6:17 AM ET Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams withdrew from an Australian Open tuneup tournament citing a right shoulder injury on Friday within hours of setting up a semifinal match against top-ranked Ash Barty. The 23-time Grand Slam champion usually doesn’t play in a tournament in the week before a Grand Slam event,
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11:35 AM ET Artificial Intelligence can drive a car, curate the films and documentaries that you watch, develop chess programmes capable of beating grandmasters and use your face to access your phone. And, one company claims, it can also predict when footballers are about to suffer an injury. Off the field, football has gone through
3:10 AM ET LOS ANGELES — The NBA’s most high-profile star, LeBron James, eviscerated the league’s plans to hold an All-Star Game in Atlanta in March while COVID-19 restrictions continue to have a grip on the regular season. “I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this year,” James said after the
Virat Kohli, who is back leading the Indian team in the first Test against England, said that there hasn’t been a more special series win than one in Australia recently. Kohli had to return home in the middle of the Test series for the birth of his baby. The Indian skipper was also asked if
11:08 PM ET Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels have acquired veteran outfielder Dexter Fowler from the St. Louis Cardinals for cash or a player to be named later. The clubs announced the deal Thursday night. Fowler batted .233 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 23 games last season, his fourth
8:13 PM ET The NHL has revised a COVID-19 protocol on arena access just one day after it was established, following emphatic protests from the players. On Wednesday night, the NHL sent a memo to all of its teams and COVID-19 compliance officers that detailed a handful of new safety protocols. The additional measures came
9:54 PM ET Associated Press The NHL has postponed the Colorado Avalanche‘s games through Feb. 11. Colorado becomes the fifth team shut down, joining Vegas, New Jersey, Buffalo and Minnesota. Dallas and Carolina were put on pause in January because of outbreaks. The Avalanche currently have two players on the league’s COVID-19 list: captain Gabriel
10:18 PM ET Nick Kyrgios‘ Australian Open preparation has ground to a halt after losing to Croatia’s Borna Coric in his warm-up event at Melbourne Park and engaging in a expletive-laden tirade. The Australian struggled throughout the match with pain in his left knee, eventually falling 6-3, 6-4 in the third-round of the Murray River
9:49 PM ET Two of the biggest fan favorites in UFC history — and a pair of former teammates — will fight this spring. UFC veterans Donald Cerrone and Diego Sanchez have verbally agreed to a May 8 contest, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday. The bout will be contested at welterweight, sources said. While
9:17 PM ET Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants added outfield depth by acquiring LaMonte Wade Jr. from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday for right-hander Shaun Anderson. The team announced the move hours after completing an $18.75 million, three-year contract with versatile infielder Tommy La Stella. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi
9:27 PM ET The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association will have a finalized agreement for an All-Star Game on March 7 in Atlanta by next week, according to a league memo shared with teams and obtained by ESPN. The single-night event will encompass the Eastern Conference-Western Conference game as well as the skills
8:55 PM ET Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Co-leader Matthew NeSmith nearly made a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th and barely got a reaction from the few fans. Xander Schauffele flubbed a chip and couldn’t help but hear a surprised spectator’s reaction. With attendance capped at about 5,000 at sunny TPC Scottsdale, a fraction of
4:55 PM ET KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs had 20 people, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes, other players and staff members, in line for a haircut Sunday with a barber who tested positive for COVID-19, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Backup Chiefs center Daniel Kilgore was mid-haircut when the Chiefs pulled the barber, once his
7:52 PM ET TAMPA, Fla. — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed disappointment Thursday that only two minorities were hired for seven head-coach openings despite a growing pool of qualified candidates. “I’m not sure there’s an issue we spent more time with our ownership on,” Goodell said as part of his annual state-of-the-league address ahead of
8:38 PM ET UFC women’s bantamweight fighter Marion Reneau tested positive for the coronavirus and her bout with Macy Chiasson is now off the UFC Fight Night card Saturday in Las Vegas, Reneau announced Thursday on Instagram. Reneau wrote that the bout will be postponed to Feb. 27. Sources confirmed to ESPN that the fight
6:28 PM ET Jose Mourinho was right: It is easy to manage Chelsea, especially if their opponents play like his Tottenham Hotspur team did in a 1-0 loss to the Blues. The Tottenham manager had a wry smile on his face when suggesting in the prematch press conference that “I don’t think it’s very difficult
3:17 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — – Gamine has been disqualified from a third-place finish in last year’s Kentucky Oaks and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert fined $1,500 after a post-race test showed the filly had an anti-inflammatory in her system. Kentucky stewards issued their ruling Jan. 30 and it was posted
New Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali says he will urge the Grand Prix drivers to “lead by example” as role models for the sport. The 55-year-old said he had written to all the drivers to point out their importance as “positive ambassadors for F1”. “They have big responsibility because they are the face of our