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Oct 13, 2025, 03:29 PM ET

ELMONT, N.Y. — Jonathan Toews reached another milestone in his NHL comeback Monday, recording his first point in nearly 2½ years.

“I guess when you put it that way it’s nice to get the monkey off your back,” Toews said after he and the Winnipeg Jets beat the New York Islanders 5-2.

Toews helped set up Nino Niederreiter’s power-play goal in the Jets’ third game of the season and picked up a secondary assist. Toews last got on the scoresheet April 13, 2023, in his final game with the Chicago Blackhawks before stepping away from hockey because of health issues.

“Felt like I had a few chances to score, too,” Toews said. “Hopefully find a way to get that first goal here, too. I think ultimately you just concentrate on making plays, getting around the net, being more confident when the puck comes to you in those dangerous areas. It’s a numbers game. Just got to keep creating and find ways to find the back of the net.”

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Toews, 37, chose his hometown team to make his return after sitting out the past two seasons because of the effects of chronic immune response syndrome and long COVID-19. He said he’s feeling good physically while getting up to speed.

“Still finding my way a little bit,” Toews said. “It takes time to become second nature. And then you have to find your game. You’ve got to go out there and relax a little bit. The first couple games I felt like I was getting tired late in shifts, because you’re just overskating everything and overworking yourself. You’d rather be safe than sorry, and sometimes less is more.”

Toews captained the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup three times, in 2010, ’13 and ’15. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP during the franchise’s first championship run since 1961 and in 2016 was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league’s 100-year history.

“He’s worked hard to come back and feel good, and I think that’s the most important thing is he’s feeling good,” longtime Blackhawks teammate and current Detroit Red Wings winger Patrick Kane said last month. “I’m really happy that he’s back.”

Toews also helped Canada win two Olympic gold medals. Those tournaments and world championships are the only times he and Kane have faced off against each other since breaking in together with the Blackhawks in ’07.

Assuming they’re healthy, that is set to change on Dec. 31 when Winnipeg visits Detroit. Kane already asked coach Todd McLellan to put him out for the opening faceoff against the former teammate with whom he’ll forever be linked.

Asked before camp opened if he thought Toews — nicknamed “Captain Serious” for his low-key demeanor — has mellowed over the years, Kane shook his head.

“I don’t think so,” Kane said. “I’m sure he’s pissed off about something. Someone said something about him, or he’s always got to prove someone wrong. That’s a great thing about Johnny. He’s always out to prove something.”

Toews is proving he still has it, averaging over 17 minutes of ice time as the Jets’ second-line center. Coach Scott Arniel used Toews on the penalty kill against the Islanders after forward Cole Koepke was injured blocking a shot, but the staff is trying not to overplay him.

“He’s getting better every day,” Arniel said. “That’s what we talked about, him and I, that it wasn’t going to come in one fell swoop. Every day, he’s gotten better and better and I think he’s recognizing just how to kind of play the game with his hockey smarts.

“He does veteran things. He does elite things, whether it’s using his body or his stick or his positioning and you’re just seeing him getting more and more comfortable: getting comfortable with our team and how we play but also his linemates and different people, as well.”

The next task is a long shot bid to make Canada’s Olympic team one more time in NHL players’ return to the Games in Milan in February. He’d also like to help the Jets win the Cup for the first time, and his teammates love having Toews around.

“It’s the leadership he has, the things he’s done in this league, and there’s nothing that he hasn’t done,” Tanner Pearson said. “It goes a long way. [He] helps us along. He’s very vocal in the room, says the right things.”

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Gareth Taylor said his Liverpool team just need more time together to implement his style, after they lost a fifth game out of five to remain without a point in the Womenâ€s Super League this season.

Their latest defeat was inflicted by Taylorâ€s former side Manchester City, who – for the second season running – came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Anfield. Liverpool have a game in hand on the teams around them but sit joint-bottom of the table.

“Iâ€m disappointed for the group because they worked tremendously hard today and deserved more,†said Taylor, who was appointed in August.

“At this moment weâ€re not getting what we deserve, and itâ€s tough but itâ€s fine; I think itâ€s close to working, itâ€s close to coming. It takes time. There has been a lot of change but we [will] keep working in the same way.

“The results are tough at the moment because weâ€ve probably felt a little bit hard done by in a couple of games especially. But no one has consistently opened us up.

“We have changed a lot of things. We have been asked to come in and play a new way. Sometimes it takes time, and certainly with how late we came into the door [late in pre‑season], itâ€s been really tough. More time with the girls would be what every head coach wants, more time to implement your way and your style.â€

City created all of the first-half opportunities but were fairly wasteful in the final third. Kerstin Casparij did hit the target when the ball rolled to her after Khadija Shaw was tackled in the box, but her left-footed shot went straight at Rafaela Borggräfe – who produced a one-handed save to keep out an Aoba Fujino strike, after the winger had raced on to Vivianne Miedemaâ€s slick pass into the penalty area.

In contrast to their lack of adventure into the City area during almost the entire first half, Liverpool were more attack-minded at the start of the second and they went in front with an excellent team goal as Ceri Hollandâ€s right-wing cross found the back-post run of Cornelia Kapocs, who headed home in front of the Kop. Kapocs has scored both of Liverpoolâ€s league goals this season.

Liverpoolâ€s Cornelia Kapocs (centre) celebrates scoring against Manchester City. Photograph: George Wood/Getty Images

The hosts gifted the equaliser in unnecessary fashion through a mistake from Borggräfe; Shawâ€s header was bouncing comfortably wide of goal but the keeper still tried to save it, only diverting the ball into the path of Iman Beney, who gratefully tucked in the leveller.

Shaw did have a 79th-minute effort well saved, after shooting powerfully from the edge of the penalty area, as the City pressure began to intensify. It felt as though the winning goal was coming for the visitors, though, and it eventually did through Fujino. She was fed into space in the box and lashed in a clinical, low finish that had too much pace for Borggräfe.

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Liverpool thought they had snatched a stoppage-time equaliser when Gemma Bonner fired in on the rebound after Hollandâ€s free-kick had been spilled – Hollandâ€s effort was Liverpoolâ€s second at goal in the whole game – but Bonner was offside.

Andrée Jeglertz, Cityâ€s head coach, said: “We dominated the first half and created a couple of scoring chances but I missed a little bit of this desperation around the penalty area, [players saying] ‘Iâ€m going to be one that is going into the box, Iâ€m the one that really wants to scoreâ€, I missed that a little in the first half. Not until Liverpool scored. It was almost as if then we woke up and thought we need a little bit more, and thatâ€s why we turned the game around.â€

There was a worry for Liverpool earlier in the game, when Marie Höbinger limped off with an injury. The midfielder appeared to be in tears of pain as she was substituted after treatment on the pitch.

Jeglertz said: “Liverpool showed they are better than the position they have. They will definitely cause problems for other teams. They have good players and I think they showed in this game that they are very structured, organised and can make it difficult for us, so I am 100% sure they will soon climb the table.â€

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Allen Iverson, talking about his new memoir “Misunderstood” on ESPN’s “First Take,” discussed the lowest point of his life — and it didn’t involve anything that happened on a basketball court.

“It was self-inflicted,” Iverson told host Stephen A. Smith. “But it was when Tawanna divorced me.”

Allen Iverson has a new book, “Misunderstood,” that details the NBA superstar’s meteoric rise to success in the league, as well as his far-from-storybook childhood. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Tawanna Turner and Iverson married in 2001. Iverson’s superstardom coincided with their marriage, and just like Iverson’s career, it was up and down.

The two split in 2008, and the divorce was final in 2013. That coincided with the end of Iverson’s career — he officially retired in October 2013, saying he had no desire to play anymore.

“That’s when I knew I’d hit my lowest point and it was time for deep self-reevaluation,” he said. “When I’m sitting there in that courtroom, I used to watch Sixers vs. Sixers in a scrimmage, or Georgetown vs. Georgetown. Them tears started to hit the [divorce] papers when I looked down and see ‘Iverson vs. Iverson.'”

But Turner and Iverson are back together, Iverson confirmed, after their 2013 divorce.

Asked how he got Tawanna to come back, he said, “A lot of Keith Sweat. I had to beg a lot.”

As a part of that deep reevaluation of himself and rebuilding of his marriage, Iverson, 50, said he realized that alcohol was a big problem, and he was tired of fighting it. The divorce, his career’s end, all the baggage from his youth — it was all weighing on him.

“It’s a plethora of things. Ultimately, when you evaluate your maturation and what’s important and what you mean to your family and friends and the world, I just thought about the way I was supposed to be in life. And I didn’t see how [alcohol] was helping any,” he said. “All I could think about was negative experiences.”

Iverson said he realizes that a lot of young NBA players look up to him, and how he shaped this generation of players.

“I made of lot of them comfortable in their own skin and feel that they are able to express themselves,” he said. “I love everything that’s happening with our league and the betterment of the younger players. We will never be short of superstars.

“The game is in great hands.”

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Carlos Alcaraz and 21 other pros will enter the tournament alongside 10 amateurs. PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images

Carlos Alcaraz will headline a new “One Point Slam” at this year’s Australian Open, organisers announced on Tuesday, which will see 10 amateurs go head-to-head with 22 professionals.

A total of AUS$1 million ($700k) will be up for grabs for the overall winner — slightly less than semifinalists in the men’s and women’s main draw will receive.

The event, which will take place on the opening weekend of the season-opening slam, follows the U.S. Open’s attempt to bring new eyeballs to tennis by expanding its mixed doubles competition.

The “One Point Slam” will do exactly as it says: Each match will consist of a single point. A pre-match game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’ will decide who serves.

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“I can reveal today that World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz will headline the pro player line-up in the Million Dollar 1 Point Slam — a thrilling new initiative where one point could win you $1 million,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley 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.

“With more big names to be announced soon, you now have a million reasons to pick up a racquet and get ready for January.”

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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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Looking back someday, it may be hard to identify the exact moment when soccer altogether lost the silhouette that had loosely contained its shape for a century. When its governing bodies let go at last, handing the reins to the horses. When the last line holding against the sportâ€s self-immolating avarice collapsed and all were free to just do whatever they want. When crotchety pundits were finally right and the game was fully gone.

Or maybe weâ€ll know precisely when it was: 6 October 2025, when the Uefa executive committee declared in an extraordinary release that it was opposed to domestic league matches being played abroad – while allowing two of them “on an exceptional basis.†Barcelona and Villarreal will stage an ostensibly domestic La Liga game in Miami in December. Milan and Como are to play a Serie A match in Perth, Australia – a mere 20-hour flight from Italy – in February.

In their statement, Uefa took pains not just to express its opposition to the measure, but also to lay the blame for it at the foot of Fifa, whose rules it said were “not clear and detailed enough†to merit a rejection. Uefa said it wants to work with Fifa to create new rules to curb league games played abroad – presumably in a way that will not run afoul of Relevent Sports, the sports promotion company whose antitrust suit got Fifa to drop its statutes. Relevent dropped Fifa from the suit without prejudice, meaning it can be reopened at any time if things arenâ€t to the promotion companyâ€s satisfaction.

“While it is regrettable to have to let these two games go ahead, this decision is exceptional and shall not be seen as setting a precedent,†Uefa president Aleksander ÄŒeferin said. Itâ€s hard to see how that can be true. This is not how precedents work.

The floodgates are open. The toothpaste has been squeezed from the tube. The foundation upon which professional soccer is built, structured primarily as a series of domestic circuits, is cracked. Any game can now theoretically be played anywhere, wherever the highest bidder happens to be. Once the Spanish league – or any league – is no longer a thing that can only be played on home soil, there is no going back.

We have been on a long, unrelenting march to this place for decades. And the forces that carried the sport there were powered at least partially by American money and methods. We have to be frank about that.

The La Liga president, Javier Tebas, spent more than seven years working to put a Barça league game in Miami in an effort to keep up with the Premier League – a cash-churning colossus created through the American model of sporting monetization. He and others have done this because all of soccer sees the United States as an ATM with no pin number, luring one competition after another. In this effort, Tebas was abetted by Relevent, an American promoter.

Clubs will now be free to chase after revenue anywhere they can find it. People may try to get in their way on account of the sportâ€s – or the players†or the fans†– best interests, but they stand little chance of actually stopping anything with so much money at stake.

Villarreal will play 18 home games this season, to every other La Liga teamâ€s 19. Their fans will get one fewer match in their city, although they will be compensated with offers of free flights to Miami. Barça and Villarreal players – not to mention those of Milan and Como – will have travelled substantially more for their domestic competition than their rivals have this season. The impact of this in-season barnstorming on title races, relegation and promotion is inevitable.

A great many people were clear-eyed about the ramifications downstream. Real Madrid – co-instigators of the failed European Super League, authors of the sportâ€s Galacticos era that kickstarted the financial arms race – sounded like the improbable voice of reason here.

“The integrity of the competition requires that all matches be held under the same conditions for all teams,†the Spanish club wrote in a statement. “Unilaterally modifying this regime breaks the equality between contenders, compromises the legitimacy of the results and sets an unacceptable precedent that opens the door to exceptions based on interests other than strictly sporting. If this proposal is carried out, its consequences would be so serious that they would mean a before and after for the world of football.â€

The Spanish Professional Footballers†Association was opposed as well. As was the Football Supporters Europe group. So has ÄŒeferin been, who before Mondayâ€s announcement said in an interview: “Football should be played in Europe, and fans should be able to watch it at home. They cannot travel to Australia or the United States to see their teams.â€

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The European Unionâ€s commissioner for sport, Glenn Micallef, in his own lament, argued that “strong, community-based clubs are the heart of the European sport model. Moving competitions abroad isnâ€t innovation, itâ€s betrayalâ€.

Ah well, nevertheless. Ultimately, Uefa did not make this decision alone. The leagues made it. Fifa made it by agreeing to change its policies when it was dismissed from the Relevent lawsuit. Soccerâ€s professional ranks made it a long time ago, when they started playing domestic super cup competitions far afield, in China and in the Gulf and the United States.

Whoever you want to blame, European soccer has now become fully Americanized, opting for unfettered capitalism, bound by no border or tradition. And now, officially, something essential is lost.

• Leander Schaerlaeckens†book on the United States menâ€s national soccer team, The Long Game, is out in the spring of 2026. You can preorder it here. He teaches at Marist University.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Russia-born Australian tennis player Daria Kasatkina says she’s ending the season early for the sake of her mental wellbeing after hitting “breaking point” on tour.

The 19th-ranked Kasatkina, a French Open semifinalist in 2022, said Monday she has been left drained by the constant travel on the tour schedule, a stressful process to gain permanent residency in Australia, and being unable to see her parents.

Kasatkina, who is engaged to figure skating Olympic medalist Natalia Zabiiako, told the Times of London in 2023 that she can’t go back to Russia “as a gay person who opposes the war” in Ukraine.

“Truth is, I’ve hit a wall and can’t continue. I need a break. A break from the monotonous daily grind of life on the tour, the suitcases, the results, the pressure, the same faces (sorry, girls), everything that comes with this life,” Kasatkina wrote on Instagram.

“The schedule is too much, mentally and emotionally I am at breaking point and sadly, I am not alone.”

She added she plans to return in 2026 “energized and ready to rock”.

Kasatkina said she had been “far from fine for a long time” and her results on court had suffered while she “kept a lid” on how she felt for fear of seeming ungrateful.

She’s the latest in a series of players including Elina Svitolina and Beatriz Haddad Maia who have opted to end their seasons early for extra rest.

Kasatkina’s last match on tour was a straight-set loss to Sonay Kartal in the second round of the China Open on Sept. 27 and her last tour title was at the Ningbo Open in Oct. 2024.

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“I am at breaking point and sadly I am not alone.

“Add in to the mix the emotional and mental stress related to my nationality switch and there is only so much I can deal with and take as an individual woman.

“If this makes me weak, then so be it, I’m weak.

“However, I know I am strong and will get stronger by being away and recharging.

“It’s time I listened to myself for a change.”

Former top-five players Elina Svitolina and Paula Badosa ended their seasons early in recent weeks.

Ukraine’s Svitolina said she had “not been feeling like myself”, while Badosa has spoken about the mental toll of an ongoing back problem.

Other players have also spoken about the impact of the tennis calendar.

Five players retired injured in two tournaments in China last week, with six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek saying the season is too long and intense.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has made it mandatory for top players to participate in each Grand Slam, 10 WTA 1000 events and six 500-level tournaments.

The majority of 1000 events on the WTA and men’s ATP Tour last two weeks, as do all four Grand Slams.

Players can skip mandatory events if they injured or have personal reasons, but they will receive no rankings points or prize money if they do not play.

Former world number one Novak Djokovic, who has slimmed down his schedule in recent years to protect his body, has called on players to be more united, external in forcing change.

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Shane Van Gisbergen won the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday, but his victory wasn’t the story to come out of Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Joey Logano won a battle with Ross Chastain to become the final driver qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs round-of-8.

Logano made up the difference to Chastain on the final few laps. Chastain’s last gasp to stay alive in the postseason included a collision with Denny Hamlin and a backward finish.

The eight remaining playoff competitors now have three races in the round-of-8 to qualify for the championship race at Phoenix on November 2.

The updated points standings can be found here on NASCAR.com.

Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano will participate in the round-of-8.

Logano worked his way into the round-of-8 thanks to a strategy call in the final laps that allowed him to have fresh tires to pass cars and make up the points gap on Chastain.

Chastain pushed until the last turn of the race to try and keep his advantage, but he came up short. Chastain bumped Denny Hamlin on the final turn and had to finish backward in a last-ditch attempt to preserve his advantage.

Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney advanced to the round-of-8 in the last two weeks thanks to their respective race victories at New Hampshire and Kansas. The other six drivers moved on to the next round on points.

The round-of-8 participants have three races to try and clinch a shot at the championship. The top four drivers in the standings move on to Phoenix to have a shot at the title.

Las Vegas is the first stop on the round-of-8. Logano, Larson and Hamlin all have victories in the fall race at Las Vegas over the last four years. Logano won twice at Las Vegas in that span.

Talladega and Martinsville, where Hamlin won back in March, are the other two spots in the round-of-8.

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You’ve heard this on this platform before, but there are no “bests” in terms of golf clubs anymore.

On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, co-host Johnny Wunder explained why ranking golf clubs by “what’s the best” simply isn’t useful.

“It’s a snapshot in time and it doesn’t— it’s not good for the golfers to rank golf clubs, especially these days,” Wunder said. “Now, 50 years ago, an argument would have been made, because there were bangers, there were losers, there were people that just had bad ideas.

“These days, even the bad ideas are bangers. Like, they’re all good.”

Just about every golf club on the market can help someone accomplish a specific goal with their game. Likewise, not every golf club is going to seem “good” to everyone because it might not be designed for that specific golfer or what that golfer wants to do.

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Most of these “best” lists are simply based on a few days or a week of testing with specific golfers. Not necessarily an all-encompassing sample. Even with a massive player testing effort, it’s not feasible to take into account all the possible factors that could play into whether a club works well for someone or not.

“What’s happening, though, with these hot lists is that it does give you the stigma that this one got four stars, or this one got a gold medal, or this one got this,” Wunder said. “And it’s Bob and Betsy Ross on the driving range in Arizona for two days, hitting nothing but drivers and 3-woods all day and it says nothing about them. They write on their little notes, they’ll go, this was good, this was right.

“With a different loft, with a different type of head, with a different shaft, at a different length, with a different ball. They’re not getting fit into it at all. It’s like, here’s a club, hit it, tell me what you think.”

That’s why the trick is figuring out which one is right for you and with what settings, shafts and other factors that can be determined in a fitting environment.

Here at GOLF, our goal is to help you do just that, and the best way is to get fit.

“What’s best for the golfer is more or less just encouraging them to go get fit, give them as much information as humanly possible and let them go in there,” Wunder said.

Stay tuned to GOLF’s channels in the coming months for info on 2026 gear, because we won’tbe ranking anything.

For more from Wunder, co-host Jake Morrow and this week’s guest, GOLF’s Maddi MacClurg, listen to the full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped here or watch it below.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2025?Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.