Zheng Qinwen comes through an injury and qualifying to make a run to the US Open quarterfinals

September 9, 2026

NEW YORK — Zheng Qinwen won't deny it. Having to qualify for the U.S. Open was tough. The qualifying tournament is for up-and-coming players, or maybe ones who are on their way out. It's not a place to find players with resumes like Zheng's. "Psychologically, it is very difficult to accept," the 23-year-old from China said. "I mean, I used to be top 10, Olympic champion. I've played in the big stadiums since the beginning." Now she's back in them again after engineering comebacks from 5-0 deficits in her last two matches, first against No. 22 Madison Keys and then No. 8 Iga ...

High school QBs face new reality as transfers dominate starting jobs at the top of college football

September 9, 2026

MADISON, Wis. — Even though he was nearly 2,000 miles from where he'd grown up, Ryan Hopkins felt right at home as a quarterback prospect visiting Wisconsin. "I felt the energy from the city," said Hopkins, a former three-star recruit from Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California. "I felt the ...

NFL fans in UK cite ticket prices and ‘team fatigue’ for unsold seats as London hosts 3 games

September 9, 2026

LONDON — Matt Cullen's streak of attending NFL games in London is nearing an end. The Englishman's run started at London's first regular-season game in 2007, when he shrugged off steady rain to watch the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium. But Cullen can't bring ...

Bell passes defending NASCAR champion Larson to win the Southern 500 to start the Chase

September 9, 2026

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Christopher Bell is finally second-to-none this season. Bell's crazy, frustrating season of seven second-place finishes without a victory at last came to an end with a win at the Southern 500 on Sunday night. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver passed defending NASCAR champion Kyle Larson with 18 laps left at Darlington Raceway and held on to win the Chase-opening race and break a winless stretch of 33 races dating to Bristol last September. "Darlington is the epitome of NASCAR," Bell said. "This is better than a dream come true." It was his first win in 15 career ...

No. 4 Notre Dame overcomes sluggish start to beat Wisconsin 41-13 at Lambeau Field

September 8, 2026

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman knows Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell well enough to realize the Fighting Irish would face a bigger season-opening challenge than the recent results of these two teams suggested. Freeman's team eventually responded. CJ Carr threw two touchdown passes, Aneyas Williams ran for 90 yards and two more scores and No. 4 Notre Dame pulled away in the second half to beat Wisconsin 41-13 on Sunday night at Lambeau Field. Notre Dame led just 13-10 at halftime before dominating the final two periods. "Human nature is maybe you look at somebody ...

Pac-12 football returns 4 years after exodus nearly sent the conference to extinction

September 5, 2026

The Pac-12, the self-dubbed "Conference of Champions" with athletic excellence going back more than a century, turned into the conference of ashes. A mass exodus of 10 schools in 15 months left the Pac-12 in tatters, dimming the future of a conference that was once the proud home of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cheryl Miller, Tiger Woods, Jackie Robinson, Lisa Leslie, Jackie Joyner-Kersey and many more. League brass and the two remaining schools worked behind the scenes to pull the conference out of a death spiral and now, more than four years since the first two schools left, the Pac-12 is ...