Late next week, the WNBA will send out ballots for its end-of-season awards. Sixty-eight media members will have eight days to submit selections for 10 different awards, including Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and first- and second-team All-WNBA. What I’m about to say will never happen, and I’m equally aware it would…

NEW YORK — There are some nights when Frances Tiafoe turns Arthur Ashe Stadium into a rocking house party.  His house. His music thumping from the loudspeakers. Nearly 24,000 friends, cousins, kings, queens, stars of the silver screen and hardwood, and of course an all-time tennis great or half a dozen. All of them bounce…

When Tom Brady took his gap season between his final NFL game in early 2023 and his debut as Fox Sports’ $375 million analyst this Sunday, he studied NFL broadcasts like he was trying to figure out a defense as a quarterback. Known for his meticulousness, Brady would not only study fellow lead analysts, such…

What would inspire you to sell up your old life and move thousands of miles away to a small country you’d only previously spent two weeks in? For Maikeli Lomu, it was a Facebook post. He was taking a break from working on his laptop when he spotted the advert. It was an appeal from…

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Lamar Jackson has little interest in talking about other quarterbacks, both past and present. He sidesteps the questions like he does with blitzing linebackers bursting through the A gap. Since he entered the NFL, reporters have tried to cajole Jackson to talk in-depth about his contemporaries, to reveal his admiration for…

Teresa Weatherspoon couldn’t watch “The Shot” for years. It’s still not the easiest topic for her to discuss. Weatherspoon is the head coach of the Chicago Sky, but 25 years ago she was a guard for the New York Liberty and facing the Houston Comets in the 1999 WNBA Finals. Houston led 67-65 with 2.4…

Erling Haaland is frequently portrayed as a lethal Scandinavian footballing machine whose sole purpose is to compute the most effective way to score goals. It is a tempting way to describe a 6ft 4in (194cm) Norwegian whose goalscoring records are on another level — it’s now 97 goals in 102 appearances for Manchester City if…

By going chalk, United States captain Jim Furyk has created intrigue ahead of this month’s Presidents Cup. Furyk selected Nos. 7-12 on the team standings for his six captain’s picks, announced on Tuesday. The move means Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley will be playing for Team USA for the first time in a decade, but…

Fans in a number of major-league cities want change. Ownership changes in many cases, yes. But front-office changes, at the very least. And in many cases, those changes seem unlikely. “I’m a huge believer in stability and continuity, and those are competitive advantages in professional sports, that reacting and change don’t necessarily mean improvement,” Toronto…

SAO PAULO — Thiago Souza emerges from the barricades a man making history. A single-file line spirals the Ibirapuera mall and spills onto the street. Hundreds watch as the man they call “Curitiba,” the guy with the giant backpack, glasses and Green Bay gear — Jordan Love jersey, Packers hoodie and hat — unsheathes his credit…