CNN
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Coco Gauff was utterly dominant as she dispatched defending champion Iga Świątek 6-1, 6-1 in just 64 minutes to reach the Madrid Open final, handing the five-time grand slam champion one of the worst defeats of her career.

It was Gauff’s first career win over Świątek on clay and the American will now face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final after the Belarusian defeated Elina Svitolina in the second semifinal.

Victory over Sabalenka on Saturday would lift Gauff above Świątek in the world rankings to a new career-high of No. 2.

After holding serve in the opening game of the match, Świątek went on to lose an extraordinary 11 straight games.

Gauff dropped just two points all match on her first serve and didn’t face a single break point in a remarkably one-sided match. Per the WTA, Świątek has only won fewer games in a clay-court match once in her career: a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Simona Halep at the 2019 French Open when she was 18.

“I think I was aggressive and played with margin,” Gauff said in her post-match interview. “Maybe, it wasn’t (Świątek’s) best level today, but I forced her into some awkward positions. I’m really happy with how I played.

“Especially when you’re playing someone like Iga, you know at any moment she could come back and play great tennis. For me, it was just making sure my level stayed the same.

“I knew in that second set I had to raise (my level), especially because she could come back, so I’m really happy with how I played.”

Świątek previously enjoyed an 11-1 head-to-head record against Gauff and had become something of a headache for the American. But Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, appears to have gained the upper hand in their rivalry recently and has now won three straight against the world No. 2.

Świątek, a clay-court specialist who’s won four times at Roland Garros, has now lost six straight semifinals and hasn’t even reached a tour final since winning the 2024 French Open.

“Today, for sure, everything kind of collapsed, both tennis-wise and I feel like I wasn’t even in the right place with my feet before the shots,” Świątek told reporters, per the WTA.

“I wish I would have moved better because I think that would get me any opportunity to bounce back because this is usually what happens.”

Gauff is searching for a third WTA 1000 title in only her third final, after winning the 2023 Cincinnati Open and 2024 China Open.

CNN
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The last 12 months have been a whirlwind for Armand “Mondo” Duplantis.

Having already been one of the most recognizable faces in track and field, the Swedish pole-vaulter catapulted himself to even greater heights in a remarkable year for the 25-year-old.

Not only did he break his own world record to win his second Olympic gold medal in Paris last summer, but he became engaged to his long-time girlfriend and also has made his first foray in the music scene with a debut single.

His achievements were recognized at last month’s Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid, winning the Sportsman of the Year award to become just the second track and field athlete to do so after Usain Bolt.

And after what he calls a “life-changing” year, Duplantis says there is more to come.

“I do still have that confidence that going into (the 2028 Olympic Games) in LA, I’m going to be in even better shape. I can jump even higher,” Duplantis told CNN Sports in an exclusive interview. “I’m going to do something just like that, make a big splash, can maybe break a record again and something like that.”

When it comes to dominating a single sport, no one has done it quite like Duplantis in pole vaulting in recent years.

He is one of only three men to hold the pole vault world record in the 21st century, setting 11 world records on his own since first doing so in 2020 as he’s singlehandedly raised the level from 6.17m to 6.27m over five seasons.

Duplantis went from top-level athlete to global superstar at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris when he broke the world record of 6.25m on his third and final attempt in front of the world. In February, he needed just one attempt to break the record again. Duplantis revealed to CNN that he is confident he will reach the 6.30m (roughly 20.67 feet) mark in the near future.

That moment in France came with a huge increase in attention on Duplantis’ achievements, gaining a large amount of followers on social media and shooting to international stardom; he also proposed to girlfriend Desiré Inglander during a photoshoot for Vogue Scandinavia in October last year.

He admits that the added attention he’s received has made him think about his place in the sporting world, in particular around pole vaulting, while he also tries to remain grounded.

“I think maybe you can see it even now more than ever that things can get a bit separated in track and field and I want pole vaulting to be able to stand on its own two legs. I think that’s very important,” he told CNN Sports. “It’s pretty easy to get caught up if you think about too many people that are following you or looking at you.

“I think that’s a weird thing to conceptualize. I try to just go about my business. I know that I’m a good guy and I just try to do things that I feel like are right and I guess hopefully lead by a good example, which is for the most part I think the most inspiring thing is just a real passion and love for the sport and doing what I love from the very beginning and hopefully that can inspire.”

He is currently on a run of 28 straight victories and, during his time at the top of the sport, Duplantis has collected two Olympic titles, two world championships and plenty of other accolades.

Duplantis admits that the trophies he’s earning won’t be something he can fully appreciate until he’s hung up the pole. And he also says that while his last 12 months look perfect “on paper,” it was the result of plenty of “ups and downs.”

“(There were) parts where I feel like I wasn’t where I wanted to be or where I needed to be like at that moment, but I think that that’s what also pushed me to be where I had to be and needed to be at the right moments like in the Olympics and the finals and whatnot,” he explained.

“Because I feel like I had a bit of a lackluster start to the season. I feel like it really wasn’t where I wanted to be. But I think that that’s why I was able to perform so well in the outdoor season because it gave me that fire and made me learn what I need to do and what I need to fix and change going into the outdoor season. So (it was) perfect in the sense of I did everything that I wanted to do.”

While Duplantis’ pole-vaulting accolades speak for themselves, he has still found time to enjoy the other aspects of his life.

In September last year, he beat 400-meter hurdle sensation Karsten Warholm in an exhibition 100-meter race in Switzerland, finishing the race in an impressive 10.37 seconds.

Duplantis said that he’s keen to try other races at different lengths in the future, although he does admit that he would get “smoked” if he was to enter a competitive race in Michael Johnson’s newly created Grand Slam Track series, preferring to stay in a “guest race.”

He’s also found time to dip his toes into the music booth too, releasing his debut single “Bop” in February this year.

Music has long been a passion for Duplantis, explaining that he was in a choir as a youngster and spent many hours in the studio in Sweden when he wasn’t honing his sporting skills.

Having lost touch with his musical side for many years, Duplantis says he fell back into it about three years ago and set about dabbling in creating his own music.

Duplantis released “Bop” on the same day as his most recent world record in February, with the song played over the stadium’s speakers as he made his record-breaking jump.

He admits to being “quite nervous” when the song was released and says there is “more to come.”

“I really love and I think that it’s good for me as a person and as an athlete,” he said.

CNN
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The Los Angeles Lakers are left with more questions than answers after their shocking first round exit at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Despite reports that the Lakers “expect” superstar forward LeBron James back next season, questions still remain about the team going forward.

After Wednesday’s 103-96 Game 5 loss in front of their home fans at the Crypto.com Arena, the 40-year-old James was uncertain about his future when asked post-game how many more years he plans to play.

“I don’t know. I don’t have the answer to that,” James told reporters. “Something I’ll sit down with my family, my wife and my support group and kind of just talk through it and see what happens and just have a conversation with myself on how long I want to continue to play. I don’t know the answer to that right now, to be honest, so we’ll see.”

Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, who executed the Luka Doncic trade back in February, understands that NBA all-time leading scorer James will be keeping an eye on how the roster improves in the offseason.

“I think LeBron’s going to have high expectations for the roster,” Pelinka told reporters on Thursday. “And we’re going to do everything we can to meet those. But I also know that whatever it is, he’s still going to give his 110% every night, whether that’s scoring, assisting, defending, rebounding, leading. We know that’s always going to be 100%, and that never wavers.”

The four-time NBA champion has a player option to return next season and Pelinka still has an “all-time high” confidence in the core of James, Doncic and Austin Reaves moving forward.

“I think those three guys have incredible promise playing together,” Pelinka added. “And we will collectively do a better job to make sure they’re surrounded with the right pieces to have ultimate success.”

James still remained one of the better players in the league in his 22nd season, averaging 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists.

JJ Redick, coming off his first year as the head coach of the Lakers, pointed to improving the conditioning of players for next season.

“I’ll start with the offseason and the work that’s required in an offseason to be in championship shape,” Redick said. “And we have a ways to go as a roster. And certainly, there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There’s certainly other ones that could have been in better shape. That’s where my mind goes immediately is we have to get in championship shape.”

With Minnesota set to play the winner of the Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets series in the second round, Redick “admitted” the Lakers were not the better team.

“Maybe this is hard sometimes for a coach or a player to admit this: We lost to a better team,” Redick said. “That’s just the reality. We did.”

As James looks on, Pelinka proclaimed one of the ways to enhance the team’s championship desires will be find an Anthony Davis replacement to add size to the front court. Davis was shipped to Dallas in return for Doncic.

James did not comment on the Lakers’ struggles at center following the trade but provided a gut check to the front office.

“My guy A.D. said what he wanted, and he was gone the following week,” James quipped.

Should James return to play another season, he’d surpass Vince Carter for the most seasons played in NBA history.