The International Tennis Federation has awarded Justine Henin its highest honor, the Philippe Chatrier Award.
Henin won seven Grand Slam singles titles, an Olympic gold medal, and was part of Belgium’s team that won the Fed Cup — now called the Billie Jean King Cup — in 2001.
The award, named after the former ITF president, was introduced in 1996 and recognizes people who have made significant contributions to the sport on and off the court.
“She was one of the best players of her generation on the court and since retirement has made a significant and ongoing contribution to our sport at all levels,” ITF president David Haggerty said Saturday.
The 41-year-old Henin has established a successful academy in Belgium and a charitable foundation that helps provide sporting opportunities for children with disabilities, The Associated Press reported.
The award will be presented Saturday at the ITF World Champions Awards at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
“I always gave my very best throughout my career and achieved a lot of success,” Henin said. “I have worked very hard since retirement to give back to the sport that I love, and I will continue to do so. Tennis is a unique and brilliant sport that provides benefits for people’s physical and mental health.”
Henin won the French Open four times, the US Open twice and the Australian Open once. She was a two-time runner-up at Wimbledon. She won Olympic gold at the 2004 Athens Games.
Sixteen-year-old Mirra Andreeva, playing at Wimbledon for the first time, earned the final spot in the fourth round of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament on Sunday.
The Russian qualifier is the latest teen sensation in tennis, and she isn’t disappointing at the All England Club. Andreeva is the youngest player since Coco Gauff in 2019 to reach the women’s fourth round at Wimbledon. She reached the third round at this year’s French Open in her first major tournament.
Despite trailing 4-1 in the second set, Andreeva beat 22nd-seeded Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-5 on No. 3 Court.
“I came back from 1-4, so of course I feel great,” Andreeva said on court before explaining how she keeps her cool. “Today, honestly, even if I wanted to show some emotions, I honestly, I couldn’t because I was out of breath almost every point. I really couldn’t show any emotions.”
They came out after, though, when Andreeva sat in her chair and pulled her purple Wimbledon towel up over her face for a few seconds to regain her composure.
Andreeva will next face No. 25 Madison Keys for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The third-round victory came 21 minutes after Marketa Vondrousova became the first player to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Vondrousova defeated 32nd-seeded Marie Bouzkova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula also reached the quarterfinals. The 29-year-old American beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-3 and will next face Vondrousova.
This year is only the second time play is officially scheduled for the middle Sunday at Wimbledon. Four times in the past, in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016, organizers used the day to deal with a backlog of matches.
The last man to reach the fourth round was 21st-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. He beat Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in a match that started on Saturday. He will next face sixth-seeded Holger Rune.
Later Sunday, top-seeded Iga Swiatek was scheduled to face Belinda Bencic on Centre Court. Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic will follow that match against Hubert Hurkacz.
Paris Saint-Germain added a fifth player to its squad since the start of the summer transfer window by signing France defender Lucas Hernández from Bayern Munich on a five-year contract on Sunday after a long spell on the sidelines with injury.
Hernández hasn’t played a competitive game since injuring his knee while playing for France against Australia at the World Cup in November.
“I’m really excited! I’ve been waiting to join PSG for a long time, and it’s finally happened. It’s a very special day for me and I’m very happy to be here,” Hernández said in a statement from PSG.
No official figures were given for the deal but French newspaper L’Equipe said it was worth around 40 million euros ($44 million).
Hernández won the Bundesliga title in each of his four seasons at Bayern and the Champions League in 2020, though he was an unused substitute when Bayern beat PSG 1-0 in the final.
“We would like to thank Lucas Hernández for four very successful years together. He always gave everything, we were always impressed by his fighting spirit and his passion. FC Bayern wishes him all the best for the future,” said Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen.
Following another season marked by yet another failure to win the Champions League, PSG has been active in the transfer market. In addition to hiring Luis Enrique as its new coach, the French champions have also signed Marco Asensio, Milan Skriniar, Manuel Ugarte and Lee Kang-In.
The 27-year-old Hernández won the 2018 World Cup with France, and has 33 international caps. In Paris, he will be reunited with two other French world champions, Kylian Mbappé and Presnel Kimpembe. It remains unclear, however, whether Mbappe will still be a PSG player next season amid his ongoing contract dispute.
The Saudi Sport School Federation team is taking part in the Interamnia World Cup international handball tournament for under 16 in Teramo, Italy, which lasts until July 15, 2023.
The Saudi team is slated to play its first match against the Italian team Palermo on Sunday, said SPA.
President of the Saudi Federation for School Sports Ali bin Mohammed Al-Shuailan said that the school team delegation consists of 25 players and administrators, representing an elite group of trained students qualified to compete in international matches.
The Saudi School Sports Federation participated in the last edition of the Arab School Championship, held in Cairo, where it came second in the handball tournament.
Ismael Diaz tallied three second-half goals to power Panama to a 4-0 win over Qatar in the quarterfinals of the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
Panama held a 1-0 lead at intermission on a tally from Edgar Barcenas in the 19th minute.
Diaz then tallied in the 56th, 63rd and 65th minutes to put an emphatic end to the affair.
Panama put six shots on goal on 17 total. Qatar managed one shot on goal for the match.
Panama held possession for 62 percent of the contest.
Panama won Group C with a 2-0-1 mark, earning seven points. Qatar finished second in Group B with a 1-1-1 mark.
In a country obsessed with beauty pageants, basketball and boxing, the Philippines women’s team hope to ignite interest in football when they make the nation’s World Cup debut.
Long minnows in the sport, the Philippines have never played at a FIFA World Cup, either the men’s or women’s, said AFP.
All that will change on July 21 when the women’s side under their Australian coach Alen Stajcic play Switzerland in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Stajcic calls their journey from “almost ground zero” to the World Cup “miraculous”.
Half of his players do not belong to a professional club and some have been “running around the block on their own” for training, he said.
“It’s been a meteoric sort of rise for the team,” the 49-year-old told AFP via Zoom.
“The challenge for us is to somehow maintain and sustain that improvement, not be happy with where we got to.”
Since Stajcic’s appointment as coach in late 2021, the Philippines have jumped from 68 in the FIFA rankings and are now a best-ever 46th place.
It began with the Women’s Asian Cup in early 2022 when they made the semi-finals, losing to South Korea but securing a historic World Cup berth.
They followed it up with bronze at the Southeast Asian Games last year, then won the regional AFF Women’s Championship on home soil.
– ‘We don’t have fields’ –
The Philippines are in Group A at the World Cup alongside co-hosts New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.
They will not be expected to get out of the group, but defender Hali Long said: “I would like to think we’re going to go in there and do more than just participate.
“We’re going in there to compete with everything we have to show.”
The team hope getting the Philippines to their first World Cup can be a game-changer for football in the country.
Long was born in the United States — most of the players on the national team have been recruited from the Philippines’ large diaspora.
“It’s not the most popular sport here,” Long told AFP at a practice session with the Manila club she and national goalkeeper Inna Palacios play for.
“It’s not the beauty pageants, boxing and basketball; we don’t have a ‘B’.”
Palacios, one of the few players born in the Philippines, said more investment was needed to find and develop young talent in the poverty-plagued country.
“We don’t have the fields or a place to play,” said Palacios.
“It was tagged as a… sport for people who are rich and can afford fields and shoes, but in reality you just need your feet and a ball.”
Playing catch-up
Stajcic is a major reason for the Philippines’ improvement.
He brings a wealth of experience in a playing and coaching career in Australia.
He coached Australia at the 2015 World Cup and took the Matildas to as high as fourth in the FIFA rankings, but was dumped despite guiding them to the 2019 tournament.
Stajcic says that being able to get the squad together for extended periods, including a 10-week training camp in the United States before the Asian Cup, has been another reason for their dramatic upturn.
But he will need all his nous and know-how if the Philippines are to be competitive in a women’s game which is at an all-time high in Europe and North America.
“Women’s football in the last five years has gone through exponential growth,” said Stajcic.
“The rest of the world is already a hundred steps ahead of us.”
Despite that he is backing his team to make an impact if they “do everything right”.
“We’re going to need a little bit of luck,” Stajcic said.
“We’re going to have to make our luck, we’re going to have to give ourselves every possible chance in our preparation.”
Veteran goalkeeper David de Gea has announced he is leaving Manchester United as a free agent after 12 seasons at Old Trafford.
The 32-year-old’s contract with United expired at the end of June, with no new deal agreed despite talks that took place throughout the season.
De Gea joined United from Atletico Madrid in 2011 and made 545 appearances for the Premier League club which included 190 clean sheets — both club records for a keeper.
In a message on social media on Saturday, De Gea thanked United fans for their support but said: “Now, it’s the right time to undertake a new challenge, to push myself again in new surroundings.”
When De Gea’s contract expired last Friday, United said they remained in talks with the Spain goalkeeper.
That followed reports that De Gea had signed a contract extension only for the club to withdraw that offer and come back with reduced terms.
United has been linked with a move for Inter Milan keeper Andre Onana.
“I would like to express my unwavering gratitude and appreciation for the love from the last 12 years,” De Gea wrote. “We’ve achieved a lot since my dear Sir Alex Ferguson brought me to this club.”
He added: “Manchester will always be in my heart, Manchester has shaped me and will never leave me. We’ve seen it all.”
United manager Erik ten Hag paid tribute to the departing De Gea, who won the Premier League’s golden glove last season, The Associated Press reported.
“It takes great quality and character to reach the level of even playing one game for Manchester United,” Ten Hag said. “To do it 545 times over 12 years is a special achievement, particularly in the goalkeeping position where every game puts you in the spotlight.
“To have won Player of the Year awards from both the fans and his teammates, each on four occasions, shows the level of his performance and he will always be remembered as one of the very best goalkeepers in the history of the club.”
The Saudi national sports team has earned three medals (two silver and one bronze) in the Friday competitions, held as part of the 15th Pan Arab Games in Algeria, bringing the total so far to four (three silver and one bronze).
Issa Ghazwani was awarded the silver medal in the 800-m race, which took place at the end of the athletics competitions held at the Olympic Stadium in the Algerian city of Oran.
Ghazwani finished the race in 1.47.71 minutes, behind Algerian Soleimani Mawla who finished in 1.46.87 minutes. Tunisian Abdel Salam Ayouni won bronze with 1.48.19 minutes.
Al-Baraa Al-Qarni got the silver medal on the last day of the Paralympic Games, clocking 3.53.14 minutes in the 1,500-m wheelchair race in which Tunisian Mohamed Khlifi won the gold with a time of 3.52.20 minutes and UAE player Mohammed Al Mazrouei won the bronze with 3.58.5 minutes.
In swimming, Youssef Bouarish won bronze on the second day of the games in the 50-m freestyle competition with a time of 23.90 seconds.
Novak Djokovic showed again why he remains invincible at Wimbledon, young rival Carlos Alcaraz graced Centre Court for the first time and Andy Murray’s hopes ended in Greek tragedy on another marathon day at the grasscourt slam on Friday.
Serbia’s Djokovic, chasing records on multiple fronts, left it late to book his place in round four, beating Stan Wawrinka 6-3 6-1 7-6(5) just before Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew.
Spain’s world number Alcaraz is a round behind because of this week’s rain but picked up speed with a 6-4 7-6(2) 6-3 victory against Frenchman Alexandre Muller.
Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek continued her serene progress with a third successive straight sets win — this time against Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-2 7-5.
For British fans, at least, day five fell flat with Murray unable to finish off fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 36-year-old had led two-sets-to-one after Thursday’s late night action and there was a wave of Pimms-fuelled optimism that he could finish the job on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Tsitsipas had other ideas though and silenced the partisan Centre Court crowd to prevail 7-6(3) 6-7(2) 4-6 7-6(3) 6-4 on the 10th anniversary of Murray’s first Wimbledon crown.
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka suffered a scare though before hitting back to beat Varvara Gracheva of France 2-6 7-5 6-2.
Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe is touring his father’s native Cameroon for the first time this week as doubts swirl over his future at the French club.
Excited fans gathered at the airport in the capital Yaounde, where the 24-year-old star touched down on Thursday for a three-day tour of the central African nation.
“It is an honor for me to be here, to be in the country of my origin, to be with my family and to see the people out there. They have shown me some love,” Mbappe said on Friday after meeting Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.
He was lined up for a sporty afternoon, with a basketball match against former NBA player Joakim Noah before hitting the pitch for a soccer game against Cameroon’s second-division team Vent d’Etoudi FC.
On Saturday, he will travel to the economic capital Douala and to the home village of his father Wilfried, a football coach who is also his agent.
The tour also includes visits to schools funded by Mbappe’s “Inspired by KM” charity, one of which specializes in teaching children with impaired hearing.
“We are pushing hard for a bright future in Cameroon,” he said, adding that he had more youth projects in the pipeline.
Mbappe, whose Algerian mother was a handball player, was born and raised in the northeastern suburbs of Paris.
There have been questions about his future at PSG since he told the club last month that he would not take up the option of a one-year extension on his contract when it expires next year.
PSG signed Mbappe from AS Monaco in 2017 in a deal reported to be worth around 180 million euros ($196 million), making him the world’s second-most expensive signing after Neymar, who joined them from Barcelona for 222 million euros.
If Mbappe sees out the remainder of his contract, PSG risk losing him for free at the end of the 2023-24 season. Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi ruled out that option this week.
Mbappe evaded questions on the topic in Yaounde.
“Kylian is in Cameroon at the moment and that is the most important thing,” he said. “I want to take the maximum opportunity of my holidays to enjoy with Cameroonians.”
Paris Saint-Germain made its third signing of the summer transfer window by adding Sporting Lisbon midfielder Manuel Ugarte to its squad on Friday.
PSG said the Uruguay international signed a five-year contract through June 2028.
PSG has been active on the transfer market recently. In addition to hiring Luis Enrique as its new coach, the French champions have also signed Marco Asensio and Milan Skriniar.
No official fee for Ugarte was announced but French newspaper L’Equipe said it was 60 million euros ($65 million).
Ugarte has made eight appearances for Uruguay.
“I am sincerely very happy to be able to take this big step in my career, in such a big club,” Ugarte said.
انشئ حساباً خاصاً بك لتحصل على أخبار مخصصة لك ولتتمتع بخاصية حفظ المقالات وتتلقى نشراتنا البريدية المتنوعة