Wimbledon and British Open put sports focus overseas
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The U.K. is playing at the centre of the sport universe this month, first with the 138th Wimbledon wrapping up this weekend and the 153rd Open golf championship, the fourth and final men's major of the year, coming up next week at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
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Talking about Wimbledon tennis, it's been another good week for Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, coming back in his semifinal against Taylor Fritz to reach his third consecutive men's singles final at the All-England Club. Ditto for American soccer star Catarina Macario and her 10-year, US$10 million sponsorship deal with Nike.
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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh saw their new four-year collective bargaining agreement officially ratified this week, paving the way for labour peace in hockey through to spring 2030.
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Yet outside of the World Series itself, there is no more bullish market for baseball than there is this month. It all started with the Major League Baseball Draft on Thursday.
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It's the only one of the four major North American men's league drafts to happen in the middle of the regular season. It takes the 30-team league into the all-star break, which this year is being hosted by the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in the northern suburb of Cumberland just northwest of downtown Atlanta.
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MLB's All-Star Game continues to serve as the best of its kind in North America, buoyed in large part by the Home Run Derby that's on tap for Monday, the day before the game itself.
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And then, it's the countdown to the pennant races and wild-card chases of the final 10 weeks of the MLB regular season, punctuated by the trade deadline July 31.
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Television numbers for the All-Star Game make it the second biggest sport TV event of the summer, behind only the NFL season-opening thrust that begins the first Thursday after Labour Day weekend and dominates the first three weeks of September, which also happen to be the last three weeks of summer.
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It makes even the dog days of July a good time to be a baseball fan, especially if your team heads into the all-star break as one of six division leaders or as a wild-card candidate.
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That's exactly where the Toronto Blue Jays find themselves after a 10-game win streak that included a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre.
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The Jays are going into the weekend — taking on the Athletics in Sacramento — playing .581 baseball. They're 9-1 in their last 10 games, 15 games above .500 and 54-39 overall.
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Winnipeg Free Press
31 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Amanda Anisimova thanks her mom through tears after 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek in Wimbledon final
LONDON (AP) — Amanda Anisimova kept apologizing to the spectators at Centre Court — for her performance in a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final and for the emotions that made it hard to deliver a speech afterward. Through it all, Anisimova, a 23-year-old American in her first major title match, made sure to thank her mother for making a rare trip to watch her daughter play in person. 'My mom is the most selfless person I know, and she's done everything to get me to this point in my life,' said Anisimova, whose father died in 2019 when she was 17. Then, turning to address her mother, Anisimova continued as her eyes welled with tears: 'So thank you for being here and breaking the superstition of flying in.' And then in a tongue-in-cheek reference to her 57-minute defeat, Anisimova said with a laugh, 'It's definitely not why I lost today.' 'I'm so happy that I get to share this moment and for you to be here and witness this in person. I know you don't get to see me live, playing, that much anymore, because you do so much for my sister and I, and you always have,' Anisimova said. 'I love you so much.' Just participating in a Grand Slam final — after eliminating No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, to boot — represented quite a success for Anisimova, a 23-year-old who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Florida from age 3. She was a top player in her teens, beating Coco Gauff in the 2017 U.S. Open junior final, and quickly made a mark as a professional by reaching the French Open quarterfinals two years later. In May 2023, she announced she was taking a mental health break from the tour because of burnout. Anisimova returned to action in 2024, but her ranking of 189th just 12 months ago was too low to get into the field automatically at an event like Wimbledon, so she unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the tournament. 'No matter what happened today,' Swiatek told her, 'you should be proud of the work you're doing.' Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. On Saturday, she became just the second woman in the Open era, which began in 1968, to get to a Grand Slam final a year after losing in qualifying. And now she will break into the top 10 for the first time. After the match, she told her team she appreciates them for 'just taking care of me' during 'the whole journey it's been, this whole past year.' 'I know I didn't have enough today, but I'm going to keep putting in the work,' Anisimova said. 'And I always believe in myself, so I hope to be back here one day.' ___ AP tennis:
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Iga Świątek steamrolls over Amanda Anisimova in 6-0., 6-0 Wimbledon victory
The best thing that happened to Iga Świątek heading into Sunday's Wimbledon final was losing earlier than usual at the French Open and having a bad season. Swiatek, 24, is a four-time French Open champion, but that success had come at a cost when Wimbledon rolled around a few weeks later. She struggled with the quick turnaround and had trouble adjusting to the new surface. Making things worse this year was a poor run of form that had seen her lose her No. 1 ranking and drop to fourth. After she lost in the semi-finals in Paris in June, Swiatek headed to Spain to hone her skills on the grass court surface. It paid off. As top seeds fell all around her during the opening week of Wimbledon, Swiatek quietly kept winning, largely ignored by pundits who didn't consider her a favourite to win. By the time she got to Saturday's final against 23-year-old Amanda Anisimova of the U.S., who was playing in her first Grand Slam final, Swiatek was more than ready. She steamrolled over the American – 6-0, 6-0 – in less than an hour to claim her first Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam; on clay, hardcourt and grass. She's also the first player from Poland to win a singles Grand Slam title. This was a complete demolition. It was the first 'double bagel' in more than 100 years, and it left Anisimova so distraught she briefly left the court in tears after losing the final game. 'Even though I ran out of gas a bit today and wish I could put on a better performance,' she told the crowd, choking back tears. Swiatek tried to offer some condolences. 'I want to congratulate Amanda for an amazing two weeks, no matter what happened today, you should be proud, and I hope we'll play many more finals,' she told the crowd. But this was her victory, the one title she had longed for. 'I didn't even dream, because for me it was just too far. I feel like I'm an experienced player after winning slams before, but I never expected this one,' she added. 'This is the best thing that a player can have.' Swiatek came out swinging from the start; literally taking practice swings during the coin toss while Anisimova stood watching. From the opening game – a break for Swiatek – it was hard to imagine that only two days earlier the American had beaten world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and exuded so much confidence. On Saturday, she looked a shambles from her first shot, which went wide. The first set was over in 25 minutes. Anisimova committed 14 unforced errors, landed barely one-third of her first serves and won just nine points. Swiatek meanwhile landed 80 per cent of her first serves, made two unforced errors and won 27 points. The second set was more of the same and even as the crowd tried to urge Anisimova on, her will was slowly fading. By the final few games, the crowd sat in stunned silence and Anisimova was screaming as her shots flew wide. For Swiatek the win marks something of a comeback. She hadn't won a tournament since the French Open in 2024. She also became embroiled in a doping scandal after she tested positive last August for the banned drug trimetazidine, or TMZ, which is mainly used to treat angina but can also improve endurance. Swiatek successfully argued that a batch of non-prescription melatonin that she takes to help with jet lagged had been contaminated by TMZ. Lab tests backed up her claim and she was given a one-month ban by the International Tennis Integrity Agency. But the poor performances and doping ban had clearly taken a toll, and she arrived in London almost as an afterthought among the many tennis gurus who fully expected Sabalenka or Coco Gauff to win. The early upsets clearly helped. One of her potential opponents, third-ranked Jessica Pegula, lost in the first round and Anisimova took care of Sabalenka in the semi-final. Swiatek didn't face a single opponent ranked in the top 15 until Anisimova who is ranked 12th.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Kate Middleton sits centre court at Wimbledon women's final
Kate was in the royal box at the All-England Club, home of the prestigious British tournament famous for strawberries and cream — they go through 140,000 punnets a year — and enthusiastic royal patronage.
