The odds of the U.S. snapping its nine-year Wimbledon women’s singles title drought took a huge hit in the first round: Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the top two ranked American women, were both eliminated in the opening round.

Gauff, the No. 2-ranked player, lost to world No. 42 Dayana Yastremska while No. 3 Pegula fell to world No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Both Americans lost in straight sets.

The early losses come just weeks after tournament wins for both stars. Gauff snapped the decade-long French Open drought by winning at Roland-Garros in early June, while Pegula won the Bad Homburg Open, a WTA 500 tournament, in Germany over the weekend. The event was played on a grass surface, the same as in Wimbledon.

The early exits of two of the sport’s most popular and marketable American stars—if there are no deep runs by homegrown contenders—could also hurt TV ratings for ESPN, which holds the tournament’s U.S. media rights.

Gauff’s loss highlights the difficulty of the Channel Slam: winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. The tournaments are separated by only a few weeks and are played on different surfaces. (Roland-Garros is on clay.)

Only six women’s tennis players have won at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, the last being Serena Williams in 2015.

“It’s just the toughest transition in tennis,” 18-time Grand Slam champion Chrissie Evert said on the ESPN broadcast before Gauff’s loss. Evert won both tournaments in the same year in 1974.

Even on the men’s side, French Open winner Carlos Alcaraz struggled out of the gate as he was pushed to a full five sets by unranked Italian Fabio Fognini. However, the 22-year-old, who is chasing his third consecutive Wimbledon championship, achieved the Channel Slam last year.

The U.S. still has 11 women left in the tournament entering the second round, led by 2025 Australian Open winner Madison Keys (No. 6) and Emma Navarro (No. 10).

The awarding of a WNBA expansion franchise to Philadelphia confirms a key portion of the vision within the arena deal struck earlier this year between Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Comcast Spectacor.

When HBSE, the parent company of the NBA’s 76ers and NHL’s Devils, and Comcast Spectacor ended years of strife with a surprise deal to build a new venue in the South Philadelphia sports complex, women’s basketball was core to the agreement. The parties agreed to bid jointly for a WNBA expansion team as part of the broader pact, and less than six months later, that pursuit is reality. 

Philadelphia will be the third in a three-team sequence of expansion franchises unveiled this week, with play slated to begin in 2030. The new arena is slated to open in 2031, with a possibility to accelerate that date a year earlier to coincide with the WNBA team’s debut. When the venue does open, though, the forthcoming franchise will be there from the outset, right along HBSE’s 76ers and the NHL Flyers owned by Comcast Spectacor. 

That team will also have the benefit of playing in a state-of-the-art facility, joining others in the WNBA, such as the Mystics, that will similarly take advantage of large-scale arena renovations on the way. 

“For me, and the community, bringing the WNBA to Philly wasn’t just a nice-to-have. It was an obligation,” said HBSE managing partner and cofounder Josh Harris. 

Along similar lines, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker repeatedly touted the need for a WNBA team in Philadelphia over the past year as she lobbied for a new arena in the city. 

Complex Matters

HBSE will be the majority owner and operator of the new WNBA team, with Comcast Spectacor coming in as a minority partner, and the group collectively agreeing to a $250 million expansion fee—the same as a new team starting in 2028 in Cleveland and in 2029 in Detroit. If the new Philadelphia arena is not ready when play starts, the team will begin in the existing Wells Fargo Center, about to be renamed to Xfinity Mobile Arena. 

Regardless, the WNBA team will be a fundamental component of a remade South Philadelphia sports complex that will also include a mixed-use development partially modeled after The Battery in Atlanta.

“The whole ownership group has a long-term commitment to making this work in the city of Philadelphia,” said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who grew up in Collingswood, N.J., in suburban Philadelphia. “It’s just the right time now for the W [there]. Five years ago, it wouldn’t have been the right time, four years ago, three years ago.” 

The presence of Comcast Spectacor in the Philadelphia expansion team has some additional corporate overlap, as sister Comcast-owned entity NBCUniversal has WNBA media rights beginning next year. Reflecting that multi-layered involvement, Comcast chair and CEO Brian Roberts attended the WNBA expansion announcement this week. 

LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil has pushed back on the idea of merging with the PGA Tour, as the future of men’s professional golf continues to look murky.

During an interview on The Rick Shiels Golf Show (which is hosted by the golf content creator who has a media deal with LIV), O’Neil was asked, “What would a merger look like?”

“I’m not sure it’s the right question,” O’Neil said. 

Negotiations between the PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, LIV’s financial backers, about a potential $1.5 billion investment deal that could bring the rival tours together have been stalled for months. Both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are finalizing their 2026 season schedules, signaling yet another year that they will spend apart.

“If you go to the root of the question, saying: Are there opportunities for our golfers to play more golf together? Absolutely,” O’Neil said. 

O’Neil didn’t elaborate on what those combined playing opportunities could look like, but said that new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp will “help facilitate that at a faster pace than [they] otherwise would.”

Peacemaking On the Way?

O’Neil said he and Rolapp “know each other pretty well,” as they went to Harvard Business School together and are both Mormon.

During Rolapp’s 22 years at the NFL, where he was most recently chief media and business officer, O’Neil had executive positions with Madison Square Garden Sports (overseeing the Knicks and New York Rangers) and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (overseeing the 76ers and Devils).

“There’s only so many people running the world of sports in the U.S., and we go to the same church,” O’Neil said. “So, we’re friends.”

O’Neil said he expected to speak with Rolapp at the Open Championship later this month.

LIV’s Future

LIV continues to operate without Official World Golf Rankings points, and O’Neil called his recent conversations with OWGR chairman Trevor Immelman “robust, sometimes raw, but always constructive.” LIV has not yet submitted a new application to the OWGR board, nearly two years after its first attempt, led by former commissioner and CEO Greg Norman, was denied in October 2023.

Moving forward, O’Neil said LIV’s expansion could include adding more teams beyond the 13 four-player squads it currently has, and even a women’s golf league.