Aryna Sabalenka reacts during a match against Ekaterina Alexandrova at the round of 16 National Bank Open Tennis tournament in Toronto, on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

Aryna Sabalenka was keeping a brave face on Wednesday as she prepped for her final US Open warm-up at the Cincinnati Open, where the former champion is the top women’s seed in the ATP-WTA Masters 1000 event.

The four-time Grand Slam champion, who has claimed all of her major titles on hard courts, won in Cincinnati two years ago to lay the ground work for her first US Open trophy a few weeks later.

But 2026 has been a dud by her world-class standards, with three titles overall but none since Miami in the spring.

She came to the rainy American Midwest after exiting last week in the Toronto fourth round. Her Wimbledon was equally flat, losing at that same stage to Naomi Osaka.

But instead of pouting, Sabalenka, her fiance and traveling pet dog Ash hit the beach in Mykonos for some VIP-style relaxation.

“I wanted to stay away from tennis for a little bit so I could refresh, restart and be hungry again,” the 28-year-old with a 21-7 record in Cincinnati said.

“I love this time (the lull between Grand Slams)… there are no expectations. I’ll just go out there, compete and fight.”

Like all seeds at the 12-day tournament — which has been unable to get qualifying underway due to heavy rains and storm warnings — Sabalenka has a first-round bye.

She’ll open in the second round against either Australian Talia Gibson or a qualifier.

Her to-do list is simple, she said: “Compete, fight and enjoy. I have no fear.”

To that end Sabalenka hopes to avoid re-living her recent past.

“Every time I (look back) I get a little bit crazy and emotional. I try to focus on staying present and doing everything I can now.

“This summer, I had huge expectations that I’d succeed in the tournaments, and I desperately wanted to. But my body stopped me from that, and some things didn’t really work my way.”

The beauty of the game is that it takes us out of our workaday routines, away from screens, into the fresh air, kissed by the wind, warmed by the sun, feeling the earth beneath our feet.

Or not.

It’s a brave new world, and our favorite pastime has evolved with it. Indoor golf is no longer the oxymoron it used to be. Simulators, of course, have been around for years. And for the past two seasons, Tour pros have even been competing on the simulated layouts of TGL.

An indoor course that anyone can play.

That’s the pitch from CityGolf USA, which recently announced what it describes as “America’s first full 18-hole indoor golf course,” set to open in Nashville this winter.

Keep reading, though, and you realize that “indoor course” is being loosely defined. CityGolf USA is not to be confused with Megalodome, a concept that calls for an executive course of par-3s and par-4s, housed within a sprawling complex of interconnected domes, just outside Chicago (though whether it’ll ever get built is another matter).

CityGolf USA promises something different — a hybrid of virtual and traditional golf, with 18 sequential holes played on Golfzon simulators inside a 175,000-square-foot warehouse. Smack your shot into the screen, and once your digital ball has landed, the screen lifts to reveal a putting surface on which you finish out the hole. Shades of TGL, for sure.

Along with this contemporary form of the game, the venue will include the kind of extras first popularized in the alt-golf industry by Topgolf, including a restaurant, a bar, a pro shop, private event spaces and certified PGA teaching pros.

However you feel about simulator golf and these venues — personally, they’re not my jam — it’s hard to deny that the game remains ripe for disruption, especially in urban areas, where time is short and land is scarce. That’s the target market for CityGolf USA, which says that Nashville is the first of multiple planned locations around the country, all aiming to reframe what a round of golf can be.

3 Things I’m Thinking

Tobacco Road sprouts a short course: Mike Strantz reframed our understanding of what a course could be, incorporating classic design elements into wonderfully whimsical creations, nowhere more famously than at Tobacco Road in North Carolina. And though Strantz himself is no longer with us (he died of cancer in 2005), Tobacco Road now has a short course that taps the architect’s iconoclastic spirit. The Matchbox, a 12-hole par-3 layout with synthetic turf (and a mix of real-sand and faux bunkers) blended into the natural landscape. It opened Aug. 1. You can get a closer look at it in the video below.

The latest whispers from Whispering Pines: In the same North Carolina Sandhills region, Kyle Franz’s redo of the Pines Course, one of two 18-holers at the Country Club of Whispering Pines, should be ready for play in September. Its reopening will expand the portfolio of Ross Resorts, the same ownership group for which Franz restored three other prominent area courses, Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Southern Pines.

A taste of Candyroot: One more from the Carolinas: Candyroot Lodge, a resort-in-the-making near Jefferson, S.C., about 80 miles southeast of Charlotte, will welcome preview play on its first course starting on Oct. 28. Designed by Broomsedge architect Mike Koprowski, the course stands to be a game-changer for a golf-mad Charlotte region that is relatively light on public-access destination golf. In lieu of traditional tee times, Candyroot will be selling day passes: all-you-can-eat golf, food, drinks and a bag of swag for $175. Those passes will go on sale on the Candyroot website on Sept. 8.

The SEC is seeking to reach the national title game for the first time since Georgia won its second in 2022.

Which teams have a legitimate case to knock off the Bulldogs as the 2x reigning conference champions?

On today’s episode of Locked On College Football, I predict the 2026 season for the Arizona Wildcats.

With one of the best quarterbacks in college football, will HC Brent Brennan make the conference title game?

Maryland is among the most likely schools to be looking for a new coach by the time this season ends—or perhaps before.

Is this the end of Mike Locksley in the Big Ten?

/ @lockedoncollegefootball  

There will be high expectations from opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in the upcoming two-match Test series in Sri Lanka. India need to win both the Test matches in the island nation to keep their faint hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final alive.

Jaiswal is fourth on the list of India’s leading run-getters in the 2025-27 WTC cycle. In nine Test matches (17 innings), the southpaw has scored 713 runs at an average of 41.94, with three hundreds and as many half-centuries. The Indian opener was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the practice match in Colombo, but scored 61 off 46 in the second innings before retiring.

Jaiswal has opened the innings in 29 Tests so far (54 innings). Ahead of the Sri Lanka series, we compare his stats with those of Virender Sehwag after the latter had also opened the batting in 54 innings.

Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Who has more runs and a better average as opener after 54 innings?

In 54 Test innings as opener Jaiswal has scored 2,535 runs at an average of 48.75. In 10 Tests against England, the 24-year-old has scored 1,123 runs at an average of 62.38. In five Tests against Australia, he has 391 runs at an average of 43.44. Also, in four Tests against the West Indies, Jaiswal has scored 485 runs at an average of 80.83.

After 54 Test innings as opener, Sehwag had scored 2,930 runs at an average of 56.34. In six Tests against Pakistan, he had scored 982 runs at an average of 98.2. In nine Tests against Australia, he had scored 846 runs at an average of 49.76. Also, in two Test matches against South Africa, he had 262 runs at an average of 87.33.

Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Who has more hundreds as opener after 54 innings?

Jaiswal has smashed seven hundreds and 13 half-centuries in his Test career thus far. He slammed two double hundreds against England during the home series in 2024 – 209 in Visakhapatnam and an unbeaten 214 in Rajkot. Earlier, the left-handed batter had scored 171 on debut against the West Indies in Roseau in July 2023 and a memorable 161 against Australia in Perth in November 2024.

(Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Stats comparison after opening in 54 innings)

After 54 Test innings as opener, Sehwag had nine hundreds and eight half-centuries to his credit. His best at that stage was an epic 309 which came against Pakistan in Multan in March 2004. He had also scored 201 against Pakistan in Bengaluru in March 2005 and 195 against Australia in the 2003 Boxing Day Test.

Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Who has a better record in wins after opening in 54 innings?

In 14 Test wins (24 innings), Jaiswal has notched up 1,644 runs, average of 71.47, with six tons and six fifties. In 12 losses (24 innings), he has scored 730 runs at an average of 30.41, with one ton and five fifties. In three Tests (six innings) that ended in a draw, he has totaled 161 runs at an average of 32.20, with the aid of two half-centuries.

(Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Stats comparison in wins after opening in 54 innings)

In 13 Test wins (19 innings), Sehwag had scored 984 runs at an average of 54.66, with two hundreds and three half-centuries. In nine losses (17 innings), he had 902 runs at an average of 53.05, with two tons and four fifties. In 10 drawn Tests (18 innings), he had 1,044 runs at an average of 61.41, with the aid of five centuries and one half-century.

Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Who has a better away record after opening in 54 innings?

In 14 away Tests (27 innings), Jaiswal has scored 1,118 runs, averaging 43, with four hundreds and five half-centuries. In 15 home Tests (27 innings), the left-handed batter has scored 1,417 runs at an average of 54.50, with three centuries and eight half-centuries.

(Jaiswal vs Sehwag – Away stats comparison after opening in 54 innings)

In 18 away Tests (28 innings), Sehwag had scored 1,362 runs at an average of 50.44, with three hundreds and four half-centuries. In 14 home Tests (26 innings), he had 1,568 runs at an average of 62.72, with six tons and four fifties.