(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Houston 101, Detroit 99 Boston 113, Milwaukee 107 Indiana 132, New York 121 Orlando 121, Washington 94 Golden State 127, Oklahoma City 116 Miami 95, Minnesota 94 Philadelphia 107 Charlotte 105 (OT) Denver 122, Dallas 120 Sacramento 127, Phoenix 118 (OT) Memphis 134, Portland 89 LA Lakers 123, Toronto 103
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE San Jose 1, New Jersey 0 Chicago 2, Minnesota 1 (OT) Anaheim 4, Columbus 2
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE Carolina 20, NY Giants 17 (OT) Buffalo 30, Indianapolis 20 Kansas City 16, Denver 14 Minnesota 12, Jacksonville 7 New England 19, Chicago 3 New Orleans 20, Atlanta 17 Pittsburgh 28, Washington 27 San Francisco 23, Tampa Bay 20 LA Chargers 27, Tennessee 17 Arizona 31, NY Jets 6 Philadelphia 34, Dallas 6 Detroit 26, Houston 23
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Gonzaga 88, Arizona St. 80 Creighton 96, Fairleigh Dickinson 70 Indiana 90, E. Illinois 55
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus celebrates victory after winning the Women’s Singles final match against Jessica Pegula of USA on Day 13 of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 7, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka has won the 2024 U.S. Open women’s singles final, beating No. 6 American Jessica Pegula in straight sets.
The 7-5, 7-5 victory marks Sabalenka’s first U.S. Open win and third Grand Slam title.
“Super happy” is how Sabalenka described herself just hours after winning the U.S. Open.
“It’s very special place here, and to win, to win grand slam in New York,” the winner said in an interview with ABC News. Sabalenka said that she learned a lesson from the 2023 US Open final against Coco Gauff – how to work the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
“After last year experience against Coco, probably last year, I didn’t expect that the crowd going to be that loud,” she said adding that during this tournament “I felt so much love, and it was, it was keeping me motivated.”
Saturday was a bit of redemption for the Belarusian player, it was last year’s final where she lost against Gauff after the American fought back to win in three sets.
This time, Sabalenka resurged in the second set after dropping 5 straight games to Pegula.
This is the sixth time Sabalenka beat Pegula. Just last month in Cincinnati, the American was bested in straight sets.
The 24,000 crowd was noticiably on Pegula’s side for much of the match and paired with a closed roof – it made for a loud stadium on the game’s biggest stage.
Pegula’s run at the U.S. Open won’t end with all bad news for her – along with the $1.8 million prize money, Pegula will wake up this Monday as the world number 3 making her the top American female tennis player on the tour.
During her post-match press conference, Pegula said she was annoyed that she lost the match but said she “was able to find some good tennis. Just wasn’t quite able to sustain it.”
Pegula added that she was touched by the number of friends and family were in the stands.
“I had a lot of friends that were just, I’m flying in, I’m coming, I don’t care,” she said, adding, “I felt like in a way, not just my journey, but my friends and family have been on this journey with me as well.”
Standing on the court where she had just won her first U.S. Open, Sabalenka told ABC News that the moment she fell onto court after the championship point brought back so many emotions.
“I was just super proud of myself and my team that that we have, like, so many tough lessons here in the past, and we were able to come back stronger and and then finally, we are holding this beautiful trophy,” Sabalenka said while holding the championship trophy.
Jordan Chiles of Team USA looks on with her Bronze Medal from the Women’s Apparatus floor final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 05, 2024 in Paris, France. (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Olympian Jordan Chiles opened up this week in her first interview since being stripped of her bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The star gymnast, whose bronze medal in the women’s gymnastics floor exercise final was revoked in August, spoke on the subject at the 2024 Forbes Power Women’s Summit in New York City on Wednesday.
“The biggest thing that was taken from me was that it was the recognition of who I was,” said Chiles, pausing halfway through and becoming emotional. “Not just my sport, but the person I am.”
“To me, everything that has gone on, it’s not about the medal, it’s about my skin color, it’s about the fact that there were things that have led up to this position of being an athlete,” she said.
She added, “I felt like when I was back in 2018, where I did lose the love of this sport. I lost it again. I felt like I was really left in the dark.”
Chiles referenced a coach she said she had in 2018, who she claimed “emotionally and verbally abused” her, though she did not name them, and said losing her medal made her feel voiceless again.
“I wasn’t able to be heard,” she said.
She added, “I made history and I will always continue to make history, and something that I rightfully did, I followed the rules. My coach followed the rules. We did everything that was totally, completely right.”
Initially, Chiles finished fifth in the individual floor exercise final at the Paris Olympics, only to be moved up to the bronze medal spot after her coaches appealed the scoring of one of the elements in her routine. In moving from fifth to third, she leaped over two Romanian gymnasts — including Ana Barbosu, who had already begun celebrating bronze.
The International Gymnastics Federation has since awarded Barbosu third place, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided the appeal made by Chiles’ coach at the event, with CAS saying Chiles’ score was “raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline.” In stating the challenge came too late, the CAS reinstated Chiles’ incorrect 13.666 score.
CAS later said it would not hear Chiles’ appeal to keep her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics despite new evidence, according to USA Gymnastics.
Following the unsuccessful appeal, Chiles took to Instagram to share her feelings on losing the medal.
“I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” she wrote in a statement at the time.
“To add to the heartbreak, the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this sport and I am so proud to represent my culture and my country,” she continued.
Chiles took home one medal from the Olympics, helping Team USA secure gold in the women’s artistic team all-around event. She was also a part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
(NEW YORK) — The NFL locker room is filled with intense emotions, from euphoric athletes celebrating victories to those coping with the pain of defeat. For players, reporters and fans, there’s nothing like being there in the thick of those post-game moments.
However, some NFL players are calling for a “timeout” on reporters conducting locker room interviews.
“If only y’all knew how awkward some of the male reporters act,” former wide receiver Torrey Smith wrote in an X post earlier this month. “Straight meat watchers.”
Some players want to move interviews outside the locker rooms to protect players’ privacy and dignity in the space where they shower and change.
“Well, we’ve had some instances where guys have been naked, and it’s been sent unchecked and unedited,” Lloyd Howell Jr., executive director of the NFL Players Association, said of the situation. “We’ve had hot mics where things have been captured that were never meant to be captured.”
One example is a 2015 Cincinnati Bengals locker room interview that aired on NFL Network, where players could be seen in the background of the broadcast removing towels and changing their clothes.
The Bengals recently said that they will no longer conduct interviews inside their locker room and will instead meet reporters in a different location. The decision came after the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) released a statement urging the league to “make immediate changes” to its media policy.
“Over the past three years, the NFLPA has worked to collaborate with the NFL and the Pro Football Writers of America to move media interviews out of the locker room,” it said.
Some reporters are pushing back. Calvin Watkins, President of the Pro Football Writers of America, who has covered the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL teams for over two decades, noted that the players already have protections.
“If a player comes out of the shower and he wants to get dressed in the locker room, the team must provide a curtain around his locker stall so he could get dressed in private,” he said.
The media is willing to respect players’ wishes, Watkins said, as long as they still get their interviews. He also noted that this kind of access and the coverage that comes from it has contributed significantly to the NFL’s current status as a globally recognizable and successful brand.
The current NFL media policy notes that interviews “may be conducted outside the locker area” if the club or player requests it.
“However, media representatives must be permitted to request interviews in person with players inside the locker room,” it says.
It also gives the home clubs responsibility for ensuring that both teams’ shower areas are screened from view.
“Each team must provide its players with wrap-around towels or robes, in addition to the standard supply of bath towels for post-game showers,” the policy says.
Other professional sports, such as basketball and baseball, grant reporters even greater access to the locker room.
Christine Brennan was one of the first female reporters allowed inside an NFL locker room, as a beat reporter for the Washington Post in 1985.
The conversation about locker room access has evolved over the course of her career, having been a “man’s domain” in her early days.
“So many of these hard-line old-school coaches didn’t believe women knew football, didn’t believe women should be around the game of football,” Brennan said. “And they fought tooth and nail to prevent people like me from doing my job.”
By 1985, the NFL began requiring equal access for both male and female reporters.
However, the NFLPA’s Howell said today’s debate isn’t about gender at all — it’s about evaluating a longstanding tradition through a 2024 perspective.
“It’s just going to be a very different procedure and I think it’s going to limit the information the fans, followers, observers of the National Football League care so much about,” Brennan said.
