Sports
Top seeds working out issues entering play at Wimbledon
Jun 3, 2026; Paris, France; Aryna Sabalenka leaves the court after losing her match against Diana Shnaider on day 11 at Stade Roland Garros. Mandatory Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images Both top-seeded players are facing significant questions as the tennis calendar unfolds to the 139th edition of the Wimbledon Championships on Monday in London.
For Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka, the issues are performance-related, while defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy faces primarily health-related concerns.
Despite dominating at times over the past six months, both are searching for their first Grand Slam title of 2026.
Sabalenka only played one grass-court event, in Berlin two weeks ago, where Jessica Pegula bageled her in the third set semifinals. Sabalenka, however, shrugged it off on Saturday as she prepared for her first-round match versus Serbian qualifier Teodora Kostovic on Monday.
“I don’t want to stay too much in those sets, in those numbers,” Sabalenka said. “Overall I feel like things are clicking back together. Now I’m here, I’m happy and I can’t wait to start playing.”
Sabalenka could face Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu in the third round. The 30th-seeded former U.S. Open champion reached the finals at Queen’s Club earlier this month.
The greatest subplot on the women’s side is the return of seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams to singles competition. Williams, 44, accepted a wild card invitation and will face 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia in the opening round on Tuesday.
Williams’ last singles match occurred at the 2022 U.S. Open. She has played in two grass-court doubles matches in the lead-up to Wimbledon.
Second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and third-seeded and defending champion Iga Swiatek from Poland are flying under the radar after underwhelming grass-court results. Rybakina may have the easiest path to the quarters of the top four seeds, although a match-up with ninth-seeded and fast-rising Czech Linda Noskova potentially awaits.
Swiatek is faced with the task of trying to become the first woman since Serena one decade ago to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in back-to-back years.
“I feel proud of what happened last year,” Swiatek said. “But … I feel like I’m starting from a totally different position and keeping my expectations low. It’s not going to be smooth because of last year. Even though I won, I still have stuff to figure out.”
After besting Sabalenka, Pegula, the No. 4 seed, fell to Noskova in the finals in Berlin.
Sinner has foregone the grass-court season, attempting to address his heat-related health issues. He lost in the second round in steamy Paris, succumbing in five sets to Juan Manuel Cerundolo after winning the first two sets.
“I feel good,” Sinner said. “I think grass is a very different surface, obviously. You come here trying to do your best. At the same time if you play a tournament before here, maybe it’s not going the way you would like to, you come here with some doubts. If you don’t play any tournament, you don’t have these doubts, you just go out and play.”
Sinner opens play against Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday.
Another better-known Serbian, Novak Djokovic is seeded seventh and is making his 11th attempt at securing his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title.
Like Sinner, with whom he practiced at the All England Club this week, Djokovic has not competed since a third-round exit at Roland Garros. But if there is anyone that is confident on the surface in London, it is the seven-time champion.
“I think I’m better prepared here than I was for Roland Garros,” Djokovic, 39, said on Saturday. “I always loved playing on grass. I have a very good score here, history, in Wimbledon. That gives me a higher dose of confidence coming into the tournament.”
Second-seeded German Alexander Zverev, coming off his first major title at Roland Garros, faces an immediate test against the top-ranked Belgian Alexander Blockx, who is ranked No. 37.
American fans should be buoyed with the recent grass-court performances of No. 4 Ben Shelton and No. 17 Frances Tiafoe. Shelton triumphed at Stuttgart, while Tiafoe won his first ATP 500 event in Halle. In addition, No. 6 Taylor Fritz and No. 21 Tommy Paul have reached June title matches.
But Fritz faces a tough first-round match against London native and former World No. 4 Jack Draper, who is on the comeback trail after right knee and left arm injuries.
The entire men’s field will benefit from the absence of defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who will miss his second consecutive slam due to a wrist injury.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Rain threatens rematch between Yankees, Dodgers
Jul 17, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy (13) celebrates his two run home run against the New York Yankees with shortstop Mookie Betts (50) during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from the All-Star break on Friday and earned a win on a night when stars Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were quiet at the plate against the New York Yankees.
Instead, the Dodgers relied on dominant pitching and a clutch hit in the late innings of a 2-1 victory.
The teams will continue their three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, though bad weather is forecast. Heavy rain is projected for the New York area for most of Saturday, and if the game gets rained out, the teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday.
The Dodgers are 31-17 on the road this season and own 18 one-run victories after opening the series with the one-run victory Friday on Max Muncy’s go-ahead, two-run homer off Gerrit Cole with no outs in the seventh inning.
Muncy’s homer was among five hits for the Dodgers, who struck out 10 times. Ohtani, Freeman and Betts were a combined 0-for-11, though Betts drew a walk before Muncy homered.
“It was good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Any time you can find a way to win a game when Gerrit Cole is pitching is a good thing.”
The Yankees were held to one run or less for the 16th time this season, and for the seventh time since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured right rib.
New York allowed Muncy’s homer after Yankees manager Aaron Boone elected to keep Cole in after a mound visit.
The Yankees finished with six hits, including a double by Ben Rice, who is batting .412 during a nine-game hitting streak. Rice’s double nearly tied the game in the eighth, but Trent Grisham was thrown out at the plate on a throw by Betts.
“It’s just baseball,” Grisham said. “Sometimes you score 10, sometimes you score one.”
Left-hander Ryan Weathers (3-7, 4.15 ERA) will start for the Yankees on Saturday after allowing one run on six hits in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision in his team’s 5-3 victory over Washington on July 10.
Weathers is 0-2 with a 5.73 ERA in his past three outings. He is 0-3 with a 5.46 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against the Dodgers, though he has held Betts to one hit in 12 at-bats and Ohtani to 1-for-8. Weathers has struggled against Freeman, as the first baseman is 5-for-10 against him.
Right-hander Emmet Sheehan (4-6, 4.81 ERA) will start for Los Angeles on Saturday and is 1-5 in his past nine starts since May 14. This will be his first career appearance against the Yankees.
Sheehan last pitched on Sunday, when he allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision in the Dodgers’ 5-3 loss to Arizona.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Andres Chaparro, Nats try to top gaudy numbers vs. skidding A's
Jul 17, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Washington Nationals first baseman Andres Chaparro (87) watches the ball after hitting a two run homme run during the fifth inning against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images The All-Star break didn’t hinder the bats of the Washington Nationals as they scored more than three touchdowns’ worth of runs in their first game after the resumption of play on Friday.
The Nationals dismantled the Athletics 23-4 in the opening contest of a three-game set and will look for another offensive explosion on Saturday night at West Sacramento, Calif.
The scoring output equals the second-most in Nationals franchise history, which dates to 1969, when the team was the Montreal Expos. That record came in Washington’s 25-4 walloping of the New York Mets on July 31, 2018.
Washington was loaded with heroes on Friday while piling up 21 hits — including four homers — and going 13-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
The most unlikely star was Andres Chaparro, who entered the contest with seven RBIs. He recorded a career-best eight on Friday while smacking two homers during a 4-for-5 night.
The only players in franchise history with more RBIs in a game are Anthony Rendon (2017) and Mark Reynolds (2018), both of whom had 10.
“Everybody on the team knows how hard I work,” Chaparro said through an interpreter. “Every day I come in and put in the work and try to contribute to the team, and it feels special to get these kinds of results.”
Washington scored in double digits for the 14th time this season. Daylen Lile homered and drove in four runs and Curtis Mead was 4-for-6 with four runs, three RBIs and three doubles as the Nationals halted a three-game losing streak.
“If we stick together and keep playing like this, the second half is going to be special,” Chapparo said.
The A’s have lost 10 straight games and have been outscored 47-6 in their past four contests.
Staggering into the All-Star break was bad enough, but manager Mark Kotsay knew his squad laid an egg on Friday.
“There’s not much to explain; we played very badly at baseball in every sense of the word, and the fans let us know,” Kotsay said, alluding to choruses of boos. “I expect a lot from this group. Let’s see how they respond (Saturday).”
Tyler Soderstrom hit a two-run homer and Shea Langeliers hit a solo shot for the A’s.
Infielder Tommy White, 23, doubled in the eighth inning of his major league debut. He played first base as the club struggles without injured slugger Nick Kurtz (right thumb).
“He’s shown a lot of growth and improvement in his defense,” Kotsay said of White. “This is a runway here with Kurtz on the IL for him to help us win some games.”
Right-hander J.T Ginn (7-6, 3.67 ERA) will start for the Athletics on Saturday and make his bid at slowing the Nationals.
Ginn, 27, lost his two starts immediately before the All-Star break. He endured his worst start of the season against the Chicago White Sox last Sunday when he gave up eight runs and six hits over 4 1/3 innings in a 9-1 A’s loss.
Ginn has never faced the Nationals.
Washington will start right-hander Zack Littell (7-6, 4.90 ERA) in the middle game of the series. He is tied for second in the majors with 23 homers allowed in just 90 innings.
Littell, 30, pitched four innings of relief against the New York Yankees on July 10 in his most recent appearance. He gave up one run and five hits in a 5-3 loss, in which he didn’t take a decision.
Littell will make his 13th start and 20th appearance of the season. He is 0-1 with a 3.94 ERA in 10 career appearances (one start) against the A’s.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tarik Skubal, Tigers eye series win against Angels
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws a pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies during the first inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Sunday, July 12, 2026. The spotlight will be on two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal on Saturday night when the Detroit Tigers try for a series win over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
The left-handed Skubal (5-5, 3.09 ERA), a free agent at the end of the season, is expected to be the most coveted pitcher available at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Skubal, who has won two of his last three starts, is 1-1 with a 2.96 ERA in four career starts against the Angels, including 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts at Angel Stadium.
There has been speculation that Detroit could retain Skubal if the Tigers, who improved to 23-14 since June 1 with a 2-1 comeback win in Friday’s series opener, can put together a strong run before the trade deadline.
Due in part to a dismal 6-22 May, the Tigers enter Saturday’s game in fourth place in the American League Central — 6 1/2 games behind the surprising first-place Chicago White Sox — and are 3 1/2 games out of the AL’s final wild-card spot.
Skubal told reporters on Sunday that he will not get distracted by the trade speculation.
“If we’re going to try to ride the roller coaster of every single game after a loss or a win, you guys can write it; I’m not gonna,” Skubal said. “I’m going to stay pretty even throughout. My belief will never change in these guys.”
Detroit started a six-game road trip with a ninth-inning comeback over the Angels on Friday. Hao-Yu Lee lined a two-out, two-run double to the fence in right-center off reliever Kirby Yates for the eventual game-winning hit for the Tigers.
“When you can sneak out a win after the way the first eight-plus innings went, that clubhouse should be loud,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. “We earned it.”
Detroit was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and hadn’t gotten a runner past second base before Lee’s double.
“We really had a hard time kick-starting our offense tonight,” Hinch said. “Just weren’t putting back-to-back at-bats together.”
It was the 11th loss in the last 13 games for the Angels. They joined the Rockies, who also lost Friday night, as the first two teams in the majors to hit the 60-loss mark this season.
Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (3-2, 7.55 ERA), who has had success against the Tigers during his career, will start for the Angels on Saturday.
Rodriguez is 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA in three career starts against the Tigers, with 20 strikeouts in 15 innings. He picked up the win in a 7-1 victory at Detroit on May 28, when he allowed one run on two hits and two walks over five innings while striking out five.
Rodriguez won his last start at Minnesota, 4-3 on July 10, allowing three runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings. It was his first big league appearance since he went on the injured list on June 15 with lower back tightness.
“He pitched well,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “His changeup was working. It was working really good. He had some life on his fastball. He was throwing strikes, attacking the zone. Good first start, for sure.”
–Field Level Media
Rain threatens rematch between Yankees, Dodgers
Andres Chaparro, Nats try to top gaudy numbers vs. skidding A's
