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Emma Raducanu splits from coach Andrew Richardson

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Emma Raducanu has split from coach Andrew Richardson, the US Open Champion announced Friday.

Richardson coached Raducanu at the junior level for two years before teaming up with her again in July. It was meant to be a short-term deal for the duration of her time in the United States, both ahead of and during the US Open.

At the US Open, Raducanu made history when she became the first qualifier to win the tournament.

On Friday, the 18-year-old said she wants to partner with someone who has more experience with the bigger events on the WTA Tour.

“I’m looking for someone who has been at that level and knows what it takes,” Raducanu said. “And especially right now because I’m so new to it, I really need someone to guide me who’s already been through that.”

A former Davis Cup player for Britain, Richardson has little experience with the WTA Tour.

“At the time, I thought Andrew would be a great coach to trial so we went to the States but never did I even dream of winning the U.S. Open and having the run I did,” Raducanu said. “Now I’m ranked No. 22 in the world, which is pretty crazy to me.”

With nobody in mind as a replacement, Raducanu hopes to make a decision at the end of the season.

Back training, the Grand Slam champion played with the Duchess of Cambridge at a homecoming event on Friday. The event was hosted by the Lawn Tennis Association Youth program. The Duchess is a patron of the LTA.

“I was actually very nervous playing the duchess – I was like, ‘Don’t miss, don’t miss,'” she said afterward, revealing that she was “very impressed” by Kate Middleton’s skills.

“It was a lot of fun to play tennis with the duchess.”

Raducanu also said she is weighing when to return to the tour, with the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells starting on Oct. 6.

“I’ll decide in the next few days where I’m going to go to but, wherever I play next, I’m going to make sure I’m ready,” she said. “I don’t want to jump into things too early.”

NWSL Adopts “High Impact Player” Rule Despite Union Opposition

Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman warms up prior to their 2025 NWSL semifinal.
The new NWSL "High Impact Player" rule will go into effect in July 2026. (Scott Taetsch/NWSL via Getty Images)

The NWSL has made a decision, as the league officially moves forward with its new "High Impact Player" rule despite stated opposition from the players union.

Announced last week, the rule change allows clubs to exceed to the NWSL salary cap by up to $1 million to attract or retain players that meet one of eight qualifying metrics set by the league.

Those metrics include major media award rankings like the 30-player Ballon d'Or shortlist and ESPN FC's Top 50 Football Players, as well as marketing power, top USWNT minutes, and end-of-year NWSL awards.

Developed with Washington Spirit superstar — and current free agent — Trinity Rodman and her potential contract in mind, the "High Impact Player" rule will not go into effect until July 1st, 2026.

Meanwhile, the NWSLPA has spoken out against the mechanism, proposing instead to up the salary cap by $1 million without league-imposed spending regulations.

"Under federal labor law, changes to compensation under the salary cap are a mandatory subject of bargaining — not a matter of unilateral discretion," the union wrote on Wednesday.

Additionally, per The Athletic, NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke expressed concerns that the rule ties top athlete pay, in part, to player valuations in third party publications — a move that externally defines who a club can consider "high impact."

Led by six Kansas City athletes and five from Gotham FC, just 27 current NWSL players across 10 of the 16 clubs in the expanded 2026 season meet the new HIP qualifying criteria — though all teams could use the mechanism to attract a new athlete to the league.

In a growing global market, the NWSL could be falling into a trap of half-measures, as the union pushes back with league parity potentially on the line.

Report: Kansas City Current Taps Ex-MLS Boss Chris Armas as Head Coach

Colorado Rapids head coach Chris Armas claps on the sideline of a 2025 MLS match.
Projected new Kansas City Current head coach Chris Armas most recently managed MLS club Colorado Rapids. (Omar Vega/Getty Images)

The Kansas City Current have apparently found a new manager, with ESPN reporting last week that the 2025 NWSL Shield-winners will bring on former MLS head coach Chris Armas to lead the team in 2026.

Armas built his career in the MLS, coaching the New York Red Bulls from 2018 to 2020 before taking over Toronto FC in 2021, then spending the last three years heading up the Colorado Rapids.

The ex-USMNT player also has experience in the women's game at the college level, leading the Division II Adelphi University women's soccer team from 2011 to 2014.

Despite their many victories in 2025, the Current found themselves without a coach after third-year boss Vlatko Andonovski moved into a sporting director role with the club in November.

ESPN reported that Kansas City chose Armas over internal candidates like assistants Milan Ivanovic and ex-Angel City and Gotham manager Freya Coombe.

"I want my staff and people I've worked with to become successful coaches. These are things I'm very passionate about and want to be able to execute," Andonovski told ESPN last month.

Armas would be the first former MLS coach to make the leap to the NWSL, with the winds of change in Kansas City blowing stronger than anticipated.

US Ski Star Mikaela Shiffrin Wins 6th Straight World Cup Slalom

US ski star Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates a 2025 FIS Alpine World Cup win.
US skiing legend Mikaela Shiffrin has yet to lose a slalom event this World Cup season. (GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / AFP via Getty Images)

With the 2026 Winter Olympics fast approaching, US skiing icon Mikaela Shiffrin has started the 2025/26 FIS World Cup cycle in top form — particularly in her favored slalom event.

Closing out last season with a victory, Shiffrin is currently on a multi-event winning streak, earning her sixth straight slalom title in Semmering, Austria, on Sunday.

"It was a really hard day today, tough conditions, a really big fight, and the pressure's on… I did my best, best possible run," Shiffrin said afterwards.

Momentum is on her side, with Shiffrin set to enter the 2026 Winter Games in Italy as the winningest skier in World Cup history, surpassing Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark's 86 wins in March 2023 and becoming the first skier to reach 100 World Cup victories earlier this year.

Sunday's race marked the 30-year-old's 106th career World Cup title, with Shiffrin looking to add to her ever-growing historic record with three more slalom events scheduled before the Olympic women's Alpine skiing events kick off on February 8th.

The 2014 Olympic slalom champion and 2018 Winter Games giant slalom gold medalist is aiming to return to the podium after failing to medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Shiffrin will likely hit the slopes again next weekend, when the women's FIS World Cup lands in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for a giant slalom and slalom competition.

Top 5 High School Recruit Jerzy Robinson Commits to South Carolina

Team USA guard Jerzy Robinson poses with a basketball ahead of a 2025 FIBA U-19 tournament.
Team USA U-19 star Jerzy Robinson is South Carolina basketball's top-ranked high school recruit out of the Class of 2026. (Yaroslava Nemesh/FIBA via Getty Images)

South Carolina basketball is stocking up, as top-ranked high school senior Jerzy Robinson announced her commitment to join the head coach Dawn Staley and the No. 3 Gamecocks last Tuesday.

"I chose South Carolina because I had a sense of peace when it came down to the decision for me," Robinson told ESPN. "When I visited South Carolina, I was already home. I was already valued there.... I felt like this was where I needed to be for the next four years."

A 6-foot-2 guard who averaged 27 points and 10.2 rebounds in her junior season at Los Angeles's Sierra Canyon High School, Robinson is now the highest-ranked Class of 2026 recruit heading to South Carolina — as well as the final Top 5 player to make a college decision after also visiting No. 1 UConn and No. 5 LSU.

Robinson first made a name for herself at the youth level, winning three gold medals and the 2025 U-19 FIBA World Cup with Team USA.

The young talent also inked one of the first-ever shoe sponsorships for a high school player, signing an NIL deal with Nike in November 2024.

"Basketball has always been my love and my passion," she said. "To see it pay off and the hard work and the hours pay off, in the sense of I get to play for one of the best universities in the country, I just have so much gratitude."