A week after clinching Spain’s first Women’s World Cup, the country’s soccer federation is at war with the very players who brought home the trophy.

The scandal began just moments after La Roja’s historic 1-0 victory against England, when the head of the Spanish football federation, Luis Rubiales, kissed midfielder Jennifer Hermoso on the lips.

Rubiales, 46, said he made a mistake but that the kiss was consensual. Hermoso, 33, said she did not give her permission and felt violated.

Fast forward seven days and Spain’s World Cup winners are refusing to play. The country’s football federation is threatening legal action. And Rubiales is vowing to “fight to the end.”

Here’s what you need to know.

What happened

After sealing their victory on August 20, the Spanish squad lined up to receive their medals and congratulations from major political and football figures.

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, was first in line. Next to him stood Spanish Queen Letizia and Princess Sofia. Rubiales stood to the younger royal’s left. He was followed by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, among others.

The medal ceremony began, and one-by-one, the champions were honored by the delegation. Infantino handed each player their medals. The royals then embraced them. Rubiales greeted many of them with a big bear hug and a kiss on the cheek, even lifting some into the air.

The beginning of Rubiales and Hermoso’s encounter, however, was not caught on the live television feed. After showing one of the Spanish players kissing the Women’s World Cup Trophy, the broadcast cut to Rubiales hugging Hermoso. Rubiales’ arms are around Hermoso’s shoulders, with Hermoso’s around the top of Rubiales’ back. The pair briefly rock back and forth slightly, and Rubiales appears to say something in Hermoso’s ear.

Rubiales puts his hands on the back of Hermoso’s head. He kisses her on the lips, then slaps her twice on the back before she continues down the procession.

What Rubiales and Hermoso are saying

Hermoso said at no point did she consent to the kiss.

“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part,” she said on social media. “Simply put I was not respected.”

Rubiales admitted he made a mistake on Monday, the day after Spain’s win, but later defended his actions. In a defiant speech on Friday, he said the kiss was “spontaneous, mutual, euphoric and (done) with consent.”

He added that he would not resign and said he would “fight to the end.”

What others are saying

Rubiales has been heavily criticized for his actions and could lose his job.

FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has opened disciplinary proceedings against Rubiales and provisionally suspended him from all football-related activities. Spanish players’ union FUTPRO called for Rubiales to be punished after the kiss, while global players’ union FIFPRO called for “immediate disciplinary action” following Rubiales’ Friday speech.

The president of Spain’s High Council of Sport, the Spanish government agency that oversees sporting activities, said the council would look to suspend Rubiales as quickly as it could while still allowing him proper due process.

In response to Rubiales’ decision to stay, Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) vice president Rafael del Amo and 11 members of the Spanish national women’s soccer program have resigned.

Players have also threatened to boycott competitions should Rubiales stay in his post.

Hermoso and her teammates on Spain’s 2023 World Cup winning squad said they would not play again for the country until Rubiales has been removed from his position. Their coach, Jorge Vilda – who himself is embroiled in a controversy surrounding after video emerged of him appearing to inappropriately touch a female staff member during the World Cup final – called Rubiales’ behavior “improper.”

On the men’s side, striker Borja Iglesia said on social media he would not play for the national team “until things change.” Men’s World Cup winners Iker Casillas and Andres Iniesta condemned Rubiales, as has current men’s team coach Luis de la Fuente. Other teams have showed solidarity.

Politicians have weighed in as well.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Rubiales’ initial apology was “unacceptable” and “not enough,” while a deputy prime minister, Yolanda Diaz, called for Rubiales to resign.

Spain’s soccer federation, the RFEF, however, is standing behind Rubiales. It accused Hermoso of lying about the incident and threatened legal action against her and others.

What comes next

By backing Rubiales, the Spanish football federation has opened a major rift between itself and its three most important partners – FIFA, the Spanish government and the unions that represents Spanish football players.

Whether Rubiales can survive the pressure for him to step down remains to be seen.

But the incident has shed a light on the issues of sexism and machismo in Spain, both of which the players’ union has vowed to fight back against.

“The union is working so that acts like the ones we have seen never go unpunished, are sanctioned and the pertinent measures are adopted to protect the football players from actions that we believe are unacceptable,” the union said Wednesday.

“It is necessary to continue advancing in the fight for equality, a fight that our players have led with determination, taking us to the position in which we find ourselves today.”

The soccer world has rallied behind Jenni Hermoso, leaving Spanish soccer chief Luis Rubiales looking increasingly isolated as the pressure builds on him a week after his unwanted kiss on the Spain star at the Women’s World Cup final last Sunday.

Andrés Iniesta, who won the men’s World Cup with Spain in 2010, condemned Rubiales’ behavior, saying on social media that the now suspended football federation president was “damaging the image of our country and our football around the world.”

Spain’s Women’s World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda also joined those criticizing the behavior Rubiales who has been refusing to resign over the matter.

“I am deeply sorry 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,” Vilda said on Saturday in a statement widely shared by Spanish media.

It was a week ago that Rubiales kissed Hermoso after the player had collected her winners’ medal, an incident seen by millions of viewers around the world.

The scandal has triggered a crisis in Spanish soccer, with world governing body FIFA suspending him for 90 days and every player and coach in Spain’s women’s team resigning en masse, except for head coach Vilda.

Some of the team sponsors have also expressed support for the players, while the federation’s Sexual Violence Advisory Committee said in a statement on the federation’s website that it was investigating Rubiales under its sexual violence protocol.

Rubiales says the kiss was consensual, and the federation has released two statements defending him, one of which has since been deleted, threatening legal action against Hermoso and accusing her of spreading “lies.”

Hermoso said the kiss was unwanted and she and the entire World Cup-winning squad have refused to play for the national team while Rubiales remains president.

“I did not like this incident,” she wrote in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist out of place act without any consent on my part.”

‘With you, Jenni’

As the row dragged on into the weekend, several soccer teams, both male and female, displayed their support for Hermoso at their matches – some held shirts, some wore wristbands, some unfurled banners.

AC Milan and Atletico Madrid players paid tribute to Hermoso at the pre-season Women’s Cup final in Madrid, standing together holding a banner reading “With You Jennifer Hermoso” as the Spanish star watched the game from the stands.

In the US, the Houston Dash displayed a banner reading “Contigo Jenni,” which translates to “With you, Jenni,” and wore white wristbands with the same message written on it during their National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) game.

Players from the KS Current, Orlando Pride and San Diego Wave – including Alex Morgan – wore similar wristbands, while Hermoso’s own club CF Pachuca held a giant sign in support of her at their game in Mexico.

It was a visual representation of the global solidarity which has marked women’s soccer this week.

Every member of Spain’s women’s coaching staff, except for Vilda, resigned on Saturday, releasing a joint statement saying that Rubiales’ explanation “does not reflect in any way what was felt by Jenni Hermoso, who has expressly said that she felt she was the “victim of aggression.”“

The coaches also said that they were instructed to attend the assembly where Rubiales announced his intention to stay in his post and that “various women members of the coaching staff were required to sit in the front row” in an effort to give the impression that they supported the embattled president.

Their collective resignation was preceded by that of 23 members of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad, including Hermoso, and nearly 50 other professional female soccer players who said they would not play for the national team again until Rubiales was removed from his position. La Roja’s next fixture is less than a month away on September 22.

That solidarity extended into men’s soccer too with Cadiz and Sevilla both showing their support for Hermoso at their respective matches on Saturday, while Spanish soccer icons Xavi and Iniesta voiced their disapproval of Rubiales’ behavior.

Cadiz placed a banner that read “Todos Somos Jenni (We are all Jenni)” on the pitch, a photo of which was later re-posted on X by Spain’s acting second deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, who has called for Rubiales to resign.

Meanwhile, Sevilla’s players wore t-shirts with the hashtag “SeAcabó,” meaning “It’s Over,” a reference to Rubiales’ tenure at the federation.

Barcelona manager Xavi said that he “condemned the behavior” of Rubiales and gave his “unconditional support to Jennifer Hermoso and the players” on Saturday, according to Reuters.

“I regret that people aren’t talking about the historic achievement of winning the World Cup,” he added.

Iniesta wrote on X on Sunday that he would like to convey his “sadness, as a person, as a father of three daughters, as a husband and as a footballer,” and that he believes “we cannot tolerate acts like the ones we have seen, which have tarnished a milestone as big as winning a World Cup.”

He added: “Instead, we must put up with a president who has hung on to his position, who has not admitted that his behavior is unacceptable and is damaging the image of our country and our football around the world.”

A hurricane watch has been issued for portions of Florida’s Gulf Coast as the state braces for Tropical Storm Idalia, which is expected to strengthen to a hurricane and make landfall this week.

The hurricane watch stretches from Englewood to Indian Pass, including Tampa Bay, according to the National Hurricane Center’s Sunday afternoon update. In addition to the hurricane watch, a tropical storm watch has been issued for the Gulf Coast of Florida from Englewood to Chokoloskee and the Dry Tortugas.

The storm is currently located about 100 miles east of Cozumel, Mexico, moving at around 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, the hurricane center said.

Forecasters predict Idalia will slowly traverse the Yucatán Channel over the next 24 to 36 hours, bringing tropical storm conditions to the far eastern portions of Yucatán, Mexico, and the western tip of Cuba through Monday.

Idalia is expected to make landfall on Wednesday morning near the Big Bend of Florida as a Category 2 hurricane.

“Strengthening is forecast, and Idalia is expected to become a hurricane over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by early Tuesday,” reads the National Hurricane Center’s update. “Additional strengthening is likely while Idalia approaches the northeastern Gulf coast.

Hurricane hunters are probing Idalia for data as the system intensifies.

There is a “notable risk of rapid intensification” as the storm moves through the extremely warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane center noted in an earlier update. Rapid intensification occurs when the maximum sustained winds of a storm increase by 35 mph or more in a 24-hour period.

Idalia is forecast to drop 3 to 6 inches of rain on western Cuba, Florida’s west coast, the Panhandle and southern Georgia, with isolated totals of 10 inches, the hurricane center said. Heavy rainfall may also arrive in parts of the Carolinas by Wednesday and into Thursday.

The heavy rain may lead to flash flooding, the center warned, particularly in western Cuba, the west coast of Florida, the Florida Panhandle and parts of the southeast US.

Life-threatening storm surge, heavy rainfall, and hurricane-force winds are expected in Florida as early as Tuesday. The bulk of the storm is forecast to move over parts of the Southeast on Wednesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to “just heed the warnings of your local officials” as the state prepares for Idalia’s arrival.

“Our emergency operations center here in Tallahassee will go to a Level 1, 24-hour around the clock,” starting at 7 a.m. ET Monday, DeSantis said.

In preparation, 1,100 National Guardsmen have been mobilized and they have access to 2,400 high-water vehicles and 12 aircraft for rescue and recovery efforts, DeSantis said. The Florida Highway Patrol also has 300 troopers ready to deploy.

According to the governor, power companies will start staging personnel on Monday.

Schools in Hernando County, north of Tampa, will be closed Monday through Wednesday and voluntary evacuations have been issued for parts of the county, according to a Facebook post. “Residents are advised to seek safe shelter with family or friends that reside in a safe structure. If this is not a possibility, a public shelter will open at 12pm on Monday,” said the county in the post.

Who should pay attention? Anyone living in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Cuba, and the northern Gulf and Florida coast should monitor the forecast in the coming days. The direction and strength of the upper-level steering winds around this system will dictate where it will move and how quickly.

As of Sunday afternoon, a tropical storm warning is in effect for Yucatán Peninsula from Tulum to Río Lagartos and Pinar del Río in Cuba; a storm surge watch is in effect for Chokoloskee to Indian Pass, Florida; a hurricane watch is in effect for Englewood to Indian Pass, Florida; and a tropical storm watch is in effect for Isle of Youth in Cuba, south of Englewood to Chokoloskee, Florida and Dry Tortugas, Florida.

DeSantis issued an executive order Saturday declaring a state of emergency for 33 counties ahead of the potential inclement weather. “The Governor and the Florida Division of Emergency Management are taking timely precautions to ensure Florida’s communities, infrastructure and resources are prepared, including those communities that are still recovering following Hurricane Ian,” reads a news release announcing the executive order.

When could it affect the US? By Monday, the system will likely enter the Gulf of Mexico, and move toward Florida. It could become a hurricane by Tuesday afternoon and hit the western coast of the Florida Peninsula by Wednesday.

How strong could it get? It’s still too soon to tell how strong this system could get or how fast it could strengthen. But it will be tracking through the warmest waters in the entire Atlantic basin – a vast source of energy for a developing storm. Exceptionally warm water can provide storms the fuel needed to strengthen and sometimes undergo rapid intensification.

Sea surface temperatures are record warm in the Gulf of Mexico and extremely high across the northwestern Caribbean Sea. Water temperatures need to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit to sustain tropical development, and portions of the Caribbean and Gulf are well above the threshold.

A hurdle to development: Warm water isn’t the only factor at play. The tropical system would also need upper-level winds to cooperate. High wind shear – the wind’s change in direction or speed with altitude – can tear a developing storm apart.

How much wind shear this potential system faces is a critical factor in its formation and final strength. One forecast model shows more wind shear, limiting its development. Another shows less wind shear, allowing the system to develop.

Either way, wind shear may decrease for a time early next week across the far northern Caribbean and eastern Gulf of Mexico, allowing any system that forms to hold together.

Franklin strengthens into hurricane as it heads for Bermuda

Meanwhile, out in the central Atlantic, what was Tropical Storm Franklin strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour, according to a Sunday update from the National Hurricane Center. This was confirmed via aircraft reconnaissance by the NOAA and Air Force Hurricane Hunters.

Hurricane Franklin is currently located 575 miles south of Bermuda and is moving relatively slowly at 8 miles per hour toward the north-northwest.

“Steady strengthening is forecast, and Franklin could become a major hurricane early next week,” said the center in its update. A major hurricane is defined as Category 3 or higher with winds above 111 mph.

“Swells generated by Franklin are expected to begin affecting Bermuda by Sunday night,” the hurricane center said, noting, “these swells are also likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions late this weekend into early next week along portions of the East Coast of the United States.”

Small variations in Franklin’s track through the weekend will determine exactly how close it gets to Bermuda when it makes its closest pass Monday and Monday night.

Franklin’s winds and rainfall will extend beyond its center. Tropical-storm-force wind gusts are possible across Bermuda early next week as Franklin makes its closest approach. A few showers and thunderstorms are also possible across Bermuda as Franklin passes.

Have you ever noticed hurricane hunters’ flight patterns shown by meteorologists on TV look like random, odd shapes?

Those flight patterns may look like boxes or stars, but they serve specific purposes for each individual storm.

Hurricane hunters don’t fly away from these storms like commercial airlines do. They fly directly into them, but they don’t just fly into and around the storms randomly. There is a method to the madness.

There are two distinctive groups of hurricane hunters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Air Force Reserve (USAF). Both organizations fly missions into tropical disturbances in order to record invaluable data used by forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

For the Hurricane Hunters, there are two main types of missions flown, fixed and invest.

Fixed missions

Fixed missions are designated for systems that meet tropical cyclone qualifications, such as tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes. The main objective is to mark the center of circulation, monitor winds speeds and pressure changes, and other variables that are tricky for satellites in space to measure in full detail.

For fixed missions, ‘Alpha’ is most common flight pattern used to collect data in a tropical cyclone.

“The Alpha pattern is the standard profile we fly for fix missions so it’s the one people are most familiar with seeing from us,” Maj. Jeremy DeHart, meteorologist and aerial reconnaissance weather officer with the Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, said. “The pattern consists of two legs flown at intercardinal directions, and when complete, looks a lot like the Greek Alpha symbol when including the crossleg.”

Cardinal directions are the standard points on a compass: north, south, east, and west. Intercardinal directions are the diagonal points in between: northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest.

Latest VDM from @53rdWRS mission indicates Hurricane #Larry no longer has a defined eyewall and the central pressure rose 3-4 mb between passes. Clear weakening trend. pic.twitter.com/0d9WiDTXVb

— Jeremy DeHart (@JeremyDeHart53d) September 7, 2021

Interestingly, the bigger, stronger storms tend to be the “easier” ones to fly in.

“From my perspective as the onboard meteorologist, the Alpha pattern is the “easiest” to fly. Because we normally fly those on stronger storms, there’s not a lot of question where the storm center is,” DeHart said. “The flights can be rough of course, but at the end of the day we just go fly through the storm center, collect the data, and send it to NHC.”

Invest missions

The primary objective of an invest mission is to determine if a system meets the definition of a tropical cyclone; storms that do not yet have a name or any real tropical structure characteristics.

For invest missions, the NHC will often send estimated coordinates of where they believe the center of circulation is, which is where the missions will target for their starting point.

However, invest missions by nature have to be a bit more flexible for flight patterns, simply because there are so many unknowns with these types of storms.

“We never know what we’re going to find, yet we always have to be thinking two or three steps ahead. So that really makes us need to think about the meteorology [in each particular storm],” DeHart said. “Is it a closed low or an open wave? Maybe it’s closed but just elongated? Is it battling shear? Are there several smaller swirls competing to be the main circulation center? Weak storms and invests can be very tricky and require a lot of thinking on our toes.”

Air Force Hurricane Hunters have a variety of flight patterns to choose from for invest missions: X, Delta, and Box, just to name a few.

DeHart explains the missions are ideal for the weaker, more uncertain storms. While the X pattern may resemble the Alpha pattern, it is flown at much lower altitudes, usually around 500 to 1,000 feet.

“Once a system becomes a tropical storm or hurricane, the hurricane hunters begin flying at higher altitudes, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 feet depending on the severity of the storm,” said Jessica Kendziorek, public affairs operations chief with the USAF 403rd Wing.

Flight levels for the Delta and Box patterns are usually at or below 5,000 ft absolute altitude.

“The Delta and Box patterns are similar in that we’ll fly around the periphery of the forecast center seeing if we can observe winds in all four quadrants of the storm that would indicate a closed circulation. If we find a closed circulation, we can confidently go [find] the center; if not, we’ll continue the mission in ‘invest mode’,” DeHart said.

NOAA focuses on research

NOAA Hurricane Hunters also fly operational fixed and invest missions (though the names may be different), but they usually have more research-oriented objectives. They fly many unique flight patterns, with different types of aircraft, depending on what type of mission is assigned.

Hurricane Hunters also fly a third type of mission, which the Air Force rarely flies, according to DeHart, called synoptic missions.

For fixed missions NOAA often flies a Figure 4, Rotated Figure 4 pattern, or a Butterfly pattern.

“The Butterfly and Figure 4 patterns flown by the WP-3D through the storm are typically the ones used to [find] the center of circulation,” said Jonathan Shannon, public affairs specialist for the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center Office of Marine and Aviation Operations.

The Rotated Figure 4 pattern is as it sounds; the Figure 4 pattern turned on side.

“The goal with every flight is to gather data all around the center of the storm, and those patterns allow us to efficiently fly through a storm’s various quadrants,” Nick Underwood, NOAA Hurricane Hunter, said. “This data helps with predicting a storm’s intensity, as well as determining exactly where the center is.”

For invest missions, the Lawnmower and Square Spiral patterns are flown, to determine if there are actual tropical characteristics associated with the area in which they are investigating.

“The Lawnmower Pattern allows us to map out a large area when we don’t have a center to aim for,” Paul Flaherty, science branch chief at NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center, said. “Once we are able to map a full circulation (usually by finding a west wind), we’ll shift back to Figure 4’s based on that newly identified center position.”

The Square Spiral pattern is a survey mission meant to supply observations on the structure and characteristics including information about the vortex center, if it exists.

There is a unique third type of mission flight pattern, often used to sample the surrounding atmosphere which helps forecasters know the direction the storm is likely to go.

The Star 1 pattern focuses on a scan of the outer edges of the system. The closely-related Star 2 pattern also does an outer scan of the system, while also adding in a circumference loop near the center of circulation.

Recently, NOAA’s Gulfstream IV flew a Star-2 pattern around Hurricane Larry, to investigate outflow patterns from the storm and better determine where the storm was headed.

“The flight pattern you’ll typically see from our Gulfstream IV is a circumnavigation of the storm itself, as well as sampling of the atmosphere around and ahead of the storm,” Underwood said. “This data helps with predicting the storm’s track.”

Regardless of which entity is flying, the operational missions are the backbone for the National Hurricane Center, tasked with providing essential life-saving information about a storm.

The NHC takes the data and uses it to issue guidance and advisories to the public, so people know whether Elsa or Ida or Nicholas are still tropical storms or have become hurricanes.

A mountain guide found the body of a man believed to have died more than 20 years ago on a glacier in Austria, police announced on Tuesday.

The guide discovered the body on Friday on East Tyrol’s Schlatenkees glacier at an altitude of approximately 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) and notified police, who recovered it by helicopter.

Police added that the man is believed to have had an accident on the glacier in 2001 and was traveling with ski touring equipment.

Cash, a bank card and a driver’s license were found inside a nearby backpack belonging to the man, whom police tentatively identified as a 37-year-old Austrian. DNA results will provide a definitive identification and will be available in a few weeks, police added.

“The glaciers are undergoing a long-term trend of melting,” Nicholson said, adding the trend is expected to continue, with “low snow years” contributing to the problem.

“The reduced snow amount is also partly coupled to the change in temperatures, because what happens is some of the precipitation that … would have come in the form of snow, now comes in the form of rain. That does not help the glaciers, it works against them,” she added.

Even if ambitious climate targets are met, up to half of the world’s glaciers could disappear by the end of the century, according to recent research. The Schlatenkees glacier, where the latest body was found, retreated by an unprecedented 60-100 meters (197-328 feet) between 2019 and 2022, according to Greenpeace.

“If we continue with the emissions we are transmitting now, we are looking at a largely deglaciated Alps region for generations to come – and that is very sad,” Nicholson warned.

Such a scenario would have wide-ranging impacts. Glaciers play a vital role in providing fresh water for nearly 2 billion people and they are also a key contributor to sea level rise.

“Some regions of the world are much more dependent on the glacier mountains than we are here – in some cases they are much more vulnerable than the Alps,” Nicholson added.

The remainder of the Miami Dolphins NFL preseason game against the Jaguars in Jacksonville, Florida, was suspended Saturday after Miami rookie wide receiver Daewood Davis suffered an injury and was carted off the field.

Davis was hit by a Jacksonville linebacker and could be seen lying motionless on the field while being attended to by medical personnel. He was later placed on a backboard and taken from the field.

“He is conscious and has movement in all extremities,” the Dolphins said in an update about Davis, adding that the 24-year-old was taken to Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville for further evaluation.

Both teams mutually agreed to suspend the game following the injury. The Jaguars led 31-18 at the time of the suspension of the game with 8 minutes and 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

This marks the second preseason game this month to be called off due to injury. Last week, the game between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers ended early after Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden was injured and carted off the field in the fourth quarter. Bolden was taken to a hospital for further evaluation and released the following day, the team said.

After the game, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said it was the right decision to end the game.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that was the right call, so I’m proud of the collective group for doing the right thing. Our guys are hurting but relieved,” McDaniel told reporters.

An emotional McDaniel talked about what kind of person and teammate Davis was within the locker room.

“He’s a great spirit, first and foremost,” McDaniel said. “He’s magnetic, he’s got a cool personality to him and guys really saw that from then on.”

“He’s a popular guy amongst our team because of how he works,” McDaniel added. “I had such a pleasure in his development process and was excited for a couple opportunities he was going to get, but more than anything, we’re just hoping for a full recovery and have had some good news and hope to have some even better news moving forward.”

Davis was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Western Kentucky this past offseason.

With the final grand slam of the season nearly upon us, there are plenty of storylines for fans to get excited about.

From a tennis great making a record-extending outing to plenty of home favorites to get behind, the 143rd US Open women’s draw promises to be an exciting contest.

The hard-court major has a tendency to produce surprises. In the women’s singles draw, a player hasn’t won back-to-back titles since Serena Williams won it three times in a row between 2012 and 2014.

There have been seven different winners in the last eight editions and this year might be no different.

How to watch

The action kicks off on Monday, August 28, in Flushing Meadows, New York, and continues until September 10.

ESPN will be broadcasting the grand slam in the US – the 15th consecutive year it has done so.

In the UK, viewers can tune into Sky Sports for coverage, while Eurosport will be showing matches across Europe.

For listings in your local area, you can read more here.

Back again

Venus Williams received a wildcard from the US Tennis Association (USTA) to compete at this year’s tournament, meaning she will take part in a record-extending 24th US Open.

The 43-year-old, ranked 407th in the world, made her US Open debut in 1997 and went on to win the title in 2000 and 2001.

After a six-month injury layoff, Williams returned to the court in June and earlier this month earned her first victory over a top-20 player since 2019 by beating world No. 16 Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets at the Cincinnati Masters.

Williams did have to pull out of a tournament on the eve of the US Open citing a knee injury, but in a video said she was taking precautions to play at Flushing Meadows.

Her appearance at the US Open would be Williams’ seventh event of the year, a remarkable achievement for someone who made their professional debut almost 30 years ago.

Williams has been drawn against Belgian Greet Minnen in the opening round after her initial opponent, former world No. 2 Paula Badosa, withdrew injured.

Home favorites

There will be plenty of competitors for the home fans to get behind in the women’s singles draw. Chief amongst those are Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff – ranked third and sixth in the world respectively.

Both have enjoyed excellent build-ups to the grand slam, between them winning three of the North American hard-court tournaments prior to the US Open; Pegula won in Montreal, while Gauff claimed impressive victories in both Washington D.C. and Cincinnati.

While Pegula has routinely reached grand slam quarterfinals – she will play Camila Giorgi in the first round – Gauff is enjoying somewhat of a breakout season on the tour. Her victory at the Western & Southern Open on the eve of the US Open was the 19-year-old’s third title of the year.

It was her fifth career title, meaning she became the first teenager to win five trophies since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.

Gauff looks like she’s up to the task of challenging for the US Open title, but if she is to win her home grand slam the teenager will likely have to do it the hard way as she has been drawn in the same half of the draw as top seed Iga Świątek. Gauff, however, did earn her first ever win over the Pole on her way to victory at the Western & Southern Open.

Up for grabs

Elsewhere, it looks a wide-open contest for the women’s singles crown yet again.

Although reigning champion Świątek comes into the tournament with another French Open title under her belt and is ranked world No. 1, the US Open often hasn’t stuck to the script in terms of favorites.

Who could forget Emma Raducanu’s extraordinary victory in 2021, becoming the first ever qualifier to win the major?

However, the British player has struggled with injuries since then and will miss this year’s edition as she recovers from surgery on both of her wrists and one of her ankles.

But there are a whole host of talent vying for the title.

World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka won her first grand slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year – and also reached the semifinals at both the French Open and Wimbledon. Markéta Vondroušová shocked the tennis world with her Wimbledon victory, while Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur are both contenders.

Sabalenka and Jabeur could meet at the business end of the tournament having both been drawn in a tough-looking bottom half of the draw which also has No. 12 seed Barbora Krejcikova, No. 13 seed Daria Kasatkina and 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year Zheng Qinwen, the No. 23 seed.

With a track record of surprises and no standout favorite, fans should be in for a fascinating two weeks of tennis.

‘Messi mania’ swept across New York on Saturday as Lionel Messi made his Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season debut for Inter Miami away against the New York Red Bulls.

However, fans who attended the match had to wait until the 60th minute for the Argentine superstar to enter the game as a substitute with his team already 1-0 up.

The crowd at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey gave the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner a rousing ovation as he walked onto the pitch and, in the 89th minute, they got just what they would have wanted – a goal for Messi.

Surrounded by four defenders, Messi controlled the ball in the box, threaded it through to Benjamin Cremaschi who then simply slotted it back inside to Messi.

With the goalkeeper pulled out of position, Messi prodded the ball into the back of the net from close range, scoring his first official MLS goal and secure a 2-0 win for Inter Miami.

Even fans not in the stadium to witness ‘Messi magic’ in person were able to get a little taste of it. A packed crowd gathered in Times Square to watch the match on the gigantic screens, cheering on as Messi scored.

“Where dreams are made of,” Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham said on Instagram afterwards, alongside pictures of Messi, the rest of the team and fans wearing Messi jerseys. “Thank you NYC. Great win on the road.”

With the win, Inter Miami moved from the bottom of the Eastern Conference to 14th place, leapfrogging Toronto FC.
Messi and Inter Miami are next scheduled to play on Wednesday against Nashville SC at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It was a familiar sight – Simone Biles twisting though the air, effortlessly and powerfully completing routines no other female gymnast has ever landed in competition.

Even after a long absence from competition, there is an assuredness to her performance and the four-time Olympic gold medalist is now just four routines away from a record eighth US national all-around title after she ended the opening day of the US Gymnastics Championships in first place with a score of 59.3 – 2.75 points ahead of the field.

An eighth title for Biles would break the record that she currently shares with Alfred Jochim, who won his seventh title 90 years ago in 1933. She would also become the oldest woman to win the championships.

It was a remarkable performance on Friday, capped by an almost perfect Yurchenko double pike on the vault, which has never been landed in competition by another female gymnast, according to Reuters.

“Beams started off a little bit rough, but that’s kind of to be expected. You get your nerves out of the way and then after that, it was pretty smooth sailing,” Biles told the Peacock broadcast when asked about her performance. “Pretty happy with the overall meet.”

When asked what drives her to win the historic eighth title, Biles said, “I think I just have personal goals that I want to meet and keep pushing for so that’s what I’m aiming for.”

The 26-year-old returned to action earlier this month, winning in triumphant fashion at the Core Hydration Classic.

She recorded the top score in three of the four apparatus – vault, floor and balance beam – to stamp her authority on the event and will be seeking to do the same on Sunday.

World all-around silver medalist Shilese Jones sits in second place going into the competition’s second day while Skye Blakely is in third.

Biles is the most decorated gymnast in US history, winning 32 medals across the Olympics and the world championships.

She continues her return to competitive gymnastics after a two-year hiatus following the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when she pulled out of several events suffering from what is known as the “twisties” – a mental block that causes gymnast to lose track of their positions in midair.

How to watch

Day two of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships begins at 3.30 p.m. PST (6.30 p.m. ET/11.30 p.m. UK time) on Sunday.

Biles will begin on vault, before taking on the uneven bars, balance beam and finishing on floor.

Coverage of the competition will be domestically broadcast on NBC and Peacock, while international viewers can watch the event on the USA Gymnastics YouTube channel.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is to halve the $200 daily fee it charges tourists in an effort to boost a sector still struggling to recover a year after the end of Covid-19 restrictions.

Bhutan raised its “Sustainable Development Fee” to $200 per visitor per night, from $65, when it ended two years of Covid restrictions in September last year saying the money would go to offset the carbon generated by visitors.

The new rate of $100 per night would come into effect from September and last for four years, the government said in a statement late on Friday.

“This is in view of the important role of the tourism sector in generating employment, earning foreign exchange … and in boosting overall economic growth,” it said.

Isolated for generations, Bhutan opened to tourists in 1974 when it received 300 visitors. The number soared to 315,600 in 2019, up 15.1% from a year earlier, official data showed.

Bhutan has always been wary of the impact of mass tourism and it bans mountain climbing to preserve the sanctity of its peaks. The tourist fee has limited arrivals to bigger spenders who make up a fraction of the numbers that visit nearby Nepal.

Nevertheless, Bhutan hopes to raise the contribution of tourism to its $3 billion economy 20%, from about 5%.

Dorji Dhradhul, director general of the Department of Tourism, said the halving of the fee could boost arrivals in the September-December peak tourist period, which includes many religious and cultural events in the mainly Buddhist country.

In June, the government eased rules on length of stay and fees for tourists but numbers have not picked up as expected.

Dhradhul said more than 56,000 tourists had visited Bhutan since January but about 42,000 were Indian nationals, who only have to pay a fee of 1,200 Indian rupees ($14.5) a day.

About 50,000 Bhutanese are employed in tourism which earned about $84 million a year in the three years before the pandemic in foreign exchange.