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🚨 Headlines
🎾 The madness continues: The most chaotic Grand Slam in recent memory delivered yet again as No. 25 Diana Shnaider stunned No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, snapping her streak of six straight major semifinals. On the men’s side, No. 10 Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi also advanced, joining No. 2 Alexander Zverev and No. 26 Jakub Menšík in the final four.
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🥎 Texas 7, Texas Tech 3: The Longhorns rode a five-run first inning to a series-opening victory, putting them one win away from a second consecutive Women’s College World Series title. Teagan Kavan, last year’s tournament MOP, pitched a complete-game three-hitter.
⚾️ Sánchez sets record: Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez extended his scoreless innings streak to 50.2 before finally allowing a run, giving him the longest streak ever for a left-handed pitcher and the fifth-longest among all pitchers since the mound moved to its current distance in 1893.
🏀 NBA Europe is almost here: NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed on Wednesday that a 16-team league is on track to launch in Europe next year, with 12 permanent franchises and four rotating spots filled by existing clubs across the continent via promotion/relegation.
🏈 Cover athletes revealed: Bears QB Caleb Williams will grace the cover of Madden 27 (August release); Oregon QB Dante Moore, Miami WR Malachi Toney and Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy will grace the cover of College Football 27 (July release).
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See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
🏆 Knicks stay hot, win Game 1
(Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The Knicks are not here for the coronation of Victor Wembanyama.
Beasts of the East: New York overcame early offensive struggles and a 14-point third-quarter deficit on Wednesday to beat the Spurs, 105-95, in Game 1 of the NBA Finals to claim home-court advantage.
Going streaking: Blowout? Tight game? Late deficit? Whatever the situation, these Knicks are proving tough to beat, writes Yahoo Sports’ Dan Devine:
Game 1 marked their 12th straight win in these playoffs, which is tied for the second-longest winning streak in a single postseason with the 1999 Spurs and 2017 Warriors — both of whom won the NBA title.
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It was their seventh straight road playoff win by double digits — the longest streak in NBA history. The two teams whose record the Knicks broke, the 2013 Heat and 2017 Warriors, both won the NBA title.
It was also New York’s seventh straight double-digit win, and their 11th of these playoffs, one off the all-time record of 12. That record is held by four teams: the 2013 Heat, the 2014 Spurs, the 2016 Cavaliers and the 2017 Warriors — all of whom, say it with me, won the NBA title.
The Knicks are now three wins away from us being able to say that about them, too.
Wemby looked gassed: The Spurs superstar finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, but shot just 6-for-21 from the field, committed a playoff-high six turnovers and appeared to wear down in the second half. “Yeah, I mean, I was bad tonight,” he said. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
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What’s next: Game 2 is tomorrow night in San Antonio, where the Spurs will be hoping to regain some momentum before traveling to a raucous Madison Square Garden.
🎟️ Death of the cheap seats
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
American sports fans have long been rankled by high ticket prices. May and June, however, have delivered the convergence of several high-profile cases of sticker shock — from U.S. Open presales, to NBA Finals tickets, to the persistent discourse around the cost to attend a World Cup match.
Yes, but: As teams and leagues take their cues from the lucrative ticket prices lining secondary markets, pulling those profits away from brokers and into their own coffers, they risk alienating would-be fans for the long term.
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Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports:
Think back to the way you became a sports fan. If you’re like most, you connected with your favorite sport by attending a game — sitting in the bleachers with a parent or grandparent, watching baseball or football with an older sibling.
Sure, maybe you were more focused on the popcorn or the T-shirt cannon than the game, but at least you were in the building. And the atmosphere, the vibe, the energy … it all brought you back, again and again.
Now, though? When the cost of attending a game for a family of four is deep into the multiple hundreds of dollars, to start, some families might just decide that the money they might have spent on a trip to the stadium is better spent elsewhere.
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The short-term drive for massive premium revenue risks alienating, or never even engaging, a generation that, right now, is too young to even go to games on their own, much less afford a ticket.
For those kids who may, or may not, be future sports fans — what, exactly, is the endgame for leagues and teams who aren’t connecting with them in the stadium?
What to watch: The upcoming World Cup is among the most extreme examples of opportunistic practices in ticket prices, but American fans aren’t yet as accommodating of the strategy as hoped. Over the last 60 days, the average group stage get-in price is down 16% per TicketData, though prices have stabilized over the last two weeks as the game of chicken continues. That price — by the way — is $592.
🎾 Can Zverev finally break through?
(Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)
Alexander Zverev beat teen sensation Rafael Jódar in straight sets on Tuesday to reach his fifth French Open semifinal. Now comes the hard part: finishing the job.
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Always a bridesmaid: Zverev holds the Open Era record for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances without winning a title (11) — an unfortunate distinction that is partly due to the timing of his career, but also indicative of a player who, for whatever reason, struggles in the later rounds of majors.
On the one hand, he’s part of the lost generation of men’s tennis players born in the 1990s — a group that has won just two Grand Slams thanks to being sandwiched between the “Big Three” (born in the 1980s) and the “Big Two” (born in the 2000s).
To wit, five of the first 10 times he has reached at least the semifinals in a major, he was ousted by Carlos Alcaraz (twice), Jannik Sinner, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic.
Yes, but: Zverev’s other five losses came against his own cohort, losing twice to Dominic Thiem and once each to Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev. And it’s not as if he can’t perform in big matches: the German has won 24 ATP titles, including seven at the Masters 1000 level, two ATP Finals (2018, 2021) and Olympic gold (2020).
If not now, when? Zverev is still relatively young at age 29, but he may never have a better chance to end his Grand Slam drought than this week in Paris, where he is by far the most accomplished men’s player still in contention.
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Finally, the opportunity of a lifetime is at hand. It should be easy. It will probably be torture. And it may well be his last, best chance to rewrite the narrative of a career that many fans have taken great pleasure in watching stall out every time one of the biggest trophies is in his grasp.
In many ways, it will be Zverev vs. himself — a contest that will either break him free of past demons or ensnare him in another mental pretzel, with stakes that will likely define the rest of his career.
Coming up: Zverev will take the court on Friday against 20-year-old Jakub Menšík, who he already beat earlier this year and who will be playing in his maiden major semifinal. Awaiting him in the final, should he reach it, will be either No. 10 Flavio Cobolli or unseeded Matteo Arnaldi, against whom he holds a cumulative 6-1 record.
⚾️ MLB power rankings
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)
The Dodgers sit atop our latest power rankings, in which we examine whether each team should feel better, worse, or about the same regarding their season-long outlook as they did on Opening Day.
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)
Dive in: How’s your team doing?
📺 Watchlist: Thursday, June 4
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
🏒 Stanley Cup Final, Game 2
The Hurricanes host the Golden Knights tonight in a critical Game 2 (8pm ET, ABC), needing a win to avoid going down 0-2 before the series heads to Sin City.
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Streak on the line: The Canes haven’t lost back-to-back games since Jan. 13 — a span of 49 contests. They’ll be hoping to keep that trend going this evening.
🥎 WCWS Final, Game 2
Will Texas clinch its second straight championship? Or will Texas Tech force a decisive Game 3? We’ll find out tonight (8pm, ESPN) in Oklahoma City.
Unhittable: Longhorns ace Teagan Kavan has pitched a complete game in four consecutive starts over the past week while allowing just 13 hits and four runs. And in the one game she didn’t start in that span, she recorded a save with her team’s season on the line.
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⛳️ U.S. Women’s Open
The second LPGA major of the year tees off today (10am, Peacock; 2pm, USA) at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, where world No. 1 Nelly Korda will go for her fourth win — and second major title — of the season.
What they’re saying: “Without there being a Masters for women’s golf, [the U.S. Women’s Open] really is the crown jewel of the sport,” says NBC’s Mike Tirico. “It’s appropriate that it’s contested at a place like Riviera that for so many generations has come to define a great championship test.”
🎾 French Open, Women’s Semifinals
No. 8 Mirra Andreeva faces No. 15 Marta Kostyuk (9am, TNT/HBO Max) in the first semifinal of the day, followed by No. 25 Diana Shnaider vs. unseeded Maja Chwalińska in the second.
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An unlikely run: Chwalińska, ranked 114th in the world, only got into the main draw after winning three qualifiers, and had never previously advanced beyond the second round of a Grand Slam. What a story.
More to watch:
⛳️ PGA: The Memorial Tournament (7:45am, ESPN+; 2pm, Golf) … Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy headline the 72-player field at Ohio’s Muirfield Village Golf Club.
🏀 WNBA: Dream at Fever (7pm, Prime); Valkyries at Lynx (9pm, Prime) … The Lynx (7-2) and Dream (6-2) are in first and second, the Valkyries (6-3) are in a three-way tie for third and the Fever (4-4) are just outside the top eight.
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!
🎾 Tennis trivia
This weekend in Paris, someone will join a very exclusive club. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Just two men outside of the “Big Three” (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic) and “Big Two” (Alcaraz, Sinner) have won a Grand Slam singles title since 2017.
Question: Can you name them?
Hint: Austrian, Russian.
Answer at the bottom.
⚽️ World Cup: Make your picks
The world’s biggest soccer tournament kicks off a week from today! Pick your group stage winners now in 2026 Soccer Pick ‘Em from Yahoo Sports and FOX One.
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How to play: Make picks each round, earn points for correct predictions and climb the leaderboard. You can play solo against the field, create a private group with friends to compete for bragging rights, or join a public group to play with other fans.
Trivia answer: Dominic Thiem (2020 U.S. Open) and Daniil Medvedev (2021 U.S. Open)
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