Jannik Sinner: Quiet man of tennis basks in the limelight of Wimbledon glory

Italy’s Jannik Sinner celebrates with the trophy after winning the men’s final against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. (Reuters)
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Updated 13 July 2025
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Jannik Sinner: Quiet man of tennis basks in the limelight of Wimbledon glory

  • Jannik Sinner is the quiet man of tennis who has become a big noise, burnishing his legacy on Sunday by winning his first Wimbledon title

LONDON: Jannik Sinner is the quiet man of tennis who has become a big noise, burnishing his legacy on Sunday by winning his first Wimbledon title.

The Italian beat his fierce rival Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the latest instalment of their captivating rivalry to claim his fourth Grand Slam at the age of 23.

The pair are the new dominant forces in men’s tennis, sharing the past seven Grand Slams between them as the memory of the “Big Three” era fades.

While Alcaraz is the flashy showman of the game, adored by the fans for his high-risk, high-reward tennis, Sinner stays ice-cold on the court and mild-mannered off it.

His game is based on relentless power and accuracy from the baseline, resembling that of 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.

The Italian is getting used to life at the top, reaching his fourth successive major final at Wimbledon this year — a run that started with the US Open last season.

Sinner defended his Australian Open title in Melbourne in January but his career was put on hold after that as he served a three-month ban for twice testing positive for banned anabolic steroid clostebol last year.

Sinner has always maintained the product entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing it to treat a cut.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said “Sinner did not intend to cheat” but that he would serve his suspension as he is responsible for the actions of his entourage.

Sinner returned to the court in May, reaching the final of the Italian Open, where he was beaten by Alcaraz.

Next on his schedule was the French Open and again he reached the title match, this time suffering heartbreak as Alcaraz came back from two sets down, saving three match points to defend his title.

That gave the Spaniard an 8-4 lead in the rivalry between the pair and was his fifth straight win.

But the tables were turned on Sunday as Sinner showed impressive mental strength to come back after losing the first set.

Sinner was born in German-speaking San Candido, in northern Italy, near the border with Austria.

A career in professional tennis was not a given.

He was a champion skier as a youngster and still enjoys the sport in the off-season. He was also a keen footballer.

The right-hander, who stands six feet 3 inches (191 centimeters) tall, won his first title indoors in Sofia in 2020.

The 2024 season was his breakthrough year as he collected his first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, and followed up with seven other titles including the US Open.

He became world number one — and the first Italian to reach top spot — in June last year.

Sinner’s super-power is his extraordinary ability to stay calm on court.

“I know he’s just 23 years of age, but sometimes it feels like he’s much older and wiser than what we are,” said his coach Darren Cahill. “He’s an incredible young man.”

Sinner makes no secret of the fact that he loves the job he has chosen.

“I’m very lucky because tennis started off a hobby when I was young, and now it becomes my job,” he said.

“In my mind it’s still a hobby. I love to go on court and just play. There is no better place to do it than in big stadiums with packed crowd.”


Kitayama captures PGA 3M Open title with big birdie weekend

Updated 7 sec ago
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Kitayama captures PGA 3M Open title with big birdie weekend

  • The 32-year-old American fired a six-under-par 65 to finish 72 holes on 23-under-par 261 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota
  • He sank 20 birdies in the final two rounds — the most by any PGA Tour winner since 2003

CHICAGO: Kurt Kitayama birdied six of the first eight holes then hung on down the stretch to win the 3M Open on Sunday for his second career US PGA Tour title.
With his older brother Daniel serving as his caddie, the 32-year-old American fired a six-under-par 65 to finish 72 holes on 23-under-par 261 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.
That was good enough for a one-stroke victory over countryman Sam Stevens, who had five back-nine birdies to keep the pressure on Kitayama to the finish.
“I feel like the game has been trending and for it to finally pay off now has been awesome,” said Kitayama, who was one off the 72-hole tournament record set by Lee Hodges in 2023.
Kitayama, who fired a career-low 60 on Saturday after fighting to make the cut on Friday, sank 20 birdies in the final two rounds — the most by any PGA Tour winner since 2003.
“On Friday I was like finding my swing and grinding to make the cut,” Kitayama said. “Went to the range to find something and obviously found something on Saturday and it continued today with that unbelievable start that I had. Just kind of went from there.”

Kurt Kitayama hits from the first fairway during the final round of the 3M Open golf tournament at the Tournament Players Club on uly 27, 2025, in Blaine, Minnessota. (AP)

Kitayama also won in 2023 at Bay Hill but this time was even better with his brother as bagman.
“It’s very special. It has been awesome having him on the bag,” Kitayama said.
Kitayama jumped from 110th to 53rd in the season points chase ahead of next week’s regular-season finale at Greensboro, ensuring his spot among the top 70 in points who advance to next month’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Kitayama’s stunning start put him on 23-under with a three-stroke lead at the turn.
He birdied first on a putt from just inside six feet, the second on a tap-in after his approach landed inches from the hole and the third on a 22-foot putt.
A tap-in birdie at the fifth, a 10-footer for birdie at six and a four-foot birdie putt completed the early surge.
Kitayama found the deep left rough at 11 and made bogey, but answered with a six-foot birdie putt on 12 and restored his three-shot lead with a tap-in birdie at 14 after dropping his approach two feet from the hole.
Stevens reeled off three birdies in a row to reach 22-under with a birdie putt from just inside five feet at the 16th and Kitayama’s three-putt bogey at the par-three 17th sent the drama to the par-five 18th.
Stevens found the rough on his first three shots but salvaged par to stay one back.
 


Leylah Fernandez beats Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 to win the DC Open for her biggest title

Updated 29 min 22 sec ago
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Leylah Fernandez beats Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 to win the DC Open for her biggest title

  • The 22-year-old from Canada, who is ranked 36th, earned her fourth singles trophy and first at a WTA 500 event
  • She came quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 US Open, losing to Emma Raducanu in the final
  • There almost was a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semifinals Saturday

WASHINGTON: Leylah Fernandez collected the biggest title of her career at the D.C. Open with her most lopsided victory of the tournament, defeating Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2 in the final on Sunday.
The left-handed Fernandez, a 22-year-old from Canada who is ranked 36th, earned her fourth singles trophy — all have come at hard-court tournaments — and first at a WTA 500 event. She came quite close to a Grand Slam championship as a teenager at the 2021 US Open, making it all the way to the final in New York before losing to Emma Raducanu.
There almost was a rematch in Washington, but Kalinskaya eliminated Raducanu in the semifinals Saturday.
Until Sunday, the 48th-ranked Kalinskaya had not dropped a set all week.
However, she wasn’t able to keep up with Fernandez, who saved the only break point she faced while taking four of Kalinskaya’s service games in a match that lasted 1 hour, 10 minutes. One key: Fernandez claimed 10 of the 12 points in the match when Kalinskaya hit a second serve.

Leylah Fernandez of Canada returns a shot during a women's singles championship match against Anna Kalinskaya on July 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)

Another: Kalinskaya finished with 24 unforced errors and just nine winners.
This was the first title for Fernandez since October 2023 at the Hong Kong Open.
She dedicated this victory to her mother, her older sister and her fitness trainer.
“Thank you so much for never giving up on me — and don’t give up on yourselves,” Fernandez said. “This trophy is for you guys.”
She arrived in Washington with a losing record this season and hadn’t won more than two matches at the same tournament since last November.
With a mix of baseline excellence and strong net play, Fernandez eliminated top-seeded Jessica Pegula — the US Open runner-up last year — and No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina — the Wimbledon champion in 2022 — on the way to the final.
The win against Rybakina in Saturday’s semifinals took three tiebreakers and more than three hours to decide.
“Amazing fight this week,” Kalinskaya told Fernandez after the title match. “You truly deserve it.”
There was no such drama against Kalinskaya, a 26-year-old Russian who fell to 0-3 in tour-level finals. She lost to Jasmine Paolini in Dubai and to Pegula in Berlin last year.
The men’s final scheduled for later Sunday was No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur against No. 12 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who defeated No. 1 Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Ben Shelton in the semifinals.
 


Cassidy signs off in style with double win in London as Porsche clinches teams’ and manufacturers’ titles

Updated 27 July 2025
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Cassidy signs off in style with double win in London as Porsche clinches teams’ and manufacturers’ titles

  • The win marked his third in a row and Jaguar's fifth in six races

LONDON: Nick Cassidy capped off his final weekend with Jaguar TCS Racing in spectacular fashion, claiming victory in Round 16 at the London E-Prix.

The win marked his third in a row and Jaguar's fifth in six races, wrapping up an emotional send-off for both the New Zealander and team principal James Barclay.

Cassidy’s lights-to-flag triumph at a sold-out ExCeL London also secured him second place in the FIA Drivers’ World Championship.

Having scored just a single point in the opening six rounds of the season, his late surge underlined a remarkable turnaround.

“Honestly I love racing in this place,” said Cassidy.

“It’s not been that kind to me in the last few years, but this weekend it’s absolutely delivered. When this stadium is packed full of people it’s a pleasure to race here and it’s great for Formula E. Also, it’s my last race for the team, again I’ve had the best car today, and this one is 100 percent for them.

“When the tyres are working well, when the car’s perfect, everything becomes efficient. For sure it wasn’t easy at the start to keep the lead, but I think between Mitch (Evans) and myself we could manage that well. I’m gutted for him, to have had a one-two would have been perfect,” he added.

Cassidy finished 13.5 seconds clear of Mahindra Racing’s Nyck de Vries, the second-largest winning margin in Formula E history. Only Antonio Félix da Costa has previously won three consecutive races.

“It was certainly a very challenging race,” said de Vries.

“Obviously Nick didn’t want to get too down on energy versus everyone behind, so he was making sure he stayed on the same energy as us and that resulted in a little bit of a concertina effect behind us.

“I’m very pleased to bring home another podium and give P4 to our team, because they’ve done an incredible job. To consider that last year we qualified last on merit, and we’ve come back from such a long way – finishing fourth in the championship here this year is a great effort, so I’m very proud of everyone at Mahindra,” he added.

Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi completed the podium, charging through the field from 19th on the grid to third place, his second podium in three races after also finishing in the top three in Jakarta.

“In the end it was important to not get caught up in those incidents, I think I was lucky enough to make sure I was avoiding them well,” said Buemi.

“I saved quite a bit of energy at the beginning and that basically allowed me to take the ATTACK MODE properly. So in the end I’m very happy with that, it’s good for the Teams’ Championship, and it’s good when you have a bad qualifying like that to finish and score some good points.”

Jake Dennis of the Andretti Formula E Team crossed the line in fourth, while Jaguar’s Mitch Evans was classified fifth after receiving a five-second penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow conditions — a punishment that dropped him from the second place he had claimed on track.

Newly-crowned drivers’ world champion Oliver Rowland failed to finish after a collision with Nico Mueller on Lap 16 forced both out of the race. Despite the DNF, Rowland received a hero’s reception from the London crowd, having sealed his championship title earlier in Berlin.

With Rowland’s early exit, Nissan’s slim hopes of overtaking Porsche in the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ standings came to an end. Porsche, who had quietly gathered momentum throughout the season, clinched both the FIA Teams’ World Championship and the inaugural FIA Manufacturers’ title — their first in Formula E.

Jaguar TCS Racing also overtook Nissan to secure second place in both championship standings, closing out a high point in their final race under Barclay’s leadership after 127 starts in the all-electric series.

Elsewhere, it was a disappointing end to the campaign for NEOM McLaren. Both drivers — Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird — failed to finish the final race after separate incidents. The team concluded the season sixth in the Teams’ standings, with Barnard finishing fourth overall on 112 points and Bird eighteenth with 31 points.


England beat Spain on penalties in Women’s Euro 2025 final

Updated 27 July 2025
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England beat Spain on penalties in Women’s Euro 2025 final

  • Chloe Kelly scored the decisive kick

BASEL: England beat Spain 3-1 on penalties to win the Women’s Euro 2025 and retain their title after Sunday’s final had finished 1-1 at the end of extra time.
Chloe Kelly scored the decisive kick in a shoot-out which saw three Spain players, including reigning Ballon d’Or Aitana Bonmati, all fail to convert.
Mariona Caldentey had earlier headed Spain — who beat England 1-0 in the 2023 Women’s World Cup final — into the lead at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, but Alessia Russo equalized early in the second half.


Oscar Piastri wins Belgian Grand Prix, extends F1 championship lead

Updated 27 July 2025
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Oscar Piastri wins Belgian Grand Prix, extends F1 championship lead

  • 24-year-old Australian managed his tires expertly to remain out of reach in the closing laps

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS: Series leader Oscar Piastri grabbed an early lead and extended his title advantage on Sunday when he drove to a perfectly-controlled triumph ahead of McLaren team-mate and title rival Lando Norris at a rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Australian managed his tires expertly to remain out of reach in the closing laps as the Briton, 25, who had started on pole, closed in on a harder-wearing compound, finishing 3.415 seconds clear as McLaren reeled off their sixth 1-2 in a dominant season.

It was Piastri’s first win at the classic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, his sixth this season and the eighth of his career, extending his lead in the drivers’ championship to 16 points after 13 of this season’s 24 races. For McLaren, it was a 10th win this year.

Charles Leclerc came a solid third for Ferrari ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, under the race leadership of new team boss Laurent Mekies for the first time, and Mercedes George Russell.

Alex Albon clung on to finish sixth for Williams ahead of chasing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, who started from the pit lane, and Racing Bulls’ rookie Liam Lawson.

Gabriel Botoleto was ninth for Sauber ahead of Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

“That was lively,” said the cool Piastri, who swept past Norris on lap one.

“Very lively. I knew that lap one was probably my best chance of winning the race. I lifted a little as I went through Eau Rouge and then it was enough.

“The rest of the race we managed really well. Maybe the medium wasn’t the best in the last five-six laps, but we had it almost under control! I was disappointed after yesterday, but it turns out that starting second was not too bad.”

Norris conceded he couldn’t have won.

“Oscar just did a good job — there’s nothing much more to say. He was committed a bit more in Eau Rouge and that was it. Oscar deserved it today.”

Leclerc said: “Max was behind me all race within two seconds so it’s never easy. I knew the first part was the trickiest and I’m pretty happy we managed to keep that third place.”

The race began, after an 80-minute delay due to heavy rain, with the entire field on intermediates to run for four laps behind a safety car, clearing standing water.

Four drivers started from the pitlane — Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton — having made changes to their power units or set-up overnight. They began at the rear of the field ahead of the rolling start at the start of lap five.

As the lights went green, Norris powered away to lead through La Source, but he was unable to resist when Piastri sneaked out of his slipstream to take the lead going into Les Combes chicane.

“Why do I have no pack?” asked Norris, realizing he lacked electric power. “We used a lot on the safety car re-start,” McLaren responded.

On lap 12, Hamilton was the first in for medium slick tires, rejoining 18th, followed by Piastri, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell and more. Norris stayed out one lap longer for hards, hoping to profit if his rival’s rubber degraded in the closing laps. He was the only one.

By lap 15, everyone else had switched to mediums and it was Piastri on top ahead of Norris by 9.3 with Leclerc third leading Verstappen, Russell, Albon and... in flying form, Hamilton.

As Norris closed in, Piastri said his tires were already degrading. “I think it will be tough to get to the end,” he told race engineer Tom Stallard, raising the prospect of a dramatic finale.

On lap 26, Norris slid wide at Puhon, falling back to nine seconds adrift before remounting his charge. It was a process of marginal gains as Piastri managed his tires.

Norris was close but Piastri’s craft and calm prevailed.