Wimbledon gets rid of line judges in favor of recorded voices announcing electronic calls
There were no line judges at the All England Club's matches for Monday's start of the oldest Grand Slam tournament, with rulings instead being made by an electronic system that uses recorded voices to announce when a shot lands astray.
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Winnipeg Free Press
20 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs acquitted of most serious charges, convicted of prostitution-related offenses
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean 'Diddy' Combs was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop's most celebrated figures behind bars for life. The mixed result still could send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star. After hearing the verdict, Combs held his hands up in a prayer motion, looking at jury and hugged defense lawyer Teny Geragos. Combs' relatives and supporters in the audience could barely contain their relief, despite the judge's admonition to avoid outbursts: When the first 'not guilty' was read aloud, someone shouted, 'Yeah!' Combs later continued to pump his right fist subtly, seemingly satisfied that he was acquitted on the most serious charges. Combs was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and paid male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act. But the jury of eight men and four women acquitted Combs of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, related to allegations that he used his money, power and frightening physical force to manipulate his girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fueled sex marathons with the men. Combs' defense team argued that the women were willing participants and that none of his violence justified the severity of the charges. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian was weighing whether to free Combs on bail in the wake of the verdict. The judge adjourned the court while he considers the matter. Combs appeared overwhelmed as court adjourned for at least a few hours. He wiped his face, turning and kneeling at his chair, his head bowed in prayer. In the audience, his relatives stood and applauded as he faced them. 'I'll be home soon,' he said, and 'I love you, baby.' 'I love you, Mom,' he added. His relatives applauded him and his lawyers as he was led out of court. Combs has been behind bars since his arrest in September. His lawyers argued that the acquittal on the most serious counts changed the legal landscape enough that he should get bail. Verdict follows weeks of harrowing testimony Jurors deliberated for about 13 hours over three days before announcing their verdict. It came after they said late Tuesday that they had decided on four counts but were stuck on the racketeering one. At that point, the judge told them to keep deliberating and keep the partial verdict under wraps. Combs did not testify at his trialtria, which featured 34 witnesses as well as video of the rapper attacking his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie. Her lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, said in a statement after the verdict that 'by coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.' Cassie testified for four days about her turbulent 11-year relationship with Combs, which began after she signed with his Bad Boy record label. Cassie said Combs became obsessed with voyeuristic encounters, arranged with the help of his staff, that involved sex workers and copious amounts of baby oil. During the sex events, called 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights,' Combs would order Cassie to do things with other men that she found humiliating, she testified. When things didn't go Combs' way, he would beat her, she said. 'I'm not a rag doll. I'm somebody's child,' Cassie told Combs after he dragged her down a hotel hallway in 2016. Another ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym 'Jane,' told the jury she repeatedly told Combs she didn't want to have sex with the men hired for their trysts. 'I'm not an animal. I need a break,' she told him. Nevertheless, she said she felt 'obligated' to comply with his demands, in part because he paid her rent. Defense calls case an invasion of privacy The trial's most famous witness, rapper Kid Cudi, said Combs broke into his home in late 2011 after learning he and Cassie were dating. After his car was firebombed a few weeks later, Cudi — whose real name is Scott Mescudi — said he knew Combs 'had something to do' with it. Combs denied it. Combs' defense team acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were intruding in his personal life. In his closing remarks to the jury, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said it wasn't illegal for Combs to make 'homemade porn' with his girlfriends. 'They go into the man's bedroom. They go into the man's most private life. Where is the crime scene?' Agnifilo said. While Jane described violence — like a night when Combs choked her, punched her face, leaving welts and a black eye, when she resisted an encounter with a sex worker — she also acknowledged on the witness stand that her feelings are complicated. She testified that she still loves Combs and had planned to meet him in New York for one last 'hotel night' when he was arrested last September. The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has. Rapper, entrepreneur and criminal defendant Combs was at the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the 1990s and became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, diversifying his interests with the Sean John fashion label, Ciroc vodka, a cable TV channel and a film and TV studio. Along with his protege Biggie Smalls — the Notorious B.I.G., who was shot and killed in 1997 — Combs worked with artists including Mary J. Blige, Usher and Lil Kim. In 2001, Combs was at the center of one of the biggest hip-hop trials of its era, stemming from a Manhattan nightclub shooting that injured three people in 1999. Combs was acquitted of charges that he took an illegal gun into the club and tried to bribe his driver to take the fall. His career recovered quickly that time. Combs' reputation may have suffered irreparable damage, though, after Cassie sued him in November 2023, alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. He settled the next day for $20 million, but more lawsuits by other women and men followed. Most are still pending. ___ Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Canada's Fernandez falls to Germany's Siegemund in 2nd round at Wimbledon
Social Sharing Canada's Leylah Fernandez made an early exit from Wimbledon on Wednesday, falling 6-2, 6-3 in second-round play to unseeded Laura Siegemund of Germany. The 29th seed from of Laval, Que., struggled on serve, landing just 55 per cent of her first attempts and winning 53 per cent of those points. She also double-faulted four times, failed to hit an ace and couldn't convert any of her three break-point chances. It marks Fernandez's third straight second-round departure at the All England Club. WATCH | Fernandez ousted at Wimbledon Siegemund, ranked No. 104 in the world, will next face sixth-seeded Madison Keys of the United States. Meanwhile, Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, the No. 2 seeds, opened women's double play with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over China's Saisai Zheng and Xinyu Wang. Later Wednesday, Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime was set to face Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff, while Gabriel Diallo, also of Montreal, was scheduled to take on No. 5 seed Taylor Fritz of the U.S. Sabalenka avoids upset Aryna Sabalenka was just two points from dropping the opening set of her second-round Wimbledon match three times on Wednesday before asserting herself for a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova to avoid the sort of surprise that has sent a group of seeded players home. Four of the top 10 women's seeds failed to make it out of the first round: No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 5 Zheng Qinwen and No. 9 Paula Badosa. In all, a record-tying 23 seeded players — 10 women, 13 men — were gone by the end of Day 2, equaling the most at any Grand Slam event in the past 25 years. "Of course you're going to know the overall picture. ... I hope it's no upsets anymore in this tournament," the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka said afterward with a chuckle. "If you know what I mean." She is a three-time Grand Slam champion, with all of those titles coming on hard courts at the Australian Open or U.S. Open. She also was the runner-up to Gauff at the clay-court French Open last month — drawing criticism from some over her post-match comments, a flap she and Gauff set aside via social media videos last week — but hasn't been past the semifinals on the grass of the All England Club. A year ago, Sabalenka was forced to miss Wimbledon because of an injured shoulder. On Wednesday, the record-breaking heat of the first two days gave way to rain that delayed the start of play on smaller courts for about two hours, along with temperatures that dropped from above 32 C to below 20 C. At Centre Court, the 48th-ranked Bouzkova went ahead 6-5 in the first set with the match's initial service break thanks to a double-fault by Sabalenka. Bouzkova served for that set, and was two points away from it at 30-15 in that game, again at 30-all, then once more at deuce. But on the last such occasion, Sabalenka came through with a forehand volley winner she punctuated with a yell, followed by a down-the-line backhand winner that was accompanied by another shout. "That was a tough moment," said Sabalenka, who will face 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu or 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova next. "Until that point, (my) return wasn't great enough to break her serve. I'm really glad ... everything clicked together and I was able to break her back. I kind of like felt a little bit better." That sent them to a tiebreaker, and from 4-all there, Sabalenka took the next three points, ending the set with a powerful forehand return winner off a 67 mph second serve. In the second set, the only break arrived for a 3-2 lead for Sabalenka, and that was basically that. Sabalenka compiled a 41-17 edge in winners while making only 18 unforced errors in a match that lasted a little more than 1 1/2 hours. What else happened Wednesday at Wimbledon? Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is seeded sixth, joined Sabalenka in the third round, beating Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2. Other players in action later included 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini among the women and two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe among the men.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Wimbledon: No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoids the kind of upset that has happened a lot this year
LONDON (AP) — Aryna Sabalenka was just two points from dropping the opening set of her second-round Wimbledon match three times on Wednesday before asserting herself for a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Marie Bouzkova to avoid the sort of surprise that has sent a group of seeded players home. Four of the top 10 women's seeds failed to make it out of the first round: No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 5 Zheng Qinwen and No. 9 Paula Badosa. In all, a record-tying 23 seeded players — 10 women, 13 men — were gone by the end of Day 2, equaling the most at any Grand Slam event in the past 25 years. 'Of course you're going to know the overall picture. … I hope it's no upsets anymore in this tournament,' the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka said afterward with a chuckle. 'If you know what I mean.' She is a three-time Grand Slam champion, with all of those titles coming on hard courts at the Australian Open or U.S. Open. She also was the runner-up to Gauff at the clay-court French Open last month — drawing criticism from some over her post-match comments, a flap she and Gauff set aside via social media videos last week — but hasn't been past the semifinals on the grass of the All England Club. A year ago, Sabalenka was forced to miss Wimbledon because of an injured shoulder. On Wednesday, the record-breaking heat of the first two days gave way to rain that delayed the start of play on smaller courts for about two hours, along with temperatures that dropped from above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) to below 68 F (20 C). At Centre Court, the 48th-ranked Bouzkova went ahead 6-5 in the first set with the match's initial service break thanks to a double-fault by Sabalenka. Bouzkova served for that set, and was two points away from it at 30-15 in that game, again at 30-all, then once more at deuce. But on the last such occasion, Sabalenka came through with a forehand volley winner she punctuated with a yell, followed by a down-the-line backhand winner that was accompanied by another shout. 'That was a tough moment,' said Sabalenka, who will face 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu or 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova next. 'Until that point, (my) return wasn't great enough to break her serve. I'm really glad … everything clicked together and I was able to break her back. I kind of like felt a little bit better.' That sent them to a tiebreaker, and from 4-all there, Sabalenka took the next three points, ending the set with a powerful forehand return winner off a 67 mph second serve. In the second set, the only break arrived for a 3-2 lead for Sabalenka, and that was basically that. Sabalenka compiled a 41-17 edge in winners while making only 18 unforced errors in a match that lasted a little more than 1 1/2 hours. What else happened Wednesday at Wimbledon? Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who is seeded sixth, joined Sabalenka in the third round, beating Olga Danilovic 6-4, 6-2. Other players in action later included 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini among the women and two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe among the men. Who plays Thursday at the All England Club? Novak Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 major championships at Wimbledon will lead off the Centre Court schedule on Day 4 against Britain's Dan Evans at 1:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. ET), followed by Iga Swiatek vs. Caty McNally, and No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. Aleksandar Vukic. ___ More AP tennis:
