Alexandra Eala, of the Philippines, reacts during her match against Mary Stoiana, of the United States, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

There has been a lot of discussion about Alex Eala online—and the talk about her has been so polarizing.

Amid the love and adoration she has been getting, there have been questions, too, about why she gets all the attention, the big courts and a lot more perks than the many-time Grand Slam champions on the women’s tour.

The postmatch conference after she disposed of Mary Stoiana in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, in her first match at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, provided a clue—the same one that has marked her interactions with sports journalists.

A lot of the questions she was asked were about Alex Eala the person.

“I’m constantly trying to be a better person, a more intelligent, more aware person,” she said on Wednesday (Manila time) after her victory.

“And yeah, [I’m trying to] be the best version of myself,” added the Filipino star when asked about being an idol for a lot of young girls. “And I don’t think my tennis would be as good as it is now if I wasn’t the person that I am off the court and I wasn’t as open-minded or, you know, eager to learn. So I think those two go hand in hand.”

Sure, Eala fielded questions about her tennis. Early on, she discussed her service game against Stoiana.

“[L]ike I’ve been saying, the serve is just a constant effort … it’s constant work and trying to improve,” she said about the one facet of her game that always comes under intense scrutiny. “I’m always trying to improve something. So I’m happy with how I served today. Hopefully, hopefully we’re going up or maintaining the level in the next couple of matches.”

She also talked briefly about her next opponent, Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine, who beat her on clay during their first meeting last May in the Strasbourg Open in France.

“There are a lot of things that I could have done better [against her],” the world No. 18 said. “I think I’ve developed a lot in those months. So yeah, all I can do is go into that match with the same mindset as today … or even better than the mindset I’ve been having these past couple of weeks, and try to do my best.”

But even as the tennis talk continued, there was a palpable effort by journalists to peel away the layers of Eala’s mystique in an effort to find what exactly makes her click among her fans and how she handles the rapid rise of her popularity. “I’m still so young, so I have so much to learn when it comes to managing, you know, there’s so much I feel I’m going to experience and so many challenges I’ve yet to encounter,” said the 21-year-old ace. “I don’t know, it feels like just yesterday that I was dreaming to be on [the Louis] Armstrong [Stadium], for example, or dreaming to play against the players that I’ve been playing against.”

“I just think it would be such a shame if I didn’t do my best to enjoy.”

Eala returns to the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on Thursday for her second match, where she is expected to have another strong crowd support as she did against Stoiana.

And Eala will never get tired of basking in the love she is shown, no matter what opinions people have online.

Does Nolan Teasley think that J.J. McCarthy is going to be on the Vikings’ roster in Week 1? His answer: “I do.”

A man of few words.

Earlier today, the Vikings’ GM chatted with the Minnesota media. Doing so allowed the newcomer in the front office to peel back the curtain on identifying talent, his view on the importance of the practice squad, and the impact of the young fellas. So, too, did get hit with several questions about the Vikings’ passer situation.

The Vikings’ GM is Direct Yet Vague on J.J. McCarthy

In his debut preseason game back in 2024, J.J. McCarthy shined. It’s been downhill since.

After that Raiders game in August of 2024, McCarthy discovered he had a season-ending knee injury. He then recovered and became the full-time starter in 2025. His issues, though, were multiple. Most prominently, McCarthy has various other ailments come up. Worse yet, his on-field play was poor, to say the least. Part of what made all of that extra painful is that Sam Darnold led Seattle to the Super Bowl.

Minnesota responded in a few ways. For starters, the GM who drafted J.J. McCarthy — Kwesi Adofo-Mensah — got canned. The fill-in GM — cap wizard Rob Brzezinski — then signed Kyler Murray for a mere $1.3 million. Murray has been the starter for several weeks now. He’ll be given every opportunity to fully solidify the Vikings’ QB1 job for the 2026 season and onward from there.

Where does that leave J.J. McCarthy? That’s reasonably uncertain.

Mr. Teasley isn’t nearly as chatty as his predecessor. Nor, for that matter, is he anywhere as close to as talkative as Kevin O’Connell. Maybe that’s a good thing even if it makes the media’s job a little more difficult.

How does he understand McCarthy’s job? “To continue to develop, to improve, and to support his teammates.”

Does the Vikings’ GM think that McCarthy is going to be on the roster in Week 1? “I do.”

Is he the main backup? “I wouldn’t really necessarily comment on depth.”

Is McCarthy healthy? “He’s practiced fully the last two days.”

Have teams been calling about trading for McCarthy? “That’s something I’ll probably keep internal. We get calls all the time.”

Teasley, in short, knows how to keep his answers short. In a lot of these moments, he offered some more words but not a ton that is too revealing. In fact, Teasley’s final answer was about the passer, noting that “he has the hardest job in sport, he’s only started ten games, and his story is not written.”

Getting Nolan Teasley to offer a bold, juicy quote isn’t going to be easy. His tendency appears to involve being restrained in his optimism while being avoidant with some political answers.

Best guess on this end of the internet is that McCarthy will be the top backup rolling into Week 1. But, to be sure, reasonable minds can disagree on that take. Carson Wentz is a rock-solid, tough game manager who has a history of playing strong football. Better yet, the veteran arm has a nice rapport with Justin Jefferson, so there’s something to be said for bumping the veteran up to that QB2 role.

Kevin O’Connell is going to get the final call on the passer hierarchy. He wasn’t available to the media alongside Teasley.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

When the Austrian women’s national ice hockey team took to the ice in the Women’s European Cup of Nations in Slovakia in August, they did so without 11 of their top players.

Captain Anna Meixner and the rest of her team were frustrated that the Austrian Ice Hockey Association (ÖEHV) still hadn’t responded to a list of grievances outlined in a letter to the organization last March. Meixner stresses that the players only went public with their complaints as something of a last resort.

Among the nine complaints on their list of demands were the standard of accommodation, having to change in unheated dressing rooms in the winter and not being paid per diems during training camps and international tournaments. They also said they had to make do with hand-me-down equipment from the men’s team.

“We really tried to respect the federation (ÖEHV) and we really tried to solve it from within, without outside noise,” Meixner told DW in a Zoom interview on Wednesday.

“So we had been fighting for four or five months without going out to the newspapers. But when we realized that nothing had changed, we had to take the next step.”

“The final straw, if you want to call it that, was a camp last February. It was the no-heater-in-the-locker-room situation,” said the 32-year-old forward, who, after two seasons in North America’s PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League)  with the Ottawa Charge and Vancouver Goldeneyes, is returning to her previous team, Swedish outfit Brynas, for 2026-27.

“Here were people that had been sitting on a train for 14 hours, who didn’t get food when they arrived. We had to go on the ice straight away. So, I think that was when it really became clear to us that enough is enough.”

Fighting for future generations of women in hockey

Meixner also stressed that their aim was primarily to improve things for the women’s national team in the longer term.

“We have this older generation right now and we’re not going to play for the national team forever. We really felt it’s time to give the next generation everything that we didn’t have over the last 10 to 15 years. We brought it up with the team and everybody was on board right away.”

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To rachet up the pressure on the ÖEHV, the players also threatened to boycott the Women’s Ice Hockey World Championship in Denmark in November ― a significant moment, as this is the first time Austria have qualified for the top IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) tournament.

“Going to the newspapers,” as Meixner put it, seems to have worked.

In a press release following last month’s tournament in Slovakia, in which Austria came second out of the four teams, the ÖEHV said it had taken the opportunity to hold “constructive conversations” with the players.

Now, Meixner appears cautiously optimistic.

Demands starting to be met

“We have gotten some answers from the federation and we are just in the process of going over everything. But now, we’re happy about the direction things seem to be moving in,” said Meixner, who added that the players and federation were finally speaking on an equal footing. 

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“It feels like they [the ÖEHV] actually want to change something. If it stays that way, I’m sure we can figure something out and make it work. Because obviously the last thing we want to do is to miss the World Championship.”

Indeed, in a letter to the team sent on August 31, the ÖEHV responded to each of their nine demands outlining specific steps that had either already been implemented or were in the works.

These include a pledge to implement “clear regulations regarding per diems/remuneration and the timely payment of bonuses and travel expenses,” to provide “adequate accommodation and reliable, needs-based catering” for training camps, “adequate cabin and gym facilities” as well as “sufficient time for travel and recovery.”

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Battling for ‘bare minimums’

It also notes that it would seek a “teamwear solution” as part of a new contract with the association’s equipment provider.

While this all seems promising, Meixner still finds it frustrating that in 2026, she and her teammates have had to battle so hard for what she termed “bare minimums.”

At the same time though, she said that if the players and the ÖEHV do actually manage to put aside their dispute, it will be bigger than everything she has achieved on the ice ― including winning the tournament in China last year that put Austria through to a first Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.

“I’m unbelievably proud of us for staying hard at it for many months. There are so many girls from other nations reaching out saying, ‘you know what? It’s great that you’re doing that and we should do the same,’” she said. 

“We’ve heard the men’s team stepping up, cheering for us. I think this is bigger than hockey. Hopefully this will be a big step for Austrian women’s sports and Austrian women in general.”

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Unless an unforeseen hitch arises over the next few weeks, Austria will open their first-ever World Championship campaign against Czechia in Esbjerg, Denmark on November 6.

Mathias Brück contributed to this report.

Edited by: Matt Pearson

Thea Frodin, of the United States, left, greets Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, after Rybakina won their match during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

NEW YORK — Thea Frodin once had to hit like Serena Williams in a movie. On Tuesday at the U.S. Open, she showed some pretty good power of her own in real life.

The 17-year-old from California lost to No. 2 Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-2 while playing her first WTA Tour match in a Grand Slam tournament.

Frodin fired 11 aces, nearly doubling up one of the best servers in women’s tennis. She said her movie role in which she had to swing like Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, doesn’t mean she feels pressure to show extra pop off the racket.

“I feel I have always been an aggressive player. That’s always been kind of my game, just to be aggressive,” the 6-foot Frodin said. “Obviously my height gives me the chance to serve bigger.”

In the 2021 film “King Richard,” Frodin was the body double for actor Demi Singleton, who played the younger Williams sister. Frodin earned the opportunity to audition after winning singles, doubles and mixed doubles sectional titles at the 10-and-under level in California and then spent six months working on set.

Will Smith won an Oscar for his performance as Richard Williams, father to Serena and her sister, Venus. Frodin hasn’t met the sisters yet but said she noticed that Smith reposted one of her social media posts.

Thea Frodin, of the United States, serves the ball to Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Frodin played her way into the U.S. Open by winning the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships to earn a wild card. She quickly gained more attention than that type of player usually gets because of her “King Richard” experience, but thought she handled that well.

“I mean, I think it’s hard to get away from all of that. It’s kind of just about accepting it and not letting it get to you,” Frodin said. “I feel like I did a good job of that.”

With fans in the Grandstand chanting her name, Frodin fired consecutive aces after facing match point trailing 5-1, then hit another to erase a third match point Rybakina had earned and eventually held serve. Rybakina finally finished the match on her fourth try by hitting her sixth ace.

Rybakina didn’t know much about Frodin the player, but said during their scouting her team became aware of her Williams’ role.

“I think that she has great shots, and especially serve,” Rybakina said. “She has this powerful game, which is I think great and it’s just a matter of experience, be more stable, playing matches. But she has the game. She can be quite dangerous with these kind of shots.”

Rybakina is guaranteed to take the No. 1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka if she reaches the semifinals, or if the two-time defending champion doesn’t win the tournament.

Frodin said playing someone with Rybakina’s skills made it hard for her to show her normal aggressive style. Still in high school, she plans to return to junior tennis for now but hopes to have another chance at the top level.

“I think it was a fun experience to kind of see how the best players in the world, how they hit their balls and their shots,” Frodin said. “Hopefully the next time I meet her, if I do, I can be more experienced and see what I can do.”

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Senegalese international Iliman Ndiaye has signed a contract with Manchester City that runs through 2031.

Marcus Rashford has found a new lease of life at Manchester United after falling out of favour at the club, which led to loan spells at Aston Villa and Barcelona

Manchester United have been handed what Nicky Butt describes as a £70million Marcus Rashford boost, with the former midfielder outlining the rare situation surrounding the winger’s return. The England international has been given a fresh opportunity at the club, and fans responded with a warm welcome as he returned to Old Trafford for the first time in 18 months.

Being greeted by hordes of United supporters, wearing club colours and training with his teammates, is a scene many believed would never be witnessed again. The clearest sign that Rashford’s story at United looked finished came last summer, when his No. 10 shirt was handed to Matheus Cunha.

Before this season began, Rashford had not played a competitive game for United since December 2024. But the club have opened the door to a reintegration during pre‑season, and he is now firmly part of Michael Carrick’s plans, featuring in their first two Premier League games.

Rashford will remain at the club until at least January when the window reopens when clubs can make an approach.

Speaking about the situation, former United midfielder Nicky Butt suggested he hopes this is the start of a redemption story for the winger. He told Midnite: “Are we witnessing the start of a good redemption story with Marcus Rashford? You’d like to think so.

“It’d be a really nice story for someone to have had such a bad time for a couple of years at United. He’s come through the academy as a superstar and potentially could have been should be up there with the likes of [Kylian] Mbappe. He went away, did okay at [Aston] Villa, went away, did well at Barcelona, and then it went sour for him.

“The reception he’s got is amazing. You think about it because there’s not many clubs that give a player a reception like that when he’s walked away from the club for whatever reason. He’s back there now. He’s out and out on the one of the top players in Europe on his day.

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“But the thing with Marcus is he has to be on it every single minute of the day because the minute he steps his foot off the pedal – there will be critics around the club. It will happen. Ex-players will be saying ‘Is he really going to be there? Is his heart there?’ But he is without doubt a 70 million pound signing to come back.”

Rashford left United after falling out of favour under former manager Ruben Amorim. The Portuguese coach dropped him in December 2024 and fired a warning to the forward, saying: “Our team should be so much better with Rashford but he has to change.

“If he changes, we are more than welcome to put in a talent like Rashford and we need it.”

He then went on to enjoy success away from M16, joining Villa in search of first‑team minutes. A permanent move to Villa Park never materialised and he ultimately completed a switch to the Camp Nou.

Rashford thrived under Hansi Flick, but Barcelona chose not to make the move permanent, instead signing Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United.

Wladimir Klitschko retired in 2017 after having one of the most impressive reigns as a heavyweight world champion, but the Ukrainian superstar has now been called out for a clash with a fellow Hall of Famer.

No fighter in boxing history has spent longer as a heavyweight world champion than Klitschko, who reigned as a champion for a combined 12 years across his two reigns as champion, until Tyson Fury brought his era to a close in 2015.

Klitschko returned to challenge Anthony Joshua for the unified heavyweight world titles two years later, but ‘AJ’ got the better of the veteran in an instant classic which looked set to be Klitschko’s final pro bout.

This year, talk of a comeback has emerged, where ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ could potentially break George Foreman’s legendary record as the oldest heavyweight world champion (47), if able to dethrone one of the four newly-crowned titleholders; Daniel Dubois, Filip Hrgovic, Murat Gassiev and Agit Kabayel. 

Now, in an interview with ES News, fellow Hall of Famer James Toney shared his interest in a showdown with Klitschko, either in the boxing ring or in a bare-knuckle fight.

“I would be world champion [in bare-knuckle], when I fight, I fight to win. 

“Make it happen [me vs. Klitschko in bare-knuckle]. I would knock his a** out, like I would have done in the boxing ring.”

“I don’t care [bare knuckle or boxing], whatever he wants to do.”

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Toney – who has also not fought professionally since 2017 – continuously called for a shot at the Klitschko brothers during his time in the ring, once stating that they have ‘no talent and no heart’ after the pair avoided a fight with him.

Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall says she is “lucky and blessed to be alive” after being involved in a car crash.

The 27-year-old American was on her way to training last week when she was involved in a “very scary” head-on collision, leaving her with a “severe” concussion.

While not ruling herself out of this month’s inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest, the reigning world champion says she has been unable to train since the accident.

“Luckily I walked away without any major injuries,” Davis-Woodhall wrote on social media.

“At this point I’m working with my team and doctors to get healthy, but I’m not sure if I will be ready to compete at Ultimate Championships next week. More updates to come.”

Davis-Woodhall said her injuries were not life-threatening but that both cars, which were going at about 20mph, were written off.

“It’s really unfortunate timing; I am at the peak of my training right now,” she said.

“I’m as fast as I’ve ever been. I’m as strong as I’ve ever been. So this decision is very difficult for me. I don’t know where I am right now.”

The championships in Hungary start on 11 September, where athletes will compete for a top prize of £111,000.

The competition brings together Olympic, world and Diamond League champions, as well as the year’s leading performers in a three-day end-of-season event.

Davis-Woodhall won long jump gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, before winning the Worlds in Tokyo a year later.