Russia’s Mirra Andreeva reacts after winning during the semifinal tennis match against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk at the French Open in Paris, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

PARIS–Mirra Andreeva raced into her first Grand Slam final as she beat an erratic Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 6-3 at the French Open on Thursday.

The 19-year-old Russian took one hour and 16 minutes to overcome her Ukrainian opponent. Andreeva will play either compatriot Diana Shnaider or Pole Maja Chwalinska in Saturday’s final.

READ: Andreeva, Kostyuk set up Russia-Ukraine clash in French Open

“I’m still very, very nervous. I was very nervous coming into this match,” said eighth-seeded Andreeva on court at the end.

Kostyuk, the 15th seed, had won her previous two meetings with Andreeva, both this year. The most recent was on clay in the final in Madrid as Kostyuk put together a 17-match unbeaten run on the red dirt coming into the Roland Garros last four.

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk reacts during the semifinal tennis match against Russia’s Mirra Andreeva at the French Open in Paris, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Yet, on Thursday, she quickly started to unravel against her teenage opponent. Kostyuk dropped serve in the very first game after two double faults and a pair of unforced errors.

She led 0-40 in Andreeva’s first service game but a combination of Kostyuk errors on high-risk strokes and the Russian’s steadier defence allowed Andreeva to recover to consolidate the break.

READ: Mirra Andreeva throws tantrum after loss at Indian Wells

The pattern persisted as Andreeva grabbed the initiative to win through the 34-minute set.

Kostyuk had a break point in the first game of the second set but could not take it.

Andreeva pulled 4-1 ahead. Kostyuk, who finished with 34 unforced errors, finally forced a break of her own but promptly dropped serve to love and Andreeva duly served out the win.

“She’s had an amazing season,” said Andreeva of Kostyuk. “She’s an amazing player, very tough opponent.

“I’m super happy with the way I played and then that I got revenge for Madrid final and I’m happy that I’m in my first-ever Grand Slam final.

“All of these feelings combined it’s amazing. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

Andreeva was the only one of the women’s semi-finalists to have reached this stage at one of the four majors — she lost to Jasmine Paolini at the last-four stage of Roland Garros in 2024.

Shnaider and Chwalinska, a qualifier, meet to decide her final opponent later Thursday.

“I’m nervous but at the same time I’m very, very excited,” added Andreeva of playing her first major title-decider.

The camera is always on Virat Kohli. From a small gesture towards his teammate to an aggressive celebration when a rival batter gets out, Kohli’s every act is always under the gaze of the lens. It does not stop there – at airports, in hotel lobbies, on the streets, inside restaurants – there is rarely a time when Kohli is not followed. The celebrity status that superstars like Kohli have comes with its share of burden. Kohli’s ex-teammate at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Liam Livingstone, who currently plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, shared his opinion on Kohli’s tryst with fame.

“What’s he like in the dressing room?” Michael Vaughan asked England star Liam Livingstone in a podcast.

“He was amazing. I’d always played against Virat, and he’s always laughing,” Livingstone said.

“If you want to have a go at someone, he’ll have a go back at you. But on the field, he’s ultra-competitive. As soon as he steps over that line, he’s a different person. Away from cricket, he is a really nice, chilled-out, lovely guy who loves spending time with his family. A very chilled-out guy,” Livingstone added, reflecting on Kohli’s natural disposition.

“And almost kind of doesn’t want the life that he lives in India. He doesn’t really want the eyes on him all the time. He is a genuinely nice guy. When he gets out onto the pitch, he is the most competitive player I have seen.”

Kohli, in recent years, has divided his time between India and England. Before the IPL, Kohli was staying in England. Several reports claimed that it was an attempt by Kohli to escape the constant attention and frenzy that he generates.

Livingstone went on to praise the role of RCB’s Director of Cricket Mo Bobat and coach Andy Flower in the evolution of Kohli.

“Mo [Bobat] and Andy [Flower] went in and changed the way he played. They were brave enough to do that,” Livingstone said.

“They asked him to be a bit more aggressive, hit more sixes, and keep going with that aggression in the powerplay. You see the way he plays now in the powerplay, and he’s way more aggressive than he used to be. Even against spin, he’s playing more shots than he ever did.

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IPL 2026 News | Shami’s Sensation Leads Lucknow to First Win of Season

CommBank Stadium will play host to Sunday’s
Round 14 NRL game between Wests Tigers and
Penrith Panthers. The game kicks off at 2:00 pm with Penrith Panthers heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Wests Tigers vs.
Penrith Panthers
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Sunday June 7, 2026 at 2:00 pm

Where: CommBank Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Wests Tigers vs Penrith Panthers Odds

Wests Tigers vs Penrith Panthers Preview

The challenge does not get much tougher for Wests Tigers than a meeting with ladder leaders Penrith, who continue to find ways to win regardless of personnel changes. The Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak last weekend thanks to the returns of Api Koroisau and Jahream Bula, but they now face the competition’s benchmark side. Penrith rested several Origin stars against the Warriors and still emerged with an impressive victory, underlining the depth that has made them premiership favourites once again. Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo and Brian To’o all return this week, strengthening an already formidable line-up. The battle through the middle between Terrell May and Penrith’s representative forwards promises to be fascinating, but recent history suggests the Panthers hold the upper hand. Their defensive consistency remains the standard by which every other side is judged.

English Football League clubs have voted to reduce the length of ‘fee restriction’ transfer windows for clubs failing to meet financial obligations.

Those who do not keep up with payments for more than 30 days have previously been banned for three transfer windows from any incoming transfers or loans which involve a fee.

Sheffield Wednesday were one of the clubs hit by a three-window restriction when they twice failed to pay player wages on time, in March and May 2025, for a total exceeding the 30-day ruling.

Under the new regulations, clubs could still be subject to a fee restriction but only for one transfer window, with the EFL keen to assess any future breaches of their rules on a case-by-case basis.

“Moving forwards, this will be replaced by a more structured business plan approach, based on individual circumstances, which aims to make it clearer what information clubs need to report to the League and when,” the EFL said in a statement.

“Under the revised regulation, clubs may still be subject to a fee restriction, but only for one window. Clubs will also maintain the right to appeal, while the League also maintains the right to charge clubs in serious cases of persistent defaulting.”

The new ruling was voted on during the EFL’s Annual General Meeting on Thursday.

The League’s chief executive Trevor Birch has announced he will step down from his post at the end of the 2026/27 season. He was appointed in January, 2021.

Rick Parry has been re-elected as the league’s chairman for a further three-year period, which will extend his time in the role to a decade.

Megan Barker is preparing to make her long-awaited City of London Nocturne debut ahead of the Commonwealth Games and National Championships.

Megan Barker is set to fulfil her second of five goals in 2026 when she takes to the track at City of London Nocturne.

In April, the Welsh cyclist, who is based in Manchester, competed in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Hong Kong, winning a silver medal in the team pursuit. And this summer, the new City of London Nocturne offers the chance to tick another item off her bucket list.

She said: “I’ve heard a lot about it and seen a lot of clips and pictures. I think it’s really cool and I’m glad it has come back. I think the crowds enjoy it because you can see all the action and you don’t have to stand around all day.”

The new Nocturne event has been designed to be bigger and better with food stalls and street music building an intense urban atmosphere around a circuit in the City of London.

Barker said: “It suits my physiology. I like really short, sharp, hard efforts and going up to one hour is perfect for me. I’m better at it than road racing. It will be nice to get some crit racing in a bit earlier in the season than normal, before crit nationals.”

The 28-year-old won the national title in 2023 to join an exclusive club that boasts names such as Katie Archibald and Lizzie Deignan (nee Armitstead) and repeating that success is her third major aim of this year. She said: “It’s always one of my big aims. I crashed out last year quite early on, so I was gutted about that. And it’s the same course – I’m hoping it’s not a repeat. And I’m also aiming for the Track World Championships in Shanghai.”

But by far the biggest target for Barker this summer is the Commonwealth Games. She raced at both Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022 but failed to win a medal. Glasgow represents a real opportunity for the Welsh team to take home some silverware if Barker is selected.

She said: “Obviously, it only comes down every four years, so you want to make the most of it. My main aim would be the team pursuit, because a lot of girls in the GB squad are Welsh this year, so we have a solid team.

“We were fourth last time and it was pretty tight. I’m hoping we’re going to have like a really good chance of a medal, which has been one of my career goals that I keep just missing out on. My family are all booked to go, which makes it way nicer, especially if you do get a good result and you can celebrate with them afterwards.”

To find out more and enter races go to www.racenocturne.com

When a new general manager takes over an organization, he or she often embarks on a roster rebuild, cutting dead weight from the past and exercising patience for the future. That won’t happen for the Minnesota Vikings, at least not anytime soon, as new boss Nolan Teasley told reporters Wednesday his squad is ready to win now.

The Vikings have never really conducted a full rebuild in the first place, and they’re not about to start in the summer of 2026.

Teasley’s Seahawks Blueprint Arrives in Minnesota

Teasley: Win Now

Asked if we would “rebuild” the Vikings or let it ride in 2026, Teasley replied, “I believe we’re ready to compete right now because they’ve been competitive.”

Teasley added, “I don’t know if I would get into depth in terms of staffing or anything in that regard because I haven’t been here to assess the people that are here. But I know there’s a lot of strong evaluators and a really strong football operation in place. The roster, it’s obvious it’s a strong nucleus of talent on both sides of the ball.”

The Vikings finished 9-8 last year, one win away from an NFC North crown, despite featuring the league’s fifth-worst quarterback efficiency.

Tealsey also observed, “They’ve won a lot of football games here in the last four years, including five in a row to end last season. We’re going to build the deepest, most competitive roster possible so that we can be at our best in December and January and February, and ultimately working toward winning the Super Bowl that this fan base deserves.”

… Probably Why He Was Hired

When the owners, the Wilfs, interviewed all nine candidates for the general manager job, discussing the franchise’s continuous win-now mantra was probably paramount. That is — Mark and Zygi Wilf may have ruled out any would-be executive who recommended a full rebuild for the Vikings.

Why? Well, aside from a poor season in 2011, the Wilfs, who have owned the club for 20 years, have never hosted a terrible Vikings team. When Minnesota has a down year, that translates to seven wins, not two.

Remaining competitive at all times — like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs — is the Viking Way. Teasley’s modus operandi evidently aligns with the Wilfs: if a team must rebuild, it should do so gradually.

Star Tribune‘s Ben Goessling wrote Wednesday, “That sustained run of success — without an extended period of losing that delivered premium draft picks — resonated with the Vikings owners. The Wilf family have stated almost annually their desire for the Vikings to compete for division championships and playoff spots without a protracted rebuilding period.”

The State of the Roster

Meanwhile, the Vikings’ roster is, indeed, ready to contend. If one assumes that Kyler Murray stabilizes the quarterback position, or if J.J. McCarthy takes the next maturational step, the sky is the limit for wins. The playmaking weaponry is there; Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings, T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones, and Jordan Mason can attest.

The defense has ranked in the NFL’s Top 3 in back-to-back seasons thanks to Brian Flores’s innovative and intense scheme. In fact, Flores’s system propelled Minnesota to five straight wins at the end of the 2025 campaign.

And the special teams ranked eighth last season per DVOA. Kicker Will Reichard even took home All-Pro honors.

The whole team is ready to win in 2026, so long as Murray or McCarthy is ready for the QB1 job.

Picking the GM from the Super Bowl Champs

Picking Tealsey was no accident. He came up within the Seattle Seahawks organization. In addition to winning the Super Bowl last season — the second in 12 years — Seattle has not won fewer than six games in a season since 2009.

These are Seattle’s win-loss records during Teasley’s employment:

Vikings head coach Kevin O”Connell said about Teasley, “You think about how they were able to do it in Seattle, really in multiple ways, they weren’t ever picking in the top five, or number one overall.”

“They were able to do it in ways that, quite honestly, I view as the ways we’re probably going to have to operate moving forward, either within our quarterback room right now or potential acquisitions in the future. You have to lean on process. You have to lean on a world where you can make really good decisions.”

Maintaining a winning or competent roster — at all times — is all Teasley knows. It also just so happens to be the strategy the Wilfs endorse. They don’t embrace taking a step backward to be better; it’s habitually a steady wave of competitive rosters.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker

FIFA has banned fans from bringing refillable water bottles into stadiums for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a decision that will require supporters to buy bottled water inside the venues.

According to reports, FIFA recently changed its stadium rules. Last month, the guidelines allowed fans to bring empty, clear reusable plastic bottles with a capacity of up to one litre into stadiums.

However, the updated rules now clearly state that reusable water bottles will not be allowed inside any World Cup venue.

Explaining the decision, FIFA said the change was made for safety reasons.

“FIFA is committed to protecting the health and safety of players, referees, fans, volunteers and staff,” a FIFA spokesperson said.

“FIFA made the decision to prohibit bottles to prevent risks and injuries to players and spectators.

“Several venues already banned outside bottles for safety reasons, and FIFA has decided to apply the same rule across all World Cup stadiums.”

FIFA said fans would still have access to hydration facilities around the stadiums, including misting stations, cooling tents and water stations.

The governing body also said bottled water sold inside the venues would be priced similarly to other events held at the stadiums.

The decision comes despite concerns about high temperatures during the tournament, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

A recent study by the World Weather Attribution research group estimated that 26 of the 104 matches at the tournament could be played in conditions where heat stress levels exceed recommended limits.

The study used the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), a measure that combines temperature, humidity, sunlight and wind to assess how heat affects the human body.

Fans also faced a similar restriction during last year’s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, where many supporters complained about extremely hot conditions at some venues.

The Rams led the league in scoring in 2025 but fell short of even winning their division thanks in part to 38-37 loss in overtime to the Seahawks in Seattle. The remedy? Try to create the best defense in the league for 2026. That plan started by trading with the Chiefs for Trent McDuffie then signing his former teammate Jaylen Watson in free agency, with both grading as top-20 cornerbacks last season. The biggest move came on June 1 when the team shipped Jared Verse and picks to the Browns for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. Those moves elevate the ceiling of the defense both up front and on the back end, and they’re a big reason why the Rams will be the consensus Super Bowl favorites heading into the 2026 season.

We’re taking a look at everything you need to know before making Los Angeles Rams futures bets below, including odds, trends, 2026 schedule, offseason changes and more before sharing our preseason betting strategy for the team. Odds are via DraftKings.

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Los Angeles Rams 2026 odds

While the Rams were co-favorites with the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl after the latter hoisted the trophy in February, their offseason had moved them to a clear +800 favorite prior to the Garrett trade, with the Seahawks tied for the second shortest odds with the Bills and Ravens at +1000. The trade shifted the market significantly, with the Rams moving down to +600 after the deal and likely to drop further as bets are made throughout the offseason. Their win total sat at its February price on June 1 prior to the Garrett trade, while they moved from +144 to +110 to win the NFC West with the deal.

Los Angeles Rams futures trends

The Rams have finished Over their win total in five of the last six seasons, but they haven’t started a season at shorter than +1000 to win the Super Bowl since 2002, a year they were coming off a 14-2 season and Super Bowl loss. After going 12 straight years without a playoff berth, the Rams have been to the postseason seven times in Sean McVay’s nine seasons as head coach, with last year’s team his best in terms of point differential at +172.

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Los Angeles Rams 2025 season review

While the Rams finished just third in yards per pass play, their volume allowed the offense to finish first in yards per play overall while avoiding negative plays as the second-best team in both interception and sack rate. The defense squeaked inside the top 10 of both sack and interception rate as well but finished just 13th per play against the pass and 19th against the run. The defense was able to get stops when it needed, ranking third in red zone success rate.

Los Angeles Rams 2026 offseason review

There hasn’t been a lot of turnover for the Rams, but the additions they have made should be impactful. McDuffie and Watson will lead a cornerback group that lost several contibutors, while Garrett should elevate the play of the entire front seven with the attention he commands. On offense, Ty Simpson has the No. 2 spot on the quarterback depth chart and will prepare to take over the offense once Matthew Stafford retires.

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Los Angeles Rams 2026 schedule

A difficult schedule starts with a trip to Australia to open the season, with the team losing its home game against the 49ers for the Melbourne matchup. They’ll get to play at home the following week with an extra day of rest due to the Monday matchup. The NFL put the Rams in a unique situation later in the year by making them part of the Wednesday game during Thanksgiving week, which will be preceded by the team’s bye. Perhaps the most crucial part of the schedule comes in the last three weeks when they’ll have both matchups against the Seahawks.

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Los Angeles Rams futures picks

The Rams’ win total is too high and their Super Bowl odds are too short for me to want to play either, but I don’t really want to fade the team either with the upgrades on defense and how well the offense played last year. The best case for doing so would likely be anticipating key injuries lowering the ceiling of the team, particularly with Stafford, who has battled to stay healthy at times during the twilight of his career. I’m more comfortable getting a plus number in the division and having some room to overcome tough breaks for the Rams if the Seahawks also suffer some regression.