the 'wow' factor of many of his other winners. The Lion In Winter must overcome being drawn in stall 19 but it would be no surprise to see him bounce back given O'Brien's recent exploits with City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin. Also making a strong case in the 19-strong field are Guineas winner Ruling Court and Dante victor Pride Of Arras.
2pm
Women's singles final live
French Open tennis
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World No 1 meets world No 2 at Roland Garros as top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka takes on Coco Gauff, the French Open runner-up in 2022. A three-time grand slam champion on hard courts, Sabalenka makes her first final on the red dirt of Paris and John Brewin helms our live blog while Tumaini Carayol reports from the City of Lights.
3pm
Challenge Cup final
Rugby league
Aaron Bower is at Wembley for the game's annual migration south as Sam Burgess seeks his first trophy as a head coach with Warrington. Standing in the Wolves' way are Super League leaders Hull KR. Willie Peters' side are aiming for a first Challenge Cup triumph in almost half a century. As a prelude to the big game, traditional powerhouses St Helens and Wigan face off in the women's final.
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3.30pm
Leicester v Sale live
Rugby union
Tom Bassam is your minute-by-minute guide and Michael Aylwin our match reporter as Tigers face Sharks in their Premiership semi-final. It's Michael Cheika's chance to edge closer to winning the Premiership title in his one-off season at Welford Road on his home-ground farewell. The game promises to be a cracker if their exchanges in the regular season are a reliable measure – Leicester have shared 142 points across two league games with Sale already.
5pm
Andorra v England live
World Cup qualifier
Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions take on underwhelming opposition as the new head coach builds towards the finals in North America, this qualifier coming three days before meeting Senegal in a friendly in Nottingham. Making all the headlines in the buildup was the recall of Ivan Toney, back for the first time since he left Brentford for the Saudi Premier League club Al-Ahli last summer. The 29-year-old has scored 29 goals in 43 games this season and won the Asian Champions League. Clearly it's the moment for him to impress the German. Rob Smyth follows the action while David Hytner and Jonathan Wilson report from Barcelona.
Sunday
2pm
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Men's singles final
French Open
Who will be the king of clay at Roland Garros? Tumaini Carayol reports from Paris and Daniel Harris your live host.
2.30pm
England v West Indies second men's T20 live
Cricket
Following Friday's T20 series opener in Durham, the action moves to Bristol on Sunday afternoon before the third match at Southampton on Tuesday. After brushing West Indies aside 3-0 in the ODI series, England will be eager to maintain their upswing under new white-ball captain Harry Brook. Opener Jamie Smith has certainly been making an impression under England's new leadership, his 64 from 28 balls in the final match of the one-day whitewash over the tourists a positive sign of things to come. Daniel Gallan helms our over-by-over coverage and Taha Hashim reports.
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8pm
Portugal v Spain live
Nations League final
A clash of old Iberian rivals in Sunday night's final in Munich – a showdown that pits a young pretender against the old king. The 17-year-old Lamine Yamal, the undoubted rising star of Spanish football, meets the 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo – and both players will want to lay down markers for the World Cup. Lamal scored twice in a nine-goal thriller of a semi-final defeat of France, a match that featured the last two Nations League champions: France in 2021 and Spain two years ago. Spain are targeting a third Uefa tournament success in a row – having won the last Nations League and Euro 2024. Ronaldo scored his 137th international goal for Portugal – who won the first tournament in 2019 –as they battled from a goal down to beat Germany 2-1 in Munich. Join Dominic Booth for our minute-by-minute coverage while Sid Lowe reports.
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New York Times
14 minutes ago
- New York Times
Aryna Sabalenka's ‘terrible' French Open final and the intangibles of tennis
ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — Aryna Sabalenka made no effort to hide her disappointment after losing the French Open final to Coco Gauff Saturday, repeatedly calling her performance 'terrible' and saying it was 'the worst tennis I've played in the last, I don't know how many months.' 'It's just a joke,' she said. Advertisement She offered that analysis once she'd left Court Philippe-Chatrier, after a 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 defeat. In her on-court interview, Sabalenka eschewed the usual platitudes and the customary opening line congratulating the winner and their team, and went straight for self-flagellation. After fighting back tears, she said: 'Honestly guys this will hurt so much, especially after such a tough two weeks, playing great tennis and in these terrible conditions playing such terrible tennis in the final — that really hurts.' 'Coco, congrats in these tough conditions. You were the better player than me. Congrats on a great two weeks,' she said. In her news conference, Sabalenka went for the jugular again. This time, she focused not on her own shortcomings, but on the weather conditions that had defined the type of tennis being played. 'Conditions were terrible, and she simply was better in these conditions than me. I think it was the worst final I ever played.' Sabalenka's devastation was understandable. She is the world No. 1 and has now lost two Grand Slam finals in a row, both in three sets, both having been the big favorite. Five months ago, Madison Keys beat her in Melbourne to win her first major, and in Paris Gauff thwarted Sabalenka's bid for the non hard-court slam that would rubberstamp her evolution into an all-court player. The match was on her racket, but Sabalenka hit 70 unforced errors compared to just 37 winners as she struggled to cope with the factors outside of her control. Namely the wind, an inspired Gauff and the pressure of what was at stake. Given the chance to praise Gauff's inspired defensive showing, Sabalenka said that her opponent had won the match 'by running and playing those high balls from the frame,' before saying directly that Gauff had framed, or mishit, numerous shots. Advertisement 'She was hitting the ball from the frame. Somehow magically the ball lands in the court … Yeah, it's just, you know, like — it felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like, 'let's see if you can handle this.' 'I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from if you look from the outside, from easy balls.' Tennis is seen as a 50-50 battle, but matchups and gamestyles mean that this is not always the case. Gauff won Saturday's final by assuming the role of supporting actor to Sabalenka the protagonist, knowing that the match was not on her racket and making her greatest assets — her court coverage, lateral movement, and baseline defense — the most important things in the match. She played the conditions. Sabalenka did not, saying afterward that as the match wore on and it got windier, she became 'overemotional.' She compared her unraveling to the last time she played Gauff in a Grand Slam final, at the U.S. Open two years ago. 'Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final,' she said. Sabalenka added that had the four-time champion Iga Świątek beaten her in Thursday's semifinal, 'I think she would go out today and she would get the win.' In her own news conference, Gauff responded. 'I mean, I don't agree with that. I'm here sitting here,' she said. 'Last time I played — no shade to Iga or anything, but I played her and I won in straight sets. Yeah, I don't think that's a fair thing to say, because anything can really happen.' This leaves Sabalenka in a strange place. She remains world No. 1 by a distance, but she hasn't won a Grand Slam title and has been way below her best level in both finals. Throughout the match, she seemed uncomfortable with the shifts in momentum occasioned, in part, by the complicated conditions. But a similar shift happened against Świątek: in both matches, Sabalenka led 4-1, had a point for 5-1, and was pulled back into a tiebreak, one under the roof and one in the open air. Against Świątek under the roof, Sabalenka reset, one less intangible to fight. Against Gauff, the collection of intangibles — the weather, the stakes, the history — appeared to overwhelm her. Advertisement And for regular watchers of her matches, her reaction to Saturday's defeat was essentially an extension of how she reacts to smaller moments of disappointment within matches: berating herself and not accepting that occasionally her opponents will be too good. This kind of mentality is part of what drives great champions. But is showing it always helpful? Her performance coach Jason Stacy was asked this question in a news conference Friday and pointed to one of the team's mantras: 'Don't fight it, don't feed it.' He expanded by saying: 'We don't want to fight this, because the stress, anxiety, the pressure, the mistakes, all those things are going to be there, so you can't pretend it's not going to be a thing, but you don't want to feed it either and give it too much energy or power.' Asked if Sabalenka's frustrations were a boost, Gauff said that she didn't read too much into it, but: 'Obviously when you see your opponent frustrated in any circumstance, if it's tough or not, obviously it does uplift you just because you know that they're frustrated.' Sabalenka will head to the Greek island of Mykonos to recharge and in her words indulge in 'tequila, gummy bears, and swimming.' She laughed as she said that she would be 'like the tourist for couple of days'. But even as she tried to lighten the mood and look ahead to her holiday, she couldn't help but go back to lambasting the events of the previous few hours. 'I just need couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world and this crazy — if I could swear, I would swear right now, about this crazy thing that happened today,' she said. 'I think everyone understands. I'm just trying to be very polite right now, but there is no other word that could describe what just happened today on the court.' All things being equal, Sabalenka is undoubtedly the best player in the world. But tennis matches are not equal. It's how she manages the intangibles that can shape them that will define the next phase of her career.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Liverpool get MASSIVE boost in Julian Alvarez chase
Liverpool have got a DREAM No9 in their sights in the shape of Julian Alvarez. The 25-year-old has been on the Reds' radar since his days as a young player back at River Plate. Since then the Argentine World Cup winner has gone on to bigger and better things - with his trophy cabinet already hugely impressive. Advertisement Alvarez made the move from Manchester City to Atletico Madrid last summer in a deal that could end up being worth €95 million in total. And he had a terrific season on a personal level for Diego Simeone's side - scoring 29 goals in 54 games. However, Atletico's challenges in LaLiga and the Champions League disintegrated, leaving them without a prize. Atletico chasing Gyokeres There are big changes planned at the Wanda Metropolitano this summer and several alterations to the forward line are expected. With Antoine Griezmann signing a new contract until 2027, he is the ONLY Atleti attacker assured of his place in the squad next season. Advertisement That's according to a report in Record, which suggests that Viktor Gyokeres is a contender to arrive. The Swede has got a €100m buyout clause in his Sporting CP contract but according to the Portuguese publication, Atletico are hoping to reduce that fee to €70m. Gyokeres scored 54 goals in 52 games for the Portuguese double-winners last season, underlining his credentials as one of the most coveted strikers in world football. Atletico are said to be hoping to use sponsorships and increased Champions League revenues to fund a bid for Gyokeres and previously it was reported that Nike were willing to help out. © IMAGO Alvarez considering Atletico future? Where a move for Gyokeres leaves Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth is uncertain right now. Both were effective last season but maybe Simeone is seeking to move in a different direction. Advertisement Alvarez has previously been reported to be questioning his own future following Atletico's disappointing season and would consider an exit in 2026. He is under contract until 2030 with Los Colchoneros, but Liverpool would surely waste no time in getting a bid off the ground for him if the opportunity arose. The club wanted to add him to the ranks last summer but were stymied by Man City's desire to include Luis Diaz in the deal - and he ended up in Spain instead. But if the capital club are going to build their new attack around the talents of Gyokeres then Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes could be given an unexpected chance to pounce.
San Francisco Chronicle
23 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sabalenka rues another missed chance against Gauff in French Open final: 'This one hurts so much'
PARIS (AP) — While Coco Gauff was taking selfies on Court Philippe-Chatrier to celebrate her triumph on the Parisian clay, her opponent on the other side of the umpire's chair was filled with anger and sadness. As Roland-Garros officials prepared the court for the trophy ceremony, Aryna Sabalenka sat with her gaze lost in the distance before she took a towel and covered her face. And when it finally came time to speak, Sabalenka was silent for a long moment, as if on the verge of tears. The assessment of her own performance, when she finally took the microphone to address the Roland-Garros crowd, was ruthless. 'Honestly guys, this one hurts so much," she said. 'To show such terrible tennis in the final does really hurt.' The top-ranked Sabalenka won the first set as her high-risk approach brought dividends initially. But once Gauff found her stride, the Belarusian's errors became more and more frequent and she lost the match between the world's two highest-ranked players 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4. Sabalenka hit 37 winners but finished the match with a staggering 70 unforced errors — compared to Gauff's 30. Sabalenka also dropped her serve nine times. 'I think I was overemotional,' she said. 'I didn't really handle myself quite well mentally, I would say. So basically that's it. I was just making unforced errors. I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from — like, if you look from the outside, kind of like from easy balls." The disappointment was even greater given that Sabalenka has worked hard to adapt her game to the slow surface over the years, and after she ended Iga Swiatek's 26-match unbeaten streak at the French Open in the semifinals. 'You've been playing against a lot of tough opponents, Olympic champion, Iga, and then you go out, and you play really bad,' she said during her post-match interview. 'It was honestly the worst tennis I've played in the last, I don't know how many months." Sabalenka also complained about the weather conditions. The retractable roof over the center court remained open during the final, and Sabalenka was visibly annoyed by bursts of wind sweeping across the court. 'Conditions were terrible," the three-time major champion said. 'When she would hit the ball, at some point the wind would just let the ball fly like crazy, and you know, I was late every time.' This was the second major final Sabalenka lost to Gauff, after the 2023 U.S. Open, where she also won the first set. Sabalenka had won their most recent meeting on clay this year in Madrid and thought she had the weapons to beat the American on the biggest stage. 'It's another tough Grand Slam final against Coco,' Sabalenka said. 'Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final. I have to step back, look at this from a perspective, and try to finally learn the lesson, because I cannot go out there every time against her in Grand Slam finals and play such terrible tennis and give those wins, not easily, but emotionally.' ___
