Category Sports News

Tommy Paul says he has been “grinding” to reclaim his repossessed truck after reaching the semi-finals of the Italian Open.

The American 11th seed beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to secure a place in the last four in Rome for the second consecutive year.

The 27-year-old prevailed despite telling reporters he had endured a “stressful week” off the court.

“On court everything has been going pretty well,” said Paul. “Off court, a little bit of a stressful week.

“I got my truck repossessed. I missed a couple of payments and they took my truck from my house this week. I’ve been grinding to get my truck back. If you know me, that’s my baby.

“I’m excited to get it back. I had to win a couple of matches so I could pay that off.”

Paul said he had to pay $1,000 (£752) to secure the vehicle’s return.

The former Australian Open semi-finalist is already guaranteed prize money of about £245,000 this fortnight.

Marcus Rashford believes Manchester United would be prepared to sell him for £40m to anyone this summer, not just Aston Villa.

The 27-year-old joined Villa in February in a loan deal that included a £40m option-to-buy clause.

The clause does not prevent any other club signing the forward, whose short-term contract with Villa expires on 30 June.

Manager Unai Emery has confirmed Rashford will not play for the club again this season as he is yet to recover from the hamstring injury he suffered in the build-up to last month’s FA Cup semi-final defeat by Crystal Palace.

While Rashford is understood to have enjoyed his time working under Emery and had a significant impact on Villa’s run to the Champions League quarter-finals – where they were narrowly beaten by Paris St-Germain – there have been no negotiations over a permanent transfer.

Villa still harbour realistic ambitions of a top-five Premier League finish, which would secure a return to the Champions League next season. It would also put them in a better position to broker a deal, considering sources close to Rashford stress he has no intention of taking a pay cut from his estimated £325,000-a-week salary.

The Rashford camp do not believe current United head coach Ruben Amorim wants to restore the player to his squad, while minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has previously spoken about his frustration at some of the team’s highest earners not being on the pitch.

It has echoes of 12 months ago, when Jadon Sancho finished the season with Borussia Dortmund following a major public fall-out with then-manager Erik ten Hag.

While an uneasy peace was brokered by senior club officials between player and manager that at least allowed Sancho to be part of United’s pre-season preparations, the England forward was overlooked for the opening Premier League games and eventually joined Chelsea. It is not yet clear whether Chelsea will pay a £5m fee to send Sancho back to United, rather than pay the agreed £20m-£25m for the 25-year-old.

As it stands, sources close to Rashford expect him to return to United for pre-season training in July. United have a match against newly promoted Leeds in Sweden on 19 July before they head to the United States for three games in the Premier League’s summer tournament.

The simple truth is if Rashford sticks to his guns over his wages – and his United contract does not run out until 2028, very few clubs in the world could afford him.

It means United have to offer an incentive to negotiate a sale, through a reduced fee or offering to pay a portion of his wages or both.

United sources previously said Villa would end up covering between 75% and 90% of Rashford’s salary depending on performances.

Villa reportedly turned down a £60m bid for their England forward Ollie Watkins from Arsenal in January and Emery subsequently picked Rashford ahead of Watkins for the club’s biggest games.

Rashford had harboured hopes of a move to Barcelona in January but no deal materialised. Ideally, he would prefer to play for a club who are in the Champions League next season. It is not clear whether Liverpool or Manchester City would be interested, or whether the player would be prepared to join United’s fiercest rivals.

In addition, it is not certain whether Rashford would be inclined to stay at United should they lose next week’s Europa League final, and with Amorim’s future coming under more severe scrutiny than is currently the case.

Either way, another loan deal rather than a straight transfer cannot be ruled out.

An obvious comparison is Joao Felix, who became the fifth most expensive player in history when he joined Atletico Madrid from Benfica for 126m euros (£113m) in 2019, but then fell out with coach Diego Simeone and spent 18 months on loan, first at Chelsea, then Barcelona.

Portugal forward Felix joined Chelsea permanently for £45m last summer as England midfielder Conor Gallagher went the other way.

Marcus Rashford believes Manchester United would be prepared to sell him for £40m to anyone this summer, not just Aston Villa.

The 27-year-old joined Villa in February in a loan deal that included a £40m option-to-buy clause.

The clause does not prevent any other club signing the forward, whose short-term contract with Villa expires on 30 June.

Manager Unai Emery has confirmed Rashford will not play for Villa again this season as he has yet to recover from the hamstring injury he suffered in the build-up to last month’s FA Cup semi-final defeat by Crystal Palace.

While Rashford is understood to have enjoyed his time working under Emery and had a significant impact on Villa’s run to the Champions League quarter-finals – where they were narrowly beaten by Paris St-Germain – there have been no negotiations over a permanent transfer.

Villa still harbour realistic ambitions of a top-five Premier League finish, which would secure a return to the Champions League next season. It would also put them in a better position to broker a deal, considering sources close to Rashford stress he has no intention of taking a pay cut from his estimated £325,000-a-week salary.

The Rashford camp do not believe United head coach Ruben Amorim wants to restore the player to his squad, while minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe previously spoke about his frustration at some of the team’s high earners not being on the pitch.

It has echoes of 12 months ago, when Jadon Sancho finished the season with Borussia Dortmund following a major public falling-out with then-manager Erik ten Hag.

An uneasy peace was brokered by senior club officials between player and manager that at least allowed Sancho to be part of United’s pre-season preparations, but the England forward was overlooked for the opening Premier League games and eventually joined Chelsea.

It is not yet clear whether Chelsea will pay a £5m fee to send Sancho back to United, rather than pay the agreed £20m-£25m to sign the 25-year-old.

As it stands, sources close to Rashford expect him to return to United for pre-season training in July. United have a match against newly promoted Leeds in Sweden on 19 July before they head to the United States for three games in the Premier League’s summer tournament.

The simple truth is if Rashford sticks to his guns over his wages – and his United contract does not run out until 2028 – very few clubs in the world could afford him.

It means United have to offer an incentive to negotiate a sale, through a reduced fee or offering to pay a portion of his wages or both.

United sources previously said Villa would end up covering between 75% and 90% of Rashford’s salary depending on performances.

Villa reportedly turned down a £60m bid for their England forward Ollie Watkins from Arsenal in January and Emery subsequently picked Rashford ahead of Watkins for the club’s biggest games.

Rashford had harboured hopes of a move to Barcelona in January but no deal materialised. Ideally, he would prefer to play for a club who are in the Champions League next season.

It is not clear whether Liverpool or Manchester City would be interested, or whether the player would be prepared to join United’s fiercest rivals.

In addition, it is not certain whether Rashford would be inclined to stay at United should they lose next week’s Europa League final, and with Amorim’s future coming under more severe scrutiny than is currently the case.

Either way, another loan deal rather than a straight transfer cannot be ruled out.

An obvious comparison is Joao Felix, who became the fifth most expensive player in history when he joined Atletico Madrid from Benfica for 126m euros (£113m) in 2019, but then fell out with coach Diego Simeone and spent 18 months on loan, first at Chelsea, then Barcelona.

Portugal forward Felix joined Chelsea permanently for £45m last summer as England midfielder Conor Gallagher went the other way.

The Championship will be rebranded Champ Rugby from next season in an overhaul of English rugby union’s second tier.

It will feature 14 teams, with the division’s top six at the end of the season entering play-offs to decide the title.

The champions will then have the opportunity to earn promotion to the Premiership, via a play-off against the top tier’s bottom side.

There will be automatic relegation to third-tier National 1 for the 14th-placed Champ Rugby side.

The 12th and 13th-placed side will also meet in a one-off game, with the losers playing National 1’s runners-up for the final place in the second tier.

Richmond, National 1 champions in 2024-25, and Worcester, who have been resurrected after going bust in 2022, will join the league in 2025-26 to make it up to 14.

The announcement follows work done by the Tier 2 Board, chaired by Simon Gillham, who is vice-president of French Pro D2 side Brive.

Gillam stressed throughout the Champ Rugby launch briefing that “aspiration and jeopardy” were at the centre of the new format.

The Rugby Football Union hopes that Champ Rugby will become a stronger piece of its player pathway, and help to develop the next Henry Pollock, who spent some of last season with Bedford Blues.

The league has new branding and a promotional video that comes with the strap line “Welcome to the proving ground”.

After 26 regular-season games, the sides finishing in third to sixth will play quarter-finals. The winners of those games will go into semi-finals against the teams who finished first and second, before a final to crown a Champ Rugby winner.

With no automatic promotion spot, the winner will then enter a two-legged play-off against the Premiership’s bottom side if they meet the top flight’s minimum operating standards.

There was no play-off to be promoted from this season’s 12-strong Championship after champions Ealing Trailfinders failed to meet the standards required to be admitted to the top flight.

Sixth-placed Coventry also fell short, with Doncaster, who finished fifth, being the only club who would have been eligible to play off against Premiership bottom side Newcastle.

Discussions are under way for a title sponsor and there are plans to stream the league’s matches.

RFU funding for Champ Rugby and parachute payments for relegated sides from the Premiership are still to be confirmed, with no timeline given on when this will be decided.

The current Championship clubs saw their central funding cut from around £600,000 a year before the Covid-19 pandemic to about £160,000. This figure will remain the same for the 2025-26 season.

How the plans will work, with the Premiership currently looking at a franchise model, is unclear.

Nick Johnson, chief executive at Coventry, said closing the financial gap between Champ Rugby and the Premiership was “not a quick fix” but added: “We can sit back and whinge or we can get off our backsides and do something about it. That’s what we’re doing.”

“We’ve noticed a step change in how seriously PRL [Premiership Rugby] are taking us because we’ve got our act together and our house in order. We’ve just got to keep doing that.”

To help young players gain experience, Champ clubs will be permitted unlimited dual-registered players from Premiership sides.

However, this will be capped at a maximum six in any matchday squad.

Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

Venue: Imola Dates: 16-18 May Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday

Mercedes’ George Russell says the back-and-forth controversy over punishing Formula 1 drivers for swearing is “all a bit suspect”.

Governing body the FIA this week climbed down on its previous stance of drivers facing potential bans for swearing or criticising officials, and dramatically reduced the possible fines that could be issued.

Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said: “We’re talking about a situation where things have been reverted because it was a little bit ludicrous in the first place.

“Of course we’re happy to see that it (has been changed), but it should never have been there in the first place, if that makes sense.

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton added that the situation was “ridiculous”.

The seven-time champion said: “It seems a bit of a mess there at the moment. There’s lots of changes that are needed, for sure.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – who last year was the first driver to be punished for swearing, with a form of community service – said the change was “a bit better – it’s a start”.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said when the change of rules was announced on Wednesday that he had “led an extensive and collaborative review with contributions from across the seven FIA World Championships”.

However, speaking during media day at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Russell said: “We’ve still had no correspondence with anyone from the senior level at the FIA. So yeah, it’s all a bit suspect.”

Russell did not expand on his meaning, but it is likely that he was referring to the series of controversies that have surrounded Ben Sulayem in his three years as president, including his desire to change the statutes of the governing body to further extend his control, as BBC Sport revealed this week.

Asked why the drivers had not had dialogue with Ben Sulayem, Russell said: “That’s a good question. It seems more challenging than it should be really, but we’ve all put our views forward.

“I wouldn’t say it’s gotten to a point of no return, but you at least want to see willingness from the other party.

“I think we feel we’ve put our views forward and we want to have conversations and dialogue and there’s only so much you can ask.”

World championship leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren said: “The fact there has been changes made is good. The stewards have a lot more control now, in the fine print, which is good because the circumstances definitely need to be taken into account.

“It’s a good step forward. One of the big things for the FIA was putting something for abusing officials which I think is very fair and reasonable.

“I think maybe some of the other areas got caught up in that and it felt a bit harsh. But there are some genuine reasons for what they are doing.”

Russell also backed the potential bid of rally legend Carlos Sainz Sr in this December’s FIA presidential election.

Sainz is the father of Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

“It could only benefit the sport having Carlos with the inside knowledge of Formula 1 from a driver’s perspective and then Carlos Sr’s knowledge from motorsport generally. It could be a brilliant recipe,” he said.

Russell dismissed the idea there could be a conflict of interest because of Sainz’s son, who is also a GPDA director.

He said: “You’re so far sort of removed ultimately from a technical standpoint. It’s down to the technical people within the FIA to be the rule makers.

“The president in years gone by has probably been far less involved than what we’ve seen recently and far less visible.

Jasmine Paolini recovered from a slow start to reach the Italian Open final with a 7-5 6-1 victory against Peyton Stearns.

World number five Paolini struggled in the early stages and faced a set point when trailing 5-3 in the opener, but American Stearns was unable to hold serve.

The home favourite overturned the deficit to take the opening set before growing in confidence in the second.

Paolini’s win makes her the first Italian woman to reach the singles final in Rome since 2014 when her current doubles partner, Sara Errani, was beaten by Serena Williams.

Last year’s surprise French Open and Wimbledon runner-up, Paolini is attempting to become Italy’s first women’s singles champion in Rome for 40 years.

Her final opponent will be American world number three Coco Gauff or China’s Zheng Qinwen, who knocked out world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.

“At the beginning, I was feeling so slow,” Paolini, 29, told Sky Sports.

“I told myself I had to hit the ball harder because she was playing amazing, but I managed to stay in there somehow and I won the match and I’m really happy about it.

“In the first round I was nervous and in the second also, and maybe again today, but the crowd was unbelievable and they helped me a lot. It’s beautiful to play here in Italy and they support us no matter what, so that is the most important thing.”

Asked about the final, Paolini said of her prospective opponents: “They are both very strong players with good forehands and can play with speed on the clay court. For sure, my coach will watch their match and we will prepare our tactics.”

Raffaella Reggi was the last Italian woman to win the singles title, in 1985.