In 2021, a teenage girl named Thea Frodin was cast in the film ‘King Richard’ as a tennis-playing body double for a young Serena Williams.

Now, Frodin is set to play in the U.S. Open for the first time, gaining entry after winning the 18s national championships. She faces a tough assignment in the opening round, coming up against Australian Open champion and world No.2 Elena Rybakina tomorrow morning (AEST).

Talk about method acting!

10
The number of gold medals Australia finished with at the Para Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships. The team also won 12 silver and 11 bronze medals. Rowan Crothers was a standout for the Dolphins, winning three gold medals in the 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, and mixed 4x100m freestyle. The championships were held in Walnut, California.

“I haven’t made this decision thinking my absence will be noticed, or a big deal, but as someone who believes in leading with your values, I just don’t feel comfortable being at an event that doesn’t align with mine.”
Dee Salmin, the partner of Collingwood defender Darcy Moore, in her newsletter on Sunday announcing she will not attend this year’s Brownlow Medal Ceremony. While Salmin did not explicitly reference the Sydney Swans scandal, she said: “I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about the important conversations we’re having about women and the culture surrounding AFL, and I’ve realised I can’t keep encouraging other people to interrogate the systems they participate in, without being willing to interrogate them myself.”

The World Nomad Games is an event held every two years featuring a lineup of traditional sports from Central Asia. The first edition was held in 2014 and the sixth is currently being hosted by Kyrgyzstan. One of the most highly anticipated sports of the Games is Kok Boru, a game played on horseback where two teams battle for possession of a goat carcass and attempt to put it in the opposition’s goal.

🏏 Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne has been dropped from Australia’s one-day squad for the side’s tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa this month. The 32-year-old has scored one half century (50 runs) in his last 16 ODI innings. His spot in Australia’s Test side is also under threat, having played 43 Test innings since his last century (100 runs). Meanwhile, Pakistan have made mass changes to their Test side after back-to-back defeats to England, sacking head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and sending seven players home before the third and final Test beginning 9 September.

🚣 Australia’s men’s rowing eight won bronze at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, with the top three crews eclipsing the previous world best time. The Netherlands won gold in 5 minutes and 17.75 seconds, ahead of Great Britain (5:17.81) and Australia (5:18.28), all faster than Germany’s mark of 5:18.68 set in 2017. It capped a five-medal campaign for Australia’s rowing team, the Rowsellas, with another bronze in the PR3 mixed double and silver medals in the women’s four, men’s pair, and PR1 men’s single. Jack Robertson, who is in the men’s eight, said: “I’m so proud of these guys”.

🏉 Nathan Cleary has claimed his second Brad Fittler Medal, awarded to the NSW State of Origin team’s most valuable player, after the Blues’ 2-1 State of Origin series win earlier this year. The Penrith Panthers playmaker already won the Wally Lewis Medal as the 2026 series’ best player and is a favourite for the Dally M Medal, the award for the NRL’s most valuable player. Meanwhile, Yasmin Meakes repeated as NSW’s women’s player of the year after she claimed the Katrina Fanning Medal, the women’s series MVP award.

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It was a productive day in New York for Australia’s best tennis players, with Alexei Popyrin, James Duckworth, Maya Joint, and Kimberly Birrell all advancing to the second round of the U.S. Open.

Here’s the latest from Flushing Meadows.

In the women’s singles, Joint produced an upset against Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova, defeating the former world No.12 in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-2). Birrell, whose match against Croatia’s Petra Marčinko on Day One was stopped midway through due to rain, resumed on Day Two, with the Aussie winning in three sets (3-6, 7-6, 6-3). It’s the first time Birrell has reached the second round of the tournament, while Joint was knocked out in the third round last year.

In the men’s singles, Duckworth defeated Italian 30th seed Matteo Arnaldi in four sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6). The result means the 34-year-old has won at least one match at all four Grand Slams in a calendar year for the first time in his career. Popyrin played Hungarian veteran Grigor Dimitrov and won in four sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4).

Five Aussies are now confirmed to play in the second round after Taylah Preston won on Day One while Rinky Hijikata and Aleksandar Vukic were both knocked out on Day Two.

Five more Australians will play their opening round matches tomorrow (AEST). They are headlined by sixth seed Alex de Minaur on the men’s side and former world No.8 Daria Kasatkina on the women’s side.

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Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from the Argentina national team, closing out a 21-year international career that ended some of Argentine football’s longest trophy droughts.

The 39-year-old posted a photo of a written letter (in Spanish) on Instagram on Monday which revealed his decision to retire from international duties for Argentina. He said he wrote the note two days after Argentina lost to Spain in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

The World Cup final was Messi’s third, following a victory in 2022 and a loss in 2014. Part of the statement read: “I understand that the time has come. I swear to you that I always gave it my all… to bring you joy and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football.”

Messi’s father Jorge also died last month after a long illness, which he said convinced him of his decision.

Messi leaves as Argentina’s most capped player, with 207 appearances, and its all-time leading scorer, with 125 goals.

Perhaps more significantly though, Messi helped Argentina win major trophies. In 2021, he led the country to its first Copa America title since 1993. Then, in 2022, Argentina won the World Cup for the first time since 1978. The Copa America is South America’s international football tournament.

He also holds the outright record for World Cup matches played, at 34, while he and long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo are tied on six tournament appearances each, the most by any player. His 21 World Cup goals sit second all-time, one behind France forward Kylian Mbappé.

This is not the first time Messi has walked away. He briefly retired from international football in 2016 after a penalty shootout loss to Chile in the Copa America final. At the time, it was his fourth defeat in a major final. He reversed the decision within six weeks.

Messi will continue playing club football for Inter Miami, where his deal keeps him in Major League Soccer, America’s top professional football league, into 2028.