
Padres' Jackson Merrill Placed on 7-Day Injured List
Merrill was injured in the seventh inning when he attempted a stolen base but was tagged out by Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte. The tag came on Merrill's helmet as he slid headfirst, and he was down for several minutes before walking off the field. He was replaced in the field by Brandon Lockridge.
Merrill, 22, is batting .304 with five home runs. He finished second in voting for the National League Rookie of the Year and ninth for NL MVP last year after hitting 24 home runs, driving in 90 runs, and posting a .292 batting average.
Trenton Brooks was called up from Triple-A El Paso to replace Merrill on the Padres' roster. Brooks, 29, was batting .311 with 14 home runs and 54 RBIs at El Paso. The first baseman hit .120 in 25 at-bats for the San Francisco Giants last year.

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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
A historic win by 45-year-old Venus Williams resonates and shows there are no limits for excellence
WASHINGTON: There are plenty of reasons why this particular victory by Venus Williams in this particular tennis match — just one of hundreds — resonated with so many folks. That she's 45, for one thing. Only one woman, Martina Navratilova, ever has won a tour-level singles match while older; her last victory came at 47 in 2004. That Williams hadn't entered a tournament anywhere in 16 months. That she needed surgery for uterine fibroids. And when asked Tuesday night after beating her 23-year-old opponent, Peyton Stearns, 6-3, 6-4 at the DC Open what message others might take away from that performance and that result, Williams was quick to provide an answer. 'There are no limits for excellence. It's all about what's in your head and how much you're able to put into it. If you put in the work mentally, physically, and emotionally, then you can have the result,' she said. 'It doesn't matter how many times you fall down. Doesn't matter how many times you get sick or get hurt or whatever it is. If you continue to believe and put in the work, there is an opportunity, there is space, for you.' Williams has been winning at tennis for decades. Her pro debut came when she was 14. Her first Grand Slam title came at Wimbledon in 2000, less than a month after her 20th birthday. She accumulated four major singles trophies before Stearns was born and eventually wound up with seven, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open, plus another 14 in women's doubles — all with her sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles. 'I have so much respect for her to come back here and play, win or lose. That takes a lot of guts to step back onto court, especially with what she's done for the sport,' said Stearns, who is ranked 35th and won NCAA singles and team titles at the University of Texas. 'You have a lot behind you. You have accomplished a lot. And there is a lot of pressure on her and to kind of upkeep that at this age. So massive credit to her for that.' There were challenges along the way for Williams, none more public than the diagnosis in 2011 of Sjögren's syndrome, an energy-sapping auto-immune disease that can cause joint pain. More recent was the pain from fibroids — noncancerous growths — and shortly before the DC Open, Williams said: 'Where I am at this year is so much different (from) where I was at last year. It's night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery.' As thrilled as the spectators — 'Who I love, and they love me,' Williams said — were to be able to watch, and pull, for her under the lights Tuesday, other players were rather excited about it, too. 'I commend her so much for being out here,' said Taylor Townsend. Naomi Osaka's take: 'She's, like, the queen. There's a royal air around her.' 'She's one of the best athletes of all time,' Frances Tiafoe said. 'Her and her sister, they're not only great for the women's game, not only great for women's sports, but they are so iconic.' Yet, there were some on social media who wondered whether it made sense for the tournament to award a wild-card entry to Williams instead of an up-and-coming player. DC Open chairman Mark Ein said it took him about two seconds to respond 'Of course' when Williams' representative reached out in April to ask whether a spot in the field might be a possibility. A reporter wanted to know Tuesday whether Williams took any satisfaction from proving doubters wrong. 'No, because I'm not here for anyone else except for me. And I also have nothing to prove. Zip. Zero. I'm here for me, because I want to be here,' she said. 'And proving anyone wrong or thinking about anyone has never gotten me a win and has never gotten me a loss.'


Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
A historic win by 45-year-old Venus Williams resonates and shows there are no limits for excellence
There are plenty of reasons why this particular victory by Venus Williams in this particular tennis match – just one of hundreds – resonated with so many folks. That she's 43, for one thing. Only one woman, Martina Navratilova, ever has won a tour-level singles match while older; her last victory came at 47 in 2004. That Williams hadn't entered a tournament anywhere in 16 months. That she needed surgery for uterine fibroids. And when asked Tuesday night after beating her 23-year-old opponent, Peyton Stearns, 6-3, 6-4 at the DC Open, what message others might take away from that performance and that result, Williams was quick to provide an answer. 'There are no limits for excellence. It's all about what's in your head and how much you're able to put into it. If you put in the work mentally, physically, and emotionally, then you can have the result,' she said. 'It doesn't matter how many times you fall down. Doesn't matter how many times you get sick or get hurt or whatever it is. If you continue to believe and put in the work, there is an opportunity, there is space for you.' Williams has been winning at tennis for decades. Her pro debut came when she was 14. Her first Grand Slam title came at Wimbledon in 2000, less than a month after her 20th birthday. She accumulated four major singles trophies before Stearns was born and eventually wound up with seven – five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open – plus another 14 in women's doubles – all with her sister Serena – and two in mixed doubles. 'I have so much respect for her to come back here and play, win or lose. That takes a lot of guts to step back onto court, especially with what she's done for the sport,' said Stearns, who is ranked 35th and won NCAA singles and team titles at the University of Texas. 'You have a lot behind you. You have accomplished a lot. And there is a lot of pressure on her and to kind of upkeep that at this age. So massive credit to her for that.' There were challenges along the way for Williams, none more public than the diagnosis in 2011 of Sjögren's syndrome, an energy-sapping auto-immune disease that can cause joint pain. More recent was the pain from fibroids – noncancerous growths – and shortly before the DC Open, Williams said: 'Where I am at this year is so much different (from) where I was at last year. It's night and day being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery.' As thrilled as the spectators – 'Who I love and they love me,' Williams said – were to be able to watch and pull for her under the lights Tuesday, other players were rather excited about it, too. 'I commend her so much for being out here,' said Taylor Townsend. Naomi Osaka's take: 'She's like the queen. There's a royal air around her.' 'She's one of the best athletes of all time,' Frances Tiafoe said. 'Her and her sister, they're not only great for the women's game, not only great for women's sports, but they are so iconic.' Yet there were some on social media who wondered whether it made sense for the tournament to award a wild-card entry to Williams instead of an up-and-coming player. DC Open chairman Mark Ein said it took him about two seconds to respond 'Of course' when Williams' representative reached out in April to ask whether a spot in the field might be a possibility. A reporter wanted to know Tuesday whether Williams took any satisfaction from proving doubters wrong. 'No, because I'm not here for anyone else except for me. And I also have nothing to prove. Zip. Zero. I'm here for me because I want to be here,' she said. 'And proving anyone wrong or thinking about anyone has never gotten me a win and has never gotten me a loss.'


Asharq Al-Awsat
7 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
45-Year-Old Venus Williams Becomes the Oldest Woman Since Martina Navratilova to Win a Singles Match
Venus Williams became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis, delivering some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns — 22 years her junior — by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open on Tuesday night. This was the first singles victory for Williams in nearly two years. The only older woman to win a match was Martina Navratilova at 47 in 2004. The former No. 1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids. She hadn't won in singles since August 2023 in Cincinnati. Until this week, she was listed by the WTA Tour as "inactive." "It is not easy," Williams said, "to (come back) after all that time and play the perfect match." But backed by a crowd that clearly was there to see, and support, her at the hard-court tournament in the nation's capital, Williams showed glimpses of the talent she possesses and the skills she displayed while earning all of her Grand Slam titles: seven in singles, 14 in women's doubles — all alongside younger sister Serena — and two in mixed doubles. "I wanted to play a good match," she told the fans, then added a phrase that drew appreciative roars: "and win the match." In Tuesday's second game, for example, Williams smacked a return winner to get things started, then delivered a couple of other big responses to break Stearns, a 23-year-old who won singles and team NCAA titles at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 35th. In the next game, Williams sprinted forward to reach a drop shot and replied with a winner. Soon, she led 4-2, then was closing that set. She was accompanied by choruses of cheers. The first arrived when Williams walked out into the main stadium at the DC Open, a 7,000-seat arena that's more than twice as large as where she was for her doubles victory a day earlier. Another came when she strode from the sideline to the center of the court for the formality of the coin toss. The noise really reached a crescendo when Williams began hitting aces — at 110 mph and faster — the way she used to. There also were moments where Williams — who said her fiancé was in the stands — looked as if it had been just as long as it actually has since she competed, including in the opening game, when she got broken at love this way: forehand wide, forehand into the net, forehand long, backhand long. At the end, it took Williams a bit of extra effort to close things out. She kept holding match points and kept failing to convert them. But eventually, on her sixth chance, Williams powered in a 112 mph serve that Stearns returned into the net. That was it: Williams smiled wide as can be, raised a fist and jogged to the net to shake hands, then performed her customary post-win pirouette-and-wave. She advanced to a second-round matchup against No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech, a 27-year-old from Poland. In other action Tuesday, Emma Raducanu handed No. 7 seed Marta Kostyuk a sixth consecutive loss by eliminating her 7-6 (4), 6-4. That set up a matchup between Raducanu and four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who was a 6-2, 7-5 winner against Yulia Putintseva. Two top men's seeds exited: Cam Norrie beat No. 2 Lorenzo Musetti 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 3 Holger Rune withdrew from the tournament because of a back injury. No. 4 seed Ben Shelton defeated Mackie McDonald 6-3, 6-4.