Casper Ruud suffered an early exit at the Paris Masters, after he was beaten in three sets by Jordan Thompson.
The three-time major finalist was the latest big name to fall at the Accor Arena, where his Australian opponent prevailed 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-4.
Ruud took early control of the contest, breaking in game four to move to the brink of drawing first blood at 5-2 up.
However, Thompson broke back and then controlled the tie-break to edge his nose ahead.
Ruud - a two-time French Open runner-up in Paris - responded by breaking twice in the second set to level.
The two players exchanged breaks early in the decider, which looked set to go the distance until a timely break to love in game nine proved crucial for Thompson, who then held to set up a last-16 clash with either Zizou Bergs or Adrian Mannarino.
Data Debrief: Ruud's rueful form continues
A winner in Barcelona and Geneva earlier in the season, Ruud has been unable to maintain that momentum.
The Norwegian, who occupies sixth place in the Race to Turin, has now lost seven of the last eight matches he has played, and now requires favours from elsewhere to secure his place in the Nitto ATP Finals.
Nevertheless, Thompson deserves credit for taking his chances when they arrived. In fact, the Australian converted three of the four break-point opportunities that were presented to him.
Andrey Rublev's Nitto ATP Finals hopes were dented after suffering a first-round exit against Francisco Cerundolo at the Paris Masters.
Rublev, who currently occupies eighth place in the Race to Turin, cut a frustrated figure as he was beaten 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) by his Argentine opponent.
A semi-finalist at the indoor ATP Masters event 12 months ago, the sixth seed broke early for a commanding 5-2 lead in the opening set.
However, Cerundolo came roaring back, breaking twice for a 6-5 advantage, before drawing first blood in the tie-break.
Once again, Rublev was in control of the second set, with his second break putting him 4-2 to the good.
But Cerundolo hit back once more, breaking in game eight and then prevailing again in the tie-break for the 100th ATP win of his career.
His reward is a showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Alejandro Tabilo 6-3 6-4.
Data Debrief: Rublev's ATP Finals fate in the air
It took two hours and 18 minutes, but it was worth the wait for Cerundolo, who won his fourth match in seven against a top-10 opponent in 2024.
The Argentine struck 35 winners, while winning 86% (six out of seven) of points at the net.
As for Rublev, whose frustration culminated in him lashing the racquet against his knee, he must now nervously await his ATP Finals fate.
Tsitsipas, Alex de Minaur and Grigor Dimitrov are among the players in action this week who could deny the Madrid Open champion his fifth successive appearance at the year-end championship.
Carlos Alcaraz began his Paris Masters campaign with a straight-sets victory over Nicolas Jarry.
The French Open and Wimbledon champion took 90 minutes to wrap up a 7-5 6-1 win over the Argentine, avenging his defeat in the semi-finals in Buenos Aires back in February.
Alcaraz made a purposeful start at the Accor Arena, breaking at the first attempt on the way to an early 3-0 lead.
Jarry responded by breaking back to 15 in game nine. However, an untimely double fault in the 12th handed the opening set to the Spaniard.
Also a winner in Indian Wells and Beijing this term, Alcaraz took control of the second set when he broke in the fourth game.
He did so again in the sixth, before holding to set up a last-16 clash with either Ugo Humbert or Marcos Giron.
Data Debrief: Carlitos applies the breaks
Alcaraz is aiming to progress beyond the quarter-final of this ATP Masters event for the first time.
Break points and unforced errors proved crucial in the contest. The Spaniard converted four of his five break point opportunities, and committed just six unforced errors to his opponent's 24.
In sealing the victory, Alcaraz improved his impressive record in opening rounds in 2024 to 13-2.
Steve Borthwick expects the "energy and passion of our supporters" to give England an "extra lift" when they face New Zealand on Saturday.
England welcome the All Blacks to the Allianz Stadium this weekend for their first match of this year's Autumn Nations Series.
Borthwick's side will be playing on home soil for only the third time in their last 16 internationals, and the head coach is pleased to be back in familiar surroundings.
"We're excited for the challenge of playing against one of the best teams in world rugby," he said.
"We'll need to be accurate, keep our discipline, and maintain a level of intensity throughout the match, from the first whistle to the final moment.
"With just two games at Allianz Stadium in our last 15, it's fantastic to be returning to play in front of our home crowd again. The energy and passion of our supporters always give the team an extra lift."
Henry Slade will start at centre, despite playing just 54 minutes of club rugby this season after recovering from shoulder surgery, with Ben Spencer replacing the injured Alex Mitchell at scrum-half.
Ellis Genge is back after missing the summer tour of New Zealand with a calf injury, while there are also starts for Maro Itoje and Tom Curry, with George Ford named on the bench.
Anthony Richardson took himself out of the Indianapolis Colts' last game.
For the next game, the Colts decided to remove Richardson from the starting lineup altogether.
The Colts are benching Richardson for their game Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings and will start Joe Flacco at quarterback.
The decision, which was reported by multiple media outlets on Tuesday, came a day after Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen said he was "evaluating" whether Richardson would remain the starter.
It also came two days after Richardson admitted pulling himself out of Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Houston Texans because he was "tired."
The Colts selected Richardson fourth overall in the 2023 draft, but he has mostly struggled during his time in Indianapolis.
Sunday's performance against the Texans may have been his worst, however, as he completed just 10 of 32 passes for 175 yards and was sacked five times.
His paltry 44.4 completion percentage on the season is the worst among qualifying quarterbacks, as is his 57.2 passer rating.
In six games this season, he has 958 passing yards with four touchdowns and seven interceptions. He's rushed for 242 yards but also has an NFL-worst six fumbles.
The Colts are 2-3 in games Richardson has started and finished, and 2-1 in games Flacco has finished.
The 39-year-old Flacco started in Weeks 5 and 6 with Richardson sidelined due to an oblique injury, and he has completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 716 yards with seven touchdowns to just one interception for a 102.2 passer rating.
Fernando Alonso said he was left feeling hurt after being forced to retire at the Mexican Grand Prix in what was his 400th race in the competition.
Alonso qualified in 13th and started well in Mexico City, moving up a couple of places following Yuki Tsunoda's crash on the opening lap of proceedings.
However, after just 15 laps, the Spaniard was forced to retire from the race due to a suspected brake cooling issue caused by some debris stuck in his car.
Alonso has only missed four races since his first entry at the Australian Grand Prix in 2001.
Of the 1120 races in the history of the competition, the 43-year-old has competed in 35.7% of them.
"It was okay, the start was good," Alonso said. "Obviously, there was a lot of action in front of us, so we capitalised on that, but apparently, there was a bit of debris on the front brake ducts and the temperatures were over the moon.
“We tried to mitigate that, moving the brake balance rearwards and different actions, but it was still not under control so unfortunately we had to retire the car."
It was a familiar feeling for Alonso, who has suffered similar issues on his landmark occasions in the sport.
He also failed to finish at his 300th race back in 2018, as well as his 200th at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.
“It hurts always the same, to be honest, when you don’t see the chequered flag. It doesn’t matter which number," Alonso added.
“We are here to compete. In a way, when you have to retire the car it’s better when you are not in a super competitive weekend.
"It was maybe unlikely to score points today, so hopefully more luck will come, and we come back stronger in the next race and next year here.”
Stefon Diggs' first season with the Houston Texans is over after just eight games.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said Tuesday that Diggs tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season.
Diggs was injured in Sunday's 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts on a non-contact play, as he tried to make a cut before pulling up and grabbing his right knee.
An MRI revealed the severity of the injury.
Diggs arrived in Houston as part of a blockbuster trade with the Buffalo Bills this past offseason.
Acquired for a 2025 second-round pick, Diggs reworked his contract with the Texans and will become a free agent after this season.
In his first season with Houston, the 30-year-old Diggs had a team-high 47 receptions for 496 yards with three receiving touchdowns.
A four-time Pro Bowler, Diggs amassed 1,000 receiving yards each of the last six seasons, and led the NFL with a career-high 1,535 yards in 2020.
Diggs is the second receiver to sustain a serious injury this season for the AFC South-leading Texans with Nico Collins currently on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
Collins, who must sit out at least one more game, leads Houston with 567 receiving yards despite being sidelined since Week 5.
Michael Malone praised the Denver Nuggets' character as they came from behind to defeat the Toronto Raptors for their first victory of the NBA season.
The Nuggets appeared set to begin the campaign with three successive losses, as they trailed by 15 points in the third quarter at Scotiabank Arena.
However, they battled back with Jamal Murray's last-gasp layup off a feed from Nikola Jokic, who registered 40 points and 10 rebounds, forcing overtime at 114-114, before going on to record a 127-125 win.
And Malone acknowledged the stakes were high following his side's difficult start to the season.
"It feels great to get a win after the first two [losses] at home," he told reporters during his post-match press conference.
"What I'm most proud about is the way we finished regulation [time], a 13-3 run. It shows the guys just never quit, they kept on fighting, they kept on competing, they kept on believing in themselves and their team-mates.
"In overtime, we got off to a great start; I thought the defence was really good. This felt like a playoff game in game three of the season."
On the game-tying play that forced overtime, he added: "We know that we have the best post-up player in the world [in Jokic]. Let's play through him; let him make the right read.
"And obviously him and Jamal kind of playing off of each other. Jamal makes a hell of a finish with the reverse layup. Everything worked out in our favour."
Jannik Sinner has confirmed his withdrawal from the Paris Masters after contracting a virus ahead of the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Sinner, who has won a Tour-leading seven titles in 2024, will not be making his fourth appearance at the tournament in the French capital.
The Italian guaranteed his spot at the summit of the ATP world rankings earlier this month, with only two players in history having done so quicker.
Sinner is the second high-profile player to pull out of the final Masters 1000 event of the year, following seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.
“It's a very tough announcement. I'm not going to play here in Paris. We came here very early to prepare in the best possible way," Sinner posted on Instagram.
"After the first practice session, I really didn't felt good. I also talked with the doctor on Sunday. It's a virus, what makes you feel better in three or four days.
“Today I feel better already a little bit, but the body is not ready to compete and I still feel very, very weak.
"It doesn't make sense to go on court and try to compete for this tournament. [I am very] disappointed because it's a tournament where I would like to see where my level is at.
"That was one of my main goals for this week. But unfortunately I cannot make this happen.”
Frenchman Arthur Cazaux has received a lucky loser spot and will face Ben Shelton or Corentin Moutet in the second round.
Antigua and Barbuda celebrated a remarkable double success in international bodybuilding at the weekend, as Melissa Seaforth secured gold in the Czech Republic, while Kimberly Percival claimed silver in London.
Seaforth, an IFBB Elite Pro, dominated the Bikini Fitness category at the IFBB Pro Pepa in the Czech Republic.
Her gold medal performance adds to a recent string of impressive achievements, including top-five finishes at both the IFBB Pro Grand Gala in Italy last week and the Arnold Classic World Championships two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, in London, reigning Sportswoman of the Year Kimberly Percival also continued her outstanding run of form with a silver medal in the Bikini Fitness class at IFBB’s Night of Champions 2024.
Kimberly Percival was second in London.
Percival, who holds the current World Champion title, has been on an exceptional run, having secured victories at both the IFBB Pro Grand Gala and the Arnold Classic World Championships in recent weeks.
With the dual podium finishes by both athletes who have consistently performed at the highest level of the sport, the Ambassadors continue to establish themselves among the world’s elite competitors, bringing notoriety to Antigua and Barbuda.
Another top-five finish for the country was Tony ‘Tiger’ Jacobs, who finished fourth in the Men’s Physique class at the same event in London.
Jacobs was awarded his Pro Card at the Roger Boyce Classic in Barbados in June of last year.
Paolo Banchero claimed he was "in the zone" as he turned in a record-breaking performance for the Orlando Magic.
Banchero finished with a career-high 50 points on Monday as the Magic beat the Indiana Pacers 119-115.
In the process, he matched the fifth-highest scoring effort in a single game in the Magic's history.
Indeed, at 21 years and 351 days old, Banchero is the youngest player to record a 50-point game for Orlando, and the second-youngest player with 50 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in an NBA game. Only LeBron James (20 years, 80 days) in 2005 against the Toronto Raptors did so at a younger age.
And with 37 of those points coming in the first two quarters, Banchero also matched the team record for points in a half.
"Man, I'm tired; I'm tired as hell," said Banchero, who contributed nine assists and 13 rebounds, too. "But it was a hell of a game.
"It was just being in the zone.
"[It] felt like I was in an open gym, back at home, just working on my game. Every shot felt like it was going in and it's a good feeling when you've got a day like that.
"Not every game is going to be like that, but I'm glad today was."
Such was Banchero's dominance, his first-half tally matched the combined efforts of all the Pacers' starters across the opening two quarters.
"That first half was a magical first half, for sure," he said.
Tracy McGrady was the last Magic player to have a 50-point game, when he recorded a franchise-leading 62 points against the Washington Wizards in March 2004.
Devin Booker scored nine of his 33 points in the fourth quarter as the Phoenix Suns dealt the Los Angeles Lakers their first loss of the season with Monday's 109-105 comeback win.
Kevin Durant added 30 points, 18 of which came in the second half, to help Phoenix move to 3-1 despite trailing 83-76 after three quarters.
The Lakers had their three-game winning streak to start the season halted despite Anthony Davis' 29 points and 15 rebounds. Austin Reaves went 5 of 9 from 3-point range and scored 23 points for Los Angeles, while Rui Hachimura compiled 20 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
LeBron James had an off shooting night, however, as the Lakers' superstar went 3 of 14 from the field while finishing with 11 points and eight assists.
Phoenix opened the fourth quarter on a 10-1 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from reserves Ryan Dunn and Royce O'Neale, to take an 86-84 lead with nine minutes to go.
The lead traded hands several times down the stretch until Durant knocked down back-to-back jumpers to put the Suns up 105-101 with two minutes left.
Jokic's 40 points helps secure Nuggets' first win
Nikola Jokić put up 40 points and 10 rebounds as the Denver Nuggets got their first victory of 2024-25, a hard-earned 127-125 overtime decision over the Toronto Raptors.
The Nuggets appeared on the way towards an 0-3 start after trailing by 15 points in the third quarter, but battled back to force overtime on native Canadian Jamal Murray's layup off a Jokic feed that just beat the final buzzer to tie the game at 114-114.
Jokic then scored seven points during a 10-2 run to start the extra period as Denver built a 124-116 lead with under three minutes left.
Toronto responded with a 9-3 surge to get within 127-125 with time winding down, and had a chance to win at the end. RJ Barrett misfired on a late 3-point attempt, and the Raptors couldn't get two tip-in tries to go in as time expired.
Murray finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and Aaron Gordon had 16 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for Denver.
Scottie Barnes amassed 21 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists for Toronto before leaving the game in the final minute of regulation after being elbowed in the eye by Jokic.
Barrett scored 20 points in his season debut. The Toronto native missed the season's first three games with a sprained right shoulder.
Pritchard's eight 3-pointers help Celtics get to 4-0
Payton Pritchard went 8 of 12 from 3-point range in a 28-point performance off the bench that helped the Boston Celtics move to 4-0 with a 119-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Pritchard was 10 of 14 from the field while ending one shy of a career-high for 3-pointers in a game. The defending NBA champions also received 30 points from Jaylen Brown and 21 from Jrue Holiday while pulling away in the second half.
Milwaukee lost its third straight game since a season-opening win at Philadelphia despite Damian Lillard's 33 points and seven assists and a 30-point, 10-rebound, six-assist effort out of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks were coming off a 115-102 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
The Bucks owned an 80-79 edge late in the third quarter before Boston closed out the period on a 11-2 surge, capped by a Pritchard trey at the buzzer, to enter the fourth up 90-82.
Boston then shot 62.5 per cent from the field in the fourth quarter to end any Milwaukee comeback hopes, with Brown recording nine points during the period and Holiday adding eight.
A record-tying feat by Freddie Freeman and a sharp pitching performance from Walker Buehler has the Los Angeles Dodgers one win away from a World Series sweep.
Freeman had a two-run homer in the first inning and Buehler threw five scoreless innings as the National League Champions took a 3-0 series lead on the New York Yankees with Monday's 4-2 victory.
The Dodgers can wrap up their second World Series title in five years and eighth in franchise history in Tuesday's Game 4 at Yankee Stadium. Only one team in MLB history has won a best-of-seven post-season series after losing the first three games - the Boston Red Sox against the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
Shohei Ohtani, in the lineup despite injuring his left shoulder in Los Angeles' Game 2 win on Saturday, went 0 for 3 but did draw a walk off New York starter Clarke Schmidt to begin Monday's contest.
Two batters later, Freeman drilled Schmidt's pitch into the right-field seats to stake the Dodgers to a 2-0 lead. The first baseman has now homered in five consecutive World Series games, tying a record set by the Houston Astros' George Springer during the 2017 and 2019 editions.
Freeman also joined Hank Bauer (1958) and Barry Bonds (2002) as the only players to homer in each of the first three games of a single World Series. The All-Star slugger also went deep in Games 5 and 6 of the 2021 Fall Classic while then with the Atlanta Braves.
Buehler did not allow a hit until Giancarlo Stanton's double with one out in the fourth inning and yielded just two overall before departing with a 3-0 advantage.
The Dodgers got another run courtesy of a lead-off walk in the third inning. Tommy Edman drew the free pass from Schmidt before moving to second on Ohtani's groundout and crossing the plate on Mookie Betts' bloop single to right field.
Schmidt lasted just 2 2/3 innings and issued four walks while permitting three runs.
Los Angeles extended the margin to 4-0 in the sixth. Gavin Lux was hit by a pitch from New York reliever Jake Cousins and stole second before being brought home by Enrique Hernandez's single.
The Yankees did not get on the board until former Dodger Alex Verdugo's two-run homer off Michael Kopech in the ninth inning.
New York missed out on a chance to score following Stanton's double in the fourth, however, as the slugger was later thrown out at the plate by Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez on single off the bat of Anthony Volpe.
The Dodgers are expected to throw a bullpen game in Game 4, while the Yankees will send out 15-game winner Luis GIl in an attempt to extend the series.
Calvin Austin scored two touchdowns, including a tie-breaking 73-yard punt return in the third quarter, to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 26-18 victory over the New York Giants on Monday.
Austin also hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson that gave the Steelers a 23-9 lead with 13:16 left to play. Pittsburgh (6-2) also received 114 rushing yards from Najee Harris and four field goals from Chris Boswell to win its third straight game and retain first place in the AFC North.
Wilson, meanwhile, delivered another solid performance in his second start since missing the season's first six games with a calf injury. The veteran quarterback completed 20 of 28 passes for 278 yards and no interceptions.
Tyrone Tracy rushed for a career-high 145 yards on 20 carries and had a 45-yard touchdown run for the Giants, who had a chance to tie the game late after getting to the Pittsburgh 35-yard line in the final minute.
Daniel Jones overthrew a pass for Devin Singletary, however, as the Steelers' Beanie Bishop came up with an interception that sealed the victory and handed New York (2-6) a third straight loss.
Greg Joseph kicked four field goals for the Giants, including three in the first half to match Boswell as the teams went into half-time tied at 9-9.
Austin broke the deadlock, however, with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter. The wide receiver fielded a punt at his own 27-yard line, broke free down the left sideline and out-sprinted all pursuers to record the Steelers' first punt return touchdown since 2019.
Wilson's touchdown strike to Austin early in the fourth put Pittsburgh up by two scores, but Tracy broke off his lone touchdown run on the following possession to bring New York within 23-15 with 11:07 left. The Giants failed on the two-point conversion try, though, as Jones' short pass intended for Malik Nabers was broken up.
Jones finished 24 of 38 for 264 yards with the late interception. Darius Slayton led New York receivers with 108 yards on four catches, while Nabers had seven catches totaling 71 yards.
Lewis Hamilton insisted that he had no doubts that Mercedes team-mate George Russell would race cleanly in their battle at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday.
Hamilton finished the race in fourth, one place ahead of Russell, the seven-time world champion's best finish since winning the Belgian Grand Prix back in July.
The pair started fifth and sixth respectively, but swapped places on the opening lap, before Russell regained the initiative on Lap 14.
They each moved up a place through the pit stop phase, with Max Verstappen losing ground by serving two 10-second penalties, and Hamilton then closed in on Russell.
Hamilton shadowed Russell before eventually making the move stick into Turn 1 on Lap 65, climbing up into fourth position.
“It’s pretty straightforward, I don't think either of us are silly,” Hamilton said on his battle with his team-mate.
“George is really smart, and is fair, and he's just really good at where he places his car, and I think for me too.
"So when [the team] comes on the radio and says, keep it clean, it's like, ‘of course.’
"It's not really different to when you're fighting anyone else, except for it is your team mate, so you have to be double careful because you both want to finish.”
“It was fun, I had fun today,” Hamilton added. “I had a good start, I had a really bad first stint, took too much front wing out of the car, I had massive, massive understeer.
“After my stop, I was able to rectify it, and then after that I had a much better pace, and I was able to push and keep going.
"We stopped a little bit early as well, compared to what I had planned and stuff. We got good points.”
Hamilton will, however, hope to do better in Brazil this time around, having scored more points (185) than any other driver on the current grid around the Interlagos circuit.
Russell, meanwhile, ensured Mercedes claimed a double top-five finish and was happy with his finish after crashing in FP2 on Friday.
“I mean the pace looked pretty strong in the first stint but when I came out the pits behind Piastri, I pulled out down the straight and my front left flap just collapsed,” Russell said.
“I hit this bump so that probably cost me three or four tenths for the remainder of the race, so it was tricky to hold on for 40 laps. P5, probably would have taken that after Friday.”
The intense rivalry between Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls and England’s Vitality Roses will see its next chapter when the teams meet in a crucial four-match Test series in November.
The Roses and the Sunshine Girls are currently second and fourth with 189 and 187 rating points, respectively, in the Netball World Rankings based on matches up to October 6.
Sandwiched between the two is New Zealand with 188 points while Australia have a comfortable lead atop the rankings with 209 rating points.
The series will see the Jamaicans travelling to England for matches on November 16 and 17 at the AO Arena in Manchester before hosting the Roses at the National Indoor Sports Centre on November 25 and 26.
As has been previously stated, this rivalry has been one of the most competitive in global netball and, to give some context, here are the results from various series and matchups between the two over the last 10 years.
The teams met on five occasions in total in 2015. They met in a three-match Test series in January in Jamaica which the hosts won 2-1 before meeting twice at the Netball World Cup in Australia in August.
Drawn together in the Group Stage, England defeated the Sunshine Girls 54-50 in the preliminaries before producing a dominant display in the bronze-medal game, winning 66-44.
A year later, the teams met again in a three-match Test series, this time in England with the Jamaicans once again coming out 2-1 winners.
Current Sunshine Girls captain and best goal shooter in the world at the moment, Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, kept it simple when recalling her favourite memory facing the Roses throughout her illustrious career.
“My best memory playing against England throughout my career has to definitely be any time we’ve beaten them,” she told Sportsmax.tv at a Sunshine Girls training session at the National Indoor Sports Centre last Friday.
“I take great joy in going up against them, especially beating them on their home turf,” she added.
A major tournament was once again the setting for the pair’s next meeting, this time at the 2017 Fast5 Netball World Series in Australia.
Jamaica defeated England 47-38 in the round robin stage but it was England who had the last laugh, defeating the Sunshine Girls 34-29 when it mattered most to win the title for the first time.
The teams next locked horns in the last four at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
England entered that game in red hot form, dominating everyone in the preliminary round on their way to a 5-0 record while Jamaica’s only loss up to that point in their five preliminary round games was to Australia.
The teams fought to the death in the semi-final with England eventually coming out victorious 56-55 before winning another nail-biter, 52-51 over Australia, to win gold.
Jamaica took bronze with a 60-55 win over New Zealand.
Current Sunshine Girl and global netball star, Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, described that semi-final as a bittersweet moment when asked about her most vivid memories of facing the Roses in her career.
“I would say it’s a bad and a good memory because at least we were able to challenge England to that extent,” she told Sportsmax.tv.
A few months later that same year, the Girls got their revenge with a 3-0 Test series whitewash over their counterparts at home. The 2023 Suncorp Super Netball player of the year described this series as the best moment of her national team career, so far.
Moving on to the 2019 Netball World Cup which was hosted by England where the rivalry renewed in the preliminary round.
The hosts came out winners 56-48 and went on to claim bronze while Jamaica failed to advance to the semi-finals, finishing fifth.
Jamaica came out on top over the Roses at the 2020 Netball Nations Cup in England. They met in the third round with the Sunshine Girls coming out 70-66 winners before eventually losing the final 56-67 to New Zealand.
2021 saw England’s Roses secure their first Test series win over the Sunshine Girls since 2013 with a 2-1 win in Nottingham.
The two sides last met in January 2023 in a three-match test series played in Manchester and London which saw the Vitality Roses defeat Jamaica 73-52 in the first match, take a narrow 58-61 loss in the second match, and claim the series with a 63-59 win in the third and final test.
Amazingly, the two sides didn’t meet at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham or last summer’s Netball World Cup in South Africa.
The Sunshine Girls took silver in Birmingham while the Roses finished fourth. The World Cup saw England take home a historic silver medal while Jamaica took bronze.
It remains to be seen who will come out on top in the latest edition of this rivalry but one thing’s for sure, it will be exciting.
Jordi Fernandez labelled his first NBA triumph as "special" after watching his Brooklyn Nets side upset Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 115-102 on Sunday.
Fernandez's team outworked the Bucks for four quarters, forcing 18 turnovers and grabbing 12 offensive rebounds while attempting 17 more field goals than their opponents.
Cam Thomas and Dennis Schroder starred in the victory, scoring 61 points between them, handing the rookie head coach a maiden win at the third attempt.
Fernandez is the first Spanish-born head coach in NBA history, with the result marking the end of a 15-year journey through the ranks.
He started with the Canton Charge in the G League, then becoming an assistant for both the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings before his move to the Nets in April.
"It's very special to come all the way from starting from the bottom in the NBA, and working really hard and move up, and move up, and some good moments, some tough moments, different teams, friends, memories," Fernandez said.
"And it's really cool now you look and you have to enjoy this moment because there's only one time that you're a head coach and win a game.
"On the other end, I also feel like, what's the next step? And we've got to move on to the next thing and I want to be in this league, I want to be with this club for a long time."
Lando Norris believes Max Verstappen deserved the 20-second penalty he was hit with at the Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen received two separate 10-second penalties for incidents early on in Sunday's race, which was won by Carlos Sainz.
Reigning Formula One champion Verstappen was given one penalty for forcing Norris off the track at Turn Four in the 10th lap, and then another for leaving the track four corners later.
It meant Verstappen saw his lead at the top of the driver standings cut to 47 points, while Ferrari are now ahead of Red Bull in the constructor standings.
And Norris has little sympathy for his title rival.
"It was not fair, clean racing," said Norris, as reported by BBC Sport. "I think he got what he had coming to him.
"I felt like I just had to avoid collisions, and that's not what you feel like you want to do in a race.
"He's in a very powerful position in the championship. He's a long way ahead. He has nothing to lose.
"It's not my job to control him. He knows how to drive. And I'm sure he knows that today was probably a bit over the limit."
Norris and Verstappen tussled at Austin, too, but the McLaren driver wants to race clean.
"Austin, I don't think anyone should have got a penalty," he added. "Let's say we both kind of did things wrong. I feel like I was made to do something wrong.
"The majority of people, the majority of drivers feel like that was the same thing.
"That's why you've heard of some of the rule changes that might be coming and those types of things. It's because there's a common consensus that it wasn't correct what happened in the result that I had last weekend.
"Today, I think, was another level on both of those cases. I was ahead of Max in the braking zone, past the apex. I am avoiding crashing today. This is the difference. I don't see it as a win or anything like this, but it's more that I hope Max acknowledges that he took it a step too far."
"I go into every race expecting a tough battle with Max. It's clear that it doesn't matter if he wins or second, his only job is to beat me in the race. And he'll sacrifice himself to do that.
"But I want to have good battles with him. I want to have those tough battles, like I've seen him have plenty of times. But fair ones. It's always going to be on the line. It's always going to be tough with Max. He's never going to make anyone's life easy, especially mine at this point of the year.”
Steve Kerr is confident the Golden State Warriors can get by offensively in the potential absence of Stephen Curry.
Veteran campaigner Curry suffered an ankle injury in the Warriors' 112-104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
According to Kerr, Curry described the issue as "mild or moderate" after he exited the game in the fourth quarter.
However, reports have suggested that Curry may miss several games, having sustained multiple sprains to his left ankle.
"I feel more comfortable that we can withstand an absence offensively without Steph because of [our] depth," said Kerr.
"He's doing okay. He’s said it was mild or moderate – he's sprained that ankle many times before, so he doesn't think it’s too bad, but obviously it's a concern."
Andrew Wiggins, who finished with 29 points and shot 11-of-15, is one of the players Kerr wants to see step up if Curry is to be out for a while.
"Wiggs is off to a great start and had a great night," Kerr said.
"He's an obvious candidate to get the ball more. But we've got a deep team. We've got a lot of guys who can play. We will be ready."
Curry's teammate Buddy Hield told ESPN: "We've just got to stick together. It'll be a great challenge."
That sentiment was echoed by Gary Payton II, who helped Curry off the court.
"[I just] shake my head," Payton said. "Hate to have it, especially with him. But we'll be all right.
"Hopefully he doesn't miss too many, but we've got to figure it out."
Curry has averaged 18.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists so far this season, across three appearances.
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