Good evening!

On Tuesday I asked you if you’d like to see Nick Kyrgios at the 2025 Australian Open.

Well, 37% of you said ‘No, too many antics', 29% said ‘Yes, love him’, and, 34% said ‘I’m not a fan but he’s compelling to watch’.

Yes, there are lots of antics, but I think I agree with the group that says he’s compelling. It couldn’t hurt to have another Australian in the running for the title, right? Food for thought…

I’ve got 10 seconds

Stat of the day

€1 billion ($AU1.65 billion)
The amount of money that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has pledged to direct towards women’s soccer over the next six years. UEFA stated their goal is to make"football the most-played team sport for women and girls in every European country".

Quote of the day

"The haka needs binning. It's ridiculous."
English rugby union player Joe Marler in a post on X. Marler faced immediate backlash for the post and deactivated his account soon after. He has since reactivated it and said: "Context is everything. Just having a bit of fun trying to spark interest in a mega rugby fixture.” England are set to play the All Blacks at Twickenham in London on Sunday (AEDT).

Random fact of the day

Canadian Oliver Rioux is the world’s tallest teenager. At 7’9” (or 236cm), Rioux puts his height to good use in basketball. He will become the tallest ever to play college basketball this year when he starts the season with the Florida Gators. 

I’ve got 30 seconds

In case you missed it…

⚾ The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series with a come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees in Game 5 today. The Dodgers won the best-of-seven series 4-1 to claim their 8th title. Dodgers star Mookie Betts said: “It was love, it was grit. I mean, it was just a beautiful thing. I'm just proud of us and I'm happy for us."

🎾 Alexei Popyrin and Alex de Minaur have joined fellow Australian tennis star Jordan Thompson in the Round of 16 at the Paris Masters. Popyrin pulled off a massive upset, beating world no.5 Daniil Medvedev, while de Minaur beat unseeded Miomir Kecmanović in straight sets. Next, Popyrin is set to play Karen Khachanov, and de Minaur will play Jack Draper. If de Minaur beats Draper, the 22-year-old Brit who knocked him out of the US Open, he will gain enough ATP ranking points to crack the top eight. That will see him invited to next month’s ATP Tour Finals. 

🏐 The Diamonds claimed some redemption with a 63-50 victory over the Silver Ferns in the fourth and final Test of netball’s Constellation Cup. The Test was a dead rubber after New Zealand won the first three in the series. Australia’s Kiera Austin, who scored 27 goals from 30 shots and was strong in defence, was the Player of the Match. Earlier, the Kelpies beat the Net Blacks to sweep the men’s series. 

🏉 Wallabies back-rower Rob Valentini was named the 2024 recipient of the John Eales Medal. The 26-year-old is the third man to win back-to-back Player of the Year awards, after Israel Folau and Micahel Hooper, and the sixth to win multiple times. The Medal is voted on by the players. Women’s rugby star Maya Stewart took out the Wallaroos Player of the Year. The winger scored nine tries in eight tests for the Wallaroos this year and played a crucial role in the side’s recent triumph in the WXV 2 tournament. 

I’ve got 1 minute

Over half of WNBA coaches have been sacked - is there a reason?

Seven of the WNBA’s 12 coaches have been fired since the conclusion of the 2024 season. What’s happening?

Which teams have fired their coaches?

The Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream, Dallas Wings, Washington Mystics, Indiana Fever, and Connecticut Sun have all fired their coaches.

This includes Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides, who, alongside star player Caitlin Clark, guided the Fever to their first finals series in ten years.

Six of the seven teams who sacked coaches lost at least half their games last season, which may go some way to explain the parting of ways. Nonetheless, it’s certainly an anomaly that over half of the coaches in the league would lose their jobs at once.

Why?

It’s thought that one of the major factors driving the search for new coaching talent is the rising popularity of the league.

ESPN reports the average viewership for matches streamed on their network this season was 1.19 million, a 170% increase on 2023. Numbers like these demonstrate a growth in public interest and helped the WNBA land a $US2.2 billion ($AU3.34 billion) media rights deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime. That’s a major increase on the previous deal.

The knock-on effect in this context is that franchises will be able to spend more on coaches. Only two of last season’s coaches were paid over $US1 million ($AU1.5 million). It’s expected this number will increase as the coaching talent from college basketball and the NBA becomes more affordable for WNBA franchises.

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I’ve got 2 minutes

TDA Sport interviews Laura Enever:
2024 Female Big Wave Surfer of the Year

Hi Laura, thanks for your time today. How are you? Where are you? 

I'm good. I got home from Europe two days ago and have had a pretty massive week. I was over in America and then Nazare in Portugal for the Big Wave awards. Now, I have a week at home before I head back to Europe again. A lot of fun.

Amazing. Congrats on the Big Wave Surfer of the Year award. Can you describe the moment you found out you'd won the award?

It was pretty amazing to win Surfer of the Year alongside Nathan Florence who is another incredible big-wave surfer. Especially after my journey in big wave surfing for the last seven years, it has been an incredible road. And then, to back up my world record with another really good season, it was pretty special.

Congrats on being invited to the Eddie Aikau Invitational. How would you describe the Eddie? I understand it’s only the second year in the event's history that women have been invited.

The Eddie Aikau has to be the most prestigious surfing event. It’s been going on for so many years and all of the best surfers in the world have at one point or another surfed in the event, especially big wave surfers.

It’s named in honour of Eddie Aikau, who was an incredible Hawaiian water man and it’s a big celebration of surfing in a one-day event.

For the event to run, the waves have to be 20 feet [from the back of the wave], with a 22-second swell period, which makes it basically 40 to 50-foot faces [equivalent to a three-storey building].

Last year you set the world record for the biggest wave paddled into by a woman. What was that like?

So that wave for me was the pinnacle of my career. It was by far the biggest wave I'd ever even seen in my life.

And because I'd paddled into it myself, it made it so much more special. The moment that I stood up on that wave, it felt like the years of sacrifice and hard work that I'd poured into big wave surfing was for that moment.

What's the difference in training between the pro tour (small wave competitions) and big wave surfing?

The biggest difference is breath-hold training and preparing yourself for the worst-case scenario, which is getting stuck in the impact zone and smashed by huge waves. Sometimes, there are 10 wave sets where you have to be able to hold your breath and stay calm throughout. So in the pool, we pretend that I could be in one of those situations and my trainer will spin me around underwater and try to thrash me around.

And then, I've got to keep my heart rate down. And then we do it over and over and over again. The longest breath hold that I've been able to get up to is about three and a half minutes in the pool.

What's the wave that scares you the most? 

Oh, Jaws [Pe'ahi in Hawai’i]. It scares me. I got a pretty bad injury there when I was 25 and I'm still yet to get a good wave at that spot. So to go back there and get a proper wave there is a massive goal of mine. But also, I feel like no plan is the best plan.

Well, Laura, I'm a little bit of a surfer myself but I’d say my max is about 6 feet. What words of advice would you have for surfers wanting to push themselves in bigger waves?

When I started surfing big waves I would go down and be the only girl at a lot of these waves. And sometimes I was getting the wipeout of the day. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, that's so embarrassing.” People are going to be thinking, ‘Why is she here?’”

But then, the guys would wipe out as well and they wouldn't think anything of it. But it felt so huge when I was being wiped out. And I think that's the only way you're going to know how to do it. I think sometimes eating shit first is the best way to get over any hesitation.

Great. Well, thanks so much for your time and the advice Laura, I appreciate it and wish you the best of luck.

If you’d like to see some footage of Laura surfing - check out her Youtube here!

ICYMI: TDA Sport has a new game on Instagram called Blurdle. IYKYK.
Today’s answer: David Warner
Useless clue: Take me back (Get it? Email me if you do.)

A message from our sponsor

Cassandra Iannucci is a senior lecturer at Deakin University and recently helped to co-author an article that explored physical education (PE) curriculums at Australian schools.

PE has long demonstrated benefits for physical, mental, and social health. Research has shown that students who engage with and enjoy PE at school will carry healthy habits into their adult life.

However, global trends suggest a decrease in physical activity in the past 25 years, coupled with an increase in screen time. Australia, which has long been considered a ‘sporting nation’ received a grade of D- on the Global Physical Activity Report card in 2014, 2018, and 2022.

The article suggests that this decline can be addressed by requiring greater curriculum time for PE and providing PE teachers with regular professional development and opportunities to develop partnerships between schools and universities.

Such efforts can help instill positive attitudes toward physical activity and overall well-being. Learn more about the vital role of sport and PE in education at Deakin University and its potential impact on future generations.

Think Beyond The Field. Study Sport at Deakin.

Looking back…

Looking forward…(All times are AEDT)

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