Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul try to add to the best French Open for US men in decades
PARIS (AP) — It's been 30 years since three American men reached Week 2 at the French Open. Back then, it was Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier — each of whom won the tournament at some point.
This go-round, the trio is
Tommy Paul
,
Ben Shelton
and
Frances Tiafoe
, all scheduled to be on court Sunday in fourth-round action at Roland-Garros.
'Yeah, about time,' joked
Jessica Pegula
, who advanced Saturday to give the U.S. at least three women in the round of 16. 'It's exciting to see. Obviously you want to see your fellow countrymen do well on the other side, and I'm always actually keeping up with them quite a lot. So I hope they keep it going.'
Who do the American men left in the French Open play on Sunday?
Won't be easy, of course, perhaps especially for the 13th-seeded Shelton, the big-serving lefty who goes up against
defending champion Carlos Alcaraz
of Spain for a berth in the quarterfinals. No. 12 Paul takes on No. 25
Alexei Popyrin
of Australia; No. 15 Tiafoe meets unseeded Daniel Altmaier of Germany.
Not since Courier and Pete Sampras in 1996 have multiple Americans made it to the quarterfinals in Paris.
Historically, the
slower red clay used at the French Open
has not been particularly kind to men from the United States. Some of that is simply that they tend to grow up playing mostly on hard courts, which reward a big-strike style of hard-hitting tennis, and so they are not as accustomed to the patience and footwork required on the red dirt.
'I really do think everyone can play on this surface,' said Paul, an Australian Open semifinalist two years ago. 'I remind myself it's just tennis.'
But for years, Paul said, he was not excited to participate in the French Open. And that's coming from someone who won the event's junior title as a teen in 2015.
'Now I come over here and I look at it as an opportunity,' said Paul, 28, who grew up in North Carolina. 'I think all the Americans do.'
Andre Agassi in 1999 was the last US man to win the Roland-Garros title
Agassi, in 1999, was the last American man to win the trophy at the French Open — and the nation hasn't had a male finalist since then. Before that, it was Courier in 1991 and 1992. Before that, it was Chang in 1989. And before that, you have to go all the way back to Tony Trabert in 1954 and 1955.
American women have had much more success: 15 singles titles in the Open era, including seven for Chris Evert and three for Serena Williams, plus 13 runner-up showings, most recently by Coco Gauff in 2022.
'It's super critical not to worry about what was and just worry about what is,' said Tiafoe, a 27-year-old from Maryland who twice made the semifinals at the hard-court U.S. Open but began his Roland-Garros career by going 0-6. 'Currently we're at the French Open, and just try to be elite. This is where it counts. So guys just believe it.'
Unlike in New York, where Tiafoe is the center of attention and a fan favorite, a scene he loves — 'There is so much anticipation; there's so much energy' — Paris, he said, presents 'a different vibe' and 'more of a low-key kind of thing.'
So far, so good.
Ben Shelton tries to stop the defending champion in Paris
There wasn't likely to be anything low key about Shelton vs. Alcaraz in the main stadium, Court Philippe-Chatrier. They are among the flashiest, most entertaining athletes in men's tennis at the moment.
Alcaraz is seeded No. 2. At 22, the same age as Shelton — who won an NCAA title for the University of Florida —
Alcaraz already owns four Grand Slam titles
, with at least one each on the clay at the French Open, the grass at Wimbledon and the hard courts at the U.S. Open.
'That's a pretty cool opportunity, pretty cool experience, that not a lot of people get or see in their lifetime,' said Shelton, a semifinalist at the U.S. Open in 2023 and the Australian Open in January but 2-2 at Roland-Garros before this year. 'For me, I'm definitely going to enjoy it and go out there and see what I can do, because I'm starting to gain some speed, gain a little bit of traction, on this surface and starting to see some of my best tennis. I like to think of myself as dangerous whenever I get to that place.'
___
Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here:
https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich
. More AP tennis:
https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Terry Pegula's ownership, Kevyn Adams' rise and the ‘hamster wheel' of Sabres' record playoff drought
BUFFALO, N.Y. — On the day Terry Pegula bought the Buffalo Sabres, he stepped to a lectern inside the pavilion of the team's arena and delivered an emotional opening monologue. Wearing a black suit and navy tie, Pegula got choked up when he saw franchise legend Gilbert Perreault in the audience. He thanked previous owner Tom Golisano for 'saving my hockey team' from bankruptcy. He spoke wistfully about coaching his son Michael in youth hockey. Then, emphatically, he promised a new day was coming. Advertisement 'Starting today,' he said, 'the Buffalo Sabres' reason for existence will be to win a Stanley Cup.' Then Ted Black, the newly announced team president, stated, 'A clarion call should go out to the league and hockey players everywhere that Buffalo is hockey heaven.' That was February 2011. The Sabres made the playoffs a few months later but haven't been back since. Their NHL-record, 14-season playoff drought is tied with the New York Jets for the longest postseason famine in major North American sports. They've missed the playoffs more times in Pegula's 14 full seasons of ownership than they did in the 40 previous seasons. The Sabres have been near the bottom of the league in attendance for each of the past five seasons and are the only team in the NHL that has left at least $6 million in cap space unspent each of the last five years. But when Pegula bought the team, his actions backed up those bold words. He spent freely on top free agents that first summer. He empowered the Sabres to make aggressive offers to American stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter when they became free agents. And his investment extended beyond the roster. 'It was like night and day as far as what we were able to do with resources under Terry: the amount of scouting, traveling to scout, more eyeballs on the players, more video, more amateur scouts, more development coaches,' one former front office member recalled. 'Everything was multiplied.' Pegula had transformed Penn State's hockey program by injecting money into it. He wanted to do the same in Buffalo. That's why he built Harborcenter, a multi-use hockey complex that would not only host Sabres practices and prospect tournaments but would also be home to countless youth tournaments and eventually the NHL Scouting Combine. While he was new to the NHL, Pegula was eager to learn. He traveled to Traverse City, Mich., for prospect tournaments. He crowded around decision makers near the trade deadline ('He was there every day,' one former scout recalled), and was ever-present when the NHL Draft rolled around. Advertisement Pegula's engagement became an opportunity for those in the building to make an impression. One former team employee compared the environment to the hit TV show of that era, 'Game of Thrones,' leading to a frequent joke around the office that 'everyone wanted to change their last name to Pegula.' That's when Kevyn Adams, then working in player development, first met the new owner and laid the foundation for a relationship that eventually helped him rise to his role as Sabres general manager. He's held that title for five years. Only nine current NHL general managers have been in their job longer, but the Sabres' win percentage during his tenure is 25th in the NHL. And Adams doesn't appear to be going anywhere. On a Saturday afternoon in December, the Sabres were getting beaten soundly by the Utah Hockey Club in front of a restless home crowd and in the midst of what would become a 13-game winless streak. A day earlier, Adams held a news conference to address the state of the team. At one point, he said Buffalo was not a 'destination city' for NHL veterans and that the Sabres would need to win to change that stigma because 'we don't have palm trees. We have high taxes.' That prompted fans to show up to the arena with inflatable palm trees and chant, 'Fire Kevyn!' The Western New York native had already been booed when he was introduced on opening night. Through it all, Pegula has remained unmoved by fan unrest. The Athletic spoke to 10 people in and around the Sabres organization, many of whom worked directly with Adams and Pegula at various points over the last 14 years, to understand how Adams rose to his position and has kept it despite the Sabres' ongoing struggles. Many of those sources were granted anonymity to speak freely without fear of reprisal. Adams also spoke to The Athletic for over an hour to address his career arc and job performance. Advertisement 'It would be very unfair for someone to think that I didn't sacrifice to come into the position I'm in,' Adams said. 'Whether it was the amount of work I did starting through my playing career, going above and beyond, doing extra, the education I got, the different roles I had. Is it a different path? Yeah. Thirty-two GMs have different paths. Some go right from being agents to GMs. So if someone is saying I didn't sacrifice because I wasn't in Moose Jaw or something, I doubt they know my exact life.' Adams spent 11 years in the NHL, mostly as a fourth-line role player. He played for six NHL teams and won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. His career high was 15 goals and he played 82 games in a season once. But he had an active role in the NHLPA and a deep interest in the business of hockey. When his playing career ended in 2008, Adams worked in a development role for O2K Sports, a hockey agency two of his college teammates founded. It was during that time that he ran into former Sabre Larry Playfair, who is in charge of alumni relations for the franchise. Playfair invited Adams to a Sabres alumni event. When Adams reminded Playfair that he never played for the team, Playfair said, 'You're one of us. You're from Buffalo.' Adams went to a golf tournament where he met Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. Ruff had heard good things about Adams and said he and then-Sabres GM Darcy Regier would be interested in interviewing him. A few months later, in December 2009, Adams was hired in a hybrid role, working with the coaching staff and the front office. In the mornings, he did video work and one-on-one skill development with players. He spent afternoons in his cubicle in the hockey operations department working on special projects for Regier. Adams was in that role when Pegula bought the Sabres. Pegula has always had a passion for the development of athletes, and so he and Adams talked in depth about Buffalo's younger players. Adams' Stanley Cup ring gave him added cachet with Pegula, and when Adams transitioned to an assistant coach role, he got even more time with Pegula in planes, hotels and rinks on the road. 'It was just a lot of time connecting,' Adams said. 'Terry and I always had a good back and forth.' But when Ruff got fired in 2013, Adams, like the rest of the organization, was at a crossroads. Ron Rolston took over and fired Ruff's assistants, including Adams. A few months later, in November 2013, Regier was also fired. Advertisement Adams still had a year left on his contract, so any NHL team that wanted to interview him needed permission from the Pegulas, Terry and his wife, Kim, who also took an active role in managing the Sabres. When he spoke with one team about a hockey operations role, the Pegulas asked him to get together for coffee. Terry Pegula said he saw upside in Adams and envisioned a role for him at Harborcenter, which was still under construction. The role was a 'blank piece of paper,' Adams said. Even though the offer was undefined, Adams was intrigued. He had young kids and enjoyed living in his hometown. So that summer, he wrote up a business plan for what became the Academy of Hockey, a youth development program that would be housed at Harborcenter. In September 2013, the Pegulas announced Adams as the director of the Academy of Hockey. But in the time between him taking that role and Harborcenter opening, there was no academy, and there were no players to train. That meant more time fine-tuning the business plan and finishing his master's degree online through the University of Phoenix. It also meant more day-to-day contact with Terry and Kim Pegula. In 2014, when Harborcenter officially opened, the Pegulas purchased the NFL's Buffalo Bills. That meant less time around the Sabres for Terry. 'Everything Bills was always more important than everything Sabres,' said one former Pegula employee who worked on the hockey side. 'It's just been helter-skelter for the Sabres ever since he bought the Bills.' By that point, the Pegulas trusted Adams and had been grooming him for a leadership position. During his time at Harborcenter, Adams got more responsibility, getting pulled into meetings about the hotel and restaurant sides of the business. After six years at Harborcenter and the Academy of Hockey, Adams was promoted to Sabres vice president of business administration in September 2019. Kim Pegula said in a news release announcing the hire, 'Kevyn brings unsurpassed experience, perspective and vision to this position. He exemplifies our company values of teamwork, respect, accountability, integrity, trust and success.' Advertisement At the time, Kim Pegula was the team president, but Adams would fill in at certain meetings when Kim, who was also president of the Bills, was unavailable. He was the Sabres' alternate governor and went to owners' meetings. He traveled with the team and met other team presidents for dinners to gain a better understanding of the business side of the NHL. By June 2020, nine months after that promotion, Adams made a leap few in the hockey world saw coming. With COVID grinding the sports world to a halt and the Sabres outside of the playoffs for a ninth straight season, Kim Pegula gave then-general manager Jason Botterill a public vote of confidence in an interview with the Associated Press. Three weeks later, Adams got a call from Terry Pegula, who asked him to get on a plane to Florida. A couple of days later, Botterill was fired and Adams was hired to replace him. There were no other candidates. The sudden change was startling to those in the building and puzzling to those around the league. Adams accepted what was believed to be among the lowest general manager salaries in the NHL at the time, according to a source involved in the Sabres' decision making. Before Adams, Pegula had hired two people with more traditional GM resumes and had gotten neither the results he wanted nor the involvement he craved. 'We felt like we weren't being heard,' Terry Pegula said at the time of Adams' hiring. 'We have a vision, and we want to see our vision succeed.' That vision was more about business than hockey. Adams said the focus was on 'right-sizing' the organization. Pegula wanted to move forward with a leaner scouting staff and used the words 'effective, efficient and economic' to describe the Sabres' new ethos. They said they wanted to scale back operations and build them out over time, a process Adams says is ongoing. Advertisement In his first day on the job, Adams informed more than 20 people they'd been fired. Longtime scouts, high-ranking executives and coaches in Rochester all heard from Adams that day. That left Adams as a first-time general manager charged with rebuilding the hockey operations department. 'I had done everything in my career so that I could put myself in a position to potentially be ready to be general manager, and that's no matter what,' Adams said. 'Everybody at some point is a first-time general manager. I felt as prepared as you could possibly be when the phone call came in. Now here I am.' No two general managers in the NHL have exactly the same experience, but Adams' background stands out among his peers. Of the currently employed NHL GMs, Adams is one of six who never held an assistant general manager or vice president of hockey operations title in the NHL prior to his hiring. Of those six, he's one of two who never scouted or consulted in an NHL hockey operations department. The other is Canadiens GM Kent Hughes, who was a longtime prominent NHL agent and has an experienced president of hockey operations above him. Outside of the afternoons he spent in his cubicle in the Sabres hockey operations department from December 2009 to August 2011, Adams had no prior NHL hockey operations experience. 'I think that's what rubs people the wrong way,' said one former scout. 'He wasn't in Fargo watching a game. He wasn't in Medicine Hat watching a game. He wasn't at the U18s in Slovakia in August missing family vacation. That's the grind. That's what pretty much everybody else did unless your name is Joe Sakic.' Sabres executives vetted at least two candidates for potential senior adviser positions to help Adams. He said they couldn't find the right fit and isn't sure if anyone would have had experience with what the Sabres were about to go through. On Oct. 11, 2020, five months after hiring Adams, Pegula stood inside his new general manager's office. At that point, Adams had no assistant GMs. His director of scouting was Jeremiah Crowe, who had three years of pro scouting experience before getting elevated to that role. The analytics department was Jason Nightengale. This was the first day of NHL free agency. Pegula and Adams discussed the possibility of signing Taylor Hall to a one-year, $8 million contract. Advertisement Hall had won the Hart Trophy two years earlier with a 39-goal, 54-assist season for the New Jersey Devils. The Sabres had failed to qualify for the expanded 24-team playoff during the pandemic, extending their playoff drought to nine seasons. 'We sign this guy,' Pegula said to Adams in a behind-the-scenes video released by the Sabres, 'we're not only trying to make the playoffs. We're trying to win the Cup.' 'Yeah,' Adams said. 'I mean this is … yeah.' Hall signed with the Sabres and scored two goals and 19 points in 37 games before he was sent to the Bruins at the trade deadline. Buffalo finished in last place, and Adams fired coach Ralph Krueger. That conversation with Pegula painted the picture of an owner who wants to be heard, a general manager willing to listen and together, a tandem that hasn't been able to bring playoff hockey back to Buffalo. The Sabres haven't spent to the salary cap ceiling during Adams' time as general manager. In the last five seasons, they've been a combined $60 million under the cap while the league's cap has been mostly flat. The business decisions Adams and Pegula made in 2020 not only led to a calamitous 2020-21 season, but they also had repercussions on the team's future. 'They're on a hamster wheel,' said another former Sabres scout. 'They just keep going around in circles.' Jack Eichel, the team's 23-year-old captain and franchise player, wanted to be traded, in part, because the Sabres wouldn't allow him to have his preferred neck surgery. And it was too late to convince Sam Reinhart to stick around after the team had missed multiple chances to sign him to a long-term contract under previous regimes. After having misguided Stanley Cup hopes the previous fall, Adams embarked on Buffalo's latest rebuild. One source described the situation in 2021 by saying, 'There was no plan.' Advertisement The next four seasons reflected the ups and downs of a general manager learning on the job and building a roster with an emphasis on homegrown players. The team got 76 points in 2021-22 and awarded Adams and then-coach Don Granato contract extensions. After getting 91 points in 2022-23, Adams barely changed the roster, and the team regressed to 84 points. Adams fired Granato before his contract extension kicked in. Adams and Pegula then brought back Ruff, 13 years after he'd been fired, for a second coaching stint with the Sabres. The 64-year-old didn't bring any of his own assistants, and the team still entered the season with the youngest roster in the NHL. During the 13-game winless streak that sank the Sabres' season, Terry Pegula flew to Montreal to meet with the team and express confidence in the group shortly after Adams' 'palm trees' news conference. The next night, the Sabres lost 6-1 to the Canadiens. The team spent most of the season in last place in the Eastern Conference and ended with 79 points. In a behind-the-scenes video of the Sabres' trade deadline process, Ruff noted that the team's culture needed to change. In that video, Pegula is on a conference call multiple times throughout the day, weighing in on decisions. That offered a view into the dynamic between Adams and Pegula, a dynamic that other potential general managers might view as a red flag. 'Any self-respecting GM who takes that job is going to say, 'I have to be able to run this for you,'' said one former NHL executive. 'I know it's your team and I have to talk to you about things, but I have to be able to build a team and make decisions. If I have to run a simple (Henri) Jokiharju for a fourth by you, what are we doing here?' Adams and Ruff recently had their end-of-season review with Terry Pegula and his oldest daughter, Laura. Terry Pegula took over duties as team president after Kim Pegula had a debilitating cardiac arrest in 2022. Since firing Ted Black, the Sabres haven't had a president or COO who has worked for an NHL team prior to the Sabres. Advertisement Sitting in the alumni room in the 200-level of the Sabres' arena during the interview for this story, Adams said it's 'not true' that he's unwilling to stand up to Terry Pegula or have disagreements with him. Adams said he was honest with Pegula about what went wrong and where he's made mistakes. He thinks the team needs to improve in puck management, team defense and special teams. After that meeting, Adams hired former Hurricanes teammate Eric Staal as a special assistant to the general manager and changed strength coaches. The team hired former Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen as a senior adviser and hasn't ruled out more additions to the front office. There is a recognition from Adams and Pegula that more experienced voices are needed in the front office. The coaching staff is still the same, though. And it's still Adams and Pegula at the top of the organizational chart, along with Ruff. Adams and Ruff each have a year left on their contracts. 'There's frustration, starting with me, with where we finished in the standings,' Adams said. 'We didn't make a coaching change and bring in an experienced coach like we did with the expectations to not be a playoff team. We were all upset after the season. For me, preparing for those meetings was to make sure I honestly was able to articulate where we are today, what I think we've done poorly, what I think we've done well and where we go from here. There was great alignment coming out of that meeting.' (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; top photos: Tony Ding / Icon Sportswire, Dave Sandford / NHLI, Kevin Hoffman / Getty Images)
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Max Verstappen blames frustration for a 'move that was not right' after colliding with Russell
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands during the Spanish Grand Prix Formula One race at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort) Max Verstappen said Monday that frustration caused 'a move that was not right and shouldn't have happened', a day after he initially seemed unrepentant over his collision with George Russell at Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix. Verstappen had been asked by his Red Bull team to give up a place to Russell following an earlier incident between the two drivers when he hit Russell's Mercedes. Advertisement The race stewards ruled Verstappen had 'suddenly accelerated' before the collision and Russell said it 'felt very deliberate'. The stewards gave Verstappen a 10-second penalty which dropped him from fifth to 10th and left him 49 points off standings leader Oscar Piastri, who won Sunday's race. 'We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out. Our tire choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fueled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn't have happened,' Verstappen wrote on Instagram. 'I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together. See you (at the next race) in Montreal.' Initially in the aftermath of Sunday's race, Verstappen had said that 'next time I will bring a tissue', responding to Russell claiming he set a poor example for young drivers. Advertisement A series of setbacks The collision followed a series of setbacks for Verstappen, who had been in third and pressuring the two McLaren drivers in front before the safety car came out. Red Bull decided to bring Verstappen into the pits for fresh tires, even though the only ones he had left were slower hard-compound tires, a type that no other driver used. At the restart, Verstappen lost grip and was overtaken by Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari made contact with Verstappen's Red Bull. Neither driver was ruled at fault for that. Verstappen then went off the track while defending against Russell and Red Bull asked Verstappen to give up the place to Russell, apparently because the team expected Verstappen would be given a penalty. The stewards later ruled they wouldn't have taken action against the Dutch driver for that incident. Advertisement Risking a suspension Verstappen needs to be careful in the next two races because the penalty for the collision with Russell also brought him penalty points on his licence, taking him to 11 in the last 12 months. Drivers get a one-race suspension if they hit 12 points in a year. Two of those points expire at the end of the month, but until then Verstappen needs to get through the Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix without any further penalty points. ___ AP auto racing:
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Teen trans athlete at center of rightwing attacks wins track events in California
A teenage transgender athlete in California, who has been at the center of widespread political attacks by rightwing pundits and the Trump administration, won in two track events over the weekend. The 16-year-old athlete, AB Hernandez, tied for first place alongside two other athletes in the high jump, and tied for first place in the triple jump. This comes as the Trump administration threatened to withhold federal funding from California for allowing trans athletes to compete in girls' sports. The meet took place days after the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in the state, changed its rules. Now, if a transgender athlete places in a girls' event, the athlete who finishes just behind will also receive the same place and medal. Despite protests at the meet, the athletes expressed joy during the meet, multiple outlets reported. 'Sharing the podium was nothing but an honor,' another high school athlete said to the San Francisco Chronicle. 'Although the publicity she's been receiving has been pretty negative, I believe she deserves publicity because she's a superstar. She's a rock star. She's representing who she is.' Hernandez finished the high jump with a mark of 5ft 7in (1.7 meters), the Associated Press reported, with no failed attempts. The two co-winners also cleared that height after each logged a failed attempt. The three shared the first-place win, smiling as they stepped together onto the podium. Hernandez received first place in the triple jump, sharing the top spot with an athlete who trailed by just more than a half-meter, the AP said. Earlier in the afternoon, Hernandez placed second in the long jump. Related: Scared advertisers, flag bans and Trump: the US is in for a troubled Pride 2025 Hernandez and her participation in the meet brought national attention and attacks by the Trump administration. She has become the target of a national, rightwing campaign to ban trans athletes from youth sports. The justice department said it would investigate the California Interscholastic Federation and the school district to determine whether they violated federal sex-discrimination law. The federation's rule change reflects efforts to find a middle ground in the debate over trans girls' participation in high school sports. They announced the change after Trump threatened to pull federal funding from California unless it bars trans athletes from competing on girls' teams. But the federation said it decided on the change before the Trump threats. Hernandez's participation in the sport is allowed by a 2013 state law, stating that students can compete in the category reflecting their gender identity. At least 24 states have laws on the books barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain women's or girls' sports competitions, the AP reported.
