分类： sports

The Melbourne Storm have delivered a critical update on the recovery journeys of two key first-team players, forward Eli Katoa and veteran Tui Kamikamica, both sidelined by serious, career-threatening health incidents in recent months. For 26-year-old Katoa, a two-time Dally M Second-Rower of the Year, the club has confirmed he will not take the field at all during the 2026 NRL season, as he continues to work with a team of specialists and neurosurgeons to map out a potential long-term return to contact rugby league.

Katoa’s health crisis dates back to a November 2025 Test match for Tonga against New Zealand, where he sustained multiple traumatic head impacts. A heavy collision before the match already should have ruled him out of action, but the star forward was permitted to play, and suffered two additional blows to the head that left him with life-threatening brain bleeding requiring emergency surgery. He has not played a professional match since that day.

In the months following his emergency surgery, Katoa has progressed to taking part in low-intensity, non-contact training drills, and remains a constant presence around the club daily. Still, club leadership confirmed that his recovery is moving slower than hoped, and any return to contact training — the first required step to a full playing comeback — remains uncertain. The earliest possible return fans could see Katoa back on the field would be the 2027 NRL season, and that outcome is still far from guaranteed.

“Eli won’t play this year,” Melbourne Storm chief executive Justin Rodski confirmed to NewsWire. “He’s still going through his recovery process and continuing to try to build up through a training point of view, but it’s all non-contact. He’ll continue to work with his specialists and neurosurgeons around a plan for phasing him back into more and more training. In terms of when that is and whether or not that includes contact training in the near future, we simply do not know so we just have to be patient and continue to listen to the medical experts.”

Rodski emphasized that the club is prioritizing Katoa’s long-term health over a rushed return to the field, noting the star’s unwavering drive to get back to playing. “Eli is so keen to get back out there and play. He’s at training and the club every day, but we can’t rush his return and we need to ensure that we’ve done everything right and followed the medical process,” Rodski said. “I think over the coming months we’ll start to get a clearer picture on what that could look like, and hopefully there is a path to return to some contact training at some point down the track. But at this stage we’re still waiting to get that confirmation.”

The club has rallied around Katoa as he navigates an uncertain recovery, Rodski added. “We’ve been getting around him and giving him all the support he needs because it’s hard for any player being on the sidelines. For Eli, having the uncertainty on what that actually looks like makes it even more difficult. We couldn’t have more respect for a person because he’s such a wonderful leader in the organisation. We’ve missed him on the field, but it’s been great to have him around off the field. We’re all hopeful that we get some positive news over the coming months that there’s a plan for his return.”

The Katoa announcement comes just after the Storm confirmed another devastating season-ending injury: representative winger Xavier Coates suffered a full Achilles rupture during a training session that will rule him out of all 2026 matches.

For Kamikamica, the club’s other sidelined forward, there is more cautious optimism for a 2026 return. The veteran forward suffered a stroke after the Storm’s round four loss to the North Queensland Cowboys earlier this season, and has since resumed full training as he works toward clearance from medical experts.

“Tui is so keen to get back out there, but we’re waiting on further medical advice to give him the all clear,” Rodski said. “He’s back into training, he’s around the club, he’s energetic and passionate as ever to return, but he’s gone through a serious ordeal so we need to make sure that we’ve done everything right to tick every box from a medical point of view to clear him to be able to play again this season. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that might be, and he’s still going through some testing. Until we’ve got that medical approval and clearance, he’s just going to continue to train and be around the club.”

The 2025 French Open men’s singles final is set, after two dramatic days of semi-final action that saw a veteran chasing a long-awaited milestone and an Italian rising star advance under unexpected circumstances. Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the tournament’s second seed and world number three, fought past 20-year-old Czech rookie Jakub Mensik in a four-set thriller on Friday to book his spot in Sunday’s championship match, where he will face Italy’s Flavio Cobolli. For Zverev, the match marks his fourth appearance in a Grand Slam final, and a chance to claim the first major title of his decorated career.

Zverev’s path to the final required every bit of his 11 years of Grand Slam experience against Mensik, who was competing in his first ever major semi-final. The young Czech had already fought through two draining five-set matches to reach the last four, and fatigue gradually took its toll over the course of the two-and-a-half-hour contest. Zverev struck first, breaking Mensik’s serve in the 11th game of a tight opening set after saving three break points that would have put the 26th seed up 5-3. The German dominated the second set, dropping only four points on his own serve and breaking Mensik twice to take a two-set lead.

Mensik briefly turned the tide after calling a medical time-out early in the third set for a nagging neck injury. His improved use of drop shots caught Zverev off guard, and he broke to take a 4-2 lead before closing out the set 6-3 — the only second set Zverev has dropped through the entire tournament. But the young Czech could not maintain his momentum. Unforced backhand errors gifted Zverev an early break in the fourth set, putting him up 2-0, and the veteran never looked back. Zverev closed out the 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win on his first match point when Mensik sent a backhand into the net. Along the way, Zverev drew some criticism from spectators for disputing two line calls and received a time violation warning, but his ability to navigate through physical and mental pressure has kept his title dream alive.

In the other semi-final, 10th seed Cobolli did not even take the court, after his compatriot and childhood friend Matteo Arnaldi withdrew just one hour before the match due to a sudden viral illness. Arnaldi, ranked 104th in the world, had pulled off a Cinderella run to the semi-finals, winning two back-to-back marathon matches in the third and fourth rounds before his quarter-final opponent Matteo Berrettini retired due to injury. Arnaldi said that despite feeling good through most of the tournament, he woke up suffering from dizziness and decided a withdrawal was the only responsible decision.

“It’s tough — for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I felt pretty good,” Arnaldi told reporters. “Every time I get up I feel dizzy and not the best… so that was the right decision for me.”

Cobolli, who advanced to his first ever Grand Slam final via walkover, shared his disappointment for his friend and compatriot. “It’s tough for me to speak also. When he came to me an hour ago I almost cried,” he said. “At the same time I’m happy with the result this week.” Cobolli has been one of the tournament’s most impressive performers, dropping just two sets through five matches, including a standout quarter-final win over fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.

For Zverev, Sunday’s final will be the culmination of years of near-misses at the sport’s biggest events. He has fallen short in three previous Grand Slam finals, most recently losing to Carlos Alcaraz at the 2023 French Open, and held a two-set lead over Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final before collapsing in five sets. He also entered the French Open in the middle of a 14-month title drought, dating back to his win at a small clay-court event in Munich in April 2024. With tournament favorites Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner exiting early in the second and third rounds respectively, Zverev has handled the pressure of being the top remaining seed well, losing only two sets across six matches to reach the final. He also holds a 3-1 career winning record against Cobolli, making him the clear favorite to lift the trophy on Philippe Chatrier Court.

After reaching the final, the 29-year-old reflected on his journey to the championship match, leaning into his lighthearted approach to pressure. “This is a Grand Slam, it’s best of five, things are going to happen, opponents are going to play better. I managed it,” Zverev said. “Pure emptiness, there’s absolutely nothing in my head. We’re athletes, very few of us have anything in our heads. Sometimes it’s easier to be stupid and not to think too much. I hope to play another great match on Sunday.”

A proposed move to bring former Irish football star Robbie Keane in as the next manager of Scottish Premiership champions Celtic has triggered widespread vocal and public pushback from the club’s pro-Palestine supporter base, over Keane’s decision to remain in his role at Israeli top-flight side Maccabi Tel Aviv after the outbreak of the latest Gaza conflict. Keane, who remains the Republic of Ireland’s all-time leading goalscorer and previously enjoyed a successful loan spell at Parkhead back in 2010, has emerged as the top candidate for the vacant managerial post, with reports confirming he has already entered direct talks with Celtic’s majority principal shareholder Dermot Desmond. What was shaping up as a potential popular homecoming for the fan-favorite former player has quickly turned into a major controversy, however, rooted in Keane’s 2023-2024 tenure at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Keane was first appointed to lead the Israeli side in June 2023, months before the October 7 Hamas attacks that prompted Israel’s large-scale military campaign in Gaza. Rather than stepping down from his role immediately after the conflict began, Keane chose to see out the full domestic season, guiding Maccabi Tel Aviv to a domestic league and cup double before resigning in 2024 and taking the top job at Hungarian side Ferencvaros in 2025. He has previously defended his decision to stay, noting he felt a professional responsibility to the coaching and backroom staff he had brought with him to the club. For a large and vocal segment of Celtic’s supporter base, that choice is unacceptable. Celtic fans have longstanding and well-documented commitments to Palestinian solidarity, regularly displaying large Palestine flags at club matches throughout the ongoing conflict. In recent weeks, as rumors of Keane’s impending appointment have spread, opponents have taken visible action to make their anger known: anti-Keane graffiti and protest banners have already appeared around the perimeter of Celtic’s Glasgow stadium, Parkhead. A formal statement coordinated by the group Celtic Fans for the Liberation of Palestine argues that hiring Keane would create deep, lasting division among the club’s global support base. As of press time, 67 separate Celtic supporter groups have publicly endorsed the anti-Keane statement, via the popular North Curve Celtic account on the social platform X. The statement emphasizes that Celtic’s own founding identity is rooted in solidarity with oppressed and displaced communities: the club was established in 1887 by Irish immigrant communities in Glasgow, who carried direct intergenerational memories of the Great Famine and colonial displacement. “Celtic supporters have a long and proud history of solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the statement reads. “For us, Robbie Keane’s decision to manage Maccabi Tel Aviv during the genocide in Gaza is impossible to ignore. To choose to manage a club in Israel while, less than 40 miles away, the same country was using indiscriminate weapons of mass murder against defenceless people is unconscionable. Celtic was founded by a community shaped by the legacy of genocide, displacement and famine. Our club’s roots lie in solidarity with those who suffered injustice and oppression. We urge the Celtic board to listen to supporters’ concerns and reconsider this appointment.” The vacancy for the managerial role opened up at the end of the 2024-2025 season, with interim manager Martin O’Neill, 74, stepping in to guide the club to a Scottish Premiership title and Scottish Cup victory on a temporary basis after the departure of the previous permanent manager.

Tennis icon Serena Williams is continuing her highly anticipated return to professional tennis, with organizers of the Berlin WTA Open confirming Friday that the 44-year-old American will compete in the tournament’s women’s doubles draw this June. This marks the next stop on Williams’ comeback trail, nearly four years after she stepped away from full-time competitive play.

In an official statement released alongside the announcement, Williams emphasized the significance of adding each new stop to her comeback schedule. “Every tournament I add to my schedule right now is special, and Berlin is no exception,” she said. “I look forward to playing in front of the German crowd and continuing to build momentum for the grass-court season.” Organizers noted that Williams’ doubles partner will be revealed at a later date, as preparations for the event continue to take shape.

The confirmation comes just days after Williams announced her return to the tour earlier this week, confirming she will kick off her comeback at London’s Queen’s Club tournament, which gets underway on June 8. The Berlin Open, hosted in Germany’s capital, is scheduled to open its doors on June 15, serving as a key traditional warm-up event for the 2025 Wimbledon Championships that kick off on June 29. This year’s edition of the Berlin tournament already boasts an incredibly competitive field, with nine of the top 10 players on the WTA tour set to compete at the west Berlin venue.

Williams’ most recent full-time tour appearance came more than two years ago, when she bowed out in the third round of the 2022 US Open, in what was widely expected to be her final professional tournament. After stepping away to focus on other pursuits and family, her surprise comeback has sent shockwaves of excitement through the global tennis community.

Following the Berlin event, Williams will have two additional pre-Wimbledon tune-up tournaments to refine her form: one in Bad Homburg, Germany, and another in Eastbourne, England, before she competes at the All England Club. For Williams, Wimbledon has long been one of the most successful stops of her legendary career: she has claimed seven singles titles and six doubles titles at the grass-court Grand Slam over the course of decades on the tour.