A planned moment of baseball immortality took an unexpected, humorous turn Friday outside T-Mobile Park, when a bronze statue honoring former Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki suffered an embarrassing mishap during its official unveiling. As the protective blue covering was pulled away from the monument by team officials, hundreds of gathered fans and dignitaries heard a sharp snapping noise, followed by a visible drop in the statue’s upper section: the sculpted replica of Suzuki’s signature game bat had split clean off. The 52-year-old Hall of Famer, who was on hand for the ceremony, reacted with immediate good humor, pointing at the broken bat in amused disbelief before breaking into a hearty laugh that quickly diffused any awkwardness among the crowd. The lighthearted incident came exactly one year after Suzuki received one of the highest honors in North American baseball, earning near-unanimous induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, capping a trailblazing 28-year professional career that spanned leagues in both Japan and the United States. After moving from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball in 2001, Suzuki spent 12 of his 18 MLB seasons with the Mariners, cementing his legacy as one of the franchise’s most iconic players before brief stints with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins. He returned to Seattle for his final two seasons before retiring in 2019. The statue itself captures Suzuki in his iconic 2001 rookie season right fielder uniform, posed in his recognizable batting stance. Speaking to reporters after the incident, Suzuki shared a fun behind-the-scenes detail of the statue’s creation: sculptor Lou Cella had asked him to model the original 2001 uniform for reference photos, and the legend said he was pleased to discover he could still fit into the two-decade-old uniform years after his retirement. Mariners CEO John Stanton, who helped pull the tarp off the monument that would lead to the broken bat, praised Suzuki’s relentless commitment to the sport before the mishap, telling the crowd that the outfielder’s meticulous approach to preparation and play made him fully deserving of the everlasting honor the statue represents. Far from hiding the accidental break, the Mariners organization leaned into the humor of the moment. On social media, the team posted a playful joke about the incident, writing “Breaking: We’ve updated tonight’s Ichiro Replica Statue giveaway” alongside a photo of a mini figurine that also featured a broken bat matching the full-size monument. Crews worked quickly to repair the damage, and the statue was fully restored in time for the Mariners’ Friday night matchup against the Houston Astros, allowing fans to take in the tribute as planned after the morning’s unexpected joke. Over his legendary career, Suzuki rewrote the MLB record book: one of his most notable achievements came in 2004, when he broke an 84-year-old longstanding record for most hits in a single regular season, notching 262 hits — five more than the previous record set by baseball icon George Sisler back in 1920. The moment of unexpected comedy during the unveiling has already become a memorable add-on to Suzuki’s legacy, with fans and the team embracing the unplanned moment as a uniquely human tribute to one of baseball’s most beloved figures.
分类： sports
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With a little help from his friends, Vacherot reaches Monte Carlo semis
On a charged Friday evening at the Monte Carlo Open, unseeded home favourite Valentin Vacherot delivered the tournament’s most dramatic upset so far, outlasting Australia’s fifth seed Alex de Minaur 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to book a surprise spot in the event’s semi-finals. Fueled by the roars of a crowd packed with childhood friends who have cheered him on since he was a pre-teen, Vacherot withstood a tense third-set battle to pull off the win, breaking into the final four of his hometown clay-court event alongside the tournament’s top three seeds.
Born just a short distance from the Monte Carlo Country Club courts in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Vacherot described competing at what he calls “my club” as a once-in-a-lifetime honour. “It is rare for a player to have this chance,” he said after the match. “I am so lucky to have a tournament in my club. I can name 1,000 faces in the crowd.” The result caps a stunning rise for the Monegasque: ranked outside the top 200 before his breakthrough title win in Shanghai last October, he has now climbed to 16th in the ATP live rankings following his run in Monte Carlo.
Vacherot’s path to the semi-finals was anything but smooth, delivering a roller-coaster performance that kept the home crowd on the edge of their seats. He jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the opening set, only to let De Minaur draw level, before breaking the Australian in the 10th game to claim the set. De Minaur responded by breaking Vacherot twice to even the match with a second-set win, setting up a decisive third set that would decide the winner.
Vacherot seized the upper hand in the third set with a break in the fifth game, but nearly gave away his advantage immediately. He saved a break point in the sixth game, then survived a massive scare on his own serve in the eighth game: De Minaur stormed to a 0-40 lead, putting the home favourite on the brink of surrendering his break. But cheered on by the chants of his childhood friends in the stands, Vacherot saved all four break points to hold serve.
“I know myself, unhappily I do this so often, I drop a bit at the start of the game, then I recover, even from 0-40, thanks to my serve,” Vacherot explained after the match. He went on to earn two match points in the following game, but De Minaur saved both with crafty drop shots that just cleared the net. When the Australian tried the same trick a third time, Vacherot anticipated the shot, converted his third match point with a blistering forehand, and let out a roar in celebration of the biggest win of his career.
Vacherot will next face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals on Saturday. Alcaraz was in dominant form earlier in the day, extending his clay-court winning streak to 16 matches with a lopsided 6-3, 6-0 victory over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in their first ever meeting.
Alcaraz broke Bublik in the opening game and held four break points in the third game, but failed to convert, allowing Bublik to break back and take a 3-2 lead in the first set. From that point, however, Alcaraz found his rhythm and won 10 consecutive games to close out the match in straight sets. “I started the match pretty well. I had points to be two breaks up and didn’t make it and then I lost a bit of the feeling on the ball,” Alcaraz said after the win. “I had to run side to side a lot, had to defend and then a few games gave me a lot of confidence in the match. I was playing aggressively and I played a great and solid match against a player that you don’t know what they will produce next.”
World No. 2 Jannik Sinner also secured his semi-final spot with a straight-sets win, beating Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4. The result extends Sinner’s winning streak at Masters 1000 events to 20 consecutive matches. The Italian, who had dropped a set in his previous match and noted his energy levels were off that day, said he was far happier with his performance against Auger-Aliassime. “I feel like it was a step forward today,” he said.
The final semi-final spot went to Alexander Zverev, who outlasted Brazilian teenage wildcard Joao Fonseca 7-5, 6-7(3/7), 6-3 in a three-set battle. On Saturday, Sinner will face Zverev in the other semi-final, setting up a clash between two of the world’s top four men’s singles players, while Vacherot looks to continue his Cinderella run against the top-ranked Alcaraz.
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Sibling rivals: Popov brothers set for badminton showdown in European semifinals
HUELVA, SPAIN – A once-in-a-generation badminton showdown is set to take center stage at the 2024 European Badminton Championships after siblings Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov both secured quarterfinal wins on Friday, earning a spot against one another in the event’s semifinal round.
Born in Bulgaria, the athletic pair now competes under the French national flag. Beyond their historic singles meeting this weekend, the brothers are also defending their European men’s doubles title at the tournament. They most recently paired up to represent France at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, carrying on a family legacy rooted in badminton: their father, Toma Popov, is a former badminton competitor who played and coached for the Bulgarian national team before the family relocated to France.
At 24 years old, left-handed Christo is the younger sibling by three years, compared to 27-year-old right-handed Toma Junior. Entering this semifinal match, Christo holds a 3-1 advantage over his brother in main-tour head-to-head matchups, including two final victories in recent months. Most recently, Christo claimed the title over Toma Junior at the 2024 German Open held in Munich, and prior to that, he also won the Hylo Open in Saarbrücken, Germany against his brother in the final match.
Both brothers delivered dominant performances in Friday’s quarterfinal rounds to advance to the semifinal. Christo, who ranks 5th in the world badminton rankings, fought off a tough challenge from Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke to win 25-23 in the opening set before closing out the match with a 21-15 second-set win. Meanwhile, world No. 16 Toma Junior secured an even more decisive victory over Belgium’s Julien Carraggi, wrapping up the win 21-8, 21-11 to punch his ticket to the semifinal.
If the Popov brothers continue their winning streaks through the semifinal round, Sunday’s men’s singles final could end up as an all-French matchup. The other semi-final on Saturday pits France’s Arnaud Merklé against two-time European champion Anders Antonsen of Denmark, setting the stage for an exciting weekend of elite badminton competition.
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Italy appoints U21 coach Silvio Baldini as interim coach for upcoming friendlies
In the wake of a devastating early exit from World Cup qualification that has sent shockwaves through Italian soccer, the Italian Football Federation has confirmed that 66-year-old Silvio Baldini, currently the manager of Italy’s Under-21 national side, will serve as caretaker head coach of the senior men’s team for two upcoming away friendly fixtures scheduled for next month.
The federation made the interim appointment official this past Friday, exactly 10 days after Italy secured its latest disappointing result that ruled it out of the upcoming World Cup tournament. This marks the third consecutive major World Cup finals that the four-time world champion Italian side will miss, a historic low for a program once considered unbeatable on the global stage.
The devastating elimination came via a tense penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina, a result that triggered immediate resignations from two of the top figures in Italian soccer: federation president Gabriele Gravina and incumbent senior head coach Gennaro Gattuso. With the federation leadership in transition, the governing body turned to Baldini to steady the side through the upcoming June friendly matches. Baldini will lead the Azzurri for an away clash against Luxembourg on June 3, followed by a second away fixture against Greece four days later.
A permanent appointment for the senior head coaching role will not be finalized until a new federation president is selected, following scheduled leadership elections set for June 22.
Early speculation has already positioned Napoli manager Antonio Conte as the clear frontrunner for the permanent job. Conte previously led the Italian national team at the UEFA European Championship roughly a decade ago, and has a long track record of success at both the club and international level. Other high-profile managers cited as potential candidates include former Italy boss Roberto Mancini, Inter Milan head coach Simone Inzaghi, and Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri.
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Scheffler, Rose to chase McIlroy with early Masters starts
As the second round of the 90th Masters Tournament gets underway at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, early-morning tee times have handed world number one Scottie Scheffler and British veteran Justin Rose a golden opportunity to close the gap on overnight co-leaders Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns.
Defending champion McIlroy, who is bidding to become just the fourth golfer in history to claim back-to-back Masters titles, carded an impressive five-under-par 67 in his opening round alongside Burns, sharing the top spot on the leaderboard after 18 holes of play. Despite finding only five of 14 fairways — and just one on the front nine — the five-time major winner pulled off a series of sensational recovery shots from tree-lined rough that would have drawn praise from Spanish Masters legend Seve Ballesteros, securing his second-best opening round at the tournament. “The first seven holes were really important, that I played them in par,” McIlroy said of his opening round. “I made some good swings from where I found myself.”
For Burns, who held the 54-hole lead at last year’s U.S. Open, the opening 67 marked his lowest career round at Augusta in 13 appearances, achieved even as the tournament’s iconic greens ran firm and fast. “They’re only going to get firmer,” Burns warned of the conditions. “As the golf course speeds up, it only gets more difficult out there, and I think it’s going to be a really good test.”
Behind the leading pair, 2014 champion Patrick Reed, American Kurt Kitayama and Australian Jason Day all tied for third at two-under-par 69. Like McIlroy and Burns, all three will tee off in Friday’s afternoon wave, when the baked-out course is expected to become even more challenging.
That leaves the first half of Friday’s draw to two of golf’s biggest names hungry to climb the leaderboard: 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose — a three-time Masters runner-up who lost a playoff to McIlroy for the green jacket last year — and four-time major winner Scheffler, who is chasing a third Masters title in five seasons. Both are three strokes off the lead in a group of players tied at one-under 70, which also includes later starters Shane Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion from Ireland, and two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, who is still seeking his first Masters title.
Scheffler, who won the Masters in 2022 and 2024, got off to a blistering start in his opening round with an eagle on the par-five second hole followed by a birdie on the par-four third. But as afternoon temperatures climbed and greens hardened further, he could not add more low scores, settling for pars on the par-five 13th and 15th holes. He is optimistic his early Friday tee time will bring more favorable conditions. “I played pretty solid. A lot of good stuff,” Scheffler said. “I hit it nice, made some good iron shots, but it got so firm late in the day, it was pretty challenging.”
Rose, meanwhile, notched five birdies in his opening round, with four coming on Augusta’s famous par-five holes, but slipped back from the leading pack with back-to-back bogeys to close out his round. The 44-year-old veteran leaned into his years of experience at Augusta, emphasizing that patience is the key to navigating the brutal current conditions. “Every hole you’re just being patient through experience, knowing that grinding out the pars is a good thing,” Rose said. “Just eating up the holes is a good thing.”
The tough opening conditions have already derailed the title hopes of several big names, who are at risk of missing the cut for the final two rounds, which goes to the top 50 players and ties. Two-time major champion Jon Rahm of Spain sat well outside the cut line after an opening 78, while two-time U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau carded a 76, and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre shot an 80.
Rose added that the current rock-hard, lightning-fast greens test more than just shot-making — they demand strategic caution from every competitor. “I can’t even point to anywhere where you can be aggressive,” he said. “I think it’s in their control really how they want it to be… when it gets completely rock hard and you can’t access any pin anywhere, then a lot of good shot-making is taken out of the equation.”
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Italian soccer crisis worsens with Bologna and Fiorentina losses in Europe
For Italian soccer, 2024 has become a season of unprecedented disappointment, with a fresh wave of poor results pushing the country’s long-building crisis into the global spotlight. What began with early eliminations from the Champions League and a shocking third straight World Cup qualifying miss reached a new low this week, when two remaining Italian clubs competing in European competitions suffered heavy first-leg defeats that put them on the brink of exiting before the semifinal stage.
Bologna fell 3-1 to England’s Aston Villa in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals, while Fiorentina dropped an even more lopsided 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace of the Premier League in the Conference League quarterfinals. Unless both clubs pull off historic comeback victories in the upcoming return legs, Italy will be left without any representatives in the final four of any major European club competition for the first time in seven years.
These latest results are only the most recent in a string of humiliating exits for Italian soccer this campaign. Last month, Atalanta, the only Italian side to advance to the Champions League round of 16, was eliminated by Bayern Munich by a crushing 10-2 aggregate score. Pre-tournament favorites Inter Milan and Juventus crashed out of the Champions League playoffs at the hands of much smaller underdogs Bodø/Glimt and Galatasaray, respectively. Defending Serie A title holder Napoli failed even to qualify for the playoffs, finishing a disappointing 30th out of 32 teams in the new league phase.
Across both matches this Thursday, Italian clubs managed just a single goal, scored by Bologna’s English winger Jonathan Rowe. Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins wrapped up his brace deep into second-half stoppage time, a late concession that Bologna winger Federico Bernardeschi admitted will complicate the club’s path to a comeback. “At this level experience counts, and Aston Villa probably had more, as they made fewer mistakes and made the most of ours,” Bernardeschi told reporters after the match. “The third goal changes everything for the return leg. We can’t concede in the last minute of added time and that should teach us a lot. We need to grow.”
The gap in quality was even more stark between Fiorentina and Crystal Palace, despite the two clubs sitting in nearly identical mid-table positions in their respective domestic leagues: Palace 14th in the Premier League, and Fiorentina 15th in Serie A.
The string of club failures comes just 10 days after the Italian men’s national team suffered a devastating qualifying exit for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, falling to Bosnia-Herzegovina in a penalty shootout that eliminated the four-time World Cup champions from the tournament for the third consecutive cycle. In the wake of that defeat, Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina and national team head coach Gennaro Gattuso both stepped down. Notably, the only Italian managers who will feature at this year’s World Cup are leading other nations: Carlo Ancelotti with Brazil, Vincenzo Montella with Turkey, and Fabio Cannavaro with Uzbekistan.
Staying on in a temporary caretaker role until federation elections in June, Gravina this week released a scathing, data-backed report exposing deep systemic flaws across every level of Italian soccer. The analysis laid out a clear picture of structural decline: Serie A squads carry an average player age of 27, older than top-flight leagues across England, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway and Belgium. The average ball speed in Serie A play clocks in at just 7.6 meters per second, far slower than the 9.2 m/s average of Europe’s top five leagues and well behind the 10.4 m/s average pace of Champions League play.
Problems extend far beyond the top flight, Gravina’s report found. Since the 1986-87 season, nearly 200 lower-division Italian clubs have been expelled from their leagues due to crippling financial instability. Over the past 13 years alone, Italian clubs have been deducted a combined total of 519 league points for financial and regulatory violations. Italy also ranks outside the top 10 European nations for investment in new stadium construction and venue modernization over the past 20 years, a gap that limits revenue growth and fan experience.
Gravina argued that only sweeping, root-and-branch reform supported by the Italian government can reverse the decades-long decline. “For the good of Italian soccer, it’s more than evident that the only way to intervene is to do it in a radical manner … with fundamental support from the government,” he said. “No single person can create a complete reconstruction.”
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England opens Women’s Six Nations defense with 25 World Cup winners and a new captain
Every year, when the Women’s Six Nations kicks off, the dynamic mirrors the iconic moment NBA legend Larry Bird shared ahead of the 1988 three-point shootout: when the defending champion looked at his rivals and asked, “Which one of you guys is playing for second?” For England’s women’s rugby side, that unspoken aura of dominance has become a permanent part of the global rugby landscape. While the Red Roses would never voice that level of brash confidence publicly, their decades of unparalleled success make the comparison impossible to ignore.
England’s legacy in the Women’s Six Nations stands alone: out of 30 total tournaments held to date, the side has claimed 21 titles, including a seven-year winning streak that stretches back to 2019. Beyond regional dominance, the team holds the all-time world record for consecutive test match victories, with 33 wins on the bounce. That streak was capped by a spectacular Women’s Rugby World Cup triumph last September, where they lifted the trophy in front of a sell-out crowd of 82,000 fans at Twickenham Stadium – a record attendance for any women’s rugby match.
Even with key roster changes following the 2025 World Cup, the team’s core strength remains intact. Head coach John Mitchell, who has not lost a match in his two years at the helm, has already extended his contract through the 2029 World Cup hosted in Australia. This tournament sees notable absences: former captain Zoe Aldcroft and veterans Abbie Ward, Lark Atkin-Davies and Rosie Galligan are all currently pregnant, starting center Tatyana Heard is sidelined with a foot injury, and two of the team’s most decorated players – Emily Scarratt, the only England player ever to compete in five World Cups, and winger Abby Dow – have retired from international play. Scarratt has since transitioned to a role on Mitchell’s coaching staff, bringing her decades of experience to the side from the sideline.
Despite Mitchell’s public declaration of a “clean slate” for 2026 squad selection, his 32-player roster still features 25 returning World Cup winners. The only uncapped player set to make her debut in Saturday’s opening match against Ireland is 19-year-old forward Haineala Lutui, daughter of former Tonga men’s national team captain Aleki Lutui. The captaincy for this tournament has been handed to center Megan Jones, a tenacious, team-first veteran who has nothing left to prove at the international level. Jones made her debut at just 18 years old against New Zealand back in 2015, has competed in three World Cups, and was the only English player shortlisted for World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year award in 2025. When asked about England’s relentless drive to win, Jones summed up the side’s mindset simply: “We’re just highly competitive humans who want to keep winning.”
For the last five years, France has stood as the eternal runner-up to England, finishing second every tournament since 2020, but has consistently fallen short due to unforced 10 to 20-minute form lapses that have derailed title bids. At the 2025 World Cup, France was the least experienced side to reach the semifinals, and eventually bowed out to England with a 35-17 defeat. The off-season has seen a major coaching change for Les Bleues: iconic former player Gaëlle Mignot, one of the few women leading a top European national side, has been replaced by François Ratier, who previously took Canada to the 2014 World Cup final and most recently led Stade Bordelais to back-to-back French domestic titles. Ratier will give six uncapped players their debut this weekend when France hosts Italy in Grenoble, and the side holds the advantage of three home matches this tournament, with a highly anticipated final-round title decider against England scheduled for May 17 in Bordeaux – a match French fans hope will be the moment their side dethrones the champions.
The other competing sides have all built their own narrative of ambition heading into the opening round. Italy, led again by captain and No. 8 Elisa Giordano, has named nine players who compete in the French domestic league to its squad. Head coach Fabio Roselli has prioritized defensive improvements to shut down France’s explosive backline, and the side is inspired by their men’s team’s historic first win over England last month, as they target their first ever victory over France on French soil.
Ireland will open their campaign against England, with Dynamo flanker Erin King set to lead the side after missing last year’s World Cup with a knee injury. King will anchor the back row alongside last year’s Six Nations MVP Aoife Wafer. A unique subplot marks the opening match: Irish hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald will earn her 50th international cap, and for the first time in her career, she will share the field against her wife, England winger Claudia Moloney-MacDonald. Tickets for the opening match at Twickenham have already sold more than 75,000, which guarantees a new all-time attendance record for any Women’s Six Nations match.
Wales, which was whitewashed for the first time in tournament history in 2025, is targeting a fresh start under coach Sean Lynn, who has had a full year to implement his system, added new coaching staff and named nine uncapped players to his squad. Flanker Kate Williams has been named the sole captain, and 12 of the Welsh side’s players come from English domestic side Gloucester Hartpury, which went undefeated in their recent domestic season. When Wales hosts Scotland at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, the side is also hoping to break its own attendance record of 21,186 set against England last year.
Scotland advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals last year with a 38-8 win over Wales, but the side has faced major roster turnover ahead of this tournament. Key players from that 2025 win – including try-scoring star Fran McGhie, Evie Gallagher, Sarah Bonar and Lisa Thomson – are all sidelined with injury, and three other veterans have retired. New head coach Sione Fukofuka, who previously led the United States at the 2025 World Cup, will give teenage flanker Emily Coubrough her international debut this weekend as Scotland looks to build a new generation of competitive talent.
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Slimmer, sleeker marathons see survival of fittest
When 22,000 runners line up at Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square this Sunday for the capital’s annual Half Marathon, they will step into a rapidly changing landscape for long-distance running events across China. This shift, driven by new safety and quality standards, has already rolled out at high-profile spring races in Wuxi and Wuhan, setting a new benchmark for how marathons are organized and experienced nationwide.
Ahead of the Beijing race, the Chinese Athletics Association released the 2025 China Marathon Races Blue Book on April 4, which laid out the tangible effects of the regulatory overhaul. For the first time in the modern boom of Chinese marathons, the total number of marathon-related events across the country dropped significantly in 2025, falling to 594 from 696 recorded in 2024. This marks the sport’s first large-scale industry “slimdown”, as authorities cull unregulated, low-quality events to raise overall standards.
But fewer events do not equal a shrinking industry. The blue book data reveals that the economic impact and overall quality of remaining events have grown sharply. A-class certified events alone generated a direct economic output of 18.51 billion yuan (equivalent to $2.68 billion) in 2025, drove a total national economic benefit of 45.4 billion yuan, and supported more than 183,000 jobs across related sectors from hospitality to retail.
Shen Hui, an associate professor in the Department of Physical Education at Southeast University and an international-level athletics judge, explains that marathons have long outgrown their identity as purely competitive sporting events. Today, they function as multifaceted platforms that drive local city tourism, polish regional brand images, stimulate domestic consumer spending, and fuel broad-based economic development.
Interviews with industry insiders deeply involved in event execution show a clear industry trend toward more standardized, refined, and accountable event management. “While gaps still remain between cities with different infrastructure foundations, and some small niche events still struggle with limited resources, the overall direction is undeniable,” Shen noted. “The sector is moving from rough, scattershot growth to precise, intentional operation, and from perfunctory event planning to responsible, participant-centered organizing.”
Analysis of 284 A-class certified events included in the blue book confirms this trend: the intentional reduction in event quantity has directly sparked a surge in overall quality, reshaping not only the experience for long-distance runners but also the contributions marathons make to urban economies and national public health across China.
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Bronny James sets up father LeBron in Lakers win
The NBA’s regular season delivered a one-of-a-kind milestone this week, as 19-year-old Bronny James recorded the first son-to-father assist in league history, finding his 41-year-old father LeBron James for an easy breakaway dunk during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 119-103 victory over Pacific Division rival Golden State Warriors. The historic play marked the second time the father-son duo have made NBA history in the span of a month: just four weeks prior, LeBron notched the first father-to-son assist against the Brooklyn Nets, cementing their place as the first parent-child pairing to share the court in NBA history.
In the Warriors game, LeBron turned his 26 points into a dominant offensive performance, adding 11 assists to lead the Lakers to a critical late-season win. Young Bronny held his own against the playoff-bound Warriors, putting up 10 points and three assists of his own. Both the Lakers, now fourth in the Western Conference, and the 10th-place Warriors have already locked in their spots for the 2026 postseason, which tips off on April 18.
The night brought a slate of other consequential late regular season matchups across the league. The New York Knicks pulled out a 112-106 win over the Boston Celtics, with Josh Hart leading all scorers with 26 points. The result puts mounting pressure on the Celtics, who enter the final two games of the regular season second in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Knicks climb to third. The Toronto Raptors earned a comfortable 128-114 win over the Miami Heat, and the Houston Rockets held off the Philadelphia 76ers 113-102 to boost their own playoff positioning. For teams already eliminated from postseason contention, the Chicago Bulls defeated the Washington Wizards 119-108, and the Indiana Pacers cruised to a 123-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Off the court, women’s basketball reached a major expansion milestone this week, with the Women’s National Basketball Association board of governors approving three new expansion franchises in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia that will grow the league to 18 teams by 2030. The Cleveland team will be the first of the three to take the court, making its debut in the 2028 WNBA season, with Detroit joining the league in 2029 and Philadelphia following a year later in 2030.
The latest expansion marks the latest in a series of growth moves for the WNBA, which has added four new franchises in a five-year window. The Golden State Valkyries are set to make their debut in 2025, with the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire launching their inaugural seasons this coming year. The 2026 WNBA regular season is scheduled to tip off on May 8 and run through September 24, kicking off what will be a historic period of growth for the league.
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Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers 2026: Great Britain teenager Mika Stojsavljevic has pulled off a huge upset
The opening day of the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers delivered one of the tournament’s earliest upsets, as 17-year-old British wildcard Mika Stojsavljevic defeated world No. 56 Australian rising star Talia Gibson in straight sets on Friday. The final scoreline of 7-6(0), 7-5 marked a career-defining victory for the teenager, who entered the matchup ranked 219 places below her opponent at world No. 275.
Gibson, who turned heads at the 2024 Australian Open after advancing to the second round of the main draw, entered the match as the clear favorite. The 21-year-old Australian showed flashes of the dynamic talent that has pushed her up the global rankings in the last 12 months, but a consistent string of unforced errors ultimately derailed her campaign. From the opening game, Gibson struggled to find consistent control of her groundstrokes, giving away cheap points that shifted momentum to her young opponent early.
The first set unfolded with an early exchange of breaks, as both players tested each other’s serve consistency before holding for the rest of the set to force a tiebreaker. It was here that Stojsavljevic demonstrated poise far beyond her 17 years, racing out to a 4-0 lead that Gibson never recovered from. The young Brit’s towering, powerful serve proved to be the decisive edge of the match: she landed four aces to Gibson’s single one, and closed out the opening set with a blistering ace down the T to seal the tiebreaker 7-0.
Stojsavljevic carried that momentum into the second set, immediately putting pressure on Gibson’s first service game by jumping out to a 0-40 advantage. Though Gibson fought back to hold serve and keep the set level, she could not resolve her unforced error issue or break through Stojsavljevic’s dominant service game. A critical unforced mistake from Gibson at 2-1 allowed Stojsavljevic to claim the decisive break, putting her up 3-1 in the set.
Speaking to broadcast commentators after the upset, former world No. 4 Jelena Dokic highlighted the mental dynamic of the match, noting that Gibson was still adjusting to the pressure of competing as a tournament favorite, while Stojsavljevic had nothing to lose and could play without restraint. Gibson mounted a late comeback push, and held five break points to take the lead in a tense marathon service game at 5-5. Even as fatigue began to show in the young Brit’s movement, she relied on her powerful serve to escape danger and hold serve, before closing out the match to claim the straight-set victory.
The upset win gives Great Britain an early advantage in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifying tie against Australia, setting the stage for the remaining singles and doubles matches to determine which nation advances to the next stage of the team competition.