• NFL reporter resigned after fallout from photo scandal

• Patriots coach, Russini were pictured at Arizona resort

• Investigation unable to find ‘exact nature’ of relationship

The Athletic’s internal investigation found that the relationship between former NFL reporter Dianna Russini and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was in “clear violation” of the newsroom’s standards.

The outlet, which is owned by the New York Times, released a report Thursday detailing the findings of a five-months-long investigation. Mike Semel, the Athletic’s editorial director for standards and quality, wrote that he was unable to find signs of clear bias in her coverage or determine the exact “nature of their relationship”, but said it gave the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The latest updates from Flushing Meadows on day five
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It feels rather odd saying this, given that Osaka is a two-time former US Open champion, but she’s something of a wildcard contender this fortnight, having not won a title since 2021. But over the past year she’s been building momentum, after returning from her maternity leave in 2024, and there were plenty of green shoots on the grass at Wimbledon, where she beat Aryna Sabalenka en route to the quarter-finals. And Osaka has started strongly today, leading Siniakova 3-1 and serving at 40-15. Make that game, as the 13th seed’s pace is too much for the Czech to handle.

Swiatek is serving for the first set at 5-3. And on her second set point, at her advantage, she takes it, when Podoroska prods a return wide. After starting with three holds to love, the set got closer, but the eighth seed found a way through and she’s skipping to the back of the court to start the second set. She looks up for this – and most importantly, more confident than she has done for so much of this year.

The league is awash with ultra-wealthy owners. Adam Silver is hoping a hefty punishment for the Clippers will send them a message about who is in charge

When Steve Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2bn in 2014, it was widely regarded as a coup for the NBA.

Not only is Ballmer one of the richest men in the world – worth an estimated $152.7bn – but his passion and enthusiasm for the sport stood in stark contrast to the team’s embattled former owner. Donald Sterling, who bought the Clippers for $12.5m in 1981, was forced to sell after being handed a lifetime ban by the NBA in response to a series of racist comments.

The founder of The Ringer and Grantland was famous for discovering and developing writers. Now he is promoting a technology eroding the creative industries

Bill Simmons may have stopped writing with any regularity in the mid-2010s – he claims his fingers don’t work – but that won’t stop him from reminding you of his greatest hits. On a recent podcast about Russell Westbrook’s retirement, he couldn’t stop quoting his old columns. He first referenced an article from the 2012 NBA finals, and wasn’t finished until 11 minutes into the podcast. His guest, The Ringer contributor Kirk Goldsberry, deserved an award for patience. But the biggest blight on the episode came later, in the form of a bizarre ad read.

“This episode,” Simmons announced, “is brought to you by ChatGPT, the Bill Simmons Podcast AI sponsor.” (Emphasis mine; his overenthusiastic delivery mandates the italics.) Simmons said that he had asked ChatGPT what Westbrook’s defining game was. “That was a pretty good answer,” he said of ChatGPT’s offerings, as if it were a precocious, loveable nephew, before encouraging his listeners to try the platform.

At this week’s world championship, the women’s record holder who once feared a 5K will try to top her own 144-hour distance – and beat the US men’s mark

While many teachers head back to school this week, middle-school math teacher Megan Eckert will be 5,000 miles from her classroom in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a good reason to miss a few classes: she’ll be competing at the Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners World Championship.

On Thursday, more than 100 runners will gather on a start line in Balatonfüred, Hungary, and attempt to run as many miles as they can in six days.

• Former Ivy League star wins US Open debut

• Shelton and Tiafoe advance to third round

• Pegula cruises past Kenin in 56 minutes

Michael Zheng spent years making the long trek from northern New Jersey, first by bus across the Hudson River to the Port Authority bus terminal and then nearly the full length of the No 7 subway line, all for the opportunity to train at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. On a rainswept Wednesday afternoon in Queens, the destination was the same but the purpose had changed entirely.

The 22-year-old American wildcard and two-time NCAA champion from nearby Columbia University brushed aside Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to win his rain-delayed US Open debut, providing one of the more unlikely highlights on a busy day for the home contingent in New York.

• Olympic champion targets third Games in LA

• Michael Jordan narrates announcement video

• Chiles joins Lee and Carey on comeback trail

Jordan Chiles is returning for a run at her third Olympics, ⁠announcing Wednesday she intends to compete in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

Chiles shared ⁠her decision ⁠in ​a video narrated by basketball legend Michael Jordan.

• Team circumvented salary cap rules to sign star

• Owner Steve Ballmer lands one-year ban

The NBA has handed down one of the biggest punishments in the history of the league to the Los Angeles Clippers after finding that the franchise circumvented salary cap rules when it courted Kawhi Leonard as a free agent.

The league has stripped the team of five first-round draft picks, giving the team no natural pick in the draft from 2029 through 2033.

Sabalenka made quick work of Iatcenko in the second round, while Tiafoe, Tsitsipas, Pegula and Muchova were among the other notable winners

And Nakashima breaks too – he’s hitting it hard off both wings and I wonder if he’s in the process of finding a new level. The first few times I watched him, I thought he had a bit of something and, real talk, I thought he’d be better by now than he is. But I really like what I’m seeing from him and, as we know, progress isn’t always linear.

It’s a good start for Medvedev, Gorzy – who saved five match points in round one – tamely ceding serve to 15.

Ten years after he helped shape the quarterback’s anthem protest, the former NFL player and Army veteran says he still sees it as an act of patriotism

Nate Boyer was stunned. The former NFL long snapper and United States Army Green Beret had big plans for his MVP (Merging Vets and Players) foundation, an organization that helps veterans and NFL players address the challenges that await once they take the uniform off for good. MVP was all set for a season-long college football activation tour thanks to a five-figure sponsorship from a well-known brand that happens to be one of the NFL’s longstanding partners. Boyer and his team were prepping for their trip to Columbus for Ohio State’s home opener. Everything was ready to go. Thousands in upfront costs had been spent. Then the company pulled out.

“They suddenly stopped replying to emails,” Boyer says. “Finally, on that Thursday, when I was at the airport en route, I called our point person, also a veteran, who begrudgingly told me what was going on.”

LA added Myles Garrett and brought Aaron Donald out of retirement to create the NFL’s most menacing defense. A Super Bowl trip still isn’t a guarantee

Last Saturday night, NFL Network premiered the 2025 edition of America’s Game, the annual NFL Films-produced documentary on the reigning Super Bowl champions, this time starring the Seattle Seahawks.

Less than 24 hours later, the Los Angeles Rams announced that they had lured Aaron Donald out of retirement and signed him to a one-year, $20m contract that could reach $30m with incentives.

• German scrapes home 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 in thriller

• ‘I think this is the longest first-round match I’ve played’

Alexander Zverev rallied just in time to avoid becoming the first men’s No 1 seed to lose in the first round of a grand slam tournament since 2003, edging Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 in a US Open match that ended in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Zverev could not cash in on repeated chances to break Sonego’s serve for much of the night and was in danger of becoming the first top-seeded man to fall in his first match in a major tournament since Ivo Karlovic beat Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2003.

• Woods pleads no contest to reduced charge

• Charges stemmed from March rollover crash

Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to reckless driving on Wednesday morning as part of an agreement with Florida prosecutors that reduced a DUI charge stemming from his rollover crash in March.

The 50-year-old was adjudicated guilty of willful and wanton reckless driving, a second offense, during a hearing in Martin County court. Under the agreement, Woods was fined $1,000 and had his driver’s license suspended for five years. Prosecutors had originally charged him with driving under the influence with property damage.

• British Wimbledon semi-finalist loses 6-3, 6-3, 7-5

• Elena Rybakina into second round with 6-3, 6-2 win

Six weeks on from the fortnight that changed his life, Arthur Fery’s first grand slam appearance since his semi-final run at Wimbledon came under considerably different circumstances. He is now the 33rd best men’s player in the world, a direct entrant for all of the biggest tournaments, and he has continued to gain experience at the highest level of professional tennis each week.

As a result of his continued exposure on the tour, though, Fery’s adversaries have also learned a bit more about him. In his first main draw appearance at the US Open, Fery came up against a prepared and sharp Lorenzo Musetti, who knew exactly how to exploit the vulnerable parts of his game in order to secure a win. The Italian comprehensively outplayed the British No 1, reaching the second round with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory.

• Arte Moreno sells after owning team since 2003

• Deal gives KSE teams in NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS

Kroenke Sports + Entertainment announced Tuesday that it will buy a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno in a deal that is expected to close in the first quarter ⁠of 2027.

The sale will require the approval of Major League Baseball and its owners.

• MLS had limited participation since 2024 Open Cup

• League decision to withdraw teams was controversial

Major League Soccer will allow all of its 27 US-based teams to participate in the US Open Cup next year, according to a report from Backheeled.

The move would bring to an end a three-year period in which MLS withheld teams from the United States’ oldest soccer competition, a single-elimination cup that has been running continuously since 1914, with only two editions skipped (2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic). Like England’s FA Cup and other similar competitions, the US Open Cup involves teams at all levels of the soccer system, including amateur and semi-pro teams. MLS teams traditionally enter at the later stages, with an MLS team winning all but one edition of the Open Cup since the league started play in 1996.

• CBS analyst was arrested in July after traffic stop

• Former QB has been absent from CBS duty

CBS NFL analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has pleaded no contest to a charge of operating while intoxicated and has apologized for the actions that led to his July arrest.

Romo was arrested on 23 July following a traffic stop in Wisconsin. CBS has since placed him on leave from his role as its lead NFL analyst.

Fery could not repeat his Wimbledon odyssey as he lost in the first round to Musetti, while Fritz, Rybakina and Andreeva advanced in straight sets and Cobolli fought back to win in five

Nothing’s going Cobolli’s way at the moment, as he thwacks his own leg with his racket while trying to hit the ball, as he’s taken to deuce once more on his serve. He recovers to get to his advantage, but then balloons another errant forehand well long, before finally getting on the board to reduce his deficit to 3-1.

It was also a day when Stan Wawrinka played his final grand slam match, Carlos Alcaraz made his return from injury and Aryna Sabalenka, after a shaky summer, started her title defence with a comfortable victory.

• Japanese player wears Iverson’s signature cornrows

• Outfit also has newspaper clippings about Osaka

Naomi Osaka channeled former NBA star Allen Iverson before her US Open first-round victory over Anastasia Zakharova on Monday.

Osaka made her usual fashionable entrance for her tournament opener, which she won in straight sets. The two-time US Open champion emerged on to the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing a long, white skirt and a gray, hooded robe featuring newspaper clippings about her.

The Canada and Denver Summit full-back on playing at a packed Mile High Stadium and the impact of Lindsey Heaps

In the 13th minute of a 6-1 win against Chicago, Janine Sonis ran into the penalty area and stealthily positioned herself behind a line of defenders, before striking a crisp shot into the right corner. It was her ninth goal of the season, the most of any Denver Summit player, and joint-seventh in the NWSL.

Now playing for her hometown club in their debut season, the NWSL and Canada veteran feels that her happiness is translating on to the field. “I think it’s been a season that I’ve enjoyed myself more than any other season in my career, and I think that that’s showing in the way that I’m playing,” she said.

This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.

On Friday 4 September at 1pm Suzanne Wrack will be answering readers’ questions about the new WSL season for Guardian Conversations.

Alex Eala has become the Philippines’ biggest sporting star since Manny Pacquiao. Now the 21-year-old’s traveling army of fans have descended on Flushing Meadows

The crowd began to swell in Louis Armstrong Stadium a half hour before 2pm. A fair number of fans were probably there to see Taylor Fritz and Terence Atmane practice, but it was the session after theirs that was the headline attraction on the Friday of the US Open’s fan week. The blue, red and white throughout the stands, spotted on bucket hats and posters and basketball jerseys and flags, signaled who these people were here to see.

This has been the year of Alex Eala, the 21-year-old sensation who has taken the tennis world by storm. At No 18, she is the Philippines’ highest-ranked player ever, its biggest sports celebrity since Manny Pacquiao. The country’s president hosted a reception to celebrate her success, and called for a national celebration after she won her first tour-level title last month at the DC Open. Forbes estimates Eala’s off-court earnings for the past year to exceed $5m, plus $1.7m in prize money, and her agent predicts she will be the world’s second-highest-paid female athlete by 2027.

A decade after Kaepernick’s quiet protest shook the NFL, his exile looks less like an aberration than a blueprint for the culture war that followed

America likes nice round numbers, perfect for anniversaries and reflections, and it has, suddenly, been 10 years since Colin Kaepernick first protested police killings – more accurately, police killings of Black people that went unpunished either internally or by the courts – by taking a knee during the national anthem for the entirety of the 2016 NFL regular season. He never played in the league again.

Ten years covers a lot of ground, especially in these years of American darkness, and many of the important details surrounding Kaepernick, his banishment and significance have disappeared, time replaced by more time and more darkness – time moving faster than ever, at internet speed, where nothing matters, where nothing sticks. We consume by clip, by click, by meme, and knowledge by meme is not knowledge at all.

• Australian tested positive at event in June

• Kyrgios and Tsitsipas have clashed in the past

Stefanos Tsitsipas says he is not surprised that Nick Kyrgios was suspended from tennis for taking cocaine.

“Pretty much expected, to be honest,” Tsitsipas said. “I am surprised it came so late, though.”

• Beloved singer died last week at the age of 80

• Parton was born 30 miles from college campus

The Tennessee Volunteers will be honoring Dolly Parton with a helmet sticker this season, the college football team’s head coach, Josh Heupel, announced on Monday.

Parton, a Tennessee native, died last week at the age of 80 from cancer.

The Argentinian’s international career was singular, and his exit is a reminder that all good things come to an end

It was among the defining moments of the 2026 World Cup: Lionel Messi standing arms akimbo, looking up towards Argentina’s fervent supporters after losing the final. Tears streamed down his face after his team’s embarrassing loss to Spain in what we now know was Messi’s final match wearing that famous Argentina kit.

It was not the first time he’d cried at the tournament. There had been tears of joy in Argentina’s opening match, when Messi rolled back the clock to his glory days with a trio of spectacular goals against Algeria. There had been more when his brace against Austria pushed Argentina through to the knockout round as group winners, and even more when his equalizer against Egypt threw la Albiceleste a much-needed lifeline. Later, the world found out that Messi had been struggling all the while with the health struggles of his father, Jorge, a fact that clearly weighed heavily on him as Argentina made a dramatic return to the final in a bid to defend their 2022 title.

The FBI has charged Daejon Love after he allegedly pretended to be a 49ers receiver. Although football isn’t as glamorous as it looks, it easy to see the attraction

Is romance dead? Yeah, probably. There have never been more options for finding a mate – dating apps, Instagram DM slides, hanging out next to a gas station at 2am – but it’s also never been harder. Meeting someone who is compatible, stable, and even remotely attractive is akin to putting a square peg in a round hole. Blindfolded. From a mile away. Underwater. So, I can’t blame anyone for falling for an elaborate hoax like the one allegedly perpetrated by Daejon Love.

Love is now infamous around the world for allegedly posing as an NFL player in order to scam more than 20 women out of $1.3m. Now that Love and his alleged accomplice, Taylor Jamie Chen, have been charged by federal authorities, prosecutors are claiming they are a flight risk. They certainly seem like they have the money to flee the country. According to court documents, Love managed to fabricate an entire online persona as a San Francisco 49ers player – posting photos and videos in Niners gear, posing with expensive cars, and even performing football drills (badly) to bolster the alleged grift. Love allegedly used AI to trick search engine results to add credibility to his claims on football success with the 49ers. There’s even a video of Love running wide receiver routes on the beach. In a helmet. Do real NFL players carry their helmets in the car, just in case? You never know when you may risk a concussion while laying in the sand.

Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka began their title defences with comfortable victories on Arthur Ashe

Sabalenka eases through on her serve, advancing to the net to secure her first game of the tournament with a forehand volley. It’s 1-1 in the opening set against Osorio.

Sabalenka and Osorio are underway on Arthur Ashe, with the Colombian serving. She records two double-faults before Sabalenka seizes upon the second serve, whipping a blistering forehand to make it deuce. But the defending champion finds the net and the stratosphere, too, as Osorio holds to go 1-0 up.

• Kenin wins 6-2, 7-6 (6) in late-night contest

• Williams loses 15th straight tour-level match

• First-round clash finally begins at 12.13am

Sunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, her entrance pushed deep into the night after Novak Djokovic’s bruising defeat by Argentina’s Mariano Navone went the five-set distance. The first ball was struck at 12.13am, the latest start to a match in US Open history, yet several thousand spectators remained to watch a player who has been part of this tournament for as long as the building itself.

At 46 years old, ranked 611th in the world and making her record-extending 26th US Open singles appearance, Williams has grown accustomed to making history simply by showing up. Even by those standards this latest installment was, as she would later describe it, “completely insane”.

• Los Angeles were already Super Bowl favorites

• Defensive tackle was 10-time Pro Bowler with Rams

• 35-year-old aiming to win second Super Bowl in LA

Aaron Donald, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, is coming out of retirement to rejoin his only professional team, the Los Angeles Rams.

During a 10-season career with the Rams, who drafted him with the 13th overall pick in 2014, Donald was a three-time defensive player of the year and an eight-time first team All-Pro. He won a Super Bowl with the Rams at the end of the 2021 season before announcing his retirement in March 2024 at the age of 32.

• Messi nets four goals, adds assist in 7-1 Miami win

• Dejan Joveljić scores twice on Sounders debut

• Minnesota United score three times in four minutes

Inter Miami interim coach Guillermo Hoyos ran out of superlatives for Lionel Messi after the ⁠Argentine playmaker scored four goals in a Major League Soccer match for the first time in his career to ⁠inspire a 7-1 thrashing ⁠of CF ​Montreal on Saturday.

Messi’s four-goal haul and an assist came at a crucial time for Miami, helping them snap a ⁠five-game winless run across all competitions.

Jessica Pegula, the American third seed, began her campaign at Flushing Meadows with a straight-sets win

Krejcikova gets in a muddle after squandering a 40-0 lead on serve. Deuce. She fights back though. Wins the game with a lovely serve down the T. All square at 2-2.

Paolini delivers a dominant effort on serve to change ends at 3-2 up.

• Junior taken to hospital after first-quarter emergency

• Division II season opener suspended and later canceled

• School plans vigil for Barnett and his family

William Jewell College running back MicahJo Barnett had a medical emergency on the sideline during ⁠the school’s season opener on Saturday. and the school later announced his death.

Barnett, a junior, ⁠reportedly experienced seizure-like ⁠symptoms during ​the first quarter of the Division II contest against Fort Lewis College. The game was played ⁠on William Jewell’s campus in Liberty, Missouri, about 20 miles northeast of Kansas City.

• Serb hopes to take advantage of wide-open men’s draw

• Elena Rybakina has eyes on No 1 world ranking

Novak Djokovic said he was as prepared as he could be for the US Open as he attempts to take advantage of the wide-open men’s draw and battle for a potential 25th grand slam title.

Djokovic arrived in New York having competed only once after his semi-final run at Wimbledon, losing in his opening match of the Cincinnati Open to Thiago Agustín Tirante while struggling with the humidity. However, he now sees the silver lining in that defeat, which he believes gave him the time to make sure he was in optimal shape for the US Open. “I don’t like early losses anywhere, to be honest, but it gave me time to be prepared for US Open in a most adequate way,” he said. “I had almost a few weeks, actually two weeks, to really train and get my body and mind into the right state, prepared for what’s coming up.

Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels upset the TCU Horned Frogs in a low-scoring affair at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Saturday in the first major college football game of the 2026 season

• College football is booming, chaotic and more confusing than ever

In a 1931 exhibition, Jackie Mitchell silenced the greats back-to-back. It sparked still-ongoing debates over legitimacy and opportunities for women in baseball

The Sultan of Swat sounded exasperated. “I don’t know what things are coming to,” Babe Ruth sighed during spring training in 1931.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen if they begin to let women in baseball,” he elaborated to reporters. “Of course, they will never make good. Why? Because they are too delicate. It would kill them to play ball everyday.”

• Aroma wafts over courts from nearby Corona Park

• Katie Boulter: ‘You smell it a lot. I’m not a huge fan’

Britain’s US Open hopefuls thought they had put the grass behind them when Wimbledon finished, but the smell of it is all around Flushing Meadows and they are not happy about it.

Marijuana is legal for adults in New York and while smoking is not allowed on site, the aroma of weed wafts over some outside courts from the nearby Corona Park.

• Authorities say 26 women targeted across four states

• Suspect allegedly used dating apps, fake investments

• FBI believes there may be ‘many more victims’

Federal authorities claim a man posed as a San Francisco 49ers player and scammed more than ⁠two dozen women out of about $1.3m.

The FBI arrested Daejon Love, 35, and his alleged accomplice ⁠Taylor Jamie Chan, 18, on ⁠24 August in Boise, Idaho. They were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, according ⁠to the US attorney’s office in the District of Oregon. The men remain in federal custody in Boise.

• Report: player posed as nearly two years younger

• Scheme allegedly included fake grave and records

• $2.8m agreement with Guardians was canceled

A once-prized prospect from the Dominican Republic has been suspended by Major League Baseball after a league investigation revealed the player was part of an elaborate plot to portray him ⁠as nearly two years younger than he actually was, ESPN reported Friday.

The age-fraud plot included extreme efforts by the player’s handler such as falsifying school and medical records, faking birth and death certificates ⁠and even staging a gravesite, per ⁠the report.

• Man claims he was coached extensively by authorities

• Pennsylvania says recantation is ‘highly suspect’

• Sandusky serving sentence after 2012 conviction

A judge has granted a hearing to explore claims that a man wants to recant allegations of sexual abuse years ago by Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Sandusky, 82, has been serving a decades-long prison sentence since he was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse in 2012. Eight young men testified about what happened to them as boys. He has repeatedly lost efforts to get a new trial, but Sandusky’s lawyers are trying again.

Defending champion arrives at Flushing Meadows in poor form and with a host of challengers looking to usurp her

Under any normal circumstances Aryna Sabalenka would not have lost her third-round match at the Cincinnati Open last week. For all of her unforced errors, indecisiveness and the obvious tension surrounding her tennis, the world No 1 had led the unheralded Sára Bejlek 5-1 in the first set tie-break and then 4-1 in set two. She gave herself more than enough chances to close out a comfortable win.

Instead Sabalenka returns to New York trying to find a path through her greatest crisis since she first reached No 1 in the rankings more than three years ago. That straight-sets loss in Cincinnati extended a mediocre 17-7 record dating back to the beginning of April during which she has not reached a final. She has just one more chance to turn her fortunes around as she tries to claim her first grand slam title of the year at the US Open, the tournament she has won on the last two occasions.

The Gotham striker said she was stepping away from the sport, but then signed for Al Qadsiah. The move sparked questions over professionalism and raised concerns of LGBTQ+ fans who have disavowed the Saudi league

A recent World Cup winner joins a historically downtrodden club, immediately leads them to their first championship, praises the level of play in the league, speaks fondly of living in the club’s market, extends her contract with the club, leads the club to another championship, is named a league MVP finalist, and breaks the club’s all-time scoring record. That’s the fairytale of Esther González and Gotham FC – a story that ended abruptly, just nine days after that scoring record was set. On 27 July, Gotham announced that they had mutually parted ways with the striker as she “temporarily steps away from soccer to attend to personal matters in Spain”. The announcement of her departure was full of gushing words going both directions, and was met with understanding and support from the women’s soccer world.

But less than a month after González left Gotham, Al Qadsiah, a club in the Saudi Women’s Premier League, announced her as their newest signing, on a one-season contract with an option to extend for a second. NWSL journalist Jenna Tonelli soon reported, “League sources tell me that Gotham did not expect Esther to sign with another club this soon.” Questions swirled: did she actually intend to take a break from soccer when she left Gotham? And why would a player who just had a child with her female partner choose to play in Saudi Arabia, a country where same-sex relations are criminalized?

The site once paired news and scores with distinctive voices. Its overhaul under Sinclair Media is the latest sign that serious tennis writing in the US is becoming endangered

A few weeks ago, as I often do, I went to the Tennis.com site to get an update about a match and to check out the commentary from my fellow tennis journalists. I was taken aback when, instead of the usual colorful graphics and info, I was greeted with a rudimentary-looking homepage that displayed only scores and rankings.

At first I thought it was a glitch of some sort. But sadly, no. As it turns out, Tennis.com, originally the online site of Tennis Magazine, is under a complete overhaul and will no longer be the home of esteemed writers such as Steve Tignor and Pete Bodo, robbing fans of unique and personal takes on the sport. It appears the longest running American tennis-specific publication is no longer alive in any form.

America’s second biggest sporting obsession returns this weekend, which means marching bands, 100,000-seat stadiums, ancient rivalries and, increasingly, the operating model of a sport being invented in real time

Is college football healthy? It’s a seductive question, one that now comes up every year around this time. Actually, it never recedes, so it’s just with the sport all the time. It’s also the wrong question, because whoever answers it is free to choose their own adventure. The television ratings are way up there in the galaxy. Money rains down on dozens of programs and thousands of players. Marching bands continue to march. Yet a lot of teams are stranded by realignment or an economic inability to keep up in a transfer arms race. Their fans – actually any team’s fans – may be exhausted by escalating asks for their dollars.

If you have been checked out of the sport for a while ahead of this weekend’s first set of games, you may feel like your body has been frozen for a few decades. Indiana, (yes, really) are the defending national champs, fresh off a 16-0 season that puts them on the list of the handful of best teams ever. Texas Tech, once likened to Siberia by a former coach who is now a US senator, are the fiercest program in the Big 12. Ole Miss are good for the first time since integration. At least Ohio State and Georgia are still powerhouses.

• Dos Santos and Russell smash hurdles world records

• Werro comes within 0.42sec of 800m world record

• Bednarek and Wanyonyi clock world-leading times

Masai Russell and Alison Dos Santos each set a world record while Mondo Duplantis won a historic pole vault on a frenetic Thursday night in Zurich.

The Letzigrund Stadium had a raucous sell-out 25,000 crowd and the still, balmy weather conditions helped the athletes no end.

• MLS club mired in five-match winless run

• González to replace interim coach Guillermo Hoyos

Inter Miami have hired former Argentina international Cristian “Kily” González as the club’s new head coach, according to two sources familiar with negotiations. César Luis Merlo was first to report the news.

The hiring will spell the end of interim manager Guillermo Hoyos’ time in charge of the South Florida club. In fact, he may have already coached his last game; MLS announced on Thursday that Hoyos had been suspended for one game for the club’s “repeated violations” of the late kickoff policy. (Inter Miami have become known throughout the league for delaying their return from half-time.)

• Golf giant ends partnership with YouTube group

• Retailers have pulled Good Good products from shelves

• Garrett Clark says controversial skit was in ‘poor taste’

Callaway has ended its relationship with Good Good Golf amid mounting fallout from an advert that many believe made light of violence against women.

The golf equipment manufacturer announced the decision on Thursday, cutting ties with one of the world’s most popular YouTube sports channels effective immediately. Callaway also said it would donate $1m to organizations working to prevent violence against women and support survivors of domestic violence.

One wonders when, if ever, a US broadcast can win the same plaudits presenting the English league with a more American voice

There they were again, signaling with their unchanging faces and voices and their unchanging studio backdrop that another Premier League season had begun. On Friday afternoon, and again on Saturday and Sunday morning, Rebecca Lowe welcomed American viewers to what is somehow already the 14th season of the world’s most popular sporting circuit to air on NBC.

She was flanked, as ever, by her merry band of pundits, her gang of fellow British expats. The Robbies and the other ones. Also, Tim Howard as the token American, albeit one who spent 13 seasons of his goalkeeping career in the Premier League, deemed sufficiently English by osmosis to join the crew.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University.

American talks life on the professional circuit and those making sacrifices for a pay cheque, often compromising physical and mental welfare

For Mackenzie McDonald the players’ push for greater prize money and welfare contributions from the grand slam tournaments could result in the difference between putting food on the table and making a decent living.

After 10 years on the ATP Tour the 31-year-old American is not pleading poverty, but knows that life on the professional circuit can be a hand-to-mouth existence, with players’ physical and mental welfare often compromised due to their desperation to get back on court.

Plane was headed for airport in Seldovia from Anchorage, and was submerged in water after the crash

A small plane carrying four people crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, killing everyone onboard, according to officials.

The Piper PA-24 was headed for the airport in the small town of Seldovia after taking off from Anchorage, according to a statement from the Alaska department of public safety. Seldovia’s airport is about 136 miles (219km) south-west of Anchorage.

The race was at its peak when American riders were regularly challenging for titles. Its return could help prompt a revival

After a decade-long absence, the beloved Philadelphia International Cycling Classic is set to return this weekend, with some of the world’s best bike-racing teams taking to the famous circuit around the city’s leafy Art Museum, Manayunk, and Roxborough areas on Sunday.

The race is one of just a handful of events on American soil sanctioned by UCI, cycling’s international governing body, and will feature squads such as EF Education EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, Lotto-Intermarché, and Jayco AlUla in the men’s race, and powerhouses CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto and Human Powered Health in the women’s event. It is classified as a 1.1 race, meaning it’s two levels below the top-flight WorldTour, whose races include the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Philadelphia Cycling Classic will be livestreamed on Channel 6 ABC, with the women’s race kicking off at 8.30am Eastern. The men will follow at 12.30pm. Of course, you could always trek to Philly and become part of the party yourself. I highly recommend snagging a spot somewhere along The Wall.