Filed under Basketball
For the first time in history, a football club invested more than one billion euro in transfer indemnities to assemble its squad: Manchester City. Following last summer transfer window, two clubs are close to this figure: Paris St-Germain (€913 million) and Real Madrid (€902 million). Issue number 266 of the CIES Football Observatory* Weekly Post presents the data for all teams in the big-5. Continue reading
Filed under Soccer / Football
With a 6-3, 7-5 victory, Andreescu, a 19-year-old Canadian, captured her first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows and denied Serena Williams her 24th. Her victory gave Canada its first Grand Slam singles title in a sport where Grand Slam tournament play began with Wimbledon in 1877.
In the raucous tournament she rode a wave of hostility, as the New York crowd applauded any of her unforced errors or missed shots. The boorishness was such that even the umpire had to caution the crowd, “please.” The chauvinist pressure of the massive crowd forced both Andrescu and Daniil Medvedev, the 23-year-old Russian finalist in the men’s side, to apologize. Continue reading
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The greatest of all time and maybe the best of right now | Frank Gunn/Canadian Press
On Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, Bianca Andreescu and Serena Williams will take the court at 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City for the U.S. Open women’s final. One way or the other, history will be made. Either Andreescu will become the first Canadian tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, or Williams will match the all-time record for major titles.
Here’s what else you should know about one of the biggest matches in Canadian tennis history: Continue reading
Filed under Athletes
Great timing too: his season-best 19.87 in the 200 metres was good for third place at the prestigious Diamond League final in Brussels. De Grasse outran fellow Canadian Aaron Brown, who beat him for the national title earlier this summer but finished fourth today. American Noah Lyles, the pre-race favourite, won in 19.74. This is a good sign for De Grasse with the world championships coming up in three weeks. Three other Canadians competed in Diamond League finals on September 3. Alysha Newman placed third in the women’s pole vault, Gabriela DeBues-Stafford finished seventh (but broke her own national record) in the women’s 5,000 and Crystal Emmanuel was seventh in the women’s 100. Read more about the meet here. Watch a replay Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on CBC TV and CBCSports.ca.
Filed under Athletes
Bianca Andreescu, 19, is the first teenager to reach the semifinals of the women’s tournament since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 | Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
On Wednesday night, 15th-seeded Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Canada celebrated her comeback 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 quarterfinal victory over Elise Mertens. Ms Andreescu was in disbelief. She’d never even played a main-draw match at the raucous U.S. Open until this year.
“A year ago, I was in the qualifying round. I remember I was suffering from a back injury, and now what I’ve accomplished this year, I’m honestly speechless,” she said. “I need someone to pinch me right now. Is this real life? Is this real life?”
Ms Andreescu will face the former teen prodigy Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, 13th-seeded, in the semifinals of the tournament on Thursday night.
Until recently, Canada has had a deficit of tennis players who could meet global standards consistently. Only two Canadians have reached a Grand Slam singles final before: Genie Bouchard and Milos Raonic (at Wimbledon in 2014 and 2016, respectively). They both lost, and neither has won a tournament as big as the Rogers Cup — much less Indian Wells, both won by Ms Andreescu. Daniel Nestor won eight Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal in doubles.
Matteo Berrettini and Gaël Monfils traded haymakers for nearly four hours of exhausting tennis at the United States Open. The duel did not end until the 24th-seeded Berrettini won the 324th point of the match.
“What a great fight,” Berrettini said after the two competitors hugged in mutual appreciation. “I have to say congrats to Gaël.”
It’s the fourth time a man from Italy had advanced to the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam singles tournament in the Open Era
Filed under Athletes
