Novak Djokovic keeps trying, but there’s only so much he can do to stave off the generational change in men’s tennis. 

With each passing Grand Slam, it looks more and more like a two-person sport.

Djokovic’s bid for a 25^th major title ended Friday in the French Open semifinals, with No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner delivering a baseline clinic that would have made prime Djokovic proud. 

Sinner’s 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) victory in three sets up a final Sunday against No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz that has been a long time coming with one of tennis’ four big trophies on the line. Djokovic had his era, but it’s pretty clear that those two now own the sport. 

Alcaraz, the defending champion at Roland Garros, is seeking a fifth Grand Slam title just a month past his 22^nd birthday. Sinner, 23, has been so dominant in this tournament – and nearly everywhere else in the world over the last couple years – that a victory Sunday would put him on the precipice of holding all four major titles at the same time, something Djokovic achieved across 2015 and 2016.

Though this marks the first time Sinner and Alcaraz have played in a Slam final, it feels like the new normal. Not only have they conquered the 38-year old Djokovic, whose last major was the 2023 US Open, they have zipped past the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and a handful of others who were regularly advancing deep at the Grand Slam but don’t seem like true threats anymore.  

As tennis waits for the likes of Jack Draper, Ben Shelton, Arthur Fils and Joao Fonseca to round out their skills into a Grand Slam-winning package, Alcaraz and Sinner have established enough separation over their peers to become the defining rivalry of the 2020s.

Sunday might be the first, but it won’t be the last. 

What makes this such a delicious French final, though, is the dynamic between the two of them. 

Since losing last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinal to Medvedev, Sinner is 49-1 against everyone except Alcaraz. His record against Alcaraz during that span? Zero for two. 

It’s a fascinating place in their rivalry, which began in the juniors when Alcaraz was just 15. Even though Sinner is considered the best player in the world — and with good reason given his record and consistency — Alcaraz has a 7-4 lead in the head-to-head matchup as pros.

And given the long runway for their shared dominance of the sport, it feels like we’re still in the early stages of figuring out exactly what that record means. 

Ever since Sinner ascended to No. 1, he has been machine-like; a prime Djokovic archetype whose consistency, shot discipline and power make it almost impossible for opponents to find a hole in his arsenal. 

Alcaraz has been more volatile: Brilliant when engaged and motivated, but often a bit immature and unfocused when he gives into his natural pull toward creativity and unnecessary flair. It has led to some perplexing losses over the last year, and even moments in matches where he’ll allow inferior players to challenge him. 

But against Sinner, undoubtedly because he respects his ability so much, Alcaraz tends more toward the meat and potatoes. We saw that play out just a few weeks ago in the final of the Italian Open, where Alcaraz abandoned the showmanship and powered to a 7-6, 6-1 victory in Sinner’s home country. 

Given the level Sinner has played at in Paris, though, reaching the final without dropping a set, it would be hard to consider Alcaraz a huge favorite even if he is more naturally suited to the clay. 

When they played in the French semifinals last year, Sinner looked like he was on the verge of victory before Alcaraz made the final push and won 6-3 in the fifth set. Their previous meeting in a Grand Slam also went the distance: A 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 Alcaraz win at the US Open in 2022 that lasted more than five hours and is widely considered to be the best tennis match of the decade. 

Though Djokovic competed well enough that you could see him maybe sneaking in one more Wimbledon title if everything breaks his way, Fridays match was an undeniable statement that he is now a level below Sinner. He’s not completely out of the way as a contender, but it’s going to take something extraordinary for anyone to disrupt Alcaraz and Sinner meeting in a bunch of Grand Slam finals over the next couple years. 

Tennis always moves on, and this is now their era. If they can consistently reproduce the high level of tennis and drama Sunday that they’ve drawn out of each other in their biggest matches so far, saying goodbye to the legends of the last 20 years won’t seem as sad. 

Boxer Keyshawn Davis lost his WBO world lightweight title without even stepping into the ring.

The belt was stripped from him Friday, June 6 after he stepped on the scale.

Davis weighed in at 139.3 pounds, 4.3 pounds over the maximum weight of 135 pounds for his lightweight title defense set for Saturday, June 7 against Edwin De Los Santos, who weighed in at 134.7 pounds.

That led to the cancellation of the 12-round bout, which would have been Davis’ first title defense, in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia.

Top Rank Boxing, the promoter, announced the cancellation of the fight Friday night on X.

But the event will go on, with a lightweight bout between Abdullah Mason (18-0, 16 KOs) and Jeremia Nakathila (26-4, 21 KOs) to serve as the main event, according to Top Rank Boxing.

Davis (13-0, 9 KOs) had an hour to try to make weight but said he did not intend to try.

“Outgrew the weight,’’ he said during an interview with Top Rank Boxing. “I’ve been making the weight for over four years now. I just outgrew the weight. I tried. I was up late last night trying to make that weight. I woke up early.’’

Bob Arum, the CEO of Top Rank Boxing, which promotes Davis, cast doubt on the fighter’s efforts to make weight.

“You can tell if a guy is trying to make weight and just can’t,’’ Arum told Dan Rafael of Fight Freaks Unite. “You can see that he’s dehydrated. That wasn’t the case with Keyshawn. He never really tried to make 135. That’s my view of what happened.”

Davis indicated he still wanted to fight, as did De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs), who would have been the only fighter eligible to win the WBO title. But negotiations apparently fell through.

Davis, an Olympic silver medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, won the WBO title in February with a fourth-round TKO of Denys Berinchyk. He said he plans to move up in weight and fight at 140 pounds.

OKLAHOMA CITY — As Game 1 of the NBA Finals began at Paycom Center, discerning fans on social media asked: “Why aren’t there NBA Finals logos on the court?”

For the most part – there are two exceptions – the NBA has not placed Finals logos on the court since the 2014 Finals.

Some fans clamored to see a court that matched the magnitude of the event – meaning they didn’t want to see a court that was no different than a regular-season game. It was pointed out that the league’s NBA Cup court has logos on it for the in-season tournament.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took note of the comments and explained.

“I saw it on social media, as you did,” Silver told a small group of reporters at an NBA Cares event at the Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County on Friday, June 6. “I saw the contrast with the (NBA) Cup. In the case of the Cup, of course, we have the opportunity to plan well in advance and to design a specific neutral court for a Cup championship game, and the teams design their own Cup courts. It actually takes a significant amount of time to create new courts in terms of how they’re painted, et cetera.”

The logos on the Thunder court were painted a while ago, and there are Finals logos on the basket stanchions at the Thunder’s arena.

He said the league will revisit the topic.

Why aren’t there NBA Finals logos or Finals trophy logos on the court?

Silver also explained that beyond the time required to paint the logos, there is a perceived safety issue.

“One of the reasons we moved away from the logos on the courts is – whether it was perception or reality – there was a sense that maybe the logos added some slipperiness to the court, and it was a change sort of on the court that was coming just at the time of the Finals,’ Silver said.

“And again, maybe it’s for superstitious reasons or just a sense from teams that we shouldn’t be changing things around such important competition. That’s largely why we stopped putting the logos on the court. But when I saw that suggestion on social media, maybe there’s a way around it. I hadn’t thought all that much about it until I saw it.”

Silver seemed to like the idea of at least seeing what can be done to make the court look special.

‘I’m nostalgic as well for certain things. And also, I think for a media-driven culture, whether it’s people watching live or seeing those images on social media, it’s nice when you’re looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that trophy logo or some other indication that it’s a special event. So we’ll look at it.’

What do other pro sports leagues do with logos at big events?

For Super Bowl 59 in February, the NFL had its standard logo at midfield and had its Super Bowl logos on both sides of the 50-yard line.

The NHL regularly has its Stanley Cup logo on the ice.

MLB had its World Series logos on the field in 2024, but outside of the third- and first-base lines.

The WNBA did not have a Finals logo on the court in 2024.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt

Simone Biles is the GOAT in every sense of the word.

The seven-time Olympic champion stood up for transgender athletes Friday night, taking to X to chastise Riley Gaines for the relentless verbal abuse she directs at transgender girls and women.

“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser,” Biles wrote. “You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports more inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category in ALL SPORTS!!

“But instead… You bully them…” Biles continued. “One thing for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

Biles then added in a second post, “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

Gaines replied that Biles’ post was “so disappointing.” Which is just further proof that Gaines needs to get out of her right-wing bubble a bit more.

Anyone who is even slightly familiar with Biles knows she is an ally. Of her teammates. Of her competitors. Of sexual abuse survivors. And unabashedly of the LGBTQ community.

She also has little use for anyone who punches down on others, which is Gaines’ specialty.

Gaines has used her tie for fifth place with Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA championships to become a MAGA media darling. But her grifting has done real harm to the transgender community, which is already at an elevated risk for suicide and self-harm.

There is no scientific evidence that transgender women athletes have a physical advantage over cisgender women athletes, but that hasn’t stopped Gaines from claiming they do. She insists they are “robbing” cisgender women of places on the podium, and she doesn’t care if it’s a 12- or 22-year-old that she’s putting in harm’s way in this overheated climate where ignorance and violence are celebrated equally.

Gaines has publicly lobbied for Biles and Caitlin Clark to support her in her hate which, again, is a laughable idea to anyone who has followed Biles’ illustrious career.

Biles is the most decorated gymnast of all time, man or woman, with 11 medals at the Olympics — seven of them gold — and 30 at the world championships. She has five skills named after her, two each on vault and floor exercise and one on balance beam. She has taken the idea that women’s gymnastics was a sport reserved for the young and turned it on its head, still dominating in her late 20s.

That has not spared Biles from the venom of keyboard warriors like Gaines, however. She was criticized for withdrawing during the team finals at the Tokyo Olympics because of a case of “the twisties,” never minding that not knowing where she was in the air meant she very well could have landed on her neck instead of her feet. She’s taken heat for her hair, her marriage, even her self-confidence.

But you don’t accomplish what Biles has without being fearless, and her admonishment of Gaines on Friday night was yet another example.

Gaines had inserted herself into the conversation about the Class 4A softball championship in Minnesota, claiming Champlin Park had “hijacked” the title because its star pitcher is a transgender young woman. Never mind that there are nine players on a softball team and Champlin Park won the title game 6-0.

Or that her teammates “love having her out there. She’s a great kid and a great teammate.”

Gaines has never let facts get in her way, so she posted three times about it in a two-hour span. Made sure to mention the name of the transgender athlete, as well, while purposely misgendering her.

That was enough for Biles. That high school junior in Minnesota and all the other transgender women Gaines demonizes might not have platforms large enough to counter her vitriol, but Biles does. And she was happy to put it to good use.

Most of us could never do what Biles does as a gymnast. But we can do what she does as a human: Be kind. Defend the most marginalized.

And when you get the opportunity to stick up to a bully, do it at full throat.

In a world of Riley Gaineses, be a Simone Biles.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

So close for four years, the Texas Longhorns finally broke through to win the Women’s College World Series for the first time.

Texas had lost in the championship series in 2022 and 2024, but in 2025 the Longhorns (56-12) set a school record for victories, beat the four-time defending champions and toppled Texas Tech in the best-of-three championship series.

Celebrate the Longhorns’ historic NCAA softball championship with a beautifully designed commemorative page print from USA TODAY. Featuring a bold headline and a striking image of the Horns celebrating on the field at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, this keepsake captures the moment perfectly.

Buy our Texas championship page print

Printed on premium, acid-free art paper, this collectible starts at $35 (plus shipping). Elegant upgrade options include framed editions and backgrounds in canvas, acrylic, metal or wood through the USA TODAY Store.

In 2022 and 2024, the Longhorns lost in the championship series to Oklahoma, winner of the prior four titles. In 2025, after beating Florida 3-0 in the WCWS opener, they upended the Sooners 4-2 in the winner’s bracket. Then Texas reached the championship series for the third time in four years with a 2-0 victory over Tennessee.

Against Texas Tech, the Longhorns rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning to win 2-1 in Game 1. They lost 4-3 in Game 2 with the tying run on third base.

In Game 3 on June 6, the Longhorns left no doubt who would rule college softball. They scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning against NiJaree Canady, the million-dollar transfer from Stanford who had thrown every pitch for the Red Raiders during the WCWS. She didn’t return for the second inning. Mia Scott’s grand slam in the fourth inning made it 10-0 Texas.

The Red Raiders stayed alive with three runs in the top of the fifth and scored again in the seventh. After a final groundout, with a 10-4 victory secured, the Longhorns stormed the field, celebrated madly and hoisted the trophy. Pitcher Teagan Kavan was selected the most outstanding player.

Own a piece of Longhorns history today! Every Texas fan needs this page print on a wall.

Buy our Texas championship page print

Contact Gene Myers at gmyers@gannett.com. Follow him on X@GeneMyers. After nearly a quarter-century as sports editor at the Detroit Free Press, Myers unretired to coordinate book and poster projects across the USA TODAY Network. Explore more books and page prints from the USA TODAY Network, including titles on the Florida Gators’ NCAA basketball championship and the Philadelphia Eagles’ victory in Super Bowl 59.