Browsing: Carlos

Jannik Sinner claimed a commanding victory over rival Carlos Alcaraz to win the lucrative Six Kings Slam in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Sinner, replaced as world number one by Alcaraz following the US Open in September, exacted revenge for his defeat in the New York final with a 6-2 6-4 win.

With his victory, the Italian, 24, earned a reported $6m (£4.5m) – including $4.5m (£3.4m) in prize money, in addition to a $1.5m (£1.1m) participation fee.

While the pair split the four Grand Slam titles between them this season, Sinner was dominant from the outset against Alcaraz, who said his opponent was “just too good” on Saturday.

Sinner broke Alcaraz’s serve in the opening game and swiftly wrapped up the first set, with the Spaniard unable to gain a foothold against his opponent’s clinical serving.

He would go on to win the exhibition event for the second consecutive year after making the decisive breakthrough in the seventh game of the second set.

“I wish I could play like this everywhere,” Sinner said in his on-court interview.

“This season we played many, many times and I also lost many times to Carlos. It is a huge pleasure and honour to share the court with him.

“At the same time, you want to get better as a player and you need rivalries in the sport. So it’s nice to have a great rivalry and more importantly a great friendship off the court.

“We have a very special friendship and it’s very nice.”

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Oct 16, 2025, 12:27 PM ET

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge won’t need surgery on his elbow, but left-hander Carlos Rodon underwent an operation this week and could miss Opening Day.

Judge’s throwing was limited after he hurt the flexor tendon in his right elbow in July. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Thursday that an MRI after the team was eliminated last week showed “no surgery is going to be needed.”

“He’ll take some time off and continue to do strengthening things and rehab and stuff,” Boone said. “But it felt like he finished the season in a pretty good place, as we saw continued improvements with him.”

Judge, 33, led the majors in batting average (.331), OPS (1.144) and WAR (9.7) while finishing with 53 home runs and 114 RBIs. He hit .500 with 1 homer, 7 RBIs and 4 walks in the postseason.

Boone said he expects Judge to be New York’s every-day right fielder in 2026 and downplayed the idea that the two-time American League MVP could see some playing time at first base.

Judge hurt the elbow making a throw at Toronto on July 22. The seven-time All-Star returned Aug. 5 from a 10-day stint on the injured list and threw gingerly upon his outfield return Sept. 5. He built up arm strength and made a 90.2 mph throw from right field in the AL Division Series opener.

Rodón was operated on by Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Wednesday to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave a bone spur. He has eight weeks of no throwing, and the start of his season could be delayed by a couple of weeks, Boone said.

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Rodón, who will turn 33 in December, was 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA.

Boone also said slugger Giancarlo Stanton does not need surgery on his elbows.

“He’s in a pretty good place,” Boone said. “He’ll treat it and everything, but nothing expected for Big G.”

Gerrit Cole, returning from Tommy John surgery in March, will throw lightly off a mound next week and could be available not far after Opening Day.

New York has a record 27 World Series titles but none since 2009. After beating the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series, the Yankees lost a four-game ALDS to the Blue Jays.

“It’s just playing at the highest level at the most important time, and you’ve got to maintain that and do that for the entire month of October,” said Boone, the manager since the 2018 season.

After losing to the Dodgers in the 2024 World Series, New York started the season 35-20, slumped during a 25-34 stretch as its bullpen struggled, then closed 34-14 and lost the AL East to Toronto on a tiebreaker.

“Could I have been more creative in some of the things that I could have done in those games in the middle of the season where we were a little short?” Boone asked out loud.

Boone’s contract runs through 2027.

“He’s one of the better managers,” GM Brian Cashman said. “Because of our environment, he’s someone that can be second-guessed 10 million times over.

“And I don’t care who you put in that, that would be the same, whoever else would be there. I trust him. I think he’s a good man. I think he works his tail off.”

Among potential free agents, Cashman said the Yankees would like to retain Cody Bellinger.

“We’d love to have him with our team moving forward,” he said.

Bullpen coach Mike Harkey and first base/infield coach Travis Chapman won’t return for 2026. Assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler won’t be in that role, and minor league hitting coordinator Jake Hirst will be taking that job.

Cashman added that third-base coach Luis Rojas was given permission to interview for Baltimore’s manager opening and that hitting coach James Rowson was allowed to interview for Minnesota’s manager job.

ESPN’s Jorge Castillo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK — Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón underwent a procedure on his left elbow to remove loose bodies and shave down a bone spur, manager Aaron Boone said Thursday.

Rodón is not expected to be ready for Opening Day 2026, but his recovery timetable puts him in line to return to the Yankees rotation either sometime in April or early May next season.

For now, Rodón will not throw for eight weeks. That period of no activity, which will last until mid-December, will push back the start of Rodón’s 2026 season.

“When you build in all the ramp-up and the throwing program and getting him ready to be a starting pitcher, that probably delays him potentially a couple of weeks to start the season,” Boone said at Thursday’s news conference at Yankee Stadium.

Rodón had the surgery on Wednesday. It was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, who also performed Yankees ace Gerrit Cole’s Tommy John surgery in March.

The 32-year-old Rodón is coming off his best season as a Yankee, having gone 18-9 — tied for second-most wins in the Majors — with a 3.09 ERA in 33 starts. He struck out 203 batters in 195 1/3 innings, and held opponents to a .188 batting average, which was the best mark in the AL. He was also named an All-Star for the third time in his 11-year MLB career.

Because Rodón will be starting the 2026 season on the injured list, the Yankees could look to pursue additional starting pitching in free agency or via trade this winter. But general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday that he’s not sure yet what the team’s course of action will be.

“Certainly the last two years have been really good for us with Carlos,” Cashman said. “But I don’t know what that means [as far as] where we put our remaining resources, and how we reinforce. Do we have enough from within, or do we have to go outside to augment? You can never have enough pitching, so I don’t know. But clearly the good thing is: He’s coming back, so we have to make sure there’s room on that roster when he does.”

The 2025 season was Rodón’s third since signing a six-year, $162 million deal with New York. The lefty was strong for the Yankees down the stretch, allowing two earned runs or fewer in four of his five September starts to help New York clinch an AL Wild Card spot.

Rodón made two starts in the postseason — one each in the AL Wild Card Series vs. the Red Sox and the ALDS against the Blue Jays — and pitched to a 9.72 ERA in 8 1/3 innings.

The Yankees were aware that Rodón’s elbow might eventually need a cleanup. But Rodón was able to keep pitching through the season, and doctors deemed it suitable to wait to address the issue at least until after the postseason.

“We knew at some point it might be something that would have to be dealt with,” Cashman said. “If this presser was three weeks ago, I wouldn’t have had a surgery on my mind for Carlos Rodón, taking him out at the beginning of next year. But it’s also not surprising, given the job that he does.”

In other Yankees pitcher injury news, the Bombers’ ace continues to make progress in his Tommy John surgery recovery.

Cole’s on track to start facing live hitters from the mound at some point during Spring Training, and while he won’t be ready by Opening Day, the Yankees are hopeful that Cole will be pitching for them in 2026 not long after.

Cole, who has been rehabbing from the surgery he had on his right elbow in March, is scheduled to throw lightly off a mound next week. He will meet with Dr. ElAttrache in California next month and again before Spring Training.

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World number one Carlos Alcaraz says players are misunderstood when they want to play in exhibition tournaments alongside the demanding tennis calendar.

Alcaraz, 22, was among those critical of the workload in Asia, where some players struggled physically, with the Spaniard saying he would consider skipping mandatory events to prioritise his health.

He is top seed at this week’s lucrative Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, a six-man tournament from 15 to 18 October that also includes Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

There is a reported $4.5m (£3.4m) in prize money on offer at the exhibition, with some players also likely to have been paid seven-figure sums to appear.

Reports say the winner could take home up to $6m (£4.5m).

But Alcaraz feels that shorter-format events such as the Six Kings Slam are less gruelling than tour competitions, and therefore make fewer demands on the players.

He said: “A lot of players are talking about the calendar, how tight it is with a lot of tournaments, tournaments of two weeks, and then making excuses with exhibitions.

“It’s a different format, different situation playing exhibitions than the official tournaments, 15, 16 days in row, having such a high focus and demanding physically.

“We’re just having fun for one or two days and playing some tennis, and that’s great, and why we choose the exhibitions.

“I understand [the criticism], but sometimes people don’t understand us, our opinions. It’s not really demanding mentally [compared with] when we’re having such long events like two weeks or two and a half weeks.”

Alcaraz won his eighth title of the season in Tokyo last month despite an ankle injury sustained in his opening match that prompted him to pull out of the Shanghai Masters.

He will play in Saudi Arabia despite the injury not being fully healed. “Everything’s OK,” said Alcaraz. “I’ve been recovering the ankle as much as I can.

“I don’t feel 100% – the doubts are there when I’m moving on court, but it improved a lot and I’m going to compete and perform well in the Six Kings Slam.”

Alcaraz has a bye to the semi-finals of the event, which will be broadcast on Netflix, where he will face either Fritz or Zverev on Thursday.

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Exhibitions are meant to promote the sport and take it to new audiences. Organisers want the best players in the world to feature because they will sell more tickets.

Roger Federer played Rafael Nadal in Cape Town in 2020 in front of 51,954 fans – a reported record, external for a tennis crowd at the time, albeit not an official match.

Alcaraz – a gifted, highly entertaining shot-maker – plays a lot of exhibitions.

He faced Americans Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe in New York and North Carolina respectively at the start of the year

Alcaraz and Tiafoe also took part in an event in Puerto Rico, and are scheduled to play alongside Emma Raducanu and Amanda Anisimova in New Jersey in December.

The Spaniard has also been vocal about the strain of the increasingly packed calendar, saying in 2024 they are “going to kill us in some way”.

When asked last year about playing so many exhibitions, Alcaraz said: “I have seen that many people talk about my calendar because I have put many exhibitions [in].

“But you have to separate the calendar and the exhibitions – they are different things.”

Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero believes, external the style of play at exhibitions – which tend to be about entertainment, rather than winning – helps his charge relax.

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Bates was on tour between 1980 and 1996. He rarely played on a slow court.

“In that period of time, there were two completely separate tours,” he explained.

“You had all the players who played on the clay, and then you had everyone else who played on the fast courts and the only time you would see the clay court players would be at the French [Open] and the only time we would see them would be at Wimbledon and the other Slams.

“All the indoor courts we played on were super slick. It was a question of how quick you could get to the net.”

“Most of the top 20 were serve-volleying. Some were playing from the back of the court. That’s what actually made it interesting to watch because you had two completely contrasting game styles, and now you are in a situation where the vast majority of players you watch just cancel each other out.”

Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams, says the move to slow down the courts “killed a generation of serve and volley players”.

“But I think it is better for the game because otherwise you would have too many aces and serve winners, which I think is very boring,” he said.

“If you think about it, tennis is very slow. Ace is one second of play, and 30 seconds of wait on tour, which is crazy when you think about it – especially in today’s world when consumers don’t wait that much, and when there is no action you lose them.

And what if the Cincinnati tournament tried to increase their court speed still further?

“We would hear it, we would definitely hear it from the players,” Moran continued.

“I think we were a little bit faster than normal last year. Players were telling us we were wicked fast last year – almost like ice. I don’t know if we could get much faster than we were last year.”

“In my mind great points, point construction, rallies – I think that’s what the fans are looking for.”

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Carlos Rodónunderstood his assignment and the stakes. What he needed to give the Yankees in a must-win Game 3 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays was what two of his teammates couldn’t deliver in Games 1 and 2 over the weekend — quality length as a starting pitcher.

But fans’ long-standing fears about Rodón’s reliability in October were once again realized on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, since he too didn’t meet the job’s demands. While the Yankees miraculously staved off elimination with a thrilling 9-6 comeback victory, Rodón was responsible for the neccesity of a huge rally, as he gave up six runs and failed to complete three innings.

“All year since we’ve played them, the miss is just not really there,” Rodón said after the win. “Just trying to force weak contact. They put some good swings. Obviously, I made some pitches that could’ve been way better. They force the issue. They make us play defense. Up and down the lineup, they have pretty good at-bats. The chase isn’t really there, and they just put the ball in play.”

The signs of trouble for Rodón appeared almost immediately. After allowing a one-out walk in the first inning, he left a soft changeup in the middle of the zone to the red-hot Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who clobbered it into the left field bullpen for a two-run blast. The superstar slugger became the first player in Blue Jays history to start the playoffs with a homer in each of the first three games.

Rodón worked around a leadoff infield single and a two-out hit-by-pitch in the second, but that inning turned out to be his easiest. The wheels fell off in the third, and his mess began with a leadoff double to Davis Schneider that was followed up by an intentional — and sensible — walk to Guerrero.

With one out, Rodón gave up a single to Dalton Varsho that brought Schneider home due to a botched Yankees relay. Then, sharp singles from Ernie Clement and Anthony Santander doubled the Blue Jays’ run total to six and extended their lead to five. Rodón’s eight-pitch bout with Santander was his last — he was pulled with one out at 67 pitches (44 strikes). He struck out only two.

For a third straight game, the Yankees didn’t see their starter record 10 outs. The combination of Luis Gil, Max Fried, and Rodón allowed 15 runs on 18 hits (four homers) for a ghastly ERA of 16.88. And by the time of Rodón’s exit, Yankees pitchers had given up a whopping 29 runs, the most allowed in any three-game stretch within a single postseason in franchise history (h/t Katie Sharp).

Of course, the Yankees were lucky that dormant bats finally woke up in the Bronx to not only bail out Rodón, but to also force a do-or-die Game 4 on Wednesday night. The bullpen deserves ample praise, too, as five relievers kept the relentless Blue Jays in check by providing 6.2 scoreless innings.

“They were incredible,” Rodón said of the bullpen. “They didn’t give up a run. They covered 21 outs and were really impressive. They shut them down and won us the same there too.”

By the numbers, Rodón’s efforts weren’t the worst among the Yankees’ three starters, but the timing of his clunker was disastrous. There was little reason — maybe even no reason — to believe the team was capable of summoning eight unanswered runs en route to stunning survival when the veteran left-hander walked off the mound.

Whether or not the Yankees overcome the series deficit to the Blue Jays and advance to the ALCS, the topic of Rodón’s struggles under the bright postseason lights is sticking around. The 32-year-old southpaw has a 9.72 ERA across 8.1 innings (two starts) this month.

Rodón seemed posed to put that narrative to bed, too. He produced the second 200-strikeout campaign of his career, while logging career-high marks in both innings (195.1) and starts (33). For extended stretches, he performed near ace level, living up to his high-price salary.

Luckily for Rodón, the postgame conversations weren’t centered on him this time. The massive weight of the season now rests on other shoulders.

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Amateur players will have the chance to win a million-dollar prize when they face tennis’ top professionals – including Carlos Alcaraz – in a single-point showdown before January’s Australian Open.

Organisers of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament announced the ‘Million Dollar One Point Slam’ on Tuesday, which will pit 10 amateur players against 22 professionals.

Headlined by Spain’s world number one Alcaraz, the winner of the event will take home one million Australian dollars (£490,360).

For context, players that reached the semi-finals of the men’s or women’s singles main draw in the 2025 Australian Open won A$1.1m (£539,500).

Players will play ‘rock, paper, scissors’ to determine who serves or receives.

Whoever wins the point also wins the match and progresses to the next round, with the final to be played on Rod Laver Arena.

It follows the US Open’s decision to stage a revamped, stand-alone mixed doubles tournament in August which encouraged top singles players to participate, with the winners receiving $1m (£736,880).

The Australian Open held its inaugural ‘One Point Slam’ event earlier this year, but the prize fund was considerably lower at A$60,000 (£29,400).

Australian professional Omar Jasika won the tournament, which pitted 16 amateurs – eight men and eight women – against 16 professionals.

The amateurs were aged between 15 and 72 in the inaugural edition.

A coin toss was used to determine who served rather than ‘rock, paper and scissors’, while the professionals were only allowed to serve once and the amateur players could serve twice – as is the norm in traditional tennis.

Eight amateurs will qualify through events in each state and territory for the 2026 tournament, while an extra two spots will be up for grabs during the opening week, which starts on Monday, 12 January.

“I can reveal today that world number one Carlos Alcaraz will headline the pro player line-up in the Million Dollar One Point Slam,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tilley said.

“Whether you’re an amateur or a pro, the ultimate winner will walk away with the prize. Entries will open soon at clubs across the country, and during opening week, finalists will compete for a chance to face the pros on Rod Laver Arena.”

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Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez is scheduled to undergo left knee surgery but is expected to be ready for spring training.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made the announcement during Monday’s end-of-season news conference following Boston’s playoffs ouster last week against the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card.

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Breslow said the surgery will repair the meniscus in Narvaez’s knee.

“There were a couple times during the course of the season where it flared up, one of them pretty obviously to where he missed a little bit of time,” Breslow told reporters, referencing an early-August stint in which Narvaez sat out due to the injury. “He deserves a ton of credit for his willingness to play through this, potentially even at a time when others would have maybe bowed out, because he felt that attached to trying to help the group.

“But this should be a pretty straightforward procedure, and [we] don’t anticipate any issues.”

Boston acquired Narvaez in a rare trade with the Yankees on Dec. 11, sending right-hander Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz to New York in return. The 26-year-old catcher turned into one of the team’s biggest surprises, hitting .241 with 15 home runs and 50 RBIs in 118 games.

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The Brazil side of the early 2000s was arguably the last truly great Selecao team.

The devastating full-back pairing of Cafu and Roberto Carlos was supplemented by an awe-inspiring frontline of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, and it was this side that won Brazil’s last World Cup title in 2002.

Only once since then have Brazil reached the semi-final stage of the World Cup, with the 2014 last-four thrashing on home soil by Germany an occasion that every Brazilian football fan would rather forget.

Former Aston Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel scored nine goals in 33 appearances for Colombia, but his strike in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat in 2003 remains something he will never forget.

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