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      Iran Calls for U.S. to Be Expelled From World Cup

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      DOHA, Qatar — A representative of Iran’s soccer federation on Sunday called for the United States to be expelled from soccer’s World Cup over social media posts that the federation claimed had “disrespected” Iran’s flag.The United States Soccer Federation drew Iran’s ire by including a doctored Iran flag in two posts on its official social media accounts on Saturday. A spokesman for U.S. Soccer said the decision to use an Iranian flag stripped of the country’s official emblem and two lines of Islamic script in posts on Twitter and Instagram was intentional, and meant to show support for the women of Iran — a nod to protests that have roiled Iran at home and followed its team to the World Cup in Qatar.Iran condemned the decision to use an incorrect flag, which it said violated the statutes of FIFA, world soccer’s global governing body.“Respecting a nation’s flag is an accepted international practice that all other nations must emulate,” Safia Allah Faghanpour, a legal adviser to Iran’s soccer federation, said in comments reported by a semiofficial state news agency in Iran. “The action conducted in relation to the Iranian flag is unethical and against international law.”The adviser’s comments were reported by Tasnim News, whose own social media profile includes an image of an American flag in flames.The United States and Iran are set to meet in a crucial game on Tuesday that was already fraught with political overtones and high stakes: The loser, if there is one, most likely will be eliminated from the tournament.Iran cited a specific FIFA regulation that it said called for penalties for anyone “who offends the dignity or integrity of a country, a person or group of people through contemptuous, discriminatory or derogatory words or actions (by any means whatsoever).”FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the dispute, and it is unlikely to intervene during the tournament.But Iran’s presence in the field has already made headlines: Fans arriving at matches with Iran’s prerevolutionary flag have been told it is not allowed inside stadiums, and Iran’s players have won praise — and criticism — for refusing to sing their national anthem at their opening game, and then appearing to grudgingly go along the second time they took the field.The U.S. Soccer spokesman, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions, said the American federation had not been contacted by FIFA about the social media posts. But it said it had deleted the two posts after a series of internal discussions on Sunday and would use Iran’s official flag moving forward.The US. players and their coach, Gregg Berhalter, were not involved in the decision to use the incorrect flag or to remove it, the spokesman said. More

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      in Basket

      ‘The Redeem Team’ Review: Squad Goals

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      A documentary looks at the 2008 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team and its mission to bring back gold after a humiliating loss.As narratives of national uplift go, the 1992 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball consortium, known as the “Dream Team,” was one of the most shamelessly contrived. Once international players started to get the hang of hoops, how was America to maintain hegemony? Blitz them with the cream of the professional crop. This strategy wasn’t foolproof. A humiliating loss to Argentina in 2004 deprived the United States of the gold. This aggression would not stand.“The Redeem Team,” a documentary about the 2008 squad that was charged with getting the Americans back to the top spot, is smart in not asking the viewer to feel too bad for the 2004 group. The Argentine player Pepe Sanchez nailed the issue right after the match: “This is a team sport. You play five on five, not one on one.”Taking charge for the 2008 run is the Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, a figure both respected and despised (the team member LeBron James is frank: “Growing up in the inner city, you hate Duke”). Krzyzewski makes teamwork the priority, and he holds to that even when he brings aboard Kobe Bryant, then a notorious lone wolf.The movie, directed by Jon Weinbach, offers several eye-opening mini-narratives on the way to a rematch with Argentina. Doug Collins, a member of the U.S. team in 1972, speaks to the 2008 players about his painful experience in a game arguably stolen by the Soviet Union. Bryant softens up his old friend Pau Gasol, a member of Spain’s team, the better to execute a shocking “who’s the boss” move on the court. The intimidating presence of Argentina’s ace shooter Manu Ginóbili causes no small concern. While no realistic observer of American sports could call this movie inspirational, these sequences definitely make it engrossing.The Redeem TeamNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      U.S. Men’s Basketball on 1972 Munich Olympics: ‘We Deserve Gold Medals’

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      Fifty years after a painful, and controversial, loss to the Soviet Union in the 1972 Olympics, some American men’s basketball players still hope to be declared the rightful winners.It was after 2 a.m. on Sept. 10, 1972, when Tom McMillen and Tom Burleson made their way to the Hofbräuhaus, the famed beer hall in central Munich, so they could commiserate in the dark over German sausage and pilsners.“We were there for quite a long time,” Burleson said.They were teammates on the United States’ men’s basketball team, and by the time they headed back to the Olympic Village, it was past dawn and the daylight seemed blinding. But nothing was clear, and much of the haze from that window of their lives has remained.“I remember when I came home, I kind of had to slap myself because I had gone to the Olympics thinking it was the most hallowed ground,” McMillen said. “And I came away from it feeling much different: ‘Wow, this is a very human institution.’”Fifty years after its controversial loss to the Soviet Union in the gold medal game at the 1972 Olympics, the U.S. men’s basketball team still steadfastly refuses to accept its silver medals. Instead, the players wait — for the elusive truth about what happened in the game’s closing seconds, and for the International Olympic Committee to redress what the team has long considered an injustice.“We deserve gold medals,” said Ed Ratleff, 72, a forward-guard on the team.The memories are vivid for players like McMillen, Burleson and Ratleff, who have gotten used to reliving the experience every few years, on anniversaries when the public’s curiosity is piqued. McMillen, 70, always appreciates the renewed interest. It is a piece of history that ought to be remembered, he said, especially given the current state of geopolitical affairs.The American player Mike Bantom (No. 7) was surrounded by Soviet players in the paint.Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images“The Ukrainian conflict brought this into new perspective for me,” said McMillen, who spent 11 seasons in the N.B.A. before he became a three-term congressman representing Maryland. “We were in the middle of the Cold War when we played the Soviets in ’72, and here we are, back in the same kind of world conflict.”Just 20 at the time, McMillen went to the Olympics believing it was “the most idealistic thing in the world,” he said. His perception was shattered on Sept. 5, 1972, when eight Palestinian terrorists scaled a fence at the Olympic Village, killing two members of the Israeli delegation before taking nine others hostage. Early the next morning, amid a botched rescue attempt at an airport outside Munich, all were killed.“I remember we had to practice on the day of the attack on the Israelis, and it was incredibly difficult,” McMillen said. “Some of us were talking about how maybe the game should be canceled.”The Games went on, a decision that organizers described as a repudiation of the terrorist attack. And in the semifinals, the United States overpowered Italy to run its record in Olympic play to 63-0.Facing an older and more experienced Soviet team in the final, the Americans trailed until Doug Collins made two free throws to put the Americans ahead, 50-49, with 3 seconds left. Those 3 seconds would be re-examined for years to come.After Collins’s second free throw, the Soviets inbounded the ball, but one of the officials stopped play because of commotion at the scorer’s table: Had the Soviet coach tried to call a timeout? Was he even allowed to call one?In sum, the Soviets got a do-over, with 3 seconds put back on the clock. They even managed to make an illegal substitution. But when their subsequent full-court pass was deflected and the buzzer sounded, the Americans began to celebrate, believing they had won.Henry Iba, left, coach of the U.S. men’s basketball, looks over the shoulder of referee Artenik Arabaijan as the final seconds of the game are discussed.Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAnd then things really got crazy. William Jones, the head of international basketball, emerged from the stands to rule that the Soviet team should get a third chance to inbound the ball. Why? Because the scoreboard operator had neglected to reset the clock. The Americans, who were coached by Henry Iba, were furious and threatened to leave the court. Amid the chaos, a pickpocket filched Iba’s wallet. (Yes, someone really stole his wallet.)Burleson, 70, said the U.S. team was left with no choice.“They told us that if we didn’t go back out on the court, we’d forfeit the game,” he said.As the Soviets readied themselves for yet another attempt at a last-ditch miracle, the referee along the baseline seemed to motion for McMillen to back off Ivan Edeshko, who was set to inbound the ball. That gave Edeshko more room to make a court-length pass to Aleksander Belov, a center who brushed off two smaller defenders for the game-winning layup.After an appeal failed, the U.S. team unanimously agreed to boycott the medal ceremony. For 50 years, the team’s silver medals have remained in a vault in Lausanne, Switzerland.In 2012, when the team reunited for the first time since Munich and participated in a televised round table, all 12 players said they remained steadfast in their decision to reject their silver medals. One player, Kenny Davis, said he had even added a clause to his will barring any of his family members from posthumously accepting it on his behalf.McMillen and others on the team have spent decades wondering whether the game was fixed.“But we could never find anything definitive,” McMillen said. “I think it was incompetence combined with complicity, meaning there was a comedy of errors, but I think there was also some complicity with Jones and some of the East Bloc nations to arrange an outcome.”As Ratleff put it, “Once it got close at the end, I don’t think there was any chance they were going to let the Americans win.”Soviet basketball players celebrated after their victory against the Americans in 1972.Associated PressWhile the game disillusioned many of the American players and helped foster a general sense of cynicism about the Olympics themselves, it also demolished the perception that the Americans were unbeatable at basketball. That the United States lost — no matter the circumstances — gave hope to other countries that they, too, could vie for gold. In its own way, the game may have helped grow the sport.“I think it motivated European clubs to step up and become a part of the international game,” said Burleson, a center who played seven seasons in the N.B.A.The American players no longer entertain the possibility of the I.O.C. overturning the result of the game, said Ratleff, a small forward who spent five seasons with the Houston Rockets.“I don’t think you’re ever going to take the gold medals away from Russia,” he said.McMillen, though, suggested that the team would be willing to accept a duplicate set of gold medals. He felt encouraged in July when the I.O.C. restored Jim Thorpe as the sole winner of the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Games, decades after he had been stripped of his medals for violating rules against professionalism. The I.O.C.’s announcement came 40 years after it declared him the co-winner of both events, a compromise that had done little to appease his supporters, who kept campaigning on his behalf.“If Jim Thorpe can get his medals posthumously, I’m still hoping that some shoes will drop and we can get our medals — hopefully not posthumously, but sometime down the road,” McMillen said.During the medal ceremony for the basketball competition, the second-place step of the podium remained empty as the U.S. men’s basketball team protested the decision to award the gold to the Soviet Union.Rich Clarkson & Assoc. via Getty ImagesAn I.O.C. spokesman responded to a request for comment, but did not address questions on the Americans’ desire for gold medals.In Russia, the gold medal final continues to be celebrated. A 2017 film, “Going Vertical,” was one of the most popular Russian-made movies in the country’s history.In the United States, meanwhile, McMillen fears that the game — and what he considers a wrong that has never been righted — is slowly being forgotten, its significance eroded by time.“It’s unfortunate because that’s exactly what the I.O.C. wants,” he said. “Our medals sit in Lausanne, and there are going to be fewer of us around for the 60th anniversary. History fades into the ether.” More

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      in Tennis

      Tending to Grass, and to Grief, on a Tennis Court in Iowa

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      Mark Kuhn is hunched over, one knee on the ground, pulling dandelions from an otherwise immaculate lawn. With a small, serrated blade, he carefully carves tiny leaves from the turf, extracting as much of their roots as he can reach, and places them in a plastic container beside him. Dandelions, I learn, are as prolific as they are stubborn.Three days earlier and some 4,000 miles away in my native England, Novak Djokovic had once again held the Wimbledon trophy aloft on the most revered court in all of tennis. Meanwhile, I was driving the 1,926 miles from my adopted home of Oakland, Calif., to be here, on this tennis court, on a farm in Northern Iowa, standing next to Mark and his weed-filled ice cream tub.I kick off my shoes and stand barefoot like a child, taking in the Midwestern summer. The grass on the soles of my feet is warm and welcoming, and the morning sun undulates on the corrugated metal of the Kuhn family’s sheds and silos. I feel like I’ve been here before.Mr. Kuhn on his court. The idea to build it first occurred to him in 1962.My memories of early childhood are mostly vague: a muted palette of inconsistency and confusion, lacking defined edges or chronology. But recollections of summers, which were spent in rural Cambridgeshire with my grandparents, are bathed in the palomino gold of the August sun on fields as far as the eye could see, and in the warmth of the love I felt there. Every afternoon, a curtain of decapitated dandelion-seed fluff, churned up by nearby combine harvesters, would fill the lattice patio window, on its way to offering seemingly infinite new beginnings.It was here I discovered tennis — albeit watching, not playing. I was a resolutely unathletic child, one of my more enduring traits. In 1997, most British households had only five television channels, two of which ran wall-to-wall Wimbledon coverage for two full weeks, every year. I would normally have been at school in late June, but it was clear to one of my more perceptive teachers — who knew that I’d struggled in recent years with my grandfather’s sudden death, and with my father’s decision to leave to start a new family — that I was deeply unhappy at home and would be better off beginning my summer break early.From the comfort and loving safety of Nan’s sofa, I quickly became invested in the progress of Tim Henman, who made it to the quarterfinals. At first, it was because there was simply nothing else on TV, and the whiff of British success at Wimbledon tends to send my country into an inexplicably contagious fever. Ultimately though, it was Henman’s dogged determination that kept me hooked. An unlikely hero, his resolve was an unexpected ember of inspiration for a lost kid who was desperately grasping for something solid to hang on to.Two tennis professionals, Kiranpal Pannu and Nathan Healey, during a practice session.A group of ball girls lines up in a shed beside the court.A breeze flutters through the six-feet-tall cornstalks. Mark tells me the corn grows so quickly this time of year that you can actually hear it. I’m not sure if he’s serious, but I furtively prick an ear, just in case. The lament of a mourning dove is accompanied by the shrill urgency of a red-winged blackbird flitting between field and power line. At ground level I hear the occasional crunch of tires on the loose gravel road beyond the farm’s perimeter. Necks craned, passers-by peer for a better view of the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club, as spectacular as it is incongruous, and a plume of dust forms in their curious wake.Exactly 20 years ago, Mark, together with his wife Denise and their two sons, Mason and Alex, began the laborious and experimental undertaking of building a grass tennis court on their farm on the outskirts of Charles City, Iowa. It took more than a year to finish.It was the realization of a dream the reluctant third-generation farmer had held since 1962, having become enamored of Wimbledon two years previously when he heard a BBC broadcast on his grandfather’s shortwave radio. Twelve years old and absent-mindedly doing his chores, Mark noticed the cattle feedlot he was standing in was about the size of a regulation tennis court. But it wasn’t until the sudden death of a close friend, some 40 years later, that he was galvanized to try to make his far-fetched daydream a reality.Mark plays on the court occasionally, but his main source of joy lies in the rituals of preparing it for others to enjoy. The All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club — a nod to Wimbledon’s home at the All England Lawn Tennis Club — is open to whoever wants to drop Mark a line to request a reservation.Mr. Kuhn operates his greens mower.With string guiding the way, the lines on the court are painted with a titanium dioxide compound.Mr. Kuhn measures the height of the net.The week following the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, Mark is preparing to host Madison Keys, a one-time U.S. Open finalist, for an exhibition tournament benefiting her Kindness Wins Foundation.Just after sunrise, using a greens mower, Mark meticulously crops one millimeter off the top of the grass in four directions, giving the surface its distinctive stripes. Then it’s time for his favorite task: marking up the court. After aligning the edges with string, he slowly paints the tramlines — one careful step at a time, heel to toe — with a brilliant white titanium dioxide compound. The net is then dropped and pulled drum-tight, until it measures exactly three feet in the middle.Tips for Parents to Help Their Struggling TeensCard 1 of 6Tips for Parents to Help Their Struggling TeensAre you concerned for your teen? More

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      Is Andy Murray About to Become Andy Murray Again?

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      Like Serena Williams, Andy Murray, finally healthy and fit, has given glimpses of yesteryear at the U.S. Open. Unlike Williams, he has no intention of walking away.Follow live as Serena Williams plays Ajla Tomljanovic at the U.S. Open.A Grand Slam champion, one of the great players of this era, battles back from the brink of retirement and major physical setbacks to challenge the best players in the world once more in the face of widespread — and justified — skepticism.It is the dominant narrative of the first week of the 2022 U.S. Open, with Serena Williams defying the dual tolls of time and deterioration to bulldoze her way into the third round.But she isn’t the only one.In his first two matches Andy Murray once again became the player no one really wanted to face, 10 years after he became the first man from Britain to win a Grand Slam singles championship since Fred Perry in 1936. Three years ago, he said he was flirting with retirement because the pain in his hip was so severe he struggled with simple tasks like putting on his shoes and socks.Murray was unseeded, has just one full human hip, and despite a desperate desire to reach the top 30 ahead of the U.S. Open, he endured a poor-to-middling summer on North America’s hard courts. He is 35 years old but seems to age several months each time he takes the court, judging by the furrowed brow and generally dour expression he usually wears from the moment he strikes the first ball. That’s to say nothing of the cranky dialogue he has with himself through nearly every game.And there was plenty of that Friday as Murray endured a frustrating — for him at least — four-set, 3 hour 47 minute loss to Matteo Berrettini of Italy, who beat him 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-3.The loss came at a moment when Murray had grown generally pleased with his recent progress in this late-in-tennis-life attempt to recapture the magic that once made him the world’s top-ranked player during the meat of the careers of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, someone he has known and played against since they were top teenage juniors in Europe still years away from needing to shave.“My movement around the court is good right now,” Murray said after beating Emilio Nava, the 20-year-old American qualifier, in four sets Wednesday. “I feel like it’s not that easy for guys to hit winners past me, and I’m defending in the corners much better than I was 12 months ago here.”Even this version of Murray — the one who has been hovering around 50th in the world rankings for several months and who was outside the top 100 as recently as January — was a heavy favorite in that match. The win earned him a spot in the third round of the U.S. Open for the first time in six years.His first-round win over Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, the 24th seed, was far less certain, given his recent form. It ended up being his first straight-sets win in a Grand Slam tournament in five years.Berrettini, the 13th seed, a finalist at Wimbledon last year with a hammer-like serve and forehand, presented a different level of challenge. Murray is very familiar with both shots. He and Berrettini often practice together, including a testosterone-fueled set two weeks ago as they prepared for this tournament. Not that it matters, but Berrettini said they were all even at 5-5 and played a tiebreaker, which he won, because other players had reserved the court and were waiting. (Yes, this happens to the pros, as well.)“I always look for players that have a strong energy, that really want to practice hard, because that’s what I like to do,” Berrettini said. “He’s one of those.”Berrettini, 26, is the sort of younger player at the top of his powers that Murray has rarely been able to get past during his five-year journey through debilitating pain and rehabilitation from two hip surgeries, the second a major procedure to resurface the top of the thigh bone and replace the hip socket and cartilage with a metal shell.Just when Murray seems on the cusp of the breakthrough he has sought long after many players with his résumé would have packed it in, some young buck like Berrettini gets on him, often in the early rounds of a tournament. With a ranking as low as his, the protection of a high seeding remains elusive.The losses create a dispiriting cycle. Without matches and wins, he can’t improve his ranking, currently No. 51. And without a higher ranking, he has to leave his fate up to the luck of the draw. If it doesn’t go his way and he loses a hard-fought early match to a big-time opponent, his ranking does not improve, which often leads to more draws with opponents who have proved too tough.There would seem to be every reason to not deal with the headaches and frustrations that come with being an aging, formerly sublime professional. For so long, Murray’s creativity, touch and ability to spin the ball every which way, combined with his blazing speed, power, and never-give-up defense, made for can’t-miss tennis.Murray, right, in a practice session with the coach Ivan Lendl ahead of the U.S. Open.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesHe has earned nearly $63 million in prize money, plus tens of millions more in sponsorships. Prince Charles knighted him in 2019. In Britain, he’s basically a Beatle. He has four children. It eats at him that he is saddling his wife, Kim Sears, with the bulk of the responsibility of caring for the children while he trots across the globe chasing what he once had, especially when he’s winning only a little more than 60 percent of his matches.He is also not the type to live in denial.“At times this year I have, you know, not felt amazing in terms of where my game has been at,” he said Wednesday.Entering Friday, his body was where he wanted it to be. Two years ago he could barely walk after a five-set, first-round win. Recovery, even from the toughest matches, is no longer an issue and he does not think about his hip much. And then he gives a top player all he can handle, and the thing he wants feels not so far away, even if it might be.Murray had just four chances to break Berrettini’s serve Friday. Berrettini had 15 chances to break Murray’s.Murray has brought Ivan Lendl, the eight-time Grand Slam champion of the 1980s, back into his coaching ranks. Lendl was there when Murray was at his best. He preaches a simple brand of tennis, pushing Murray to unleash his power and finish points when the opportunity presents itself instead of complicating matters with trickery and deception. Don’t think — just hit.But even the best mechanic needs a car in prime condition to be successful, something Murray knows as well as anyone.“I’ve got a metal hip,” Murray said after Friday’s loss. “It’s not easy playing with that. It’s really difficult. I’m surprised I’m still able to compete with guys that are right up at the top of the game. Matches like this, I’m really proud that I have worked myself into a position where I’m able to do that.”It is quite a feat. In fact, Murray considers himself something of a lab rat in an experiment (though he has no idea when it will end). A few years back, some very smart people told him he would once again be able to play tennis but not compete professionally. Now he is trying to see just how wrong he can prove them have been.“That was nonsense,” he said, as he looked forward to playing in team competitions for Britain later in the year. “I want to see how close I can get back to the top of the game.” More

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      In Comebacks, Serena Williams Showed ‘You Can Never Underestimate Her’

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      Big moments on the biggest stages cemented Williams’s reputation as the queen of comebacks.During the 2012 U.S. Open final, Serena Williams was so close to losing that the idea of a comeback seemed out of the question.Her opponent, Victoria Azarenka, had gone up 5-3 in the final set, giving her numerous ways to put Williams away.“I was preparing my runners-up speech,” Williams said.Instead, she delivered what became a signature comeback of her career, breaking Azarenka’s serve twice and winning the championship without losing another game.The significance of that victory went beyond the title itself, as it turned around a year in which she had lost in the first round of the French Open. And as Williams comes close to retiring, that win illustrates how many fans will remember her tennis career — Williams coming back time and again under difficult circumstances.Here are some of the moments that helped Williams build that reputation.Australian Open, 2007Dean Treml/Agence France-Presse – Getty ImagesAfter struggling with a knee injury for much of 2006, Williams went into the 2007 Australian Open unseeded and ranked No. 81. But she went on to win the tournament, defeating Maria Sharapova.“She goes months without playing a match, loses in a tuneup and then runs the table,” Jon Wertheim, a Tennis Channel commentator and author, said.Pam Shriver, an ESPN tennis analyst, said that Williams entered the Australian Open that year in poor shape, but that by the end of the tournament, “she almost looked like a different player.”“That was one of the most memorable comebacks that I can remember that resulted in a major championship,” Shriver said.After the match, Sharapova said to the crowd in Rod Laver Arena that “you can never underestimate her as an opponent.”“I don’t think many of you expected her to be in the final, but I definitely did,” Sharapova said.2011 Health ScareChris Trotman/Getty ImagesIn February 2011, Williams was hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism. Williams recovered in time to play Wimbledon, and later revealed the seriousness of her health scare.“I was literally on my deathbed at one point,” Williams said at the time. The circumstances, she said, changed her perspective, and she went into Wimbledon that year with “nothing to lose.”Serena Williams’s Farewell to TennisThe U.S. Open could be the tennis star’s last professional tournament after a long career of breaking boundaries and obliterating expectations.Decades of Greatness: Over 27 years, Serena Williams dominated generation after generation of opponents and changed the way women’s tennis is played, winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles and cementing her reputation as the queen of comebacks.Is She the GOAT?: Proclaiming Williams the greatest women’s tennis player of all time is not a straightforward debate, our columnist writes.An Enduring Influence: From former and current players’ memories of a young Williams to the new fans she drew to tennis, Williams left a lasting impression.Her Fashion: Since she turned professional in 1995, Williams has used her clothes as a statement of self and a weapon of change.Williams made it to the round of 16. Then, she won her next two tournaments, the Bank of the West Classic in California and the Rogers Cup in Canada. She finished her year by reaching the U.S. Open final, where she lost to Samantha Stosur.“That comeback was unbelievable,” Shriver said. “No matter the score, no matter whatever, she still thought she could win.”2012 Summer RunDoug Mills/The New York TimesWilliams was eliminated from the 2012 Australian Open in the round of 16, and she was upset at that year’s French Open, where she was knocked out in the first round.“When she lost in the French Open in the first round, the career buzzards came circling,” Wertheim said. “There were plenty of times her career was supposed to be over, and she came back. The obvious one is 2012.”Williams responded to the losses by training under a new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, who went on to work with her for the next decade.And after that French Open, Williams went on a streak. She won Wimbledon before taking the gold medals in women’s singles and doubles at the London Olympics, and then she delivered her win against Azarenka at the U.S. Open, “playing some of the most inspiring tennis of her career,” Wertheim said.French Open, 2015Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesAt the French Open in 2015, Williams lost the first set of three consecutive matches. Each time, she came back to win in three sets.“Opponents were points away from eliminating her, and Serena simply refused to go off the court anything other than the winner,” Wertheim said.Williams went on to win the semifinal while dealing with a bout of the flu.The day after the semifinal, still sick, Williams said she briefly thought about withdrawing from the final.“Out of 10 — a 10 being like take me to the hospital — I went from like a 6 to a 12 in a matter of two hours,” she said at the time. “I was just miserable. I was literally in my bed shaking, and I was just shaking, and I just started thinking positive.”Williams won the final for her 20th major singles title.Pregnancy ComebackClive Mason/Getty ImagesIn 2017, Williams surprised the tennis world when she shared that she had won that year’s Australian Open while she was close to two months pregnant.Williams missed the rest of the 2017 tennis season, and had another major health scare after she gave birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian. Williams was bedridden for her six weeks after she had blood clots in her lungs. Severe coughing caused her cesarean section wound to open. And doctors found a large hematoma, a collection of blood outside the blood vessels, in her abdomen.She returned to tennis in 2018, when she reached the Wimbledon final (where she lost to Angelique Kerber) and the U.S. Open final (where she lost to Naomi Osaka). The following year, she reached the Wimbledon final (losing to Simona Halep) and the U.S. Open final again (losing to Bianca Andreescu).“To have a child in the north half of your 30s and reach four major finals is an extraordinary feat that hasn’t gotten the full due,” Wertheim said.The Farewell ComebackHiroko Masuike/The New York TimesWilliams was forced to withdraw early in her first-round Wimbledon match last year because of an injury. She was given a standing ovation as she walked off the court in tears, as many began to wonder whether it would be the last time Williams would appear at the All England Club.She returned to Centre Court at Wimbledon this year but was defeated in the first round. She continued to struggle after that, losing early in the tournaments she has entered. At the National Bank Open in Toronto, Coco Gauff said that she was moved by how Williams has continued playing and “giving it her all.”“There’s nothing else she needs to give us in the game,” Gauff told reporters. “I just love that.”Williams will attempt one more comeback at this year’s U.S. Open. Along with her singles draw, she will also play in the women’s doubles tournament, partnered with her sister Venus. While we wait to see how this comeback takes shape, one certainty, Shriver said, is that Williams will be playing with the support of her fans.“The crowd is going to be crazy,” Shriver said. “I think the noise on a Serena win will be some of the loudest noise we’ve ever heard at the U.S. Open.” More

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      in Golf

      Mickelson and Other LIV Golfers File Antitrust Suit Against PGA Tour

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      A complaint filed on behalf of 11 players pushed back against the punishments imposed by the PGA Tour for players who participate in events sponsored by the upstart LIV series.Eleven golfers affiliated with the breakaway LIV Golf series have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, challenging its suspensions and other restrictive measures used to punish those who signed on to play in the Saudi-backed LIV events.The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that the PGA Tour is unfairly controlling players with anticompetitive restraints to protect its longstanding monopoly on professional golf.The complaint — filed on behalf of Phil Mickelson and others — alleges that the tour had “ventured to harm” their careers and livelihoods. “The Tour’s unlawful strategy has been both harmful to the players and successful in threatening LIV Golf’s otherwise-promising launch,” it said.The players Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones also sought an order to allow them to participate in the FedEx Cup playoffs, the PGA Tour’s season-ending championship events. “The punishment that would accrue to these players from not being able to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs is substantial and irreparable, and a temporary restraining order is needed to prevent the irreparable harm that would ensue were they not to be able to participate,” the complaint said.A Quick Guide to the LIV Golf SeriesCard 1 of 6A new series. More

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      USWNT Qualifies for 2023 Women’s World Cup

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      A lopsided victory over Jamaica in a regional championship ensured that the Americans would get to defend their World Cup title next summer.A United States women’s national team that arrived in Mexico this week with two objectives has already achieved the first: After a lopsided victory over Jamaica on Thursday night, the United States clinched a place in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.The 5-0 victory came in the Americans’ second game at the Concacaf women’s championship, which is serving as both a regional championship and also as the qualifying tournament for the Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics. The United States beat Haiti, 3-0, in its opening game on Monday.Step One: ☑️WE’VE QUALIFIED FOR THE 2023 @FIFAWWC!!!! pic.twitter.com/jUSgovQcrx— USWNT – Concacaf Champs 🏆 (@USWNT) July 8, 2022
      Under the format of the revamped eight-team regional tournament, officially branded the Concacaf W Championship, the top two finishers in each four-team group qualify automatically for the Women’s World Cup, where the United States is the two-time defending champion.The United States ensured it would be one of the top finishers with a dominant performance against Jamaica: Sophia Smith scored twice in the first eight minutes, and Rose Lavelle, Kristie Mewis and Trinity Rodman added goals in the second half as the outclassed Jamaicans faded under an onslaught of U.S. depth and scoring chances.The Americans’ place in the World Cup was only ensured a few hours later, though, when Haiti beat host Mexico in the night’s second game. That result guaranteed the United States a top-two finish in its first-round group, and a place in the expanded 32-team World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer.The United States became the 12th nation to qualify, joining the co-hosts, along with South Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines and Vietnam from Asia; and Sweden, France, Denmark and Spain from Europe.Canada, the defending Olympic women’s champion and the Americans’ biggest regional rival, joined that group on Friday, when it defeated Panama, 1-0, in its second match in the tournament. Costa Rica did the same with its second victory, by 4-0 over Trinidad and Tobago.But the biggest story of the tournament could be Haiti: Its 3-0 victory over Mexico means it needs only a draw against Jamaica in its final group game to earn its first trip to the World Cup.The next goal for the United States, meanwhile, will be securing a place in the Paris Olympics. Only the winner of the Concacaf tournament will earn a direct place in that tournament, though there will be a lifeline for the runner-up and third-place nations through a Concacaf Olympic playoff in September 2023.U.S. Coach Vlatko Andonovski is managing a team in transition as he navigates the path to both tournaments. The squad he brought to Mexico is a blend of World Cup veterans like Lavelle, Lindsey Horan and Becky Sauerbrunn and new faces like Smith, whose two goals gave her seven this year, the most for a U.S. player; defender Naomi Girma, who assisted on Smith’s first goal in only her third game for the U.S.; and Rodman, the daughter of the former N.B.A. star Dennis Rodman.That diversity of options has made the team a glimpse of the future of a championship squad that, for the moment, still includes veterans like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. For Andonovski, the hardest decisions about who goes to the World Cup next year will come later. At the moment, he has every reason to like what he sees in the pipeline: Thirteen members of his squad are competing in their first World Cup or Olympic qualifying tournament for the team, and eight entered the tournament with fewer than 10 international appearances.Smith showed a hint of the promise at her team’s disposal in the opening minutes. On her first goal, she took a long pass on the right, lifted the ball over a defender’s head on the run to cut back and then flicked it with her right foot past the Jamaican goalkeeper.Her second came a few minutes later, and after a similar leading ball down the right, and was finished just as deftly: with a first-touch flip over the goalkeeper that was confirmed after a brief video review.“To be a start on the best team in the world — it’s not easy, it comes with a lot of weight,” Andonovski said of the 21-year-old Smith, adding, “She does have the potential to be one of the best players in the world.”Two more goals in the first half — by Ashley Hatch in the 11th minute and Mallory Pugh in the 27th — were erased by video review, which is being used in the women’s championship for the first time this year.The result, though, was never in doubt. An unmarked Lavelle scored at the back post in the 59th minute to make it 3-0; Kristie Mewis converted a penalty after Midge Purce was bowled over in the area in the 82nd minute; and Rodman turned in a cross from Pugh four minutes later for her second international goal. More