Sports & Casinos UK

Former women’s No 1 proves she’s no nostalgia act before star pairing crash out in mixed doubles quarter-finalsSerena Williams’ US Open return lasted two matches and one afternoon Tuesday as she and Carlos Alcaraz followed a first-round win with a quarter-final defeat by Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli in the headline attraction of the reimagined mixed doubles competition.Back inside Arthur Ashe Stadium 1,453 days after the defeat by Ajla Tomljanovic that had appeared to end her career, Williams emerged from the tunnel at half past three to the roars of more than 10,000 spectators. As the 44-year-old American and Alcaraz warmed up in matching purple-and-black Nike kits, public-address announcer Andy Taylor rattled off her accolades one by one to a steadily rising wall of applause. Together they carried 30 grand slam singles titles, a record for a mixed-doubles team at a major. Continue reading...

Celtic threw away a four-goal lead in Austria as they missed out on the Champions League for the second year running. The Scottish champions looked to be cruising into the league stage when Callum McGregor put them 4-0 up on aggregate against Lask with a 21st-minute deflected strike.However, they went on to endure one of their all-time European lows with a 5-1 defeat in Linz delivering a £20m-plus blow. Continue reading...

After an unacceptable performance against Brentford, head coach still believes they can avoid sinking feeling this seasonWhat’s in a name? Quite a bit, judging by the discussion at Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham press conference on Tuesday, shortly after the club had completed the £75m signing of Savinho from Manchester City and the Brazil winger had let everybody know that he wanted to be called Sávio from now on. He will have that name on his Spurs shirt above his No 17, which he has taken over from Cristian Romero, the former captain who has moved to Atlético Madrid.The 22-year-old went by Sávio at various times before his two seasons at City but there was nonetheless speculation about the reasons for the reversion. Savinho translates roughly from the Portuguese as “little Sávio”. Was it him saying that he was now an older and more mature player? Continue reading...

A midweek jaunt to Devon always had the makings of a tricky trip for a Coventry team focused on Premier League survival. Such feelings quickly evaporated when Frank Lampard’s side raced into a two-goal lead with just four minutes and six seconds on the clock, Taiwo Awoniyi opening his account for his new club before Jack Rudoni doubled Coventry’s advantage. But, ultimately, Coventry were made to toil before chalking up a welcome first victory of the season.Plymouth have form for a cup upset and another was brewing when Xavier Amaechi pulled Tom Cleverley’s side level nine minutes into the second half. Coventry, to their credit, roused once more, the substitute Ephron Mason-Clark regaining the lead before Victor Torp sealed progress to the Carabao Cup third round from the penalty spot. “You’ve got to enjoy a win, always,” Lampard said. “A win is a big deal because it’s a nice feeling to take back on the bus for four hours.” Continue reading...

Barcelona legend wants to emulate Johan Cruyff’s total football philosophy after taking over as the Netherlands head coach“My feeling today is that I’m going to the university of football.” Those were Xavi Hernández’s opening words at his presentation as the Netherlands coach on Tuesday. “I learned a lot from this university of football during my career as a player and as a coach. I have many connections with this country.”Those connections date back to when Xavi was drafted as a youngster into La Masia, the famed Barcelona academy whose fundamentals are rooted in Dutch total football, inspired by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. Xavi’s first-team debut came under Louis van Gaal, and he spent many years under Frank Rijkaard before becoming one of the main pillars of the dream team under Pep Guardiola, who was hugely inspired by Cruyff. Continue reading...

Captain followed trend of discussing nightclub incidents rather than cricket before the second Test against PakistanEngland won the first game of their last Test series, against New Zealand at Lord’s, but between that match and the second Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson were involved in a headline-grabbing incident at a London nightclub. “I’m angry, frustrated at having to sit here and talk through this,” Rob Key said a couple of days later.“I feel disappointed that I’m here talking about this because there’s so much we’ve tried to do, so much we’ve tried to learn from, and I believe that as a team, the way they’ve carried themselves in the lead‑up to last week’s game, the way they played that Test match – to then be now talking about this, is just incredibly frustrating.” Continue reading...

Itauma can become second-youngest champion after Mike TysonHrgovic claims title victory for opponent would ‘ruin his soul’Moses Itauma has hit back at Filip Hrgovic’s taunt that he is a “delusional kid” and admitted that his Croatian rival is starting to annoy him as the two men prepare to fight for the IBF world heavyweight title on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.“I tell myself there’s nothing that this Hrgovic guy can do to get in my head but he’s starting to wind me up,” Itauma said on Tuesday evening. “In an interview earlier, apparently he said I wake up and I just hug trees. He’s really starting to annoy me. Continue reading...

Podcast co-host says tongue-in-cheek that ex-Manchester United captain would like to sign up for his showWith an all-conquering podcast empire and a new deal that will make his football punditry show a regular fixture on Netflix, there seems little left for Gary Lineker to wish for.However, while the former Match of the Day presenter is full of praise for Alan Shearer and Micah Richards – the fellow pundits on his The Rest Is Football show – Lineker has admitted to admiring a combative figure playing for his main rivals. Continue reading...

Slovenian powers to victory by more than three minutesLeader breaks rivals on brutal climb at halfway pointTadej Pogacar arrived in red, lit the fuse on the climbs and turned stage four of the Vuelta a España ⁠into a private exhibition on Tuesday, powering away with almost 50km remaining to win alone in Andorra la Vella.The Slovenian, bidding to ⁠complete his Grand ⁠Tour collection by ​claiming the Vuelta for the first time, attacked on the road to the second climb and quickly reduced a high-altitude battle into ⁠a one-man procession. Continue reading...

Center Kate Koval departs after one season with TigersAnna Minaeva of Russia joined team earlier this monthKim Mulkey hoped two could be ‘ambassadors’ for peaceUkrainian center Kate Koval is leaving LSU less than two weeks after the Tigers brought in a player from Russia.LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Monday night that Koval was leaving for “personal reasons”, adding that the program will “respect her privacy on her decision”. Continue reading...