Super Bowl champion head coach Sean McVay has informed the Los Angeles Rams he will return for the 2023 season, the team announced on Friday.
McVay had been pondering his future following the conclusion of a difficult 2022 campaign that ended with Sunday's overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The 2017 NFL Coach of the Year confirmed he was weighing up his options when speaking at Monday's end-of-the-season press conference.
The Rams dropped nine of their final 11 games to finish 5-12, the highest loss total in a season for any team defending a Super Bowl title, amid a mounting swarm of injuries to several key players that included quarterback Matthew Stafford, 2021 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Cooper Kupp and three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.
"I think what I liked to do is be able to take the appropriate time," McVay said on Monday. "I've never gone through anything like this, but you want to make sure that you're considerate of the people that are affected.
"That's the most important thing and you want to be able to have the consistent conversations and dialogues that have existed with the people that I love and really care about.
"But that doesn't mean it takes away the empathy, the level of responsibility that I do feel for the people that would be affected as it relates to my decision moving forward, and so those are the things that you don’t take lightly.
"You want to be able to make sure that you're intentional about taking the appropriate time, while also making a decision in a manner that's considerate of those people that would be affected."
McVay, who at age 36 became the youngest head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with the Rams' victory over the Cincinnati Bengals last February, has four years remaining on a new contract he received prior to the start of this past season.
The Rams reached the playoffs four times in McVay's first five seasons in charge and won 55 regular-season games over that span, tying him with Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin for the third-most victories of any coach through his first five seasons in NFL history.
McVay is also the youngest head coach to lead a team to a Super Bowl after guiding the Rams to the title game during the 2018 season at the age of 33.
The Rams have compiled a 60-38 record with three NFC West titles during McVay's tenure, as well as a 7-3 mark in postseason play.
Alexander Zverev booked his place in the Hamburg Open semi-finals with a straight-sets victory over Zhizhen Zhang.
The top seed - and reigning champion - kept his title defence very much on track, prevailing 6-4 6-3 after 66 minutes on Center Court.
Zverev dominated on serve during the opening set, dropping just three points, while a break in game five paved the way for him to move halfway towards victory.
The home favourite made another statement of intent when he broke in the opening game of the second set.
Another break followed at 5-3 to secure victory and send the Italian Open champion through to his seventh ATP semi-final of the season - and third on clay, having also reached the French Open final.
There, he will play Pedro Martinez after the Spaniard beat fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo in three sets.
Data Debrief: Statement of intent from Zverev
The German demonstrated his desire to maintain his hold on the trophy he won in front of his home crowd last season, and become only the third player this century to successfully defend the crown after Roger Federer and Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Indeed, Zverev hit 10 aces and won 29 of 33 points on first serve (88%), while converting three of his four break-point opportunities.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will play Matteo Berrettini in the Swiss Open semi-finals, after seeing off Fabio Fognini in straight sets on Friday.
The two-time major finalist, who is making his first appearance in Gstaad, took 66 minutes to wrap up a 6-4 6-3 victory over the Italian on Roy Emerson Court.
Though he relinquished an early break in the opening set, Tsitsipas claimed a crucial one at 5-4 to edge his nose in front.
Despite seeing another early break cancelled out in the second set, the Greek managed to earn another, and eventually progressed to the last four in comfortable fashion.
"My returns worked pretty well, I was very consistent with them," he said. "I insisted on staying back throughout the match and giving it a bit of a loop, trying to get the angles from the very beginning. It worked pretty well.
"I'm happy with how I started serving towards the end of the match. In the beginning, I was still trying to figure out how I was going to open up the court and create opportunities on my serve. It took me a while to figure out. I unlocked the code towards the end."
Another Italian lies in wait for Tsitsipas in Berrettini, who overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-2).
The former Wimbledon finalist is seeking his second clay-court title of the season, having also triumphed in Marrakech, while he was runner-up to Jack Draper in Stuttgart last month.
Data Debrief: Another Italian Job well done by Tsitsipas
Reigning Monte-Carlo Masters champion Tsitsipas is through to his fourth ATP semi-final of the season, with three of those coming on clay, while recording his fifth straight victory in as many meetings with Fognini.
The Greek now boasts an impressive 14-1 record against Italian opponents on surface - his only such defeat coming against Jannik Sinner in Rome four years ago.
Nadal comes from behind to seal Swedish Open semi-final spot
Rafael Nadal booked his place in the Swedish Open semi-finals after coming from behind to deny Mariano Navone in Bastad.
The 22-time major winner recovered from losing the opening set to prevail 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 7-5 in just under four hours on Centre Court.
Nadal was slow out of the blocks against the fourth seed, who broke his opponent three times in the opening set for a 4-1 lead.
The Spaniard dug deep and responded to lead 6-5 but Navone - a finalist on clay in Rio and Bucharest - dominated the tie-break 7-2 to draw first blood.
Both players continued to struggle on serve in the second set, with Nadal crucially breaking in game 11 before holding to level.
The 37-year-old recovered from an early break in the decider, reeling off five successive games for a 5-2 lead. Navone fought back to 5-5, but was broken in the following game with Nadal subsequently serving out to set up a semi-final clash with Duje Ajdukovic.
Data Debrief: Comeback king Nadal seals semi-final return
Not since Wimbledon in 2022 had Nadal reached an ATP semi-final, withdrawing on the eve of his clash with Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury.
His hopes of doing so seemed bleak early on, with world number 36 Navone threatening to become the lowest-ranked player to beat him on clay since 2016.
However, the 22-time major winner dug deep, and is now just two wins away from his first silverware since landing a 14th French Open crown 25 months ago.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
