Author: Shekari Philemon

Four years, three months and several hundred days after her last professional tennis match, Serena Williams stepped back onto a court on Tuesday and reminded a packed crowd at Queen’s Club in London exactly what they had been missing. The 44-year-old icon made her return to professional tennis in the doubles draw of the HSBC Championships, partnering with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, and the two came through a competitive opening set before pulling away to win 7-6 and 6-2 against a respected pair of opponents. Williams last competed at the 2022 US Open, and the 1,375 days between that appearance…

Los Angeles Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson was arrested on a felony domestic violence charge Monday night, with the Los Angeles Police Department confirming the booking took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The charge relates to willfully inflicting physical injury on a spouse or cohabitant, a felony offense under California law. Jackson was booked just after 4 a.m. local time and released on a bond of $50,000 less than three hours later. Investigators noted that the woman involved had visible scratch marks on her arms. According to reports, the alleged incident began when Jackson believed the woman…

What had been billed as one of the most ambitious outdoor boxing events ever attempted in the United States will not be happening in San Francisco next month. The card scheduled for July 11 at Civic Center Plaza, headlined by a WBO flyweight title defense, has been cancelled by its organizers, who cited growing logistical concerns as the reason for pulling the plug. The event was being organized by iVB, a live sports entertainment company, and had set an audacious target for itself. The goal was to draw more than 100,000 spectators to the area surrounding City Hall and surpass…

The Knicks lost Game 3 of the NBA Finals 115-111 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden, ending a 13-game playoff winning streak that had carried New York from the opening round all the way to the brink of a championship. Coach Mike Brown was gracious enough about the Spurs in his postgame remarks. He was considerably less gracious about the officiating. Brown zeroed in on the free throw disparity from the second half, a stretch in which San Antonio attempted 24 free throws to New York’s eight. The gap was steepest in the third quarter, where the Spurs went…

Going into Monday night’s Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, the San Antonio Spurs were staring at a 2-0 series deficit against the New York Knicks and walking into the most hostile environment they had faced all postseason. The building had not hosted an NBA Finals game since 1999. The crowd was wound tight. The circumstances were as unfavorable as they could reasonably be for a road team carrying the weight of two straight losses. None of it mattered. The Spurs played their game, won 115-111, and kept the series alive with a performance built on unselfishness, defensive grit and…

Monday night at Madison Square Garden was already one of the most anticipated events in New York sports in decades. Then Donald Trump walked in and made it something else entirely. The president became the first sitting commander in chief to attend an NBA Finals game when he arrived at the arena before tipoff of Game 3 between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, adding a layer of political theater to a night that was already carrying the weight of 27 years of Knicks postseason longing. Trump arrived nearly an hour before the opening tip, settling into…

Nearly six years after his last appearance at the US Open, Roger Federer is coming back to New York. The Swiss tennis icon will take the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Aug. 25 for a special exhibition event, announced this week by the United States Tennis Association. The occasion carries a title befitting the man himself, billing the evening as a homecoming for one of the sport’s most celebrated figures. Federer will be joined by a group of fellow legends whose careers overlapped with his own dominant era. Andy Roddick, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi are all set to…

What had been a tense but manageable standoff between Israel and Iran broke into open military exchange this weekend, raising the prospect that months of American-led diplomacy could collapse under the weight of renewed hostilities. The escalation unfolded rapidly across two days, pulling the United States deeper into an already volatile regional picture and forcing President Donald Trump into the role of active mediator just as he had been describing a potential breakthrough. On June 8, Trump declared publicly that both Israel and Iran were seeking an immediate ceasefire, framing the moment as a pause rather than a resolution. He…

Madison Square Garden has not hosted an NBA Finals game since the summer of 1999, and the city of New York is making sure everyone knows it. On the eve of Game 3 between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, the scene outside the arena looked less like a basketball event and more like a red carpet premiere crossed with a block party. Rappers and lifelong Knicks supporters were spotted inside the coaching staff’s pregame news conference. Actor Ben Stiller, who has become something of a fixture at courtside this postseason, was there documenting the moment on his phone.…

After skipping every voluntary practice and organized team activity this offseason, Jacoby Brissett is heading back to Tempe. The Arizona Cardinals quarterback is set to appear at the team’s mandatory minicamp this week, choosing to end his holdout rather than face six figures in league-mandated fines. The timing was driven in part by financial reality. Under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, Brissett was looking at more than $107,000 in fines had he continued to stay away. With no new contract in sight, attending became the more sensible option, even if it means arriving without the security he has been pushing…