Latest - Just when Novak Djokovic's troubling year looked like hitting another low he salvaged his bid for a fourth successive Wimbledon title by coming back from two sets down to beat Italian Jannik Sinner on Tuesday.
The Serbian top seed had looked in all kinds of trouble against the inspired 20-year-old after being outplayed for two sets but stormed back to win 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2.
Novak Djokovic reaches Photo: AFP
In the end there was an air of inevitability about the outcome as the battle-hardened 35-year-old seized control to reach his 43rd Grand Slam semi-final and 11th at Wimbledon.
Djokovic has not been able to add to his 20 major titles this year after being deported before the Australian Open following a COVID-19 standoff and then losing to Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals of the French Open.
But he kept alive the prospect of facing second seed Nadal in Sunday's final with a superb comeback, the seventh time in his career he has triumphed after losing the first two sets.
Sinner, who was bidding to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Matteo Berrettini who reached last year's final, showed why he is being tipped as a future Grand Slam champion but he faded in the face of a Djokovic onslaught.
When the Serbian produced a miraculous backhand winner on the slide to earn a break in the seventh game of the fourth set, ending on his belly in a superman posture, 10th seed Sinner knew that he was facing mission impossible.
The Italian belted a volley long on the next point and then Djokovic held to love to seal victory.
British ninth-seed Cameron Norrie reached his first Grand Slam semi-final when he twice came from behind to beat unseeded Belgian David Goffin 3-6 7-5 2-6 6-3 7-5 to set up a dream Wimbledon meeting Djokovic.
Reuters
Nappies and semi-finals
German Tatjana Maria said it was crazy to be in her first Grand Slam semi-final at the 47th attempt, but that being a mum was still her proudest achievement.
Maria, 34, came from a set down to edge her young compatriot Jule Niemeier, 22, in Tuesday's quarter-final at Wimbledon. Before this tournament, Maria had only once gone beyond the second round of a major in her 15-year career.
Tatjana Maria Photo: © Sport the library / Jeff Crow
She missed three Grand Slams last year due to the birth of her second daughter Cecilia and was ranked outside the top 250 as recently as March.
But on Tuesday, watched by her first daughter Charlotte, Maria became the sixth woman in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon semis after her 34th birthday.
"I think for me that's the most important in my life, to be a mum of my two kids. Nothing will change this," she told a news conference, still with the smile on her face from when she left Court One.
"I'm here, yeah, I'm in the semi-final of Wimbledon, it's crazy, but I'm still a mum. After this I will go out over there and I will see my kids and I will do the same thing that I do every single day.
"I will change her Pampers, I mean, everything normal. I try to keep normal as much as possible, because what makes me the proudest is to be a mum."
Maria has a knack for confounding expectations, having first broken into the top 50 in the world rankings following the birth of her first daughter.
"I reached the top 50 with Charlotte, and now I'm back with my second child. Still everybody was doubting," she said.
"It's a little bit of my life to show everybody that I'm still here and I'm a fighter, and I keep going and I keep dreaming. That's what I want to show my kids."
She will play either her friend Ons Jabeur, the third-seeded Tunisian, or 66th-ranked Czech Marie Bouzkova in the last four.
Reuters
Blacksticks defeat England at World Cup
The Blacksticks women's team have defeated England 3-1 at the Women's Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands.
Katie Doar scored twice to help New Zealand to victory Photo: John Cowpland / www.photosport.nz
England were the first to strike with a penalty corner goal in the first quarter.
Katie Doar found an equaliser just before half-time with a sharp reverse shot from mid range.
Doar put the Blacksticks ahead in the third quarter with another reverse, before Tarryn Davey put away a loose ball from a penalty corner in the final quarter to create the two goal buffer.
England had the most opportunities in the match, with 35 circle penetrations to New Zealands 8, but were unable to capitalise on their chances.
The win takes New Zealand to the top of Pool B, with one more game to be played against India on friday.
RNZ
Bryson DeChambeau claims LIV deal worth more than reported $125M
Bryson DeChambeau passed on sharing precise figures but said the LIV Golf Series deal he signed through 2026 is worth more than the reported $125 million.
Asked on the "Country Club Adjacent" podcast about his "$125 million smile," DeChambeau replied "that's a little low."
DeChambeeau Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"I'm not gonna say the details -- I mean for what's reported it's somewhat close," DeChambeau said. "It's a four-and-a-half-year deal, I can definitely tell you that and a lot of it was upfront, which is great."
LIV Golf Series contracts are in another stratosphere relative to PGA Tour deals considering the payout up front and what is currently a limited annual event schedule.
DeChambeau and nemesis Brooks Koepka cited the less strenuous travel and event schedule when they departed for the upstart series, which has been controversial due to significant funding coming from Saudi Arabia.
DeChambeau finished 10th at Portland in the first stateside LIV event last weekend, which was worth $560,000. He said his new financial foothold is being used for more than just a security blanket.
"What's cool about it," DeChambeau said, "... is I've already put it in places that make sense, whether it's my foundation or real estate, being able to build a multi-sport complex or taking care of my family, taking care of what we've got going on with our content creation with Regecy, numerous other things, too."
The LIV Golf Series reportedly offered a "high nine-figure payday" to Tiger Woods and more than $100 million to Jack Nicklaus to join Greg Norman in publicizing the PGA Tour competitor.
--Field Level Media
Van Aert masterclass as Belgian extends Tour lead with stage four solo win
Wout van Aert extended his overall lead in the Tour de France when he finished off some sterling team work to win the fourth stage on Tuesday after three second places in the opening three race days.
The Jumbo Visma rider left all his rivals gasping for air on the final hill of the 171.5-km ride from Dunkirk after his Jumbo Visma team's brutal acceleration blew apart the peloton.
The Belgian jumped away from a skimmed pack with less than 12km left in the short ascent of the Cote du Cap Blanc Nez and never looked back to clinch his seventh individual stage win on the Tour.
Belgian Jasper Philipsen took second place with France's Christophe Laporte finishing third, eight seconds behind. Overall, Van Aert leads compatriot Yves Lampaert (Quick Step Alpha Vinyl) by 25 seconds and defending champion Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) by 32.
Wednesday's fifth stage is a gruelling 155-km ride from Lille to Arenberg featuring almost 20km of cobbled roads - the same used on the Paris-Roubaix classic, also known as the 'Hell of the North'.
The top contenders will be looking to avoid losing the Tour on day five on a tricky terrain that favours the heavier riders and Van Aert will be again be one of the stage favourites.
Reuters
