11:19 AM ET Associated Press MADRID — Rafael Nadal got through another young opponent and showed signs he was getting closer to his best form on clay as he defeated Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3 to make it to the Madrid Open quarterfinals on Thursday. The women’s top-ranked player, Ashleigh Barty, meanwhile, cruised into the final
8:30 AM ET Watching a New York Rangers rebuild is like watching someone learning how to drive. You know at some point there’s going to be an aggressive acceleration, and you’re just hoping it’s not before they figured out how to work the steering wheel. Hence, the departure of general manager Jeff Gorton this week,
3:36 PM ET “I don’t think I have ever seen him play this well at club level. Not even at Juventus, where he was young and had the likes of Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal around him. He is at his absolute best at the moment and he is happy — you can tell.” Coming
11:00 AM BST England’s Poppy Cleall has said that the Women’s Six Nations cannot continue to include matches with “professionals v amateurs” and urged the unions to invest more in the game. The Red Roses were the only professional team in the 2021 tournament with finalists France being semi-professionals. A number of Scottish players are
Lewis Hamilton says he and Mercedes “can’t continue to rely on mistakes” from rivals Red Bull if they are to win the title this season. Hamilton leads Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the championship by eight points after three races. That advantage has been influenced by small but key errors from Red Bull and their
9:30 AM ET Tom Luginbill Close ESPN Analyst Senior National Recruiting Analyst for ESPN.com Coached in four professional football leagues Graduated from Eastern Kentucky and Marshall Craig Haubert Close ESPN Staff Writer National recruiting analyst and analyst for ESPNU More than a decade of college and pro coaching experience. Graduated from Indiana and Nebraska-Omaha The
9:27 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The car will definitely not be the star this summer in the Superstar Racing Experience, which has been formatted for drivers to showcase their skills using what series co-founder Ray Evernham calls “old-school tools.” The good old steering wheel, gas pedal and brake pedal. “With this format,
There was undeniable fear once COVID-19 found its way into IPL’s bio-bubble, some Indian players who participated in the recently-suspended T20 league have revealed with a couple of them also asserting that it wasn’t as “tight” as it was last year. The world’s biggest T20 league was forced to suspend proceedings indefinitely on Tuesday after
7:00 AM ET When the IIHF Women’s World Championships in Nova Scotia were abruptly canceled on April 21 — just one day before Team USA was supposed to travel to Canada — many players felt it was another case of women’s hockey being treated as an afterthought. “A lot of people have asked, do you
7:48 AM ET Yes, Canelo Alvarez has been beaten — once. And he has been in close fights, and has been in trouble more than once. But if there’s a boxer who could be considered invincible at this time, the middleweight and super middleweight world titleholder checks all the boxes. Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs), 30,
Red Bull have poached five Mercedes engineers for their new in-house Formula 1 engine facility. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the recruits “provide us with the strongest possible technical platform for the future”. The facility gives Red Bull the possibility to design their own power-unit for new rules expected for 2025. The company
Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association on Thursday confirmed that the Australian players, coaches, match officials and commentators have been safely transported from India and are en route to the Maldives. The Australians will remain in the Maldives until the conclusion of the travel pause pertaining to flights from India to Australia. As previously
4:54 PM ET Chelsea reached their first Champions League final since 2012 as goals from Timo Werner and Mason Mount secured a 2-0 victory Real Madrid in their semifinal second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to win the tie 3-1 on aggregate. Their away goal in Madrid had given Chelsea a narrow advantage heading
8:21 PM ET The New York Rangers and Washington Capitals combined for 72 penalty minutes in the first 4 minutes, 14 seconds of their game on Wednesday night, their first meeting after Capitals forward Tom Wilson injured Rangers star Artemi Panarin earlier this week. There were six separate fights to start the game at Madison
12:08 AM ET LSU quarterback TJ Finley, who started five games for the Tigers as a freshman in 2020, is set to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal, he told WAFB-TV on Wednesday. Finley’s name does not yet appear in the portal, but he told WAFB, “I plan on taking a few trips to other schools
1:55 PM ET Luca Vildoza, an Argentinian guard with Baskonia of the Spanish ACB League, has agreed in principle to a four-year, $13.6 million deal with the New York Knicks, his agent, Alex Saratsis of Octagon Sports, told ESPN. Vildoza, one of the premier playmakers in Europe, will fly to New York once he clears
5:18 PM ET Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa is under the microscope once again. La Russa claimed he didn’t fully know the extra inning rule, which would have allowed him to avoid using closer Liam Hendriks as a baserunner in a 0-0 game against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. Hendriks had double-switched into
12:19 PM ET GREEN BAY, Wis. — Brett Favre hopes Aaron Rodgers can win another Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, but he’s not optimistic that there will be another run given what he knows about the rift between Rodgers and the team. In appearance on ESPN Wisconsin radio’s Wilde & Tausch, Favre on