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Oct 21, 2025, 07:28 AM ET

ROME — Jannik Sinner’s decision not to play for host Italy in the Davis Cup Final 8 is being met with a sense of abandonment in his home country — where he was fiercely defended during his doping case earlier this year.

The second-ranked Sinner, who led Italy to tennis’ biggest team trophy the past two years, said that he prefers to prepare for next season instead of helping the Azzurri aim for another title in Bologna next month.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but after Turin [where the ATP Finals are played the week before the Davis Cup], the goal is to start off on the right foot in Australia,” Sinner said, referring to the Australian Open, where he is the two-time defending champion.

“It doesn’t seem like it, but a week of preparation in that period can make a difference,” Sinner told Sky Italia on Monday from Vienna, where he is playing this week. “We already won the Davis Cup in 2023 and 2024 and this time we decided like this with my team.”

The front-page headline in Tuesday’s Gazzetta dello Sport translated to: “Sinner, think it over again.”

An accompanying editorial in the Gazzetta took Sinner to task for saying he already won the Davis Cup twice, pointing out how he also defended his title over the weekend in a lucrative exhibition in Saudi Arabia.

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“So you’re not going to return to Riyadh for another $6 million? If you win another Wimbledon, you won’t go to London anymore? Pasta, coffee … Every five minutes you promote an Italian product. Do it with tennis, too,” the Gazzetta editorial said, referring to the multiple Italian brands that Sinner represents in TV and other advertisements.

Added 92-year-old Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time French Open winner who was Italy’s most successful player until Sinner came along: “It’s a big slap in the face to the Italian sports world.”

Italians widely defended Sinner when he was hit with a three-month doping ban in February, while other top players insinuated that he received preferential treatment because of his high status and the time frame of the ban meant that he didn’t miss any Grand Slam tournaments.

It’s not the first time that Sinner has been criticized for not representing Italy. It happened when he didn’t play Davis Cup in 2023 and it happened when he didn’t play in the Paris Olympics a year later.

Sinner grew up in the German-speaking autonomous region of Alto Adige in northern Italy and has also faced an underlying sentiment that he’s not fully Italian.

Just last month, an Italian rapper was accused of inciting racial hatred for publishing musical lyrics saying that Sinner speaks with “Adolf Hitler’s accent.” Fedez, the rapper, later apologized.

Adriano Panatta, who led Italy to its only other Davis Cup triumph in 1976, defended Sinner’s choice, noting how the team competition is not considered as important as it was in his playing days.

“Today’s tennis requires players to have complete devotion. The players are like CEOs of companies that carry their names,” Panatta wrote in Corriere della Sera. “Sinner has won the Davis Cup twice and now he needs a break to gear up for his main goals: winning Slams, playing up to [Carlos] Alcaraz’s level, reclaiming No. 1. Those are his priorities.”

Paolo Bertolucci, who also played on the 1976 team and is now a TV commentator, agreed with Panatta.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the decision,” Bertolucci told the Gazzetta. “Tennis has changed. Today what counts are the four Slams and then the ATP Finals. The rest is side stuff.”

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Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers (vs. CIN) [DraftKings DFS Value: $6,200]

Love barely ranks inside the top-15 fantasy quarterbacks in points per game, but he’s coming off his best statistical effort of the season—337 passing yards and three scores two weeks ago against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bengals have allowed the 10th-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks this season.

Drake Maye, New England Patriots (at NO) [DraftKings DFS Value: $5,900]

Maye is quietly having a solid season for fantasy managers—the second-year pro is seventh in fantasy points among quarterbacks after five weeks. The Saints have been a plus matchup for the position—New Orleans is surrendering the seventh-most fantasy points per game to signal-callers.

Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts (vs, ARI) [DraftKings DFS Value: $6,000]

Writing anything negative about the Golden God that is Daniel Jones is a fantasy felony in 2025—he’s eighth in fantasy points among quarterbacks. But the Cardinals have been a surprisingly poor fantasy matchup for quarterbacks this season, giving up the fifth-fewest fantasy points per game to the position.

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (at CAR) [DraftKings DFS Value: $6,500]

Prescott has been a productive fantasy asset, at least in part because the Dallas defense can’t stop anyone, so Prescott has to try to win shootouts every week. That’s probably not going to be the case in Carolina this week, so Prescott’s passing stats likely won’t be as gaudy in Week 6.

Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers (vs. DAL) [DraftKings DFS Value: $4,800]

Young is a tough player to start in fantasy right now—he’s had one fantasy-relevant outing in five games. But the Dallas “defense” has made every quarterback they have played look good—the Cowboys are allowing a whopping 284.6 passing yards per game, far and away the most in the league.

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LeBron James seems to have made another decision, one that does not involve selling cognac.

As he deals with a nerve irritation in his glute, the 40-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star will reportedly sit out the rest of preseason to prepare for the team’s season opener, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

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James, who is about to begin his 23rd NBA season, has been doing on-court work and is slowly ramping up his preparation.

Last week, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said that James would slowly build towards the regular season opener and wouldn’t be available when training camp opened.

“It’s probably a little bit longer of a ramp-up leading up to opening night for him,” Redick told reporters. “In year 23, uncharted territory here.”

Redick then admitted the team may not have managed James’ game management properly last preseason, saying they felt like James did “too much” during training camp in 2024. But it didn’t seem to affect the four-time NBA MVP during the regular season as he played 70 games and averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds in nearly 35 minutes of action per night.

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Yet those games he missed were due to foot and ankle soreness, which kept him out of the All-Star Game. James later suffered a sprained MCL during Game 5 of the Lakers’ playoff series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, an injury that would have kept him out for weeks had it not been the final game of their season.

James has yet to say whether this will be his final NBA season, but at age 40, there aren’t many left for him and the Lakers are eager to see what sort of title run the team can make as he plays alongside Luka DonÄić. They don’t necessarily need him in late October as they would prefer James to be 100% healthy when playoff time rolls around.

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The Lakers have four more preseason games before they open the 2025-26 campaign on Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors.

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Justin Fields, New York Jets (vs. DAL) [DraftKings DFS Value: $5,600]

Fields is quietly seventh in fantasy points per game among quarterbacks, thanks mostly to the yardage he picks up on the ground. The Dallas defense is making every opposing quarterback look like Dan Marino this year—no team is allowing more fantasy points to the quarterback position.

C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (at BAL) [DraftKings DFS Value: $5,200]

Stroud still hasn’t thrown for even 250 yards in a game this season, but he did throw multiple touchdown passes last week for the first time this season. Now Stroud and the Texans face an injury-ravaged Ravens defense that couldn’t stop anyone when it was at full strength.

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. DEN) [DraftKings DFS Value: $6,800]

For most managers, sitting Hurts isn’t a realistic option. And despite Philly’s offensive struggles, he’s fifth in fantasy points among quarterbacks. But this has the makings of an “off” night for Hurts—the Denver defense is dead last in the league in fantasy points given up to quarterbacks this season.

Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at SEA) [DraftKings DFS Value: $6,300]

Mayfield has been OK this year—he’s ninth among quarterbacks in points after four weeks. But he’s dealing with a pass-catching corps that has been walloped by injuries, and this week the Buccaneers travel west to face a Seahawks defense that has given up the seventh-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks in 2025.

Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers (vs. MIA) [DraftKings DFS Value: $4,700]

Outside one big performance in garbage time against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2, Young has essentially been invisible statistically this season. But the Panthers rolled the Atlanta Falcons in their last home game, and no team in the AFC has surrendered more fantasy points to quarterbacks than the Dolphins.

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Ryan Brehm made his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship debut with a 63 on the only course he didn’t play in practice to share the lead. Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and a Ryder Cup quartet of stars played on fumes and held up quite nicely Thursday.

The other surprise from the opening round was Dustin Johnson with a 64 at Carnoustie that left the former world No. 1 just one shot out of the lead in his return to this tournament for the first time in 13 years.

The pro-am held over three links — Scotland’s version of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am — was just the right tonic for the four Team Europe players who went from the euphoria of beating the Americans at Bethpage Black to amateur partners like Bill Murray and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Hatton and Robert MacIntyre at 66, and Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick at 67, all received a rousing cheer at Carnoustie to celebrate Europe’s fifth road victory in the Ryder Cup, this one the most taxing given the obnoxious New York crowd and a U.S. comeback that fell short.

“It was brilliant. I’ve never see the first tee like this at the Dunhill before,†said MacIntyre, who grew up on the other side of Scotland in Oban.

“This week I’m trying to enjoy myself. I’m trying not to be that stressed out about it, that overly focused, kind of just take the rough with the smooth,†MacIntyre said. “It was a decent start.â€

Brehm is a big hitter from Michigan whose lone PGA Tour victory was in the Puerto Rico Open three years ago. He is playing under a category for five PGA Tour players who finished from Nos. 126 to 200 in the FedExCup last year.

Arriving with wife Chelsey, they walked Kingsbarns when they landed and played practice rounds at Carnoustie and St. Andrews. Then he had seven birdies and an eagle at Kingsbarns to share the lead with Matthew Jordan (63 at St. Andrews) and Darius Van Driel (63 at Kingsbarns).

“This is my first time over here, and I was pretty much in awe on every fairway — and I hit a lot of fairways, which is kind of rare for me,†Brehm said.

The conditions were ideal, though rain and wind more typical of Scotland in October was expected over the next few days. Brehm wasn’t sure what to expect from his own golf. He heads to the Old Course on Friday, a tougher test in nasty weather.

“What’s interesting is I wish I didn’t play any of them now because this is the only one I didn’t play,†Brehm said of Kingsbarns.

Johnson, one of 17 players from LIV Golf in the field, has been playing more out of the Saudi league although he had not been to the Dunhill Links since 2012. He played with his father-in-law, hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who used to be his regular partner back in the Pebble Beach days. His score was nearly five shots below the average at Carnoustie.

“Generally haven’t played that well around here, so it’s nice to get a good score in,†said Johnson, who missed the cut at Carnoustie during the 2018 Open when he was No. 1 in the world.

Jesse RogersSep 2, 2025, 11:41 PM ETCloseJesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.CHICAGO — Cubs…