Friday night’s main event at Arthur Ashe Stadium pitted two of the top Americans against each other for the right to face Alexander Zverev on Sunday for the US Open title. No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe both made it to the semis in dramatic fashion. 

The anticipation for the match was as high as any non-final in recent memory, as the winner would get a chance to snap the 23-year drought since the last American man won a grand slam title. It was the first ever grand slam semifinal to feature two Black American men, and the winner would become the first Black American man to reach the US Open final since Arthur Ashe in 1972. 

With all that history at stake, the two delivered a tremendous, tense match that ended in Shelton winning in four sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5) to reach the first grand slam final of his career. Shelton spoke after the match about what’s been different this year for him, and he highlighted a maturity that’s been obvious in his play the last two matches — while also still being a 23-year-old. 

“I’ve grown up. I’m more mature. More focused,” Shelton said. “I know what my goal is. I know what my job is out here. I’m 100% committed to those goals. It’s not easy playing here at Arthur Ashe, playing in front of all your favorite athletes and movie stars. Being able to keep your head down and focus for over three hours is not an easy task. I keep on looking up at the screen saying, ‘Oh, shoot, Jalen Brunson’s here.’”

While Shelton eventually found his top form, Tiafoe was the sharper player early on. The No. 11 seed was able to pick off the first break of the match in the ninth game of the first set and consolidated that with a hold at love to win the opening set and send a message to his young opponent. 

That message was received loud and clear, and after making 14 unforced errors in the first set, Shelton composed himself and got back to the level that earned him the biggest win of his career over No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. Shelton began to lean on Tiafoe with his big serve and heavy groundstrokes, causing Tiafoe’s forehand in particular to break down. 

Along with a shaky forehand, Tiafoe started to struggle to get his first serve in, creating opportunities for Shelton to step in and become the aggressor. Shelton took the second and third sets 6-3, breaking Tiafoe four times in those sets while only getting broken once in return. He started to find that ideal balance between aggression and control, perhaps best evidenced by a serve that initially clocked in at 158 mph on the stadium gun (but was eventually found to be a misread at just 144 mph, which is still massive). 

Even in the sets Shelton was winning, Tiafoe was right on the edge. The final game of the third set, which ended in Shelton breaking Tiafoe after four attempts, lasted more than 15 minutes and they opened the fourth set with another marathon game on Shelton’s serve. 

The tension continued to ratchet up as the fourth set wore on, with both men grinding out holds of serve in the first 11 games despite having to fight off strong challenges and break opportunities.

Ultimately, Tiafoe’s service woes came back to haunt him in the 12th game as he tried to force a tiebreak, falling behind 0-40 to give Shelton three match points. The 23-year-old got it done in his second try to take the fourth set 7-5 and advance to the final against Zverev. 

The service discrepancy proved to be the difference in the match. He piled up 20 aces to just three double faults and got his first serve in 75% of the time — an incredible rate given his power. On the other side, Tiafoe got his serve in just 57% of the time and Shelton dominated the Tiafoe second serve, winning 62% of his return points against the 11 seed’s second. 

Now Shelton will look to take another leap in the hierarchy of men’s tennis by becoming a grand slam champion and snapping the Americans’ 23-year drought in the process. To do so, he’ll have to take down Zverev, who has had an incredibly consistent year making three straight grand slam finals, including a win at the French Open. 

Recently, a report suggested that former Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni asked for a 25 per cent stake in the team before reducing it to 20 per cent. He was then apparently offered a 5.5 per cent stake by the franchise. CSK have finally opened up on the issue. Dhoni is still part of CSK and led them to five IPL titles. “MS has never asked us about it. We never discussed the matter. We also don’t have any information about him having discussed this with Mr N Srinivasan either,” a senior CSK functionary told Cricbuzz.

The report added that Dhoni has some shares in the franchise. As CSK shares are not traded in the open market, with the company being unlisted, “they can be acquired privately through off-market transactions,” the report added.

Dhoni has more than one lakh shares, stated the report. It’s not huge, as “more than 30 crore outstanding shares are held by the public, accounting for close to 40 per cent of the franchise’s total share capital,” as per the report. Former BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s family holds a controlling stake of more than 55 per cent.

Dhoni’s stake could be worth Rs 2.6-3 crore, based on the current market valuation of an IPL franchise (an IPL team was last sold for over Rs 16,600 crore). Dhoni’s estimated net worth is around Rs 1,200 crore.

Former India player Aakash Chopra, who also played for Kolkata Knight Riders, said the claim of Dhoni asking for a stake was unrealistic and even called it a planted story.

“There was talk of 1.7 to 1.8 billion when RCB were bought just now. Chennai Super Kings is the same kind of franchise. You can do the valuation however you want, but this is the franchise that has five trophies and has multiple franchises outside India as well,” Chopra said while speaking on his YouTube channel.

“They have got a legacy and a lot going for them. Chennai Super Kings is a serious, serious brand. If it’s worth 1.8 billion and Dhoni has asked for a 25 per cent stake in that, it is unrealistic. This isn’t possible. No one gives 400 million to anyone. In fact, you have to invest 400 million to get a 25 per cent stake. It is a bizarre number. Nobody is going to give anyone 25 per cent in an IPL team.”

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A member of the coaching staff speaks to members of the Japan gymnastics team as they hold an training exhibition for the media ahead of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Tokyo on September 9, 2026. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

TOKYO–Japan men’s gymnastics team for their home Asian Games 2026 this month includes multiple Olympic and world champions, but serious injuries have clouded their chances.

Shinnosuke Oka, who won gold in the all-around, team and horizontal bar events at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is facing a race to be fit after suffering a lower back injury last week.

The Games begin in Nagoya and the wider Aichi area on September 19, with the men’s gymnastics competition getting under way two days later.

Former junior world champion Tomoharu Tsunogai is also nursing a serious ankle injury, while lower back pain for Shoma Tsukiyama means three of Japan’s five-man team are carrying injuries heading into the competition.

Oka did not take part in a team practice on Wednesday but told reporters afterwards that he still intended to compete in Nagoya.

“I’m looking forward to it and I think a switch will flick in me,” said the 22-year-old.

“I’m at the level now where I can only do the bare minimum but I don’t want to give up on aiming for gold.”

Japan is the reigning Olympic team champion, but China won the Asian Games title on home soil in Hangzhou in 2023.

Japan’s team for this year’s competition also includes reigning world and former Olympic all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto, as well as Kiichi Kaneda.

Japan team boss Kensuke Murata said he would assess his team’s fitness and decide on any changes before the September 16 deadline.

Murata said that Oka would perform less difficult routines if he does compete.

Oka and Hashimoto are also set to be part of Japan’s team for the world championships in Rotterdam next month.

Oka said he hurt his back in training and that “the pain was different to the kind of pain I usually feel”.

“I went to the hospital and it wasn’t a herniated disc, but it was something serious,” he said.

Hashimoto, the all-around Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021 and a three-time world all-around champion, said he was not worried by Japan’s injury woes.

“I think the athletes themselves understand their situation better than anyone,” said the 25-year-old.

“As long as they’re thinking about what they can do and what they should do, I’m not worried because they have already put in an incredible amount of training.”

We knew Michael Penix Jr. wouldn’t be under center in Week 1 for the Atlanta Falcons. Apparently, neither will Tua Tagovailoa.

Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Friday afternoon that Tagovailoa is dealing with an oblique injury and Cooper Rush will be the team’s starting quarterback for their Week 1 road matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jack Strand will be the backup quarterback.

Tagovailoa, who’s considered “week-to-week,” per ESPN, appeared to suffer the oblique injury in practice on Thursday afternoon, with a video showing when he may have first felt the discomfort.

Atlanta signed Tagovailoa, a 2023 Pro Bowler, to a one-year deal in March following his release from the Miami Dolphins. Last season (2025), Tagovailoa totaled 2,660 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 15 interceptions and an 88.5 passer rating over 14 starts, while completing 67.7% of his passes.

As for Atlanta’s Week 1 starter, the 32-year-old Rush has 16 NFL starts under his belt, most recently making two starts for the Baltimore Ravens last season. He previously made 14 starts for the Dallas Cowboys (one in 2021, five in 2022 and eight in 2024). Meanwhile, Penix is recovering from a season-ending knee injury he suffered in Week 11 of last season and won’t be on the active roster to open the year.

Catch Rush and the Falcons in action against the Steelers on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

The best in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers, are returning to the postseason. On Friday night, the Brewers became the first National League team to clinch a postseason berth in 2026 with their dominating 20-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds (box score). Milwaukee has baseball’s best record at 92-56 and has a chance to become baseball’s first 100-win team since 2023.

To be clear, the Brewers have only clinched a spot in the postseason. They are assured of being no worse than the third National League wild-card team, though they have loftier goals. Up next is clinching their fourth consecutive NL Central title and also a Wild Card Series bye. It’ll be another week or so before Milwaukee can nail down the division title and a bye.

The Brewers have done it this season the same way they did it last season, when they won a franchise record 97 games. They’re top 3 in both runs scored per game and runs allowed per game (as in fewest runs allowed), they’re an above-average defensive team, and they have impressive depth. Milwaukee rarely puts a bad player on the field.

This is the most prosperous era in Brewers history. They’ve been to the postseason four straight years and eight times in the last nine years, though the Brewers are still searching for their first World Series title. They won the franchise’s only pennant in 1982, when they lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

Will this be the year the Brewers get over the hump and win their first-ever championship? Here are three reasons Milwaukee is a real threat to win this year’s World Series.

1. They’re beginning to hit for power

The Brewers play a very fun, high-energy game on offense. They’re at or near the top of the league in stolen bases, sacrifice bunts, infield singles, bunt hits and productive outs. The Brewers will make you defend well and pay attention to details. To put it another way, they force you to play baseball. They force the action and it works very, very well.

That all said, home runs are a must in the postseason. It is really hard to build a rally around multiple base hits and walks when you’re facing the other team’s top starters and relievers every night, let alone to do so several times per game. The proof is in the numbers. In the postseason, home runs win games.

In the era of three wild-card teams (and even before that, too), runs per game come down in the postseason, but home runs per game go up. You just need to watch the playoffs to see it. Home runs reign supreme in October. If you’re unable to put runs on the board with one swing, you’re fighting an uphill battle. The Brewers have learned that the hard way over the last few years.

Milwaukee again ranks near the bottom of the league in home runs this season, but the tide is turning. Since the admittedly arbitrary date of Aug. 18, the Brewers are top 12 in home runs, with Jackson Chourio in particular finding his power stroke. They won’t bang the ball around the yard, but the Brewers at least have some power now. They’re showing they can beat you that way, too.

2. They have a great 1-2 punch in the rotation

Jacob Misiorowski is the greatest show in baseball right now. He’s electrifying — what will his velocity look like once postseason adrenaline kicks in? — and dominant in a way we haven’t seen in a long time. The best recent comparison is Jacob deGrom during his back-to-back Cy Young years, though even peak deGrom did not bring this caliber of stuff to the mound.

Misiorowski will start Game 1 come October. The Game 2 start figures to go to the under-the-radar Logan Henderson, who owns a 2.34 ERA with impressive under-the-hood numbers in 16 starts this season, and has been even better since returning from a back issue in July. Henderson has allowed more than two runs twice in 16 starts and never more than three runs.

Kyle Harrison’s recent fade means the postseason rotation behind Misiorowski and Henderson is a bit up in the air at the moment, but the Brewers have an excellent 1-2 punch in those two young right-handers. The master plan in October is starting Misiorowski and Henderson four times in a best-of-seven series. Not many teams can match that 1-2 punch.

Keep in mind, Misiorowski worked out of the bullpen last postseason. Milwaukee used an opener or a straight bullpen game in four of its nine playoff games last year. The Brewers could do something similar this year, sure, but Misiorowski and Henderson are the two high-end starters they just didn’t have at this time last year.

3. Other top NL teams are showing cracks

National League teams currently own five of the seven best records in baseball, though the other top NL contenders are not quite as imposing as they appear on paper. The Dodgers have been playing .500-ish ball for more than two months now and they have a few too many underperforming veterans in their lineup. There are nights that the two-time defending champions look old.

The Braves have a plethora of pitching injuries and their offense has been closer to league average the last few weeks, and much worse than that at times. The Phillies, with their powerhouse rotation, and the Cubs, with baseball’s highest-scoring offense and best defense, might be the most dangerous NL teams in a short postseason series, and even they have concerns.

In a short series, any team can beat any team. Looking around the NL, the Brewers are trending up at a time when most of their competitors look a bit flat or are moving in the wrong direction. That doesn’t ensure victory. It could mean the path through the NL is easier — “easier” — than it appears to be on paper. In October, you take any advantage you can get.

Two of the competition’s hottest teams collide as the Warriors host a Dolphins side preparing for the club’s first finals appearance.

When: Saturday September 12, 2026 at 4:05 pm

Where: Go Media Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

New Zealand Warriors vs Dolphins Odds

New Zealand Warriors vs Dolphins Preview

Two of the competition’s hottest teams meet at Go Media Stadium, with the Warriors carrying six consecutive wins and the Dolphins seven. Their regular-season encounters were decided by two points each: New Zealand won 20-18 in Round 8 before the Dolphins replied 26-24 in Round 17. The Warriors regain Leka Halasima, Wayde Egan and Kurt Capewell, while Jackson Ford is included after a long pectoral-injury absence. The Dolphins enter their first finals appearance with Selwyn Cobbo, Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Kodi Nikorima restored to the side. That added strike power complements a backline already featuring Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Jamayne Isaako and Herbie Farnworth. New Zealand’s ability to control the opening half and the lift of a home final are significant, but the Dolphins’ winning run and proven success in close games ensure this qualifying final should be decided by fine margins.

Once dismissed by many families as nothing more than a leisure activity with no viable career prospects, gaming is now taking Indian youngsters to the Asian Games, with the country’s esports contingent aiming for a strong showing in Nagoya thanks to rigorous training and professional support.

Indian players are putting in long hours, facing international opponents in practice matches and working with experienced coaches, seeking to establish themselves on the continental stage. The esports competition in this year’s Asian Games will have 11 medal events, four more than the last edition.

For Pokemon Unite player Adnan Badshah, changing the perception of esports within families remains one of the biggest challenges.

“One of the major challenges is that family is not easily convinced that there can be a future in mobile or PC games. If you are a cricketer or an athlete of any traditional sport, family and relatives are more inclined to support you.

“But to get support in this is very difficult,” Badshah told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an Indian Olympic Association send-off event for the 503-strong Indian contingent.

The growing professional structure around esports, however, is helping players believe that the discipline can eventually achieve mainstream sporting status in India.

“The scene is growing slowly. I am assuming that in the next four-five years esports will be as big as sports in general in India,” Badshah said.

The players are backing up that confidence with demanding preparation.

League of Legends player Aakash Shandilya, who will compete at his second Asian Games after featuring in the 2023 edition, said India’s preparation this time has been more organised and professional.

“Last time we had prepared for around six months to one year, but this time we have been coached throughout. We have had a coach, we have had the experience, and the Esports Federation of India has been helping us throughout,” Shandilya said.

The League of Legends team conducts daily scrimmages, or “scrims”, against teams from South and Southeast Asia, including neighbouring countries, with four to five hours devoted to practice matches followed by another five to six hours of individual training.

“It has been tough, but it is a lot more polished this time around and we also have the best players from our country for their specific roles,” Shandilya said.

He has set his sights firmly on the podium.

“The main goal is to get a medal for sure. We are looking to finish better this time,” he said.

International expertise is also playing a role in India’s preparations.

Paritosh, who will compete in Puyo Puyo Champions, said the game’s Japanese publisher SEGA is providing coaching and training sessions to athletes preparing for the Asian Games.

“We are making strategies on how to counter strong teams like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan,” he said.

For efootball player Danial Patel, who is making his Asian Games debut, the ambition is even more specific , gold.

“I have come here only with one aim, which is to win the gold medal. Anything other than that is just a failure for me,” Patel said.

Patel is also balancing his esports training with academics, a familiar challenge for young Indian athletes trying to pursue gaming professionally.

“As you know, the Indian parents’ mentality is that you have to balance your academics as well. As an esports athlete myself, I am balancing it well. I am giving enough time to esports as well as my studies,” he said.

The opportunity to represent India, Patel said, has made the stakes even higher.

“We have got the opportunity now from the Government of India to present our talent on the international stage, on the Asian stage. As athletes, we have to showcase our talent. This is the time for us, so yes, eyes are on the medal,” he said.

For a generation that has spent years defending gaming as more than a hobby, Nagoya offers an opportunity to make that argument on the biggest stage yet.