Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka avoid upsets at Wimbledon

Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka avoid upsets at Wimbledon

Sixth-seeded Madison Keys recorded a 6-4, 6-2 win over Olga Danilovic on Wednesday to advance to the third round at Wimbledon. After outlasting Elena-Gabriela Ruse in a grueling, three-set match in sweltering conditions on Monday, Keys needed just 75 minutes to dismiss her Serbian foe. "I definitely felt a little bit more comfortable today -- it's the cloudy, rainy England that we know and love, so that helped a lot ... felt a little bit more normal out here today," Keys said during her on-court interview. Keys, who won the Australian Open earlier this year, fired three aces, had 19 winners and overcame seven double faults to emerge victorious. "I knew that I wanted to get the momentum as early as I could and try to keep it," Keys said. "I knew that she could play really great tennis, so just wanted to get a lead and then run with it." Keys set up a third-round match with Germany's Laura Siegemund, who posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 29 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada. Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka battled through a tough first set to record a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Czech Marie Bouzkova. The Belarus native notched five aces and had 41 winners against only 18 unforced errors. Sabalenka was pleased to be advancing in the tournament and avoid the fate of second-seeded Coco Gauff, third-seeded Jessica Pegula and fifth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China. The latter three players have been eliminated from the tournament. "Honestly, it's very sad to see so many top players losing in the first round, but you're better off focusing on yourself and staying away from the results," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. She then lightened the mood with a joke. "I hope there are no more upsets in this tournament," the top-seeded player said. Sabalenka, who is bidding for her first Wimbledon title, will face the winner of Wednesday's match between 2023 champion Marketa Vondrousova, a Czech, and local favorite Emma Raducanu. Also Wednesday, Spaniard Cristina Bucsa coasted to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 22 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia. Sonay Kartal of Great Britain also topped Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova in straight sets. --Field Level Media

byAlpha World

in

July 02, 2025

Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka avoid upsets at Wimbledon

Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka avoid upsets at Wimbledon Sixth-seeded Madison Keys recorded a 6-4, 6-2 win over Olga Danilovic on Wednesday t...

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Buffalo Bills rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston sued, accused of sexual assault

Buffalo Bills rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston sued, accused of sexual assault

Buffalo Billsrookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston was named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit after a woman says she was sexually assaulted by Hairston when he attended the University of Kentucky in 2021. Hairston is being accused of sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and obtained by USA TODAY Sports, alleges on the night of March 24, 2021, Hairston came to the women's dorm room uninvited. She says she first met Hairston earlier in 2021 outside their shared on-campus residence hall at the University of Kentucky. "Plaintiff inquired about the purpose of Defendant's visit, to which Defendant responded that he wanted to hang out with Plaintiff. Plaintiff declined and further expressed that she was tired and going to bed before turning around and walking away from the door," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that Hairston followed the woman into her bedroom and ignored her repeated refusals to engage in sexual contact. Hairston then forcibly removed the woman's pajama shorts and sexually assaulted her, the suit states. "Our client showed remarkable strength in coming forward, and we are proud to stand with her in pursuit of accountability and justice," said Peter Flowers, one of the women's attorneys. "No one – regardless of their status or athletic success – is above the law." Hairston was selected with the 30th overall pick by the Bills in April's draft. When asked about Hairston, Bills general manager Brandon Beane said that the draft pick was properly vetted. "We did a lot of research. I think all teams were aware of the Title IX thing. That was fully investigated by the school. He even volunteered to do a polygraph and had notes. It was one of those where there was zero information saying that this actually happened, to what the accusation was. You can't take someone's account and think that's the truth. But yes, we fully investigated that," Beane said. "Every person you talk to at Kentucky, teammates, staff there, plus what we've done, I would say this is a heck of a young man, every person you ask. That's unfortunate when things like that are attached to someone's name; in this case, it doesn't seem to be anything there." The woman, who is seeking a jury trial and compensatory damages on all counts, reported the incident to law enforcement and transferred out of the University of Kentucky. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Maxwell Hairston lawsuit: Bills rookie sued for sexual assault

byAlpha World

in

July 02, 2025

Buffalo Bills rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston sued, accused of sexual assault

Buffalo Bills rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston sued, accused of sexual assault Buffalo Billsrookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston was named a...

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Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Will Devastate Public Schools

Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Will Devastate Public Schools

This week, Republican lawmakers are attempting to pass a budget reconciliation bill that pays for unprecedented handouts to thewealthiestAmericans on the backs of cuts to programs that benefit most people. Hidden in this budget package before the House is a national private school voucher program funded through tax breaks for the wealthy that threatens to dismantle our system of public schools. According to Senator Ted Cruz, school vouchers are "the Civil Rights Issue of the 21st century." The Texas Republican argues that vouchers are key to providing educational opportunities for young people. On the contrary, expanding vouchers and eliminating public education will actively harm young people—especiallyBlack, Latino, and Indigenous students. President Donald Trump's so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill" currently includes a provision hidden in thetax codethat offers anunprecedented100% tax deduction for donations to third party organizations that hand out private school vouchers. The push to create a national private school voucher program is part of along legacy of effortsto return to the separate and unequal educational landscape of thepre-civil rights era. Since the 1960s,white segregationistspushed for private school vouchers to avoid the desegregation mandates ofBrown v. Board of Educationand maintain a discriminatory and unequal system of education. We urge lawmakers to drop the private school voucher program from the spending bill and keep it out of the final budget package. We also call on lawmakers to pass legislation that fully funds public schools, such as theKeep Our Pact Act.If the lawmakers fail to do so, it will set us on a dangerous course back toward a pre-civil rights era reality, defined by deliberate racial segregation and extreme disparities in school funding and resourcing. This private school voucher plan to strip millions of children of their opportunity to access free public education directly mirrorsProject 2025. The issue with such a policy is that private school vouchers subsidize wealthy families who can already pay for private school, while decimating public schools for everyone else by diverting resources away from public education. Opponents of free and accessible education argue that voucher programs give families more choice. In actuality, school vouchers go toward private schools that choose which children to enroll, reject, or kick out. Public schools cannot choose which students to provide an education to. By law, they cannot discriminate against students based on their gender, race, disability, religion, English fluency, or LGBTQ identity. But by design, private schools selectively allow admission to a small number of students. They also routinely deny students enrollment for other reasons like grades, behavioral record, and ability to pay. The latter of which is particularly significant becauseresearchsuggests most families can't afford the gap between the voucher and the rest of tuition. Families who can't access elite private schools, whether because they are discriminated against or can't pay the difference in tuition, are often preyed upon by predatory schools that have popped up in states that passed vouchers in recent years. Horror stories abound ofstrip mall schoolswhere no learning happens,where doors shutter mid-year, and wherestudents don't have teachers. Meanwhile,public schools, which serve 90% of American students and 94% of students of color—are forced to do more with less. Students learn from outdated textbooks and old computers while overworked teachers are tasked with educating children who aren't getting the resources they need. A choice between a private school that can reject or discriminate against your child and an under-resourced public school is hardly a choice at all. The draconian cuts to public education caused by vouchers are even leading toa new wave of school closures, disproportionately impacting schools in Black and Brown neighborhoods, and forcing students to start over in unfamiliar environments, often traveling farther from home and adapting to new teachers and peers. When neighborhood schools close, Black and Brown communities lose community centers, polling places, access to services, and vital civic infrastructure, and in some cases lose their communitiesaltogether. Grassroots organizers in Black and Brown communities across the U.S. arefighting  backto save their public schools from closure. They havepacked board meetings,lead school walk-outs, and evenheld hunger strikes. They are on the frontlines of local fights against voucher programs and to support and keep their public schools. The future of our public schools—schools that serve every child for free—are on the line. Instead of gutting our public schools, lawmakers should invest in them and restore the promise of equal education that the civil rights movement fought for. Contact usatletters@time.com.

byAlpha World

in

July 02, 2025

Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Will Devastate Public Schools

Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Will Devastate Public Schools This week, Republican lawmakers are attempting to pass a budget recon...

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Trump is doing a ‘reverse Nixon’ and using Russia against China, top adviser tells ‘Pod Force One’

Trump is doing a 'reverse Nixon' and using Russia against China, top adviser tells 'Pod Force One'

President Trump is pulling a "reverse Nixon" and putting a wedge between Russia and China after his predecessor "drove" Beijing and Moscow together, US Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley explained in the latest episode of "Pod Force One." Crowley, who worked on behalf of former President Richard Nixon in his later years out of office, told Post columnist and now-podcast host Miranda Devine that Trump's approach would eventually leverage Russian power to act as a bulwark against growing Chinese power. "President Trump is doing almost, or wants to, I think, do a reverse Nixon and try to improve relations with Moscow, to use Russia as a counterweight against growing Chinese power," Crowley said. Every week,Post columnist Miranda Devine sits down for exclusive and candid conversations with the most influential disruptors in Washington.Subscribe here! "Presidents of both parties for decades have exerted themselves to keep both countries apart, and then Biden, of course, drove them together, which is madness," she noted. In February 1972, Nixon made a historic trip to begin the process of normalizing relations with China after a quarter century of diplomatic silence — but also to strategically counter the Soviet Union. Trump by contrast has sought to decrease diplomatic tensions with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his war with Ukraine, while engaging in more aggressive trade negotiations with China. At times, he's lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of being a "dictator" as well as an ungrateful recipient of US foreign aid that's bankrolled his nation's war against Russia. In the most shocking confrontation between the world leaders this term, Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War III" during a heated Oval Office meeting Feb. 28. "You're right now not in a very good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position," the president charged. But Trump has also railed against Putin for conducting drone strikes on civilians in Ukraine, claiming in May that the Russian strongman "has gone absolutely CRAZY!" Former President Joe Biden often praised Zelensky's valor in confronting Russia's war machine and even once suggesting during a widely watched speech in Poland that Putin "cannot remain in power." Despite the shifting approaches to dealing with Russia, both Biden and Trump similarly applied tariffs to China while in office. Crowley explained that Nixon "decided to open the door to China" and use it "as a strategic counterweight against growing Soviet power" to "buy time strategically for the United States." "They worshipped [Nixon] in China," Crowley added, "because he had opened China to the rest of the world." The Trump official also noted that Nixon would be much more wary of Chinese power nowadays, particularly given how quickly the landscape of foreign policy has changed since his tenure as president. "Now, President Nixon was nothing if not adaptable to the changing world, so I think he would understand now that China is a complete adversary and an existential threat to the United States," she said. Elsewhere in the podcast, Crowley and Devine discussed how Nixon and Trump had exchanged letters in the 1980s and 1990s — and how former first lady Pat Nixon had admired the real estate mogul's appearance on "The Phil Donahue Show" and claimed he had a future in politics. As chief of protocol, Crowley advises the president, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on matters of diplomatic protocol, both national and international. She also holds the rank of assistant secretary of state. Reflecting on what drew her to serve in the Trump administration, Crowley said that from the beginning, she knew that he was "the one that is not just going to save the GOP, but he's the one that's going to save the country, and frankly, the West."

byAlpha World

in

July 02, 2025

Trump is doing a ‘reverse Nixon’ and using Russia against China, top adviser tells ‘Pod Force One’

Trump is doing a 'reverse Nixon' and using Russia against China, top adviser tells 'Pod Force One' President Trump is pullin...

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LeBron James to Cleveland? Why heading East for the crown could be the move

LeBron James to Cleveland? Why heading East for the crown could be the move

The dust has largely settled in2025 free agencyand many around the league are still wondering: What in the world is going on with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers? It's a question that seemed to be answered last week when the 40-year-old picked up his $52.6 million player option to re-join the Lakers for next season. But all that clarity went out the window the moment his agent Rich Paul paired the news with an extended statement about theneed for urgencyin LakerLand. "LeBron wants to compete for a championship," Paul told ESPN. "He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we've had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career. "We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him." Well, so much for that urgency. The Lakers' response has been so tepid it's hard to even categorize it as a response. For one, the team still hasn't even officially announced or publicized the return of the all-time leading scorer and second-team All-NBA member. Then they let Dorian Finney-Smith walk to rival Houston. They whiffed on Brook Lopez, who went to the other Los Angeles team, and still haven't added a center. Maybe LeBron saw the writing on the wall and acted first to get in front of the Lakers' imminent apathy. Paul made it known,telling ESPN's Dave McMenaminearlier this week, that four teams have inquired with the Klutch Sports CEO about trading for James. Engineering a trade, with his no-trade clause in hand, may have been the plan all along. Should LeBron's goal truly be to win a championship, then the calculus is simple: He needs to head East. More specifically, he should take his talents back to Cleveland, where the road to the Finals is clearer than ever. The West has eaten the East's lunch time and time again this century. Since 2000, in head-to-head matchups, the Western Conference has won the majority of inter-conference games in a staggering 23 of the last 26 seasons, according to Basketball-Reference tracking. The final tally has the West earning 6,316 wins against the East compared to just 4,997 victories on the other side. It's unfathomable how lopsided the conferences are. The East could go 1,318-0 going forward and they'dstillhave a worse record against its conference foe since 2000. A development that the ever-observant LeBron has assuredly noticed, the rich are indeed getting richer. Over the past few months the Western Conference has clinched what I'll call the Conference Grand Slam — winning the regular season, the NBA Finals, the Draft Lottery and more recently, the free agency window (more on that later). After the clean sweep, the West has put itself head and shoulders above its easterly foes. As of Wednesday morning, the three most likely teams to win the championship — OKC, Houston and Denver — all hail from one conference, per BetMGM odds. Which, if it holds, would be the first time since2008that the three heaviest favorites entering the season belong to the same conference, per SportsOddsHistory.com tracking. [Get more Lakers news: Lakers team feed] Knowing how cavernous that gap is now, it would be understandable if both James and the Lakers surveyed the landscape and came to the conclusion that, without forgoing long-term assets, the purple-and-gold simply can't compete at the highest levels together. But one team in the East can. That's his former squad, the Cleveland Cavaliers — where James can end his career where it all began. It wasn't long ago when the Boston Celtics were thought to be building an enduring reign atop the NBA, but then the 2025 playoffs happened. In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, Jayson Tatum crumbled to the hardwood with a ruptured Achilles. The Celtics lost the series and immediately vacated their seat among the NBA's inner circle. But it wasn't just Tatum and Boston who took a big step back. Milwaukee's Damian Lillard and Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton suffered Achilles tears in the playoffs as well, all but removing those three clubs from serious title contention in 2025-26. Though Milwaukee added Myles Turner, it did so at a historic cost ofstretch-and-waiving Lillard's $113 million contract over the next five seasons. Meanwhile, the reigning East champs pushed their 2025 first-round pick a year down the road and largely sat out free agency, presumably with the goal of maximizing their 2026 first-round pick that they deftly reacquired from New Orleans during the NBA Finals. The opening is there for Cleveland now that Boston has dismantled its championship roster. The Celtics' difficult looming cap decisions were made easy by Tatum's injury. They traded Jrue Holiday's long-term contract to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Anfernee Simons' expiring contract and then dumped Kristaps Porzingis' salary on the Atlanta Hawks in another cost-saving measure. Together, shedding the Holiday and Porzingis contracts lopped $144 million off the Celtics' 2025-26 total salary and tax bill. Boston effectively waved the white flag. Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, the Bucks hit the nuclear option in the wake of Lillard's injury. Once Brook Lopez left Giannis Antetokounmpo's side and headed West to join the Clippers in free agency, it ensured that none of the Greek Freak's starting teammates from the 2021 championship team remain with the club. Milwaukee pivoted bywaiving Lillard and bringing in Turnerat four years and $107 million to help rescue a decimated roster. It remains to be seen whether the Turner deal will stifle a possible Antetokounmpo trade demand. Even if a request isn't made, Milwaukee doesn't have a title-worthy supporting cast around Antetokounmpo. They've taken a step back even though they're trying. Elsewhere, the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks appear eager to crash the East contender party with their moves, but the leap would have to be massive; neither team even had a winning record last season. The case for the Cavs going for LeBron is simple: They won 64 games last season, but looked severely flawed in yet another disappointing postseason run. As LeBron's former Cleveland teammate Channing Frye presciently saidon an Oddball episode back in March, the current iteration of the Cavs doesn't measure up to the LeBron Cavs teams simply because they lack what Frye termed as "a bully" on the floor. What better way to solve that problem than to bring back the bully that led the Cavs to the 2016 championship himself? It's possible, but it will take some heavy lifting. Because of the new trade-restrictive CBA, the Cavs re-acquiring James will likely necessitate additional teams being involved. A four-team framework proposed bycap guru Eric Pincus from B/Ris the most intriguing option, looping in Houston and Utah as trade partners. The bones of the trade are as follows: Cleveland sends Darius Garland to Utah for Walker Kessler; Houston receives Finney-Smith in a sign-and-trade; the Lakers add Jarrett Allen and De'Andre Hunter; the Lakers move LeBron and his son Bronny back home to Cleveland. Various picks and salary cap filler would certainly be included to grease the wheels, but that's the basic structure. Yes, it's a mammoth trade, but one that checks a ton of boxes for the respective teams and stays within the bounds of complicated cap rules. As Iwrote in this spaceback in May, Allen would be a perfect high-flying rim protector for Luka Dončić. Back then, I surmised that Cleveland would only entertain an Allen departure if they got bounced early from the playoffs. Which they did. For the Lakers, adding Hunter and Allen in a trade would explain why they haven't pursued top wings and centers in free agency. As for Cleveland, trading for Bully 'Bron solves two other pressing issues. Look, the team is paying its undersized backcourt, Garland and Donovan Mitchell, an astounding $276 million over the next three seasons, which is simply untenable. As we saw clearly this postseason, having two weak defenders on the perimeter will doom the Cavs in the modern "weak link" NBA that marginalizes one-way players. Trading Garland to a team long desperate for a lead point guard, the Jazz, would quell that concern. Secondly, James' impending retirement could open up cap space for Kessler, who is due an extension off of his meager $4.9 salary in 2025-26. It's a dream scenario for Cleveland. How many All-NBA caliber players can they acquire without long-term money attached? It's LeBron, and … that's it. The big picture also justifies the LeBron-to-Cleveland move. For LeBron or any West player seeking a championship, they have to head East. In almost comical fashion, the East-West divide widened on draft lottery night. Dallas leapfrogged 10 teams to win the rights to draft Cooper Flagg, one of the most accomplished freshmen to ever make the jump to the league. It's not just that Flagg represents an elite talent going West. He's joining an unusually potent club at the top of the draft. With a record of 39-43, the Mavericks are the winningest team to select (and retain) their No. 1 overall pick since the 1982 Lakers. (For the historians out there: yes, the 41-41 Orlando Magic drafted Chris Webber in 1993, but traded him to 34-48 Golden State for the No. 3 pick, Anfernee Hardaway, and three first-round picks.) If that's not enough draft luck going the Western Conference's way, the San Antonio Spurs — already loaded with Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox — soared six spots on lottery night to snag Dylan Harper, another top prospect at the college level. The team already struck gold last year, drafting Stephon Castle, who won Rookie of the Year. With thehighly underrated big Luke Kornetjoining the squad from Boston, San Antonio is poised for a breakout season on the back of its internal development. Kornet's arrival is symbolic of another larger trend in the NBA. During this free agency window, we've continued to see the Great Western Migration of NBA talent. From the East, the Western Conference added Cam Johnson, Ty Jerome, Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet, D'Angelo Russell, Brook Lopez and Jusuf Nurkic — seven players who are considered positive impact players going forward, according toEstimated Plus-Minus ratings. The East? They brought in just four from the Western Conference: Desmond Bane, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luka Garza and CJ McCollum. Zoom out and the picture gets even bleaker for the East. The 16 players that switched conferences to the East are collectively far worse than the 15 players that went the other way. According to EPM data fromDunksAndThrees.com, West-to-East players registered an aggregated MINUS-14.6 EPM while the West saw that same total check in at plus-5.3. Said another way, the caliber of players that the West took from the East were 20 points better per 100 possessions than the ones that the East took from the West. And this doesn't even consider the Antetokounmpo situation looming over the league. If Antetokounmpo asks out of Milwaukee in the near future, the asset-rich teams that seem to be in prime position to trade for the two-time MVP are in the West: San Antonio and Houston. Of course, Antetokounmpo could force his way into easterly locales like New York and Atlanta, but it's hard to see Milwaukee preferring that trade route compared to what some West teams can offer. One detail that could give Atlanta a leg up: the Hawks possess Milwaukee's unprotected 2026 first-round pick swap from New Orleans. If the Bucks want to bottom out next season, they'll have to get Atlanta's participation in a deal. If LeBron doesn't head back to Cleveland and Milwaukee reroutes Antetokounmpo to the West soon, the East's outlook will wear the "Leastern" Conference label in near perpetuity. OKC could be building a dynasty and the only teams that seem to be daring to challenge them are coming from their own conference. While we're here, it's downright nonsensical that we're sticking with an antiquated playoff system of requiring an equal eight teams from each conference when the East-West imbalance continues to spiral out of control. The obvious fix for the blatant league inequity is moving to seeding the playoffs 1-16 league-wide regardless of conference affiliation, something that Adam Silver is reportedly a big proponent of. However, such a rule change would require a heavy majority of owners voting for the change and it's hard to see East owners going for it. Maybe the East-West divide naturally thins out when top players recognize the easier path to the Finals and decide to flee the West in the coming years. Ever the pioneer in player movement, James could walk down that road in the coming days and show everyone the way. If the league's eldest player wants to win a fifth championship while he's still at an All-NBA level, it's clear that the loaded Western Conference is no country for old men.

byAlpha World

in

July 02, 2025

LeBron James to Cleveland? Why heading East for the crown could be the move

LeBron James to Cleveland? Why heading East for the crown could be the move The dust has largely settled in2025 free agencyand many around t...

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