Carlos Alcaraz challenged to golf by SPIDER-MAN ahead of Wimbledon quarter-final vs Cam Norrie
A huge sports fan, Holland was in attendance at SW19 ahead of Alcaraz's quarter-final clash with Britain's
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Carlos Alcaraz was challenged to a round of golf by Tom Holland
Credit: BBC
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Holland, 29, spoke to Alcaraz after the Spaniard's practise session
Credit: BBC
After the Spaniard finished his morning practise session, he was approached by Holland.
The superstar actor, 29, enthusiastically responded: "We should play!"
And Alcaraz, ever the keen sportsman, appeared to accept the invitation, replying: "For sure."
The five-time Grand Slam champion is a keen golfer, and has been playing with Andy Murray during the tournament.
Alcaraz and Murray were tied at 1-1 in their games, before the Scot posted on X: "We played the deciding match this afternoon. Maybe ask him what happened after the next match."
Quizzed about the decider with Murray on court after his four-set win over Andrey Rublev, Alcaraz joked: "I didn't remember playing any matches yesterday.
"I have to show up. I have to say he beat me.
Most read in Tennis
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Hollywood star Holland is a huge sports fan
Credit: Getty
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Alcaraz, 22, is in action against Cam Norrie this afternoon
Credit: PA
"We were playing in his home, so it could be really bad for him if I beat him in his home so I let him win once.
"But I lost against him as a player, as a coach, on the golf course, so I'm not going to play against him anymore."
Fresh Wimbledon controversy as new technology fails again after randomly calling in the middle of point as star broken
Alcaraz will take on Norrie on Centre Court for a place in the final four.
On the challenge that the lefty poses, the two-time defender Wimbledon champion said: "Facing Cam is always really, really difficult. We have really difficult battles already.
"Facing him is almost a nightmare, to be honest. Really tough from the baseline. I'm not surprised he's on the quarter-final playing a great tennis because I've seen him practising.
When he lost at Queen's, he stayed for five days practising morning, afternoon, and night. I saw him. So I'm not surprising at all seeing his level. It's going to be really different.
"He's playing at home, as well, so he's going to use the crowd to his side.
Read more on the Irish Sun
"I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play a good tennis if I want to beat him."
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Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Brown Bread: how a modern Irish emigration film is set to move the needle
Shaunagh Connaire is bringing it all back home. More specifically, all the way back to the kitchen of her childhood home. That family home in Longford was the starting point for a long and successful career during which Connaire, an Emmy-nominated documentary maker, has reported for the BBC, Channel 4, and the Financial Times, among others, before then going on to spend three years working for the Clooney Foundation for Justice, including a memorable trip to Africa with Amal Clooney and Michelle Obama. Yet it is the homeplace back in the Midlands that also forms the backdrop for a first foray into fictional drama. Her 14-minute short film Brown Bread received its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh this week, and arriving at this point was truly a family affair. 'That's my parent's kitchen in the home where I grew up,' Connaire says down a Zoom connection from her new home in Lisbon. 'Fitted by my uncle Jackie, husband of my late godmother.' And here's another connection. Brown Bread is a moving, poignant, and at times humorous look at the emigrant experience, and it was anchored in Connaire's own story. Just as the character of Aine, played by Katie McGrath, couldn't get home from her job in New York to attend her godmother's funeral, Connaire also missed out on her beloved godmother's funeral due to issues with her Green Card application. 'What you have to do is hand over your passport,' Connaire explains, 'and my immigration lawyers have said, now, you know, you're not going to be able to travel with this, and I was like, it should be fine, a couple of months or three months, whatever it was, maybe it was six months, I can't remember. And then my godmother, who I was very close to, also from Longford, passed away in that period, and genuinely, it just did one with my head. 'As an Irish person, the guilt, but it wasn't even just that. It was a very profound moment. All I wanted to do was be back in a very simple house in Longford drinking a very simple cup of tea with my family. It just made me question everything about why I had kind of chased this in New York, that felt very at odds with how I was brought up, simple enough beginnings, and my relationship with my aunt was very much based on [having] a cup of tea.' THE GUILT Fionnuala Flanagan in Brown Bread By any measure, Connaire's career has been a success. Never mind the two Emmy Award nominations, in 2021 she became the first woman to be awarded the freedom of Co Longford. Yet the passing of her cherished aunt sparked conflicting thoughts that no doubt occupy the hearts and minds of Irish people living the world over. 'It's like a modern Irish emigration story,' she says, adding of Brown Bread: 'I was trying very hard to steer away from anything that felt twee.' She says her own two children are 'very Irish', despite living in the US and now in Portugal, and she adds that being able to portray her home town with 'a sense of pride' was 'hugely important'. Elements of the film — some of the locations, and also some home video footage — further anchors the fictional story in the reality of Connaire's life. Moving to Lisbon, she says, has helped with that connection to home, and it is certainly a change from the starkness of one of her children having undergone a 'shooter' safety drill at their New York school. 'I kind of, in a joking way, pitched it as 'we're moving home!' and whispered, 'to Europe'.' Her sister lives in Australia and so proximity to Longford — and Donegal, her husband's home county — counts for a lot, but as she says: 'You have to chase your own life, you have to do what's good for your own family. And this is where we are now.' TAKING A TILT Shaunagh Connaire: 'It's been a creative itch I've had forever, to write a script and all with a view, I would say, to doing something bigger after this short. The short is a little test.' Photo: Ray Ryan And it has been quite a journey. For Channel 4's Unreported World, Connaire secretly filmed in China where clinics provide electro-shock therapy to 'cure' homosexuality. A particularly harrowing edition of Unreported World saw Connaire covering the efforts of medics with Médecins sans Frontières in combatting the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. Yet despite all that time in front of the camera, Connaire credits her three years working for the Clooneys as the inspiration for her tilt at fictional drama, recently telling Variety: 'I think being in their presence and learning a little bit about the world of Hollywood, gave me the confidence to enter this world. 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Connaire saw the Clooney Foundation as having the biggest platform to 'amplify voices' — a case in point being the gathering of evidence of indiscriminate attacks by Russian forces in Ukraine that killed civilians and destroyed civilian objects, as well as violations committed by Russian armed forces, which ultimately led to cases being lodged in court. Connaire has previously spoken about the strangeness of being interviewed by the Clooneys for the job, but after three years with the Foundation, topped off with a visit with Amal and Michelle Obama to Malawi and South Africa, she knew it was time to move on. 'It was such a high,' she says. 'I kind of knew in the back of my head that I was potentially going to leave so I was like, feck it, I might as well just leave on this high.' 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Back in 2018 she was invited to speak at her former school, Méan Scoil Mhuire, only to be told on the day that the school could not show a montage of her broadcast work for reasons which included upholding the school's Catholic ethos. That led to Connaire not being able to attend and instead issuing a statement for the students about her work, and she never did get to show that montage in the way it was initially envisaged. 'I always will stick to my values, and that was very much against what I believed in,' she says now. There is a small echo of this in Brown Bread and the subsequent granting of the Freedom of the County and all the assistance of local people in the making the short film shows that the county holds her dear as one of their own. There is a lot to be said for it – and the related home comforts. 'Just something simple like going to SuperValu and buying purple Snack bars and sausages — that's high on my priority list,' she says. Brown Bread will be showing at festivals internationally throughout 2025
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Midfielder, manager, meme: The many faces of Roy Keane
ONCE upon a time in Cork, a baby was born who would grow up to terrify not just opposition midfielders, but also his own teammates, his managers, and presumably the postman if he happened to take pause and congratulate himself on doing an honest day's work (It's his job!!). His name was Roy Keane. It's almost impossible to imagine he was once a baby, but a baby he presumably was. Once. That Roy Keane was the embodiment of a certain kind of '90s masculinity: The clenched jaw, the permanent scowl, the gait of a man who has just discovered his pint is off. He wore his rage like a birthmark. And woe betide anyone who crossed him. Patrick Vieira learned this the hard way in the Highbury tunnel, in a scene that resembled less a pre-match meet-and-greet and more the opening of a particularly gritty Scorsese movie. This Roy Keane was small in stature but had the presence of a colossus. In a glorious era for midfielders, he was — to my mind at least — the best. In his pomp, he was a joy to watch, but like nitroglycerine to handle. You worried for him the way you worried for a prodigal son. Roy Keane as a Sky Sports pundit. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty A late-night phone call could mean many things: A man-of-the-match performance at the San Siro; a reverse-charges SoS from a police station in Salford; a request for 20 quid to be posted over to Manchester. Believing in Keane the footballer was easy. Trusting Keane, the young man, was much harder, mostly because we had no clue who he was. For years, Keane's aura was that of a man who might physically disintegrate if he so much as smiled. It simply wasn't done. Smiling was for the soft. If you wanted warmth, you could go sit by a radiator. Keane was here to win football matches — and possibly the moral high ground — by any means necessary. There is one clip from the evening he won the PFA Footballer of the Year award for the 1999/2000 season where, with literally no other options available to him, the shape of his mouth betrays him, and his face contorts into what would be ruled by any credible court of body language a human smile. That's my only recollection of him ever doing it outside of the act of a teammate scoring a goal. But time, that great equaliser, eventually gets even the fiercest of midfield generals. And so, here we are in 2025, looking at Roy Keane — still with the beard, still with the occasional glint of menace — but now one of the most beloved figures in sports media. A man who has, almost accidentally, become a sort of national treasure. And not just a national treasure at home here in Ireland, but, weirdly, in a transcendent nod to improved Anglo-Irish relations, the UK, too. How did this happen? What alchemy transformed Keane from the most combustible footballer of his generation to the man whose every withering remark on Sky Sports is immediately clipped, shared, and immortalised on TikTok by teenagers too young to remember him two-footing Alf-Inge Haaland into next month? To understand Keane, we must first understand ourselves. And since that's never going to happen, best sit back, relax, and happily join me in the surface-level deconstruction of the most fascinating Irish public figure since — you've guessed it — Michael Collins. Roy Keane, the Midfield Magician Roy Keane was never content to play football in the same way the rest of us played: As a hobby, a lark, or a means of justifying a curry afterwards. No, Keane treated every match as a moral referendum. Either you were up to the standard, or you were a disgrace to the shirt, the city, and possibly humanity itself. It was this intensity that powered Manchester United through the greatest years of their modern era. You think Keane was happy to win? No. Happiness was for people who didn't want to win the next game. Satisfaction was weakness. He was, in his own way, a sort of footballing monk — celibate not in the usual sense, but from joy itself. Roy Keane as Manchester United in 1999. Picture: INPHO/ALLSPORT There were signs that it was not ever thus. In the early years for Nottingham Forest, Ireland, and United, there were moments when the mask slipped, and the Mayfield kid was exposed. The over-the-top-of-the-shoulders celebration was a surrender to momentary joy, which lasted seconds. The rest was fury. Alex Ferguson, no stranger to darkness himself, eventually found Keane's relentless standards too much to endure. Their split was less amicable divorce and more Sid and Nancy. And Roy, naturally, saw nothing strange about this. He expected the same from everyone else that he demanded of himself: Total commitment and, ideally, no smiling. Both his exits — from Saipan, and later from United — were 'Where were you when' moments of tragic history. I recall leaving a college exam early to use a phone box in order to call a friend and confirm the news. I had no credit. That would've disgusted Keane. 'No credit? Give me a break.' Everyone remembers the night in Turin. For those of us who were really paying attention though, there were equally impressive nights in Bolton, Stoke, Newcastle, and Leeds. Roy Keane did not discriminate. He was an equal opportunity destroyer. Roy Keane, the Manager Having spent years glaring at people for a living, Keane took up managing them, first with Sunderland and then Ipswich. And while his record was respectable, the stories emerging were of a man bewildered by mere mortals who didn't share his evangelical zeal. One anecdote has it that when a Sunderland player dared to show up late to training, Keane simply turned his car around and drove home. Because if they couldn't be bothered, neither could he. This is known in management circles as 'sending a message,' but in Keane's case, it was likely much less performative in its motive, and just a very practical expression of disgust. Roy Keane as Republican of Ireland manager in 2017. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire Another tale recounts Roy sitting in the canteen, glowering into a cup of tea while young professionals crept past like mice in a haunted house. 'Good morning,' they'd squeak, and he'd nod imperceptibly, as if granting them a reprieve from execution. But even Roy must have sensed he was not built for the modern game's mood enhancers and sports psychologists. So, he drifted away from the dugout and into something altogether less obvious: punditry. Roy Keane, the Accidental Comedian The early signs were unpromising. Here was a man so famously laconic he once made Ryan Giggs look like Graham Norton. Surely, he'd be a disaster in front of the cameras. And yet somehow it worked. Because, in an age of bland punditry, Keane was refreshingly honest. He didn't do hyperbole. He didn't do platitudes. He'd watch a half-hearted back-pass, scowl, and pronounce it 'shocking'. Or he'd hear the suggestion that a player needed an arm around the shoulder and look as though he was about to call security. Soon enough, Sky Sports realised they'd struck gold. Keane didn't just provide analysis — he provided theatre. Stick him next to Micah Richards, the permanently giddy labrador of the studio, and you had the perfect double act: Micah cackling, Roy sighing with existential despair. It was like watching an old married couple — if one half of the couple believed the other should be dropped from the squad. One particularly telling moment came when Richards declared that he 'loved football'. Keane responded with an arched eyebrow and the words, 'You love football, yeah? I love winning.' It was the most Keane sentence ever uttered. And yet, paradoxically, the more unimpressed he appeared, the more we loved him for it. Roy Keane, The Redemption In any other sphere of life, this would be called a 'rebrand'. But Keane is too sincere, too committed to his principles to consciously rebrand. What's happened instead is a sort of collective reappraisal. We've all decided that he was right all along, even if we'd never survive 10 minutes in his company. Because the modern footballer — cocooned, pampered, massaged — stands in such contrast to Keane's old-school values that watching him skewer them has become such a cathartic respite from a reality spent surfing LinkedIn, seeing the worst of everybody. He is anti-performative. A Beckettian masterpiece. He doesn't scream 'Look at me/Don't look at me' like so many public-facing narcissistic men often do, instead he says, 'What the fuck are you looking at?' On prime-time TV. In doing so, the man once synonymous with football's darker impulses — rage, spite, retribution — has become the game's conscience. He is the last link to a time when men drank pints after training and tackled as if their mortgage depended on it. He has become, dare I say it, a role model. Just one you cannot turn your back to. Roy Keane, the Meme If you'd told a younger Roy Keane that one day he'd be immortalised in memes, he'd have looked at you with the same expression he reserved for a young Gary Neville. But memes are the currency of modern fame, and, accidentally or otherwise, Roy is minted. There he is, his face contorted in disgust, captioned: 'When someone says they 'gave it 110%.'' Or sitting with his arms folded, the unspoken louder than a vuvuzela: 'Just do your bloody job.' Teenagers who never saw him play nowadays know him only as The Angry Bearded Man. And in a way, that's a triumph. Because if there's one thing Roy would appreciate, it's consistency. Whether he's breaking up play or breaking the nose of a lippy pseudo-hard man in a Cheshire pub, he's never pretended to be anything he's not. Authenticity, that's his superpower. Roy Keane, The Softening You might be tempted to believe, watching Roy gently chuckle at Ian Wright's gags, that he's mellowed. But I suspect he's just found a new outlet. Once, his rage-fuelled tackles. Now, it fuels soundbites and viral clips. And occasionally — only occasionally — he lets the mask slip. You see him talk about Cork, about family, about his dogs. About the things he genuinely hates, like smiling, parties, fireworks, and leaf blowers. Murdo McLeod's 2002 portrait of Roy Keane is one of the artworks featured in the Crawford Art Gallery's 'Now You See It...' exhibition. Picture used with permission from the Crawford Art Gallery And for a fleeting moment, you glimpse a gentler Roy, the man behind the scowl. Then someone suggests a player 'had a good game despite losing 3-0', and the eyebrow shoots back up, the voice goes higher than a Jordan Pickford clearance, and you remember he is a man of standards. He is, and always will be, Roy Keane. Less a pundit than an elemental force, reminding us that standards matter, that excuses are for losers, and that nobody should ever, ever smile when they're 2-0 down. Roy Keane, the (reluctant) National Treasure There's a temptation to assume Roy secretly enjoys all this adulation. The podcasts. The live appearances. An upcoming movie. But it seems more likely that he endures it in the same way he endured team-building exercises: With stoic resignation. And that, really, is the secret of his charm. He hasn't changed as much as the world around him has. We've softened. So has he, but not much. And in our cosseted modernity, he's the last authentic holdout, grumbling from the sofa, refusing to tolerate mediocrity. It's what makes him special. It's why a generation who never watched him harangue the otherwise untouchable Eric Cantona now hang on his every word. And it's why — though he'd scoff at the idea — he has become something well beyond beloved. He is essential. And finally…Roy Keane, the Metaphor Roy Keane's evolution is proof of two things. That time does funny things to a man's reputation and that we love truth tellers in hindsight. From a safe distance. Preferably behind a screen, or on a stage, where our own insecurities are hidden, safe from prosecution. But if Roy has taught us anything (other than the fact that he's ultimately right about everything), it's that sometimes the truth hurts. And sometimes the truth comes with a Cork accent, a magnificent beard, and a look that says: 'I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed.' Which, if you know Roy Keane, is roughly the same thing. Read More Roy Keane: England players were having a chat like they were in Starbucks
The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Horoscope today, July 12, 2025: Daily star sign guide from Mystic Meg
OUR much-loved astrologer Meg sadly died in March 2023 but her column will be kept alive by her friend and protégée Maggie Innes. Read on to see what's written in the stars for you today. ♈ ARIES March 21 to April 20 Working with a friend to give a shop or a home, an impressive new look also reveals what rich creative skills you have. If you're single, love sparks fly from the first wave to a new neighbour. READ MORE MYSTIC MEG While passion gets hotter for settled couples taking activity classes. Luck links to a friend from far away getting in touch. Get all the latest Aries horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions . 3 Your weekly horoscope for Saturday ♉ TAURUS April 21 to May 21 You are naturally attracted to an expensive lifestyle. And you need a partner who appreciates this. Your ability to charm people should not be underestimated. If you're single, you can flirt your way into almost anyone's heart. But do remember that sincerity is a key must-have for a long term bond. Get all the latest Taurus horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♊ GEMINI May 22 to June 21 Saturn, planet of determination, is making its presence felt, and both a job and a relationship you may wish you had made more of can be back in the game. Perhaps people will think you are gambling with your heart, but you could prove them wrong. Friends, reunited for the first time this year, have brilliant ideas. Get all the latest Gemini horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♋ CANCER June 22 to July 22 The sun goes deeper into the self-awareness sector of your chart, to give you the extra self-belief to say how you really feel. Instead of saying only what you hope will please other people. Talking freely about the place you would like to live can lead to an important love question. Luck travels in a stretch limo. Get all the latest Cancer horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♌ LEO July 23 to August 23 Your gift for friendship and the unusual projects you come up with - especially if a charity fundraiser is involved - make you a natural team player. But you could come across as too independent and only interested in new relationships. Get ready for a surprise wedding that's the opposite of what friends expect. Get all the latest Leo horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions Most read in The Irish Sun ♍ VIRGO August 24 to September 22 With mighty Mars still in your birth sign, love can be the right blend of caring and consideration, and an extra dose of passion, too. Weekend working may not appeal to you, yet could turn out more profitable than you think. Family luck focuses on a talent for music, especially writing songs and singing as a group. Get all the latest Virgo horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions 3 Friends, reunited for the first time this year, have brilliant ideas Credit: Getty ♎ LIBRA September 23 to October 23 Your chart is determined to find you a soulmate. And there's something about you now that draws several candidates like moths to a flame. But as Mercury clashes with the moon, decisions made by minds, not feelings, are the ones to trust. If you are single, a job you have always wanted is out there for you. Get all the latest Libra horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions List of 12 star signs The traditional dates used by Mystic Meg for each sign are below. Capricorn: Aquarius: Pisces: Aries: Taurus: Gemini: Cancer: Leo: Virgo : Libra: Scorpio: Sagittarius: ♏ SCORPIO October 24 to November 22 The Uranus and Venus connection in your passion zone, creates an attraction that may be unlike any before. Yes, it may not come with a lifetime guarantee, but it is unforgettable. Be sure to set aside time to follow the cash trail when an object on a TV show looks exactly like one you've found recently. Get all the latest Scorpio horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♐ SAGITTARIUS November 23 to December 21 Mercury, planet of well-chosen phrases, will help you talk about new ways to run a relationship, without it sounding like criticism. Couples could attract luck via setting up a business that uses both their names in its title. Single? Romance smiles where food is cooked outdoors. Energy is multiplying use it for love. Get all the latest Sagittarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♑ CAPRICORN December 22 to January 20 What you see is not what you get with Capricorn today. Beneath that almost prim exterior is a sexy sensation and people are fascinated. Perhaps you are sometimes called a perfectionist, but this can damage a bond if it goes too far. Relax just a little bit and love could double its powers. Get all the latest Capricorn horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions 3 Luck could call twice at number '13' Credit: Supplied ♒ AQUARIUS January 21 to February 18 It may be difficult to see, but the most important people in your life want your true opinion. So give it tactfully but do make sure you are clear. Venus and Mars have plans for your romantic future and you may have to choose between two very successful and sexy Scorpios. Luck could call twice at number '13'. Get all the latest Aquarius horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions ♓ PISCES February 19 to March 20 As the sun proceeds through your prize-centred chart, you can be the zodiac's luckiest sign, but you do have to play your part by entering competitions - rather than just meaning to. A family discussion about a new place to live and more creative way of working should go better this time. Get all the latest Pisces horoscope news including your weekly and monthly predictions
