Carlos Alcaraz says he will skip Wimbledon as he recovers from the right wrist injury that also forced the Spaniard out of the French Open, the world number two men’s tennis player said on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old seven-time Grand Slam champion has not played since withdrawing from the Barcelona Open last month.
“My recovery is going well and I feel much better, but unfortunately I’m still not ready to be able to play, and that’s why I have to withdraw from the grass-court swing at Queen’s and Wimbledon,” the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon champion wrote on X.
Alcaraz’s rivalry with Italian Jannik Sinner has captivated men’s tennis, and his absence from the next two Grand Slam tournaments is a huge blow to fans and broadcasters alike.
The pair contested an epic French Open final last year, with Alcaraz coming back to win the title before Sinner turned the tables to take the Wimbledon crown.
Alcaraz became the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam this year when he won the Australian Open. (AlJazeera)
Arsenal are confirmed Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 as Manchester City fail to win at Bournemouth.
City needed to win their final two games, as well as hope Arsenal failed to win their final match, but were held to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday.
The result put an end to Pep Guardiola’s title challenge with one round of the season to go as the draw left Arsenal with an unassailable four-point lead at the top, ending their 22-year wait for the title.
Arsenal fans celebrated wildly outside its Emirates Stadium as news of the score line came through.
City threatened another twist when Erling Haaland scored in stoppage time to equalise Junior Kroupi’s first-half strike, but it was too late to find a winner.
Mikel Arteta’s players can now stand alongside club icons Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright, who previously led the club to the summit of English football. And Arsenal’s current class could yet break new ground by winning the Champions League for the first time in its history later this month.
Thoughts of this month’s final against defending champion Paris Saint-Germain can be put on the back burner, for now.
Now is a time for celebration and relief for Arteta after finishing runner-up in the league three years running.
In back-to-back seasons in 2023 and ’24, he watched as Guardiola’s City chased down Arsenal’s lead to be crowned champion. And another chance was missed last year when coming second to Liverpool.
Once again, Arsenal has led the way for most of this campaign, and despite seeing its points advantage ebb away during a gripping run-in, it has finally managed to get over the line after a decades-long wait.
Arsenal’s last champion was the so-called “Invincibles” team of 2004, which went an entire campaign without losing in the league. (AlJazeera)
Manchester City kept the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Brentford, while Liverpool were booed off after a 1-1 draw against struggling Chelsea on Saturday.
With three games of the season left for both title contenders, City closed to within two points of the Gunners, who face a tricky trip to relegation-threatened West Ham on Sunday.
After a dramatic 3-3 draw at Everton on Monday, Pep Guardiola’s men could not afford another slip up if they were to retain hope of a seventh title in nine years.
A resolute Brentford, still in the running for European football themselves next season, held out until the hour mark when the in-form Jeremy Doku curled into the top corner.
Erling Haaland backheeled in a second to move four goals clear of Brentford’s Igor Thiago in the battle for the Golden Boot.
Haaland then turned provider for Omar Marmoush to score what could be a vital third in stoppage time.
“We will see, it is not in our hands,” said Guardiola. “We will do our job and wait.”
City cut the goal difference gap on Arsenal to one and now must hope the Hammers cause an upset in a huge clash at both ends of the table at the London Stadium.
Arsenal face already-relegated Burnley and Crystal Palace, days before the play in the Conference League final, in their final two games. (JapanToday)
Tottenham Hotspur took a small and potentially crucial step towards retaining its Premier League status after drawing at home with Leeds United 1-1 on Monday.
Spurs, just above the drop zone, moved two points clear of relegation rival West Ham.
Tottenham went ahead in the 50th minute with a lovely strike by Mathys Tels.
However, Tels’ foul on Ethan Ampadu with 15 minutes left led to a Leeds penalty that Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted with aplomb.
Spurs takes on Chelsea away and Everton at home in their last two games, while West Ham is away at Newcastle before facing Leeds at home on the final day of the season.
One of the two will join the already relegated Burnley and Wolves in next season’s Championship.
Spurs came into the game on a high after two consecutive victories but though they dominated the first half in terms of possession and shots on goal they didn’t break the deadlock until five minutes into the second half.
Pedro Porro’s corner kick was cleared to an unmarked Tels, who coolly struck into the far corner of the net from 20 meters out. It was the center forward’s first goal since Jan. 7.
Tels, however, turned villain 24 minutes later when his high foot was adjudged to have made contact with Ethan Ampadu’s head inside the box.
The referee pointed to the spot and Calvert-Lewin, who was denied a first-half penalty after a video review, confidently dispatched the spot kick.
Both sides suffered through an edgy last few moments and a remarkable 15 minutes of added time but there were no more goals and Spurs, for whom goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was outstanding. They will content themselves that their destiny remains in their hands.
“We played a good game but there was big pressure,” Tottenham coach Roberto De Zerbi said. “We didn’t play calmly. We wanted to win immediately without passes. When you are fighting for relegation you can’t play every game calmly.
“Leeds played a good game and we hope they play like that against West Ham in the next game.”
Spurs have taken eight out of a possible 12 points since De Zerbi’s debut defeat at Sunderland on April 12.
“We deserve to stay up,” he said. “We will fight until the end. . . . Even if we had won today it wouldn’t have been finished yet.”
Hull will play Southampton or Middlesbrough in the Championship playoff final after second half goals from Mo Belloumi and Joe Gelhardt gave it a 2-0 win over Millwall in London.
Belloumi’s 64th-minute strike with his left foot broke the deadlock in the second game of the two-leg affair and Gelhardt made sure with a low shot that squirmed past the Millwall goalkeeper.
The win means Hull have one match to secure a place in the Premier League for the first time since it was relegated in 2017. (JapanToday)
Luis Enrique and Paris Saint-Germain are headed back to the Champions League final after a 1-1 second-leg semifinal draw with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
PSG edged a thrilling 5-4 game in the first leg in Paris last week, and the defending champions made the advantage count to progress 6-5 on aggregate to set up a final in Budapest against Arsenal on May 30.
“It’s magnificent, two finals,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said after the game. “Now we will go there and try to fetch a second star. I said to the players we are warriors.”
PSG’s defense – breached four times in Paris last week – kept Bayern’s much vaunted attack of Harry Kane, Luis Díaz and Micheal Olise largely in check.
“We know how to suffer and we’re ready for what we have to face,” PSG midfielder João Neves said. “We’re very proud of how far we’ve come.”
Ousmane Dembélé blasted home a first-time finish to open the scoring, with the assist going to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after a blistering run down the left flank and cutback pass to the France international.
Bayern were up in arms shortly after the 30-minute mark when the referee neglected to call handball on Nuno Mendes, who was already on a yellow card, and then waved off shouts for another possible handball on João Neves — this one coming in PSG’s own penalty area.
It did not appear the VAR was consulted on either decision, while replays showed that the referee had already blown his whistle for a handball on Bayern’s Konrad Laimer before the perceived Mendes infraction.
With the assist, Kvaratskhelia became the first player to score or assist in seven consecutive Champions League knockout stage games in a single season and drew level with Kylian Mbappé for the most goal contributions in the UCL season with 16 (10 goals, six assists).
Try as they might, the hosts could not find a way back into the game in the second half until Kane scored a late consolation goal just before the final whistle blew. Bayern had won five of their past seven meetings with PSG in Munich, and were going for a repeat of the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble they won in 2020 and 2013.
That bid ultimately came up one goal short, with PSG looking more likely to score than Bayern in the second 45 minutes.
“I understand if they’re disappointed,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany told TNT Sports when asked what he said afterwards to his players. “I think we gave everything.”
After the teams returned from the break, Manuel Neuer saved twice in quick succession from Désiré Doué and Kvaratskhelia. Doué tried again soon after with a low drive that brought the best stop yet from the Bayern goalkeeper.
The hosts came close again through Diaz, who was denied by Matvei Safonov, but PSG were carrying the greater threat. Doué blasted an effort inches wide of the post with Neuer beaten as the European champions looked to seal it.
Kvaratskhelia brushed past Bayern’s defence and bore down on goal but badly missed his kick, with the goal and tie at his mercy.
England captain Kane finally found space inside the box to lash a finish into the roof of the net deep in stoppage time, but a famous fightback was not to be.
PSG and Bayern came into the second leg as the top-scoring sides in the competition with 43 and 42 goals, respectively. It’s the first time two teams have scored more than 40 in the same season — with the expanded League Phase format playing a role.
“It was a game of details. I think we’ve played five times against PSG in the last two years and we’ve won two times, they’ve won two times and now was a draw, so it’s just been that kind of game every single time,” Kompany added. “We have to look at some of the phases that were decided by the officials across the two games which.
“It’s never an excuse for everything, but it matters.”
Arsenal sealed their spot in the final on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over Atlético Madrid to advance 2-1 on aggregate over Diego Simeone’s side.
PSG will try to become only the second team to repeat as Champions League winners, with Real Madrid having done so twice by winning the competition three times in a row between 2016 and 2018. (ESPN)
Arsenal reached the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years as Bukayo Saka’s goal clinched a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid at the Emirates Stadium to complete a 2-1 aggregate victory.
On a momentous night for the club, Saka turned home the decisive goal just before half-time after Leandro Trossard’s shot had been parried by Jan Oblak, ensuring that Arsenal will face either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on May 30.
The Gunners, aiming to lift the trophy for the first time in their history having been beaten by Barcelona in their only previous final appearance in 2006, were deserving winners but had to come through another fiercely-contested encounter with Atletico.
It might have turned out differently had the excellent Declan Rice not made a vital tackle to prevent a certain goal from Giuliano Simeone in the first half. There was another goal-saving challenge on the same Atletico player by Gabriel Magalhaes after half-time.
But Arsenal, dogged in claiming a draw in last week’s first leg, produced another outstanding defensive display to limit Atletico’s chances, clinching a ninth clean sheet in 14 European games and a 30th in all competitions this season.
They also missed chances to kill the tie at the other end of the pitch.
The tireless Viktor Gyokeres spurned the best of them, firing over the crossbar from substitute Piero Hincapie’s low cross when well placed to score in the centre of the box.
In the end, though, Saka’s goal proved sufficient, as Arsenal saw out the closing stages in relative comfort before jubilant scenes of celebration which included manager Mikel Arteta sprinting onto the pitch to join his players after the final whistle.
Arsenal will now switch their focus back to the Premier League title race, with West Ham next up on Super Sunday, knowing they will have the chance to finish an epic campaign on an unprecedented high in Budapest at the end of May. (SkySports)
Rory McIlroy and Lando Norris have both been rewarded for their respective successes in 2025 at the Laureus awards in Madrid.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy won the Comeback of the Year award after winning his first Masters golf title last year.
England’s Formula 1 driver Norris, who won his maiden World Drivers’ Championship, took the Breakthrough of the Year award.
McIlroy, who won the Masters again earlier this month, beat Justin Rose in a sudden-death play-off to earn the Green Jacket 12 months ago.
The 36-year-old – a former winner of the Breakthrough of the Year award – became just the sixth man in history to win all four Majors following his 2025 Augusta triumph.
“There are certain moments in your career that stay with you, and winning the Masters is one I’ll carry with me forever. To then have a year like that recognised by Laureus is very special,” McIlroy said.
“Completing the career Grand Slam was incredibly emotional. It’s something I’ve been chasing for a long time, and it probably means more because of everything that came before it – the near misses, the setbacks, and the questions along the way.”
Norris held his nerve in a tense battle with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri and four-time champion Max Verstappen to win the 2025 championship.
The 26-year-old held off some strong competition to scoop the award, with fellow Britain Luke Littler, the darts world champion, among the nominees.
“Winning the world championship is something I dreamed about since I was young, so to win my first in 2025 is pretty special,” Norris said.
“It’s far from being an individual achievement. Without my team, who were also nominated for a Laureus Team of the Year award, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Carlos Alcaraz was named Sportsman of the Year, with fellow tennis player Aryna Sabalenka earning the sportswoman award.
Alcaraz, 22, won eight ATP Tour titles, including two Grand Slam events, and ended 2025 ranked as the world number one as he beat rival Jannik Sinner to the award.
Sabalenka, 27, added a second US Open crown to her collection as she collected four WTA titles last year.
England’s women were in the running for Team of the Year after winning Euro 2025 but the award went to men’s Champions League winners Paris St-Germain.
British cyclist Tom Pidcock missed out on the Action Sportsperson of the Year award, with American snowboarder Chloe Kim taking the honour.
Full list of Laureus award winners:
Sportsman of the Year award: Carlos Alcaraz
Sportswoman of the Year award: Aryna Sabalenka
Team of the Year award: Paris St-Germain
Breakthrough of the Year award: Lando Norris
Comeback of the Year award: Rory McIlroy
Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award: Gabriel Araujo
Action Sportsperson of the Year award: Chloe Kim
Young Sportsperson of the Year award: Lamine Yamal
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembele scored twice each as Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich 5-4 in an epic first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday — an extraordinary encounter that was the highest-scoring match ever at this stage of the competition.
The first half alone was crazy, with Harry Kane giving Bayern the lead from a penalty, only for Kvaratskhelia to equalise before Joao Neves headed the hosts in front at an enthralled Parc des Princes.
Michael Olise made it 2-2, but a Dembele penalty in first-half stoppage time had the reigning champions back ahead at the interval.
Kvaratskhelia, surely the standout player in this season’s Champions League, and Dembele both then scored again to have hosts PSG seemingly out of sight, only for Dayot Upamecano to pull one back before Luis Diaz made it 5-4.
An unforgettable game — perhaps better even than last season’s semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona — leaves the tie between the continent’s two best teams of the moment wonderfully poised for next Wednesday’s return at the Allianz Arena, with a place in the final in Budapest on May 30 on the line.
“I’m sure everyone who loves football really enjoyed watching that. It was a real pleasure to play in that game, the kind of game we dream of playing in as kids,” PSG captain Marquinhos told broadcaster Canal Plus.
His team will be returning to Munich — scene of their 5-0 win over Inter in last year’s final — with the advantage, but Bayern will be confident they can overturn the narrow deficit at home.
“We fought and we clawed and we’re back in the tie,” Kane told Amazon Prime. “I thought there was amazing defending even though there were nine goals.”
The French champions are seeking to become just the second side in the modern Champions League era to retain the trophy, while the German champions are hoping to reach the final for the first time since 2020, when they defeated PSG to lift the trophy for the sixth time.
Vincent Kompany’s team arrived in Paris having scored 167 goals this season, led by the remarkable Kane and his 53 goals in 45 appearances.
This tie had a lot to live up to, after Bayern’s spectacular win over Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, but it was an instant classic as both teams showcased their devastating firepower.
Bayern went ahead in the 17th minute as Willian Pacho chopped down Diaz and Kane converted the resulting penalty for his 54th of the campaign.
The visitors won 2-1 here in November in the league phase thanks to a Diaz double and they were the better team early on this time.
But their front-foot approach made them vulnerable to the counter-attack, and PSG’s leveller came just after the midway point in the first half.
The brilliant Kvaratskhelia broke clear of Josip Stanisic down the left before cutting inside and firing into the far corner.
A classic Kvaratskhelia goal was followed by Neves heading in Dembele’s corner on 33 minutes.
The action was only just getting started, however, as French international Olise drove towards the PSG box before smashing in for 2-2.
PSG then won a penalty at the end of the first half when a Dembele cross struck the arm of Alphonso Davies, the Canadian making his first start in the Champions League this season after injury.
It was given by the Swiss referee after a VAR check, and Dembele beat Manuel Neuer to make it 3-2 at half-time — a lead which PSG added to after the restart, leaving Bayern stunned.
Achraf Hakimi’s assist was swept in by Kvaratskhelia for 4-2 on 56 minutes, the Georgian getting his seventh goal in seven games in the knockout phase.
Bayern were not able to reset before Dembele surprised Neuer with a shot in off the near post to make it 5-2 with his second of the night.
But Bayern were not done, as Upamecano headed in Joshua Kimmich’s free-kick to take Kompany’s side to 170 for their season tally.
Diaz, who was sent off in the November meeting, then dribbled past Marquinhos before slotting in for the night’s final goal, making it 5-4.
Kompany, watching from the stands due to suspension, would have been delighted with his team’s response — even if they were relieved to see Senny Mayulu’s late strike for PSG come back off Neuer’s crossbar. (JapanToday)
Manchester United moved within touching distance of qualifying for the Champions League as Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko sealed a 2-1 win against Brentford on Monday. Casemiro put United ahead in the early stages at Old Trafford and Sesko doubled their lead before the interval.
Mathias Jensen’s late strike couldn’t stop United cementing their grip on third place in the Premier League. They are 11 points clear of sixth-placed Brighton, with the top five guaranteed to reach next season’s Champions League.
Michael Carrick’s side need just two points from their last four matches to ensure their return to Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since 2023-24.
On Sunday, United host bitter rivals Liverpool, who sit three points behind them in fourth, in a clash that will go a long way to deciding who finishes third.
Interim boss Carrick, who replaced the sacked Ruben Amorim in January, is still waiting to discover if he will land the United job on a permanent basis. The former United midfielder has made a strong case by steadying the ship after Amorim’s turbulent reign.
Leading United into the Champions League would be another persuasive argument as co-owner Jim Ratcliffe considers his options. A 1-0 win at Chelsea in their previous match had reinvigorated United’s top-five charge after a home defeat against Leeds and a draw at Bournemouth.
Brentford last won at Old Trafford in 1937 and they paid the price for a slow start on their latest fruitless visit.
Kobbie Mainoo scythed through the Brentford defence with a superb run in the second minute, but Amad Diallo wasted the chance with a close-range shot that was cleared off the line by Sepp van den Berg.
Harry Maguire was inches away from marking his return from suspension with a goal when the United defender’s towering header was clawed off the line by Brentford keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
United’s pressure was rewarded in the 11th minute as Casemiro finished off a well-worked corner routine.
Bruno Fernandes whipped the set-piece to Maguire and his looping header evaded a gaggle of Brentford defenders at the far post as Casemiro rose highest to head home from an acute angle.
Casemiro’s fourth goal in his last six games underlined the enduring value of the veteran Brazil midfielder, who is set to leave when his contract expires at the end of this season.
He celebrated by kissing the badge on his shirt as United fans implored him to stay by chanting “one more year”.
Michael Kayode nearly silenced the love-in with a header that United keeper Senne Lammens pushed away at full stretch.
Igor Thiago’s muscular power was a thorn in United’s side but the Brazilian couldn’t finish, scuffing one chance under pressure from Diogo Dalot before Kelleher saved his close-range drive.
Ayden Heaven’s last-ditch attempt to deny Thiago almost ended in an own goal, but Lammens spared the United teenager’s blushes with a fine save.
United took advantage of those misses to double their advantage in the 43rd minute.
Diallo’s determination to win a tackle deep inside his own half started the move before Fernandes drove towards the Brentford area, slipping a pass to Sesko, who lashed home from 10 yards.
Fernandes has 19 assists this season as he chases the Premier League record of 20 in a single campaign set by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne.
United were less dominant in the second half and Jensen whipped an eye-catching curler past Lammens from 20 yards in the 87th minute to set up a tense finale.
Carrick’s men wobbled but just about held firm as Mikkel Damsgaard’s header was clutched by Lammens in stoppage-time. (JapanToday)
Sabastian Sawe broke the two-hour mark for the first time in history on Sunday in winning the London Marathon as Tigst Assefa smashed her own women’s-only world record.
Kenya’s defending champion Sawe was locked in a tight battle with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in the closing stages but surged clear to cross the line in 1hr 59min 30sec.
Kejelcha, running his first-ever marathon, also dipped under two hours, with a time of 1:59:41, with Uganda’s Jacob Kiplomo third (2:00:28).
All three finished under the previous men’s world record of 2:00:35 set in Chicago in 2023 by the late Kelvin Kiptum.
“We started the race well and at the end of the race, I was feeling strong,” said Sawe.
“Finally reaching the finishing line, I saw the time, and I was so excited to see I had run a world record today.
“I was very prepared because coming to London for the second time was so important to me, and that’s why I prepared well for it.”
Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in October 2019, becoming the first person in recorded history to do a sub-two-hour marathon.
But the time was not ratified as a world record because he ran with specialised shoes, standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed, and it was not an open event.
Sawe, wearing Adidas’s new Pro Evo 3 supershoe, which weighs less than 100 grams, suggested before Sunday’s race that a course record or even a world record was in his sights.
He led a group of six as they passed the half-way point in a time of 1:00:29.
Sawe and Kejelcha pulled clear of the rest of the pack and stayed together until the final stages before the Kenyan kicked for home.
In the women’s race, reigning Olympic and world silver medallist Assefa was locked in a three-way tussle with Kenyan pair Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei, but surged away in the closing stages to cross the line in a time of 2:15:41.
That time beat by nine seconds the Ethiopian’s previous best, set on the same course last year.
“I’m so happy to win again,” said Assefa. “To repeat my victory from last year means even more. The happiness I feel is just swelling up inside me.
“It was one of my plans really coming into this competition to break my own world record from last year’s race. So to do that has brought me a lot of satisfaction.”
Obiri, a two-time former world 5,000m champion who won marathon bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, came in second in a personal best of 2:15:53.
She finished just two-hundredths of a second ahead of compatriot Jepkosgei.
The world record set in a mixed race where female athletes benefit from male pacemakers was by Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich, who clocked 2:09:56 at the Chicago Marathon in October 2024.
More than 59,000 people were expected to complete the 26.2-mile (42.2-km) course in the 46th London Marathon in warm spring weather.
Last year’s race set a new world record for the number of finishers, with a total of 56,640 entrants completing the distance.
Marathon organisers said last month they are exploring holding the event over two days next year, allowing up to 100,000 runners.
The 2025 race raised a record £87.3 million ($118 million) for charity, setting a new world record for the biggest annual one-day fundraising event. (Vanguard)
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