MON SIX

Three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic gave his opponent and the partisan crowd some hope, but took it away in a four-set second round triumph Wednesday in Paris.

The No. 3-seeded Serbian was up a break on two occasions and earned a match point in the third set, but France's Valentin Royer dug in and captured the set in a tie-breaker. But Djokovic broke in the fourth game of the fourth set and triumphed, 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (7), 6-3 in another unseasonably warm day on the baked clay courts.

The 39-year old, who last earned the title in Paris in 2023, served half of his 10 aces in the match in the final set. But serving at 5-3, he could not convert on three match points and gave Royer one break chance before finally prevailing in three hours, 47 minutes.

"Clearly, the feelings on the court are different when you win a match, so it was a very important victory in conditions that weren't easy for both players," Djokovic said in French in his on-court interview. "It was very hot and I think that Valentin deserves a big round of applause for his performance today.

"It was a very difficult match, a very big challenge from the start. Credit to him for winning the third set, but I feel it was my fault because I was twice a break up and (attempted) to serve for the match."

Djokovic will take on 19-year old Brazilian phenom Joao Fonseca in the third round on Friday. Fonseca, the No. 28 seed, rallied for a 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 triumph over 20-year old Croatian Dino Prizmic.

It will be the first meeting between the iconic Djokovic and the wildly popular Fonseca.

Fonseca only earned seven break point chances, but capitalized on 6 of 7.

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Second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany delivered 19 aces while cruising to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tomas Machac of Czechia.

Zverev won 84.4% (38 of 45) of his first-serve points and had a 45-18 edge in winners.

No. 11 Russian Andrey Rublev outlasted Argentina's Camilo Ugo Carabelli, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), and No. 13 Russian Karen Khachanov edged Argentina's Marco Trungelliti, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

No. 24 Tommy Paul sailed to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Italy's Lorenzo Sonego. Also, Nishesh Basavareddy, who sent No. 7 Taylor Fritz packing in the first round, didn't have the same magic on Wednesday. Fellow American Alex Michelsen beat Basavareddy 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Despite battling cramps and collapsing on the court after the final point, No. 26 Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic overcome Mariano Navone of Argentina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (11), and No. 27 Rafael Jodar, a 19-year old from Spain, outlasted Australian veteran James Duckworth, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.

Australian No. 7 Alex de Minaur advanced via a walkover past Germany's Alexander Blockx, who suffered an ankle injury during practice on Tuesday.

One Argentine to advance was Thiago Agustin Tirante, who rallied to defeat Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-3.

In a battle of Frenchmen, Quentin Halys moved past No. 32 Ugo Humbert, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8).

--Field Level Media

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration is planning to send Americans who areexposed to Ebola while abroadto a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States, an administration official said Wednesday.

Trump

The quarantine and treatment center being set up by the Departments of Defense, State and Health and Human Services will be designed for Ebola patients who need to get out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and receive care quickly, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to share the Republican administration’s plans. The person said the plan would help patients avoid an hourslong medical evacuation to the U.S.

It was unclear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.

The official said the facility will be able to care for the full spectrum of Ebola,a rare but severe diseasethat is often fatal in people. But the official said people may be transported elsewhere for more advanced care as appropriate.

Kenya’s health minister confirmed officials there were talking with the U.S. about “preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola” but didn’t address whether the country would establish a treatment facility for Americans.

“Any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards, and the government’s responsibility to safeguard the health and welfare of Kenyans,” Health Minister Aden Duale said in a statement.

For decades, medical experts have suggested moving patients suffering from Ebola and similar illnesses as little as possible in case their condition worsens, said Dr. Ali Khan, the public health college dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. But, he added, the quality of care must be equivalent to what someone would receive in American facilities.

“You’ve got to make sure the patient gets the best quality care, and you need to ensure excellent infection control,” said Khan, who earlier in his career led international responses to Ebola and other outbreaks for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Craig Spencer, a public health professor and emergency medicine doctor at Brown University who survived Ebola in 2014, said he doesn’t expect the facility in Kenya to provide the same quality of care that dedicated facilities in the United States do. He said refusing to consider bringing American Ebola patients home for treatment is “a moral abdication of what this country owes its own.”

An earlier outbreak

During a massive Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014 and 2015, more than a half dozen infected Americans were brought back to the United States. That experience prompted the establishment of a U.S. network of quarantine and isolation facilities across the country.

But during that earlier outbreak, Trump, then a businessman and reality TV star, repeatedly criticized then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, for bringing infected Americans home for care.

“The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great — but must suffer the consequences!” he wrote in a 2014 tweet.

He also suggested a plan similar to the one described to the AP by the administration official: “Treat them, at the highest level, over there,” Trump wrote in July 2014.

During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department and other agencies were working “very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” he said.

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Americans who've been exposed to Ebola

Earlier this month, an American doctor working in Congo tested positive for Ebola and was sent to Germany for medical care. Serge, a Christian missionary organization, identified him as Dr. Peter Stafford. Stafford’s wife and four children did not have symptoms but also were flown to Germany and placed in isolation at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.

On Wednesday, the hospital said the patient was in stable condition.

“The viral load measured in the patient has dropped very, very rapidly over the course of the week," likely thanks to antiviral therapy, Dr. Leif Erik Sander, director of the hospital’s infectious diseases department, told reporters.

Another American medical missionary, Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, was transported to the Czech Republic for isolation after he was exposed to Ebola, though he did not have any symptoms, according to the missionary organization.

Health authorities in Congo have been struggling to contain the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has said is outpacing them.

The number of suspected Ebola cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed and it's looking into more than 3,000 possible contacts.

Challenges include the threat of armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number ofdisplaced people and poor infrastructure.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report the Trump administration's plan for the Kenya facility.

US officials expand airport screening

Meanwhile, officials have been expanding the number of U.S. airports where CDC staffers are screening and monitoring incoming passengers from outbreak countries. Enhanced screenings began last week at Washington Dulles International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. CDC staff began screenings at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston this week, and are being dispatched to start screenings Friday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The CDC’s acting director, Jay Bhattacharya, sent an email Monday to CDC employees asking for volunteers from across the agency to work the screening stations. CDC veterans say it’s not unusual to see a call for volunteers for staffing major epidemic responses.

The government also has temporarily banned the entry of people without U.S. passports, as well as U.S. green-card holders, who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days.

AP journalists Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Julie Walker in New York and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin contributed to this report.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Edge rusher Micah Parsons is not likely to participate in training camp when the Packers start daily preseason workouts, head coach Matt LaFleur said after the team's Wednesday OTA practice.

Parsons is five months into his recovery from a torn ACL and sparked debate about his rapid progress in a social media post of his workouts in sand.

Green Bay lost Parsons at Denver on December 14 in a non-contact injury. He broke through pass protection on the right side of the Broncos' line and fell to the turf as his left knee buckled two steps shy of sacking Denver's Bo Nix.

Parsons, who has 65 career sacks in five NFL campaigns, turned 27 on Tuesday as the Packers began organized team activities. Parsons and running back Josh Jacobs, who was taken into custody because of an alleged domestic violence incident but released without being formally charged, were the only two veterans not present for the Packers.

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LaFleur said tight end Tucker Kraft, also returning from an ACL tear, is ahead of Parsons' pace due to the timing of his injury in early November.

He could be back before or during training camp.

Right tackle Zach Tom, who suffered a torn patella tendon in the Dec. 14 loss to the Broncos, likely won't return to on-field workouts until training camp.

--Field Level Media

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Last week, near the steps of the U.S. Capitol, a scene unfolded that encapsulates the troublesome predicament in which college athletics finds itself.

Flanked by the leader of a players association, the president of the NAACP and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, a college football player spoke into a microphone to deliver a message.

“It’s important that people hear what athletes have to say,” said Jackson Pruitt, a Temple offensive lineman. “It’s important that we push for player representation and some kind of player union that gets us what we deserve.”

Not far away, while participating in a panel held by Democrat Congresswoman Lori Trahan, a group of women’s basketball players unleashed a fury of comments directed at college leaders.

One of them, some might contend, said the quiet part out loud.

“I think it’s time to come to the truth: We are employees,” said Oluchi Okananwa, a Maryland women’s hoops player from Boston and the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year last season.

College sports executives may claim that these players were used as tools for partisan lawmakers at a divisive time in American politics.

But their message —schools should deem athletes employees and bargain with them— is beginning to gain traction at the highest levels of the industry, including within the Southeastern Conference and its powerful group of university presidents, chancellors and athletic directors.

“I never thought I’d say it, but I’m there on employment,” one of those SEC presidents told Yahoo Sports recently. “Let’s collectively bargain.”

Here on the sandy white beaches and emerald waters of the Florida panhandle this week, college football’s most-watched conference holds its spring business meetings at the Sandestin Hilton — an annual gathering of athletic directors, presidents, and football and basketball coaches.

And while playoff expansion discussions draw fan interest (there will be no expansion decision this week), more pressing issues are at hand.

Combined with the millions spent on coaching and administrative salaries, rising roster compensation amounts have thrust athletic departments into the red. Universities, some of them already crippled financially considering the enrollment cliff, are using general funds to fill athletic budgetary holes. And costs are only expected to get higher.

At the center of discussions here is how to slow the escalating pace of roster values and bring long-term stability to the system.

Outside of congressional legislation, there is but one real solution.

“There is a construct in the current law of the country that would work well for college sports,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White told Yahoo Sports in an interview earlier this spring. “It’s called collective bargaining.”

‘Look down the road’

A longtime vocal proponent of athlete bargaining and employment, White is no longer on an island.

Within SEC administrative rooms, the topic of collective bargaining has turned from long-shot discussions to full-blown presentations. Momentum is growing enough that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and his conference staff, in an effort to prepare membership, have engaged outside counsel on the aspects of employment and bargaining.

Just earlier this month, in fact, executives saw modeling of a bargaining framework and discussion on such is expected this week — even if it is preliminary in nature. The conference isn’t alone. Big Ten presidents and chancellors received an employment presentation last week during their meetings near Los Angeles and some Big 12 and ACC officials have been studying the issue, too.

Lost in the fodder of the SEC’s continued exploration into a self-governance model — an idea to create its own rules and enforcement — is that such a move may open a path to eventually bargain with athletes.

For some, an NCAA breakaway is necessary to achieve a bargaining structure — directly from the league itself or through a third-party entity created to bargain on behalf of football and men’s basketball players. That concept has been socialized by White and his chancellor, Donde Plowman, the chair of the SEC presidents.

In any self-governing model, “you’d have to have the players’ side be incentivized to follow the rules,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said in an interview earlier this spring with Yahoo Sports.

“You can’t just have the schools incentivized,” he continued. “You need both sides. I don’t know what that would look like and are you triggering labor status at that point? You probably are. I have some colleagues who think that’s what we should do. We should study it. Maybe that is the answer.”

On Monday evening, after a lengthy news conference previewing the SEC’s meetings this week, Sankey declined to speak about collective bargaining. But in limited public comments in the past, he has signaled caution over the concept.

He often points to the many challenges, including the considering of one subset of athletes as employees while treating another differently; additional benefits and complications that come with employment; political issues within his 11-state footprint; and, lastly, the absence of a desire from athletes to be employees. Two years ago, in fact, at this very event, he told reporters when asked about bargaining: “I’ve not had a student-athlete come to me and say, ‘I want to be taxed like an employee.’”

Not everyone is in support of even the exploration of collective bargaining, including Georgia president Jere Morehead, one of the most outspoken leaders in the league and the former chair of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

“I can’t see how a state that doesn’t authorize collective bargaining for its state employees would authorize it for its student-athletes. I don’t think it’s a viable solution and it’s not one we should be talking about,” he told Yahoo Sports here Tuesday. “Anyone advocating for collective bargaining needs to talk to the NFL and understand what’s happened to worker’s comp claims in the NFL.”

But many administrators within the SEC — most of whom decline to speak publicly about such a sensitive topic — are urging those in leadership positions to find a way to bargain with athletes before the biggest bargaining chip (offering them more money in a higher cap) becomes more difficult.

By the next transfer portal, football rosters are projected to exceed $60 million, according to one prediction from a national agency representing players and coaches. That is believed to be a 300% increase within three years.

“If we don’t get a level of regulation in the market, a lot of people are going to go bankrupt,” Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said Tuesday. “If we get another couple years where it’s up 20% and 20%, the NIL budget is going to be more than the entire TV revenue for all of our universities.”

Ahead of this week’s meetings, in fact, SEC schools were directed to submit to the league their individual roster spend amounts for this year, the last several years and projections for the next couple years — figures that may shape conversations about the future.

According to many school officials who have shared figures with one another, the league’s average football roster value this coming season is expected to fall between $30-35 million, with some above $40 million and others below $25 million. Schools are inching closer to their roster compensation reaching or exceeding the 50% mark of their sport’s annual revenue (and that excludes millions more spent on scholarships, meals, medical, etc.). The 50% mark is the standard for ownership-athlete revenue split in many professional sports.

Half of the SEC’s 16 schools generate $80 million or less in football revenue. Already, many men’s and women’s college basketball programs are spending well more than 50% of their sport’s annual revenue on their rosters.

“Men’s basketball is no longer a profitable sport,” said one administrator here.

CSC ‘imperfections’

Since Jan. 1, SEC schools have submitted for approval more than $100 million in third-party NIL compensation to the College Sports Commission, the industry’s new enforcement entity created and operated by the power four conferences that is charged with scrutinizing and rejecting deals that don’t meet benchmarks for legitimacy.

Much of that more than $100 million in NIL compensation remains under review or has been rejected, sparking fear among conference administrators and coaches.

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Will these guarantees made to athletes go unpaid?

The complications have led to a movement,especially within the SEC and Big Ten, to change rules by which the CSC operates— an effort to easier get deals cleared through the system. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti last week described it as an "immediate issue” that needs solving, and Sankey on Monday acknowledged “imperfections” that leaders are working to “address.”

Those two leagues account for more than 75% of the more than $250 million in above-the-cap NIL submissions since January.

While executives at the Big 12 and ACC are against any kind of so-called “amnesty” or full exemption of those NIL deals, other ideas are under discussion. One of those is creating an exemption for NIL deals if they fall within, say, 25% or 50% of the CSC’s range-of-compensation (example: if a submitted deal of $100,000 is within $50,000 of the CSC’s range-of-comp, it would get approved).

The entire situation has resulted in louder discussions around a self-governing model that may eventually include athlete bargaining.

Some believe such a model is inevitable.

One of those is Jeffrey Kessler, a nationally renown plaintiff attorney whose lawsuit against the NCAA resulted in the settlement of three antitrust cases (commonly referred to as the House settlement) that ushered in direct pay from schools to players.

He encourages conferences to “look down the road.” There, he says, you’ll find collective bargaining. The House settlement agreement allows for the creation of a bargaining structure as a way to provide athletes with “additional benefits” outside of the settlement.

“One conference could say, ‘We are going to recognize these athletes as employees,’” Kessler told Yahoo Sports in an interview earlier this spring. “The [House] settlement is crafted as a way to facilitate that. The settlement would become a baseline and there would be things added on. I actually think that’s how it would be done — on a conference-by-conference basis. Then the question is, would it be done by sport? You could have a union for football in the SEC.”

Within administrative meetings and during presentations, college executives have been told, clearly by outside counsel and consultants, that their athletes will be deemed employees at some point in the future. In fact, school revenue-share contracts already “read like employee handbooks,” said Michael Leroy, an Illinois law professor who has published extensive work on labor policy.

A court case, Johnson v. NCAA, arguing that athletes should be employees of their universities, is awaiting a district court judge’s ruling.

It looms as a game-changer.

“So far, the NCAA has never acknowledged the comparison to work study-style student employment,” said Paul McDonald, the attorney who filed the Johnson case. “It is not credible, or sustainable, to argue that college athletes — the most controlled students, and only students required to prioritize non-academic activities — do not qualify for, and deserve, the same student employee status as classmates selling popcorn at NCAA games or performing menial tasks around campus.”

Several university administrators are serious enough about bargaining that they have participated in in-person bargaining or unionization presentations from those attempting to organize players, like Jim Cavale and Brandon Copeland of Athletes.Org, and Jason Stahl of the College Football Players Association.

They are preparing for the future — one that could come much sooner than anyone anticipated.

“Collective bargaining at the highest level of play in college football is obviously where the sport's future lies,” said Stahl, who is actively in discussion with major conference football players regarding unionization. “Since players are now directly compensated by their schools and conferences, recognizing them as employees with collective bargaining rights is a much smaller leap.”

Why would players bargain?

In many ways, the public push for collective bargaining came at this particular event in spring of 2023, when then-Alabama coach Nick Saban quipped to reporters, “Unionize it, make it like the NFL.”

Plenty of head football coaches have followed suit, none louder than ex-Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who used his team’s run to the championship game in 2024 as a platform to push for bargaining with players.

In seeking any sort of rules in an unregulated system, many other coaches and administrators are following suit. This is the first sign, perhaps, that college athletes shouldnotwant to bargain, experts say.

It may only be bad for them.

Scott Schneider, an Austin-based sports labor attorney, describes any bargaining or negotiating in college as benefiting only the schools.Why would athletes bargain for a worse deal?“They currently have a whole bunch of universities competing for their services,” he said last year in an interview.

“College athletes aren’t feeling pain right now,” Cavale said in a previous interview to describe difficult unionization efforts. “They are free agents every year and can get $600,000 for playing DB by moving from one school to another and get an apartment and a car.”

There are a litany of other problematic issues and high hurdles to bargaining collectively with athletes, including formal recognition of athletes as employees (more difficult now with a Republican-controlled labor board); the creation of a players association (who can both athletes and administrators trust to lead it?); political pushback and state laws, specifically in the South, against bargaining; and the aforementioned lingering questions: Do athletes really want this and what would they get out of it?

Without a player-led unionization effort — even if conferences deem athletes employees — schools may lose the primary benefit of bargaining: protection from antitrust lawsuits.

“Management does not get to decide to collectively bargain,” adds Gabe Feldman, a Tulane sports law professor.

Even DeMaurice Smith, who for years presided over the NFL Players Association, told Yahoo Sports last year that bargaining with athletes would be "extremely difficult” because there are such a large number of them each playing a disparate number of sports, with some generating revenue and others not.

The four professional leagues bargain with about 4,700 players. Each power league has “two to three times” that amount for upwards of 30 sports, not four, said NCAA president Charlie Baker. It’s “not as simple as a lot of people alleged,” Baker warned.

But it is inevitable, says Copeland of Athletes.org.

“There’s no chance of putting restraints or limits on athletes without collective bargaining,” he said.

However, something else looms.

Many within college sports believe that a congressional bill to regulate college athletics is imminent from the U.S. Senate.

Sens. Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz have been engrossed in negotiations since March over what would be landmark bipartisan legislation that is expected to regulate transfers, eligibility and the compensation cap while granting protections to athletes such as guaranteed scholarships, long-term medical care and against unscrupulous agents.

However, the introduction of a bill is only the start of a lengthy approval process that could end in another disappointment for college athletics at a divisive and unpredictable time in Washington.

That’s why some here believe the time is now to bargain with athletes — before it’s too late.

“There’s a way to do it,” White, the Tennessee athletic director, said in January. “We’re way past time to roll up our sleeves and try to figure it out.”

Federal judges on Tuesday blocked Alabama’s plan touse a congressional mapthat could give Republicans an advantage in a key U.S. House race in the midterm elections.

Election 2026 Redistricting

A three-judge panel in the state’s long-running redistricting case issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the state from switching maps, ruling that the Republican-backed plan “intentionally discriminated based on race” by including only one Black-majority district. The judges instead required Alabama to continue using a court-ordered map in place for the 2024 elections that includes two districts where Black residents compose a majority or close to it.

“Ultimately, we cannot see our way clear to requiring Alabamians to cast their votes in the 2026 elections under a districting plan tainted by intentional race-based discrimination,” the judges wrote.

The ruling is a setback for Republicans, who want to use a map for the November midterms that would give the GOP a chance to reclaim the seat now held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, said the state will immediately appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He contended the judges had no basis for their decision to block what he described as a “blandly unobjectionable congressional map.”

“Know this — in my mind, it is not a matter of whether we win this case, only when,” Marshall said.

Figures said he is pleased with the ruling, adding: “This is a significant step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go before this fight is settled.”

The court order is the latest development in the twisting legal and political saga following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana andweakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicansin several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

The redistricting frenzy is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections.

Alabama court fight stretches back several years

The three-judge panel in 2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or close to it. The court-selected map was used in 2024.

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After the Supreme Court's recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map's use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling.

In the meantime, voters cast ballots in Alabama's May 11 primaries, and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey set new special primaries for Aug. 11 in four congressional districts affected by the map switch.

Upon further review, the judicial panel said there was “undisputed evidence” of intentional racial discrimination. It said the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the previous court-approved districts.

The decision to temporarily block the map switch came after a seven-hour hearing Friday in which judges sharply questioned state lawyers about the timeline and the impact of the Louisiana ruling.

Using the same districts that had been in place for the previous election would prevent “an expensive, aggressive, and perhaps logistically impossible voter reassignment effort,” the judges wrote.

“Candidate and voter confusion is troublesome and warrants significant consideration, but we do not see that a preliminary injunction will worsen it. To the contrary, we expect a preliminary injunction to lessen it,” the judges said.

Deuel Ross, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the court ruling “again vindicated the constitutional rights of voters in the Black Belt, and our clients look forward to voting under a fair map this fall.”

Redistricting changes affect primaries in several states

Other states also have considered adjustments to their primary elections to allow time for congressional redistricting after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affecting the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana’s congressional primaries, scheduled for May 16, werepostponeduntil later this summer by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry so that state lawmakers could consider a new U.S. House map that would eliminate a majority-Black district.

In South Carolina, where early voting began Tuesday for its June 9 primaries, the Republican-led Senate rejected a plan that would have thrown out the votes and instead held a new congressional primary in August under revised districts that could have improved Republicans’ chances of winning an additional seat.

Tennessee also moved quickly to enact new U.S. House districts after the Supreme Court’s ruling, carving up a Black-majority districtbased in Memphisthat had elected the state’s only Democratic representative.The new mapgives Republicans a chance to sweep all nine of the state’s seats. As part of the plan, Tennessee temporarily reopened the candidate qualifying period for its August congressional primaries, allowing new candidates to enter the race and existing ones to either switch districts or drop out.

Since Trump first urged Texas to redraw its U.S. House districts last summer, about a half-dozen Republican-led states have enacted new voting districts, though some still face legal challenges. Democrats countered with new districts in California and also expect to gain a seat from new court-imposed districts in Utah.

No. 6 seed Daniil Medvedev lost in the first round of the French Open for the seventh time in 10 appearances at Roland Garros, dropping a five-set match to Australian wild card Adam Walton, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 on Tuesday on Suzanne-Lenglen Court.

Other seeds to exit in Paris on Tuesday included No. 9 seed Alexander Bublik, No. 20 Cameron Norrie, No. 29 Tallon Griekspoor and No. 30 Corentin Moutet.

Medvedev melted down in the heat, took a verbal lashing for his on-court behavior from his wife seated courtside but still had a chance to put away Walton, the 97th-ranked men's singles player who was 4-9 this season entering his first clay-court match of the year.

Walton, who played in the second round at the French Open in 2025, trailed 4-2 in the fifth and appeared to be more ragged than his opponent in the match that lasted three hours and 22 minutes.

He required a medical break after the second set to take a salt tablet as neither player found much consistency until the decider.

And it was Walton who gained his second wind. He took the next four games to oust Medvedev and beat him for the second time in their three career matches. Medvedev dropped to 0-4 in five-set matches in the French Open, 10-10 in his career.

"Pretty tired now. It was an up and down match. I felt like the ebbs and flows of the match were quite large today," Walton said post-match in an on-court interview. "Just really proud of my efforts in the fifth set to come from a break down to get the win. It's huge. Beating him in Cincinnati (in 2025) definitely gave me the belief today. I knew I could do it. I believed. Just really happy with performance. Just really excited right now."

Catapulted by his first win over a top-10 opponent, Walton will oppose American Zachary Svajda in the second round.

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Bublik lost 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-5 to Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff. The Russian-born Kazakhstani, who was a quarterfinalist last year, had a chance to serve out the fourth set but hit two straight double faults, grabbing his shoulder and requiring a medical timeout in between. The 36-year-old Struff then won four games in a row for the victory.

Griekspoor of the Netherlands fell to 104th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi of Italy 6-7 (9), 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3. Arnaldi won every service game in the fourth set without dropping a point and earned the win on his first match point.

Moutet of France lost a five-set marathon to unseeded Vit Kopriva. The Czech hit 61 winners in the four-hour, 20-minute match to defeat Moutet 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Norrie retired after 78 minutes down 7-6, 2-0 down to Paraguay's Daniel Vallejo. It was the first time in 12 years the reliable Brit has retired from a match and the first time he hasn't made it past the first round of a Grand Slam since the 2024 Australian Open.

In other Tuesday evening action, Frenchman Moise Kouame became the youngest winner at Roland Garros since 1991. The 17-year-old downed U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic in his grand slam tournament debut, 7-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Cilic was 20 and a top-20 ranked men's player the day Kouame was born.

With vocal support from the home crowd, Kouame played well above his current ranking of No. 313 in the world with poise and precision to keep the 37-year-old Cilic, playing in the French Open main draw for the 18th time, off-balance.

Kouame was a winner on Court Simonne-Mathieu and advances to take on Paragauy's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo. Britain's Cameron Norrie, who has been nursing a rib injury, retired from their first-round match at the French Open while trailing in the second set, 0-2. He lost the first set on a tiebreak.

--Field Level Media

Brooks Koepkahas not exactly been lost in the wilderness since returning to the PGA Tour in 2026. In fact, in several parts of the game, he has still looked very much like the Brooks Koepka who won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens.

Consider these numbers: Before last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Koepka ranked third on Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and eighth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He was also 12th in scoring average and 29th in driving distance.

The problems started when he got onto the greens.

More:Another new putter for Brooks Koepka as he looks to break through at CJ Cup Byron Nelson

Koepka arrived at TPC Craig Ranch ranked 141st in Strokes Gained: Putting, losing nearly half a stroke per round to the field with the putter. He also ranked 158th in one-putt percentage, 156th in putts per round and 158th in putting inside 10 feet.

All of that meant his elite ballstriking was being wasted, and for one of the best major championship performers of his generation, those numbers were startling.

So, Koepka made another putter switch.

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Before the start of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, he put a Scotty Cameron Fastback 1.5 into play. Koepka’s Fastback 1.5 is a compact mallet with a slant-neck hosel that creates more toe hang and allows the face to rotate more naturally through impact instead of resisting rotation. The design appears to better match the way Koepka wants the putter to release during the stroke.

The results were immediate.

Koepka finished the week 33rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting at 0.36 strokes per round after entering the tournament at -0.471 for the season. He also improved to 23rd in putts per round and 25th in one-putt percentage for the week.

More:Brooks Koepka storms out with 63 at PGA Tour's CJ Cup Byron Nelson

The improvement was especially noticeable on shorter putts and mid-range opportunities. Before the event, Koepka ranked 158th on putts from 10 feet and closer, converting just under 85 percent of them. At TPC Craig Ranch, he made nearly 90 percent of those putts, converted every 4-footer he faced and ranked fifth in the field from 15-20 feet.

One week does not erase months of struggles, but it did suggest that Koepka may have finally found a setup that better matches the way he wants the putter to move through impact. And if he can simply stop giving away strokes on the greens, Koepka suddenly starts looking a lot more dangerous heading toward the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in three weeks.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek:Brooks Koepka Scotty Cameron putter switch boosts putting

May 25 (Reuters) - The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that the ‌fast-moving Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of ‌Congo and Uganda was outpacing response efforts, giving the latest ​number of suspected deaths as 220.

WHO chief says fast-moving Ebola epidemic is outpacing response efforts

Addressing an online meeting of the African Union about the outbreak, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a delay in detecting ‌Ebola cases meant ⁠responders were now "playing catch-up" and the epidemic was likely to get worse before ⁠it gets better.

Tedros said he would travel to Congo - the epicentre of the outbreak - on Tuesday with ​another senior ​WHO official responsible for ​addressing health emergencies, Chikwe ‌Ihekweazu.

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Earlier on Monday neighbouring Uganda reported two more Ebola cases, taking its total number of confirmed cases to seven, and Tedros said other countries bordering Congo were at high risk and should take ‌immediate action.

The WHO has declared ​the outbreak of the rare ​Bundibugyo strain of ​Ebola a public health emergency of ‌international concern.

Tedros said containing the ​fast-moving outbreak ​was complicated by the fact that Congo's Ituri and North Kivu provinces were highly insecure and ​there were ‌no approved vaccines for Bundibugyo virus.

(Reporting by Vincent ​Mumo Nzilani and Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander ​Winning and Gareth Jones)

The Holy Cross baseball team, whichcaptured its second consecutive Patriot League Tournament championship last week by taking a best-of-three series at Bucknell, will open play in the NCAA Tournament against No. 6 overall seed Texas in the Austin Regional at 1 p.m. May 29.

The Crusaders gathered on campus May 25 for the Selection Show and erupted when ESPN revealed their matchup.

Austin is one of 16 regionals, which each feature four teams playing in a double-elimination format. UC Santa Barbara and Tarleton State are the other teams in the Austin Regional.

Holy Cross (25-28) is making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 1962 and 1963. This is HC’s 13thoverall NCAA appearance.

Texas (40-13) is making its record 65thNCAA appearance and is hosting for the 39thtime in program history.

TheLonghornsfell to Arkansas in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.

Texas is one of 12 SEC teams in the 64-team NCAA field.

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Sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis (8-1, 2.00, 109 strikeouts, 22 walks) heads the Longhorns’ pitching staff and ranks fourth in the country in ERA.

Freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. was the SEC Freshman of the Year after leading the conference in batting average (.400) in SEC games.

Last season, Holy Cross played in the Chapel Hill Regional and lost games to North Carolina and Nebraska.

HC graduated eight seniors from that outstanding team and started 2026 slowly before coming together down the stretch. The Crusaders, who became the first No. 4 seed in 16 seasons to capture the PL tourney title, have won nine of their last 13 games and have registered 25 or more victories for the third straight season.

HC’s 17 road wins are its most since 2016.

–Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette:Holy Cross baseball draws Texas in NCAA Tournament

American Hailey Baptiste overcame former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in first-round play at Roland Garros on Sunday in Paris.

Baptiste, seeded 26th, saved two match points and outlasted Krejcikova 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6), 6-2 in two hours, 57 minutes.

Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open winner, has failed to advance past the second round since.

Baptiste, 16 spots higher in the world rankings than Krejcikova, acted like the favorite, showing poise during the critical second-set tiebreaker to battle back from two-point deficits on four occasions and save match point twice.

That set the stage for a dominant closeout in the third set, in which Baptiste won 15 of her 20 first-service points (75%). It continues a trend of success for Baptiste at the event, after she reached the fourth round a year ago.

"It was a very close first two sets," Baptiste said. "... I just stayed tough. Saved a couple of match points in the second, and somehow got over the finish line."

It was a theme of present vs. past on the day, with present prevailing in nearly every instance. Krejcikova's fellow past Grand Slam winners -- Emma Raducanu of Great Britain and Americans Sofia Kenin and Sloane Stephens --were each ousted by comparatively less accomplished players.

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Czechia's Sara Bejlek (No. 35 WTA) dumped Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open winner, 6-3, 6-2 in 83 minutes. Peyton Stearns also controlled play against 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin, winning 6-3, 6-3.

Argentina's Solana Sierra surprisingly jumped all over 2021 U.S. Open winner Raducanu before closing her out, 6-0, 7-6 (4).

Among seeded players, the day was mostly devoid of upsets. No. 8 Mirra Andreeva of Russia handled France's Fiona Ferro 6-3, 6-3, while 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland took care of Austria's Sinja Kraus 6-2, 6-3.

The lone upset came from Ukraine's Daria Snigur, who snuck past No. 21 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

No. 15 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine defeated Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2, 6-3. Czech 27th seed Marie Bouzkova topped Lucia Bronzetti of Italy 6-3, 6-1, and No. 32 seed Xinyu Wang of China beat Lilli Tagger of Austria, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Later in the day, No. 18 Sorana Cirstea of Romania handled France's Ksenia Efremova 6-3, 6-1.

Other winners included Caty McNally, Katie Volynets, Spain's Marina Bassols, Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva, China's Xiyu Wang, Poland's Magda Linette, Germany's Tamara Korpatsch, Poland's Magdalena Frech (via retirement) and Great Britain's Francesca Jones.

--Field Level Media

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’semerging dealto end theIran waris drawing heavy criticism from some fellow Republicans who favor a harder line against the government in Tehran and fear a lost opportunity to finally rein in a longtime Mideast nemesis.

Iran US Pushback

The deal the Republican president had said was “largely negotiated” has left a range of lawmakers, former Cabinet members and conservative analysts wondering aloud whether the terms as currently known will render the conflict all “for naught.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the president's decision to strike Iran was the “most consequential” of his second term and that he should not let up now.

“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over theStrait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz wrote Saturday on the social media platform X. It was in reaction to Trump's update after he had spoken with the leaders of Israel and other U.S. allies in the region.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who also is close to Trump, panned any deal that would leave Iran perceived as being a dominant force in the region and in which it would retain its ability to destroy oil infrastructure throughout the Gulf.

Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned the merit of a proposed 60-day ceasefire, saying it would be a “disaster.”

“Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!” said Wicker, R-Miss.

Trump says it will take time to ‘get it right’

Trump, who has said he only makes good deals and detests being seen as not having the upper hand in any negotiation, dismissed objections to a deal that he said was not “even fully negotiated yet.”

“So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” he said on his social media platform.

Trump said the deal he and his representatives are working out is “THE EXACT OPPOSITE” of a nuclear pact that Iran agreed to under the Democratic Obama administration. Trump pulled out of that agreement and has been trying to iron out a new one.

“Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!” Trump said.

He added that a U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports would remain “in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

Some support for Trump came from Capitol Hill, too.

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GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, often a thorn in the president’s side, defended the White House's approach.

“War virtually always ends with negotiations,” Paul wrote on X. “Critics of President Trump’s peace negotiations should give President Trump the space to find an American First solution.”

Under the proposal,the warwould come to an end and Iran would reopen the strait and give up its stockpile ofhighly enriched uranium, with the details and timelines to be worked out during a later 60-day window, regional officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Critics air objections as details trickle out

Pollsshow the war, which began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, is unpopular with the American public and hascost U.S. taxpayers at least $29 billion, as of this month. Thirteen service members have been killed during the operation.

Trump initially said the war would be over in four weeks to six weeks, but the standoff continues. Iran's closure of the strait, through which about 20% of global energy supplies transit, hasjolted the world economyand sentprices for gasoline and other goodsclimbing.

Mike Pompeo, one of Trump's first-term secretaries of state, asserted on Saturday that the emerging deal seemed to him to be the same as the Obama-era one from which Trump withdrew.

“Not remotely America First,” Pompeo said on X, prompting a profanity-laced rejoinder from Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications.

John Bolton, a national security adviser in the first term who has become a critic of the president, said the emerging plan details seemed to favor the Iranian government.

“If news reports about the impending Iran deal are correct, the ayatollahs will have won a significant victory,” Bolton wrote Sunday on X. “They will be back on the road to nuclear weapons, supporting global terrorism and repressing their own people.”

Rubio says a nuclear Iran is ‘not going to happen’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on Sunday during a diplomatic mission in India, telling reporters at a news conference that no president has been stronger against Iran than Trump.

“His commitment to that principle that they’ll never have a nuclear weapon shouldn’t be questioned by anybody,” Rubio said. “And the idea that somehow this president, given everything he’s already proven he’s willing to do, is going to somehow agree to a deal that ultimately winds up putting Iran in a stronger position when it comes to nuclear ambitions is absurd. That’s just not going to happen.”

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Trump antagonist who had pushed legislation to restrain the president’s ability to wage war against Iran, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that while the terms are not yet fully known, “if Lindsey Graham and Ted Cuz are crashing out last night, I’d say it’s probably a pretty good deal.”

Massie will leave Congress in Januaryafter incurring Trump's wrath and losing his GOP primary last week to a Trump-backed challenger.

Some matchups just become oddly one-sided, even when the teams involved should be evenly matched. That has quietly become the case whenever thePhiladelphia EaglesandLos Angeles Ramsshare a field. They aren't rivals per se, but there are times when it feels like this is where it's headed.

Over the past four seasons, no NFL team has defeated theRamsmore often than theEagles, not even the teams in their division. Not theSan Francisco 49ers. Not theSeattle Seahawks. Not theArizona Cardinals, all division rivals who see Sean McVay's team far more regularly. Philadelphia has somehow become the franchise that Los Angeles simply can't seem to shake. The most recent chapter probably explains why the scars remain fresh. Their latest meeting delivered the kind of drama that leaves both fan bases emotionally exhausted. The Rams built a comfortable lead and appeared firmly in control, only for the Eagles to claw their way back into the fight. What followed felt less like a standard NFL finish and more like controlled chaos.

Philadelphia blocked one field goal. Then, they blocked another.

The second became the moment everyone remembers, asJordan Davis scooped the loose ball, rumbled to the end zone, and turned a defensive special-teams dagger into an unforgettable punctuation mark. Apparently, Sean McVay hasn't fully moved on. During a recent sit-down onBussin' With The Boys, the Rams head coach was asked about the game, and judging by his tone, the memory still sounds painfully vivid.

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More than eight months have passed, yet McVay discussed Jordan Davis' block-and-score sequence with the kind of detail that suggests the replay still visits him uninvited. Honestly, that makes perfect sense. NFL coaches are wired differently. Most fans remember the result. Coaches remember every missed assignment, every breakdown, every decision they wish they could have back.

For an offensive mind as detail-obsessed as McVay, losing in that fashion probably doesn't fade cleanly. And why would it? Games like that don't simply sting because you lost. They sting because you had control, watched it disappear, and then got buried beneath one of the season's strangest finishes.

For Eagles fans, it was exhilarating. For Sean McVay? It still sounds like a horror story with Jordan Davis playing the final villain.

This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire:Sean McVay couldn't believe Eagles blocked a FG to defeat the Rams

Iran's World Cup training base has been moved from the United States to Mexico with the approval of FIFA, the president of the governing body of Iranian soccer said Saturday.

FIFA has not yet confirmed the move, which was announced by Mehdi Taj, president of the Iran Football Federation.

"All team base camps for the countries participating in the World Cup must be approved FIFA," Taj said in a statement. "Fortunately, following the requests we submitted and the meetings we held with FIFA and World Cup officials in Istanbul, as well as the webinar meeting we had yesterday in the Tehran with the respected FIFA secretary general, our request to change the team's base from the United States to Mexico was approved."

The Iranian team had been scheduled to hold its base camp, which is used for training ahead of and after matches, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz., but the war in the Middle East and related security concerns had caused uncertainty about Iran's World Cup activities.

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"We will be based in the Tijuana camp, which is near the Pacific Ocean and on the border between Mexico and the United States," Taj said in a video posted on the federation's Telegram social media account, noting the move could resolve potential visa issues with the team entering the U.S. through Mexico.

Iranian officials said earlier this month their players and staff had not yet received U.S. visas.

The World Cup, co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, runs from June 11 through July 19.

As part of Group G, Iran is set to play its first two matches in Los Angeles, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, with a June 26 matchup against Egypt in Seattle.

--Field Level Media