After an injury-filled opening month, more than one WNBA team is hoping for star athletes to return to play this week, bolstering squads as they chase each other in the 2025 league standings.

After a quad strain sidelined her for 14 days, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is eyeing a possible return later this week.

Though the 2024 Rookie of the Year will not compete in Tuesday's matchup against the Atlanta Dream, she is aiming to suit up as soon as Saturday, when the Fever will host reigning champions New York.

Meanwhile, 2025 No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers should also be back on the Dallas Wings' court soon. Despite clearing concussion protocol, the star rookie missed one extra game, sitting out Sunday's loss to the Minnesota Lynx due to illness.

WNBA athletes' impending recoveries aren't good news for everyone, however, as returning from injury has also impacted hardship signings: In anticipation of forward Alyssa Thomas's rejoining the team, as well as the eventual return of guard Kahleah Copper, the Phoenix Mercury waived guard Haley Jones on Sunday.

While some teams were celebrating their stars bouncing back from injury, others are now scrambling from new setbacks.

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Two-time WNBA champion Courtney Vandersloot suffered an ACL tear just five minutes into Chicago's loss to Indiana on Saturday, leaving the Sky facing the rest of the season without their starting point guard.

"Whatever is in store in the future for this team, I trust that we will find a way to make this moment mean something in the end," Sky rookie guard Hailey Van Lith said of Chicago's ability to regroup.

The WNBA has struggled with a wave of high-profile absences to start the 2025 season, but small roster boosts could see teams overcome that adversity to bounce back even stronger.

Texas softball made program history on Friday, winning the 2025 Women’s College World Series (WCWS) to claim a first-ever national championship in their eighth trip to Oklahoma City.

The No. 6-seed Longhorns completed the best-of-three championship series with a dominant 10-4 victory over No. 12-seed Texas Tech, setting a program wins record with 56 on the season.

"This is why I came to Texas," said grad student first baseman Joely Mitchell following the championship win. "This is everything I dreamed of as a kid."

Anchored by star sophomore pitcher Teagan Kavan — who took home the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award after not allowing a single earned run in the nearly 32 WCWS innings she threw — Texas's title is the SEC's first in 10 years. The Longhorns now join only Florida and Alabama in the conference's elite NCAA softball champions club.

The Longhorn bats led the charge on Friday, plating five runs in the first inning — the most allowed in a single inning by Red Raiders superstar pitcher NiJaree Canady in her three-season NCAA career.

While that initial push ended up being enough to seal the win, senior third baseman Mia Scott put an exclamation mark on the victory by blasting a fourth-inning grand slam, notably doing so with a torn ACL.

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2025 WCWS sets attendance, viewership records

The Longhorns' historic title run wasn't just a victory for Texas, however, as the 2025 WCWS claimed additional wins far beyond the Lone Star State.

With 119,778 fans packing into Oklahoma City's Devon Park across the nine-day competition, the 2025 tournament broke the WCWS attendance record.

The record-shattering didn't end there, as an average of 2.1 million viewers tuned into Thursday's championship series clash, making it the most-watched WCWS finals Game 2 in history — and the fifth most-watched NCAA softball game ever on ESPN platforms.

The rising value of college softball is also impacting players' bank accounts, with rising senior Canady reportedly inking a second seven-figure NIL deal to remain with Texas Tech prior to Friday's decisive Game 3.

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"I've been around a lot of softball players, I've never been around a better teammate and a better person," Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco said about Canady following Friday's game. "She's an unbelievable talent. I believe she's the top player in college softball.... Her standards for everything is excellence."

The attendance, viewership, and NIL wins aren't just boosts for collegiate softball. The sport's rise is also fueling a new professional venture, with former NCAA stars launching pro league AUSL on Saturday — strategically timed to capitalize on the momentum of a historic 2025 WCWS.

This weekend's NWSL action saw Gotham FC's woes continue, with the Bats falling further from the playoff line in the 2025 standings after a Saturday loss to the Kansas City Current.

Despite the return of star midfielder Rose Lavelle, who made her 2025 season debut in the match's 74th minute, the 2023 NWSL champions fell 2-1 in a Current win that controversially saw two Gotham goals called back by VAR.

Although they recently lifted the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup, the Bats' three straight NWSL losses have them now sitting in 10th place on the the table, while Kansas City saw their lead in the league balloon to five points following this weekend's action.

That extended lead came in part due to then-No. 2 San Diego's first loss in six games, with the Wave dropping to No. 4 this week after stumbling 2-1 to Seattle on Friday night — a victory that launched the Reign into fifth place.

"I just think there's belief," Seattle head coach Laura Harvey said after the match. "I think we would have been disappointed if we'd have come away without a win."

San Diego's loss also allowed the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit to leapfrog the Wave into Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, on the NWSL table.

Weekend wins similarly fueled their jumps, with the Pride eking out a last-gasp 1-0 victory over the No. 12 Houston Dash on Saturday before the Spirit earned just their second home win of the season by downing the No. 11 North Carolina Courage 3-1 on Sunday.

2024 semifinalists Kansas City, Orlando, and Washington have now all regained their spots in the 2025 season's Top 3.

World No. 2 Coco Gauff earned her second career Grand Slam title on Saturday, taking down No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a windy 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 battle to claim the 2025 French Open trophy.

Having reached the final once before in 2022, the 2025 championship made Gauff the first US player to win the French Open since Serena Williams did so in 2015.

"Losing in the finals here three years ago had created a lot of doubt in my head," the 21-year-old wrote on social media after her Roland Garros victory. "I thought my dreams were so close to happening but would never come true. So to be here…means absolutely everything."

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Despite Sabalenka's championship match loss — a performance that saw the 27-year-old commit 70 unforced errors — she will retain the world No. 1 ranking thanks to a generally strong 2025 season so far.

Frustrated with her performance, Sabalenka faced backlash due to her emotional post-match comments on the loss — and, notably, on Gauff's level of play.

She later walked back those words on Sunday, clarifying in an Instagram story that "both things can be true… I didn't play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose. She earned that title."

Gauff, US standout No. 3 Jessica Pegula, and Italy's No. 4 Jasmine Paolini also maintained their WTA positions behind Sabalenka, with French Cinderella story Loïs Boisson skyrocketing 296 spots to No. 65 after her landmark semifinals run.

In contrast, four-time French Open champion Iga Świątek continues to dip, falling from No. 5 to No. 7 after last Thursday's semifinal loss to Sabalenka.

With two of the season's four majors in the books, the US is leading the charge, as Gauff joins reigning Australian Open champion No. 8 Madison Keys as 2025's Grand Slam winners.

WNBA action posed as many questions as answers last weekend, as perennial contenders like the Las Vegas Aces reckon with new challenges while rosters continue to gel.

The 2023 champions suffered a surprise 95-68 blowout loss to expansion side Golden State on Saturday, with the Valkyries stifling Las Vegas's star-studded offense.

Only two starting Aces cracked double-digit scoring: Reigning MVP A'ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray put up 17 and 16 points, respectively, though 2025 second-round draftee Aaliyah Nye impressed off the bench by adding 13 of her own.

Golden State, on the other hand, had a banner afternoon with three double-doubles among the Valkyries' five double-digit performers, led by forward Kayla Thornton's 22-point, 11-rebound outing.

"They outplayed us in every aspect of the game," said Aces head coach Becky Hammon after the loss. "Just really one of the worst games I've seen from us."

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Gap widens between 2024 finalists and rest of the WNBA

Currently in fifth place in the WNBA standings, Las Vegas isn't the only team still searching for an identity in the 2025 season, as a clear divide is widening at the top of the league.

The still-undefeated 2024 WNBA finalists — the Minnesota Lynx and reigning champion New York Liberty — lead the pack by a growing margin, as the third-place Atlanta Dream sit a full three games behind the league leaders less than four weeks into the 2025 season.

Along with Las Vegas, the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, and Indiana Fever are all hanging tough with records at .500 or higher, though none are riding more than a two-game winning streak.

Despite setting a franchise attendance record of 19,496 fans at Chicago's famed United Center on Saturday, the Sky fell to an injury-laden Fever squad 79-52 to remain in 11th place in the standings.

Also struggling at the bottom of the table are the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings. Along with the Sky, the WNBA weekend action has the trailing trio sitting multiple games below the 2025 playoff line.

How to watch Monday's WNBA action

Hoping to harness the momentum of their massive Saturday win, Golden State will travel to LA to take on the Sparks at 10 PM ET on Monday.

The game will stream live on WNBA League Pass.