Sports

6:22 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com It had been four-and-a-half hours of battling and sliding on the court. But in the end, Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish teenager with sky-high expectations, outstretched his arms, first placing them atop his head, and then pointing them towards the crowd. For several seconds, he stood on the court, embracing every

8:45 AM ET Hanif Abdurraqib If I am being honest with myself, I probably do not love beautiful basketball as much as I’ve convinced myself I do over the past handful of my adult years. Of course, what registers as beautiful is subjective, but in this instance, I am talking specifically about the kind of

6:00 AM ET FRISCO, Texas — Last July, Jalen Tolbert never could have imagined his trip to The Star was a precursor to his future with the Dallas Cowboys. The receiver and some friends were just visiting his buddy, Bubba Thompson, an outfielder in the Texas Rangers farm system, who was playing essentially across the

9:00 AM ET ESPN staff After 10 FBS games (plus Howard–Alabama State in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge) kick things off in Week 0, everyone will start getting in on the action when Week 1 kicks off exactly 100 days from now, on Sept. 1. The arrival of the 100-day mark to the beginning of the college

7:05 AM ET The 2021-22 NHL season included a great deal of highlights, from the dominance of the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers, to the goal-scoring prowess of Auston Matthews and Chris Kreider, to spectacular goaltending from Igor Shesterkin, Frederik Andersen and Jacob Markstrom. But there can be only one team that gets to raise

7:00 AM ET It was 325 days ago that Major League Baseball first placed Trevor Bauer on administrative leave, the start of a process that has become more prolonged and more complex than either side could have anticipated. Bauer, at that point a reigning Cy Young Award winner and one of the sport’s highest-paid players,

8:17 AM ET TULSA, Okla. — Justin Thomas‘ long wait to win another major championship is over after he defeated Will Zalatoris in a playoff to win the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. Zalatoris will have to wait again for his first PGA Tour victory, along with Mito Pereira, whose costly mistake

3:00 PM ET The game’s hottest young talent is staying at Paris Saint-Germain and not joining the biggest brand in world football, Real Madrid. Kylian Mbappe‘s contract with PSG expires in 40 days and, for much of the past year, it seemed a dead certainty that he would bid the French capital adieu and take

9:00 AM ET For the first time in nearly 10 years, Holly Holm is thinking about professional boxing. To be clear, Holm’s primary focus is still very much on MMA and recapturing the UFC bantamweight championship that she won in 2015 and surrendered in 2016. Holm (14-5) faces Ketlen Vieira in the main event of

8:51 AM ET David Benavidez wasn’t surprised when he saw one of the biggest boxing upsets in recent years. He had believed for years that even a prime version of Canelo Alvarez could be beaten, and it came to fruition on May 7 when Alvarez, pushing himself into a new weight class, failed to capture

7:00 AM ET NASCAR is hitting its annual All-Star break (yes, I realize there’s not an actual break, and there won’t be one for another month, but Sunday is the All-Star Race, so work with me here), and the Cup Series season now has 13 of the 26 regular-season events in the books. We’re halfway

5:35 PM ET TULSA, Okla. — Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy do not walk the way they once did, when each was at the height of his powers. Woods, understandably, takes tentative steps these days. He’ll often hold a club in his right hand as he leaves the tee box, gently swinging it like a

1:22 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Something has dawned on Stephen Curry as the Golden State Warriors stage their first legitimate title quest in nearly three years: He’s now the old guy. “When I look at some of those guys, you’re reminded of how young they are,” Curry said, contemplating the NBA’s starscape while the

10:41 AM ET Former New York Giants cornerback James Bradberry has agreed to a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, the team announced Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed, but a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Bradberry’s contract will pay him $7.5 million, including $7.25 million guaranteed, with a chance to make another $2.5 million

7:43 AM ET NOVAK DJOKOVIC IS looking for something. It is Orthodox Easter Sunday in Belgrade. Djokovic is playing the final of the Serbia Open, a crowd of 8,000-plus bellowing behind him. Down one set to Andrey Rublev of Russia, he rallies back in the second to force a tiebreak. But late in the set,

10:51 AM BST England coach Eddie Jones has included 10 uncapped players, including in-form London Irish duo Henry Arundell and Will Joseph, in a 36-man training squad to prepare for the summer tour of Australia. Joe Cokanasiga, Owen Farrell, Manu Tuilagi, Anthony Watson and Jack Willis return following injury, while prop Mako Vunipola has also

7:00 AM ET The Colorado Avalanche enter the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs as a heavy favorite to win the Western Conference and eventually hoist the chalice for the first time since 2001. Some call them dominant, a juggernaut or, in popular hockey parlance, a “wagon.” Whatever the label, the Avalanche have

7:00 AM ET One power-conference team, one that is soon to be the same, one service academy, two soon-to-be Conference USA rivals and two teams starting from scratch and looking for a future. College football’s independents are quite a mishmash in 2022, but with Notre Dame forever leading the way, let’s talk indie football. Every

9:17 PM ET ESPN News Services BOSTON — Houston Astros right-hander Jake Odorizzi collapsed running to cover first base in the fifth inning Monday night against the Boston Red Sox and was taken off the Fenway Park field on a stretcher. Odorizzi, who entered the game with a 15 2/3 inning shutout streak, appeared to

5:41 PM ET Associated Press BALTIMORE — Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter was set Monday as the 6-5 morning line favorite for the Preakness Stakes, which will be run without Rich Strike. The surprise Derby winner at 80-1 is not in the field of nine for Saturday’s $1.65 million race at Pimlico. Rich Strike’s owner felt