(NEW YORK) — A spectator was ejected from a tennis match at the U.S. Open in New York City early Tuesday after German player Alexander Zverev accused the man of quoting a phrase from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
The stunning moment unfolded in Arthur Ashe Stadium just before 12:15 a.m. ET as Zverev, the No. 12 seed, was serving at 2-2 in the fourth set of his match against Italian player Jannik Sinner, the No. 6 seed. Suddenly, Zverev walked up to chair umpire James Keothavong and pointed toward a fan, who was sitting in a court-side section.
“He said the most famous Hitler phrase to me,” Zverev told the umpire. “He just said the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this world. It’s unacceptable. This is unbelievable.”
The umpire immediately turned around to interrogate the crowd and ask the fan to identify himself.
“Put your hand up,” Keothavong said. “Who said that? Who said that? Who said that? We are going to get him out.”
Soon after, security officials were called in to remove the fan, who was apparently identified by spectators seated near him. The crowd cheered as the man was escorted out of the arena by security.
Keothavong made an announcement asking the crowd to “remain fair and respect the players.”
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the U.S. Tennis Association told ABC News: “A fan directed a disparaging remark towards Alexander Zverev. The fan was identified and then escorted from the stadium.”
Police were not involved, according to the USTA spokesperson.
Zverev ultimately went on to beat Sinner in a five-set match that lasted nearly 4 hours amid humid conditions. He will play the No. 1 seed and defending U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the quarterfinals.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Cincinnati 6, Seattle 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City 12, Chicago White Sox 1
Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3
Toronto 6, Oakland 5
Houston 13, Texas 6
Minnesota 20, Cleveland 6
Baltimore 6, LA Angels 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 5, San Francisco 0
Arizona 4, Colorado 2
Pittsburgh 4, Milwaukee 2
Philadelphia 9, San Diego 7
(NEW YORK) — American tennis star Coco Gauff is moving on to the quarterfinals at this year’s U.S. Open and making history in the process.
On Sunday, Gauff defeated former world No. 1 tennis player Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the fourth round.
In doing so, she became the first American teenager since Serena Williams to reach back-to-back quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, according to the Women’s Tennis Association.
Gauff, 19, is scheduled to play her quarterfinal match Tuesday against Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Gauff’s U.S. Open run ended last year in the quarterfinals, though it did push her into the top 10 for the first time in her career.
Last month, Gauff, currently ranked No. 6 in the world, won the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, becoming the youngest player to do so.
Just a few weeks before that win, Gauff took home the title at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C.
Gauff, who trains in Delray Beach, Florida, is the fourth American tennis player to reach the quarterfinals at this year’s U.S. Open.
Three American women’s players are playing Monday in the fourth round, two of whom are playing against each other — Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula — meaning at least one American will join Gauff in the quarterfinals.
On the men’s side, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton have all already advanced to the quarterfinals.
Tiafoe and Shelton are scheduled to play each other in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Fritz is scheduled to take on a favorite to win the tournament, No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
NY Mets 6, Seattle 3
Toronto 7, Colorado 5
Baltimore 8, Arizona 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Detroit 3, Chicago White Sox 2
Boston 7, Kansas City 3
Texas 6, Minnesota 5
Oakland 10, LA Angels 6
Tampa Bay 6, Cleveland 2
NY Yankees 6, Houston 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 15, Cincinnati 7
Philadelphia 4, Milwaukee 2
Miami 6, Washington 4
St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 4
LA Dodgers 3, Atlanta 1
San Diego 4, San Francisco 0
TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
(8) Florida St. 45, (5) LSU 24
(18) Oregon St. 42, San Jose St. 17
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New York 86, Chicago 69
Indiana 97, Dallas 84 (OT)
Minnesota 86, Phoenix 73
Los Angeles 72, Washington 64
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Philadelphia 4, New York 1
Miami 3, Los Angeles FC 1
(NEW YORK) — When fans come home from seeing the Savannah Bananas play, founder Jesse Cole hopes they take away one thing: “That was the most fun I’ve ever had at a baseball game.”
People around the world have gone bananas for the exhibition baseball team playing and entertaining with their own set of rules since 2016. That includes allowing players, coaches and umpires to break out into elaborate dance routines and other circus-like antics in the middle of the game.
“GMA3” reporter Will Ganss caught up with the team in Staten Island, New York, earlier this month along their sold-out tour.
“As a fan who played ball my whole life, I was bored by moments in the game,” Cole, clad in his signature banana-colored suit and bowler hat, told ABC News. “I said, ‘How do we make it nonstop entertainment, nonstop fun that fans literally can’t look away?’ You have to watch what’s happening. And so it’s just nonstop entertainment, and that’s what makes it a lot of fun.”
When they’re not on the road, the Savannah Bananas play to sold-out crowds at home in Georgia at Grayson Stadium – the former home of Mets-affiliated minor league team, the Savannah Sand Gnats. They’ve also become a social media sensation, racking up more than 10 million followers and 200 million likes across all of their platforms.
But it wasn’t always certain the Bananas would hit a grand slam with their fans.
When Cole and his wife, Emily, first came to Savannah, they didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome, according to a YouTube video put out by the franchise looking back on their story in 2019. Some in the community were skeptical about the newcomers. Cole and his small team recall cold calling people to drum up excitement and ticket sales, but things were slow at first.
The couple says they had to sell their home and drain their savings to keep their dream afloat. It was a huge gamble, but it ultimately paid off.
After they launched a contest for the public to come up with a name for the team, everything changed, Cole says. Choosing the name Bananas received a lot of media attention, and not all of it was positive.
“We were crucified. However, we got attention. People were talking about us. And so the first few weeks afterwards, the publicity nationally was huge. Locally, they were ripping us apart, but everyone was talking about us,” Cole says in the video.
The Savannah Bananas soon became a viral sensation online. Since that first sold-out home game, they’ve more than lived up to their name. They’ve got their own pep band, all-seniors dance team “The Banana Nanas,” and even their own form of play called “Banana Ball” that’s designed to keep the game moving, according to their website.
Banana Ball rules include a two-hour limit, no bunting (that will get you ejected from the game) and no mound visits, their website says. Games are won by points, instead of runs. The team that scores the most runs in an inning gets one point, except in the final inning when every run counts as one point. According to rule 8, if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s an out.
On the road, excited fans pour into the stands, eager to see their online obsession take the field in person.
Silly, zany, at times maybe even outlandish – you can say many things about the Bananas – but boring isn’t one of them.
“We’re trying to create the greatest show in sports,” Cole said.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
LA Angels 10, Philadelphia 8
Toronto 7, Washington 0
Tampa Bay 3, Miami 0
NY Mets 6, Texas 5
Pittsburgh 4, Kansas City 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chi White Sox 10, Baltimore 5
Cleveland 5, Minnesota 2
Seattle 5, Oakland 4
Houston 7, Boston 4
NY Yankees 6, Detroit 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
LA Dodgers 7, Arizona 0
Chi Cubs 3, Milwaukee 2
St. Louis 5, San Diego 4
Cincinnati 4, San Francisco 1
Atlanta 7, Colorado 3
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Cincinnati 2, Atlanta 1
Orlando City 1, Charlotte FC 1 (Tie)
Nashville 0, Miami 0 (Tie)
New England 1, New York 0
New York City FC 2, CF Montreal 0
Toronto FC 3, Philadelphia 1
Seattle 2, Austin FC 1
Vancouver 1, Chicago 0
Houston 2, Columbus 0
Minnesota 3, Colorado 0
Saint Louis City SC 2, FC Dallas 1
Portland 2, Real Salt Lake 1
LA Galaxy 3, San Jose 2
(NEW YORK) — Autopsy results on former American swimming champion Jamie Cail reveal her sudden death this year at her residence in the U.S. Virgin Islands was caused by an accidental drug overdose, authorities said.
Toxicology results from the autopsy found that the 42-year-old Cail, who was originally from New Hampshire, died of “fentanyl intoxication with aspiration of gastric content,” according to the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department.
“Manner of death is Accidental,” the police department said in a statement, citing an Aug. 22 report from the medical examiner’s office.
Further details on Cail’s death were not released by police, including whether Cail purposely ingested the fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, or if her system was exposed to the drug in some other manner.
The police department’s Criminal Investigation Bureau launched a probe following Cail’s death in St. John.
Cail’s boyfriend, whose name was withheld by police, told investigators he found Cail unresponsive after he left a bar and went back to their residence to check on her just after midnight on Feb. 21, according to police.
“Upon his arrival, he discovered his girlfriend on the floor,” police said in an initial statement released shortly after Cail’s death.
The boyfriend told police that he and a friend immediately rushed Cail to the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Cail was originally from Claremont, New Hampshire, and was a star swimmer for much of her youth, her family told ABC affiliate station WMUR in Manchester.
As a teenager, Cail was a member of a relay team that won a gold medal at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, according to SwimSwam.com, an online swimming news site.
She was also a member of the women’s swim team at the University of Maine in the 2000-2001 academic year, according to the school’s alumni association.
(LONDON) — A second week into the backlash that followed the non-consensual kiss between Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Luis Rubiales and player Jenni Hermoso, the world of Spanish soccer is still shaken and seeking accountability.
Protests and reactions to the kiss continue, with worries that the controversy will negatively affect Spain’s reputation, and its efforts to host the World Cup in 2030.
“This is not about political left or right. With his behavior, Rubiales undermined not only Jenni’s dignity but that of Spain as well,” La Liga President Javier Tebas wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known Twitter. La Liga is Spain’s premier men’s soccer league.
Spanish tennis star and 2023 Wimbledon men’s singles champion Carlos Alcaraz also criticized Rubiales in comments after winning his first-round match at the US Open. “My opinion is that it is not the behavior that someone in a high position should have,” Alcaraz said Wednesday. “That’s the only opinion that I am going to give on the matter and we hope it is resolved soon because the women’s team has achieved something historic and they have not been given as much credit for what they’ve done, and it’s a shame.”
Rubiales kissed Hermoso following the Spanish women’s soccer team’s first-ever World Cup victory on August 20, when they defeated England 1-0 in Sydney, Australia. Rubiales grabbed Hermoso’s head in both of his hands during the post-match medal ceremony and kissed her on the mouth.
Amid the growing criticism, Rubiales’ mother, Ángeles Béjar, continued her hunger strike for the third day, barricaded in the Divina Pastora de Motril church near Granada. “I don’t care to die for justice,” she said on Tuesday. “My son is a decent person and what they are doing to him is not fair.”
Meanwhile, a video surfaced online Wednesday, showing Jenni Hermoso and her teammates hours after the World Cup match as they commented on images of the kiss, which were already circulating on social media.
“Like Iker and Sara,” Hermoso said in the video, referring to the famous kiss between world champion men’s soccer star Iker Casillas and journalist Sara Carbonero after Spain won the World Cup in 2010.
“Kiss! Kiss!” those on the bus then chanted as Rubiales boarded the vehicle.
“Stop, I am getting embarrassed,” Rubiales replied, just before the video ends.
Both Rubiales and Hermoso spoke about the episode last week, once the winning team returned to Madrid. Rubiales held a press conference on Friday at RFEF headquarters, saying multiple times he was not going to resign because what he called the “little kiss” was consensual. For her part, Hermoso followed with a statement in which she reiterated that the kiss was not consensual, and maintained that her World Cup-winning team deserved better.
The RFEF stood by its president, threatening legal action against Hermoso until Saturday, when FIFA, the governing body of international football, announced that Rubiales would be suspended for 90 days, pending disciplinary proceedings.
Then, following an emergency meeting on Monday, the RFEF asked for Rubiales’ resignation. “After the latest events and the unacceptable behaviors that have seriously damaged the image of Spanish football, the presidents request that Mr. Luis Rubiales immediately present his resignation as president of the RFEF,” the statement declared. The RFEF also withdrew earlier threats to leave the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) if Rubiales was removed.
Jorge Vilda, the Spanish national women’s football team head coach and a longstanding ally of Rubiales who supported him during his “I will not resign” speech Friday, issued a statement the following day in which he said, in part, “I regret deeply that the victory of Spanish women’s football has been harmed by the inappropriate behavior that our, until now, top leader, Luis Rubiales, has carried out and that he himself has recognized.”
However, Vilda has not called on Rubiales to resign, nor did Vilda address increasing calls for him to resign because of his continued support of Rubiales. Pressure for Vilda to step down intensified with the resignation of his coaching staff Monday, in support of team members who vowed last week not to play as long as Rubiales remained RFEF president.
Vilda has his own complicated relationship with the players, after 15 members of his team wrote an open letter to RFEF in September of last year complaining about the coach. The RFEF then sided with Vilda.
Support for Hermoso manifested over the weekend with mass resignations of players and Spain’s national team staff, as well as crowds of protestors and social media posts with the hashtags #ContigoJenni and #SeAcabó, meaning “With you Jenni” and “It’s over,” respectively.
(NEW YORK) — As the U.S. Open kicks off this week, legendary tennis star Billie Jean King is taking a look back at how the landscape of women’s sports has evolved since she dominated the tennis court five decades ago.
The former No. 1 player was honored in New York Monday on the first day of the Open, where former first lady Michelle Obama introduced the trailblazing pro in a celebration of the tournament’s commitment to equal pay for all of its athletes.
“Billie Jean teaches us that when things lie in the balance, we all have a choice to make. We can either wait around and accept what we’re given, we can sit silently and hope that someone else fights our battles, or we can make our own stand,” Obama said.
A pioneer in her own right, King, 79, spoke to ABC News’ Good Morning America about the changes she has helped enact over the years and the ongoing fight for equal rights.
On fighting for equality 50 years after the Battle of the Sexes
King faced off against the late Bobby Riggs, also a former No. 1 tennis pro, on Sept. 20, 1973, in an exhibition match held in Houston that was dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes.” King would emerge victorious, winning the game in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3.
King reflected on the match while viewing a photograph of herself returning a shot from Riggs, who was the favorite going into the match and whom King described as a “male chauvinist.” (Going into the match, Riggs had reportedly declared women’s tennis to be inferior to men’s tennis and had reportedly stated his confidence that he would defeat King. He had also stated that he would emerge victorious from the match because women didn’t have the “emotional stability” to win.)
“This is at the Astrodome in 1973, Sept. 20, and I was playing … Bobby Riggs, who won the Triple Crown in Wimbledon in 1939 before World War II, and I look like I’m on the defense here but I was actually on the offense. I won, so that’s what I remember,” King recalled.
King said after her big televised win, Riggs went up and spoke to her on the court.
“When we got the net after the match, he said, ‘I underestimated you,'” King said. “And I couldn’t wait to see my dad because he always told my brother and me … ‘Always respect your opponent, even if you don’t like them.’ I really respected Bobby.”
Five decades after the Battle of the Sexes, King said female athletes still have to fight for fair opportunities.
“Today’s battle continues to be to fight for equality,” King said.
King applauded the progress made, including 50 years of equal prize money at the U.S. Open and the passage in 1972 of Title IX, the federal legislation that bans discrimination on the basis of sex and laid the foundation for girls’ and women’s sports in schools.
She said Title IX led to the current state of women’s sports.
“We’re now at a tipping point where people are investing in us and believing in us because they think we’re going to make money,” King said. “We have to keep working harder and harder because we have a long way to go.”
The fight for equality is one King said she has taken seriously throughout the years, alongside her drive to excel professionally.
“I remember just believing in myself enough to win and [knowing] that this was more about social change and everybody else in the world, not just about me — I usually do better when it’s bigger than myself,” King said. “I remember thinking that if I could just win, maybe this will help things get better for everybody and more about equality for everyone.”
On blazing a trail for a new generation of tennis stars
In September 2018, Naomi Osaka took home her first U.S. Open win, defeating tennis icon Serena Williams. King was photographed with the champion and runner-up and called it an “honor” to share the court with the tennis stars.
“This shows you how each generation of players have made a difference. I mean, Serena is giving back. She’s investing now. She and her husband [Alexis Ohanian] are worth a lot of money. She’s investing in women, and particularly women of color. She just had her second baby. So exciting,” King said of Williams.
“Osaka, I think, brought mental health to everyone’s attention and I love the way she stands up for communities,” King added. “They’re freer to do this now too. Society has changed. … You couldn’t quite do it the same way in the ’70s, for instance. So, I’m so happy [with] the progress we’re making, but also [know] how much progress we have to make in the future.”
King said the professional sports arena is uniquely positioned to level the metaphorical playing field.
“That’s where sports is an equalizer and sports [helps] with relationships, because relationships are everything,” King said. “It’s really important. And also, Osaka always looked up to Serena … her she-ro, her hero, so there’s a lot going on here when I see this, from the past, the present and the future.”
On blazing a trail for the LGBTQ+ community
In 2018, King also served as grand marshal at the annual New York City Pride March, a milestone event where she said she finally felt “free.” King had been married previously during her professional tennis career to the late Larry King but they later divorced in 1987. She was publicly outed as a lesbian in 1981 and today, she’s known as a prominent LGBTQ+ activist.
“When I was growing up, you didn’t talk about anything. So, everything was kept inside you all the time and you couldn’t really talk about things,” King said of her experience before she came out. “They told me not to talk about what I was feeling or thinking and trying to figure out who I was, that we wouldn’t even have a tour if I talked about it.”
“Also, I lost all my endorsements when I was outed and had to start over [with] my life. And so, here I’m free, I’m myself and I made it, and I want this for everyone,” King said, referring to a photo of her at the Pride parade.
Earlier this August, The Stonewall Inn officially designated the U.S. Open as a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. King said the move symbolized “how tennis cares.”
“I just love it when everybody can be who they want to be and they’re free to be who they want to be, and I think that’s major in life,” the retired tennis pro said. “When someone’s free, they also are more productive. They have a better life. They’re able to give more, be able to do more in this world, so it just all goes hand in hand.”
