Canada's McIntosh grabs fourth gold to cap dominant world swimming championships
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Toronto Star
12 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Novak Djokovic withdraws from the Cincinnati Open and will head to the US Open without preparation
Serbia's Novak Djokovic gets treatment during a medical timeout break against Italy's Jannik Sinner in a men's singles semifinal at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) TH flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Montreal Gazette
3 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
Jack Todd: Rising tennis ace Victoria Mboko serves notice in Montreal
Tennis For a couple of hours last week, it appeared that the passing of the torch in Canadian tennis might be delayed by a few more days. Midway through the third set against Belinda Bencic, Genie Bouchard appeared to be in cruise control. She had dominated the second set and appeared on her way to winning the match when her lack of match fitness kicked in and the elephant fell on her. The falling elephant is familiar to anybody (me) who was once a high jumper drafted to run a leg on a 4x100 relay during a high-altitude track meet at the University of Colorado. At the 300-metre mark, you're sailing along thinking what a brilliant runner you are — then the plummeting pachyderm strikes. When it happened to Bouchard, it looked as though the legs that had propelled her around the court like a top 20 player once again had turned into limp spaghetti. She tried to rally, but she had lost the momentum and Bencic triumphed. It was a noble effort. After years when she was too much in the public eye and swamped by Hollywood B-listers in her box at Wimbledon, after years of intermittent struggles, Bouchard had returned to prove to her hometown crowd that, at 31, she still has the talent and grit to soldier on for a few more years if she chooses. The massive crowd was touched. Bouchard managed to hold back the tears and it was over — but within less than 24 hours, Bouchard had ceded whatever rung she still occupied in Canadian tennis to Victoria Mboko, the humble and unassuming 18-year-old who may be the biggest talent Canada has yet produced. After dropping the first set Thursday, 6-1, Mboko dominated the 39th-ranked Czech Marie Bouzkova in the final two sets, 6-3 and 6-0 in front of a dazzled crowd. That seemed sufficient proof of Mboko's destiny — but on Saturday night, facing the 21-year-old American Coco Gauff, Mboko proved that Gauff's status as the world No. 2 did not faze her. After dominating the first set 6-1, Mboko made some mistakes in the second set and saw Gauff claw back, but held her nerve to defeat Gauff, 6-4 — proving that she's a quick learner. Mboko had won the first set against Gauff in Rome, only to let Gauff come back and win the match. Not this time. How far can Mboko go? After seeing the early promise of Bouchard, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez result in something less than world domination, we need to manage the expectations for Mboko. It looks like this young woman raised in Toronto could reach the moon and beat the stars, but her immediate task is to avoid a letdown in the quarterfinal Monday against 51st-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain. A race too far: Summer McIntosh and Mboko, the two young stars who have dominated this season, were born eight days apart in August 2006. Both will turn 19 this month. Both are astonishing talents, McIntosh especially. When McIntosh went head-to-head against Katie Ledecky of the U.S. in the 800-metre freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships, I thought she would win a race Ledecky has not lost since she was 13 years old. It wasn't to be. The canny Ledecky led almost from start to finish to foil McIntosh in her attempt to win five gold medals. I feared the loss might deflate McIntosh in her fifth individual event, the 400-metre individual medley, but she won by such a wide margin you could only see her pursuers in a wide-angle shot. That made it four golds and one bronze for the worlds, and it made it official: McIntosh is the greatest swimmer Canada has produced and she's not yet 19 years old. The fans called and they want their Cody Fajardo back: Sometimes, a bad game is like a purge. You get rid of it all in one wretched evening and you feel much better when it's over. Fans have to hope that Saturday night's rancid performance was like that for the badly banged-up Alouettes. They have no end of excuses, beginning with the fact that they're missing their starting quarterback and their two top receivers. That doesn't change the fact that McLeod Bethel-Thompson, the 37-year-old backup quarterback, was simply awful. He completed 15 of 26 passes for a miserable 126 yards, threw a bad interception and would have thrown another had it not been dropped. The highest paid backup in the CFL, with a salary of $185,000 in 'hard money' plus bonuses, Bethel-Thompson hasn't been remotely worth it. Ironic, given that Fajardo was too expensive to keep in a backup role to Davis Alexander. Fajardo was swapped to Edmonton for Bethel-Thompson and the two will go at it Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium. The Elks are awful, but they do have a secret weapon unless the Als make a change at QB: Bethel-Thompson. Heroes: Victoria Mboko, Genie Bouchard, Leylah Fernandez, Mary-Sophie Harvey, Audrey Leduc, Miyu Yamashita, Katie Ledecky &&&& last but not least, Summer McIntosh. Now and forever.
Toronto Star
3 hours ago
- Toronto Star
College tennis facing threats of cuts at same time many of its alums are starring in pro ranks
FILE - Oliver Tarvet of Britain returns the ball to Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in his second round men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File) TH FA flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
