If I had to pick one athlete that’s dominated their respective sport more than anyone this year, it would be Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar.

On the weekend, the reigning road cycling world champion won the 250km Liège-Bastogne-Liège, one of five of cycling’s annual one-day ‘Monument’ races.

Pogačar has now won a staggering seven of the fourteen days he’s raced this year and is a clear favourite to win a fourth Tour de France in July.

Let me know who your pick for the most dominant athlete of 2025 (so far) is by replying to this email!

35
The number of balls it took for 14-year-old Indian batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi to score a century (100 runs) for the Indian Premier League’s Rajasthan Royals. It’s the second-fastest century scored in the league’s history, and makes Suryavanshi the youngest player to record a century in professional men’s T20 cricket. The Royals beat the Gujarat Titans by eight wickets.

"She's working really hard. All the performance staff are doing everything for her to play this season. We'll see how it goes. We know we only have a few games left now. Hopefully, yes, but it's difficult for me to have a clear answer."
Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor speaking to reporters regarding the return date of Sam Kerr. With three games remaining for the Women’s Super League team this season, it’s unclear if the 31-year-old Matildas star will take to the pitch for Chelsea this season. Kerr has not played for 16 months after an ACL injury in January last year.

Cyclist Phil Anderson was the first Australian to wear the overall leader’s jersey in the world’s most famous bike race, Le Tour de France. Anderson wore the yellow jersey for one stage in 1981 and then held onto it for an incredible nine days the following year in 1982. The race is traditionally contested over 21 stages. 

⚽ In the A-League Women, the Central Coast Mariners defeated Canberra United 2-1 in an Elimination Final on Monday night. The Mariners have now secured a place in the league’s semi-finals against Melbourne City, who topped the table in the regular season. The other semi-final will see Adelaide United take on Melbourne Victory. Both semi-finals will be played over two legs, beginning this weekend, with the winner determined by the aggregate score after two games. 

⚽ The UEFA Champions League semi-finals begin tomorrow with English club Arsenal hosting French club Paris Saint-Germain in the first of two legs. When the two teams met in the group stage in October, Arsenal won the match 3-0. Arsenal, who have never won the Europe-wide tournament, are making their third appearance in the penultimate stage. The match will kick off at 5:00am. In Australia, you can watch the Champions League on Stan Sport. 

🏉 36-year-old Canberra Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty will leave the club at the end of this season after signing a three-year contract with the Manly Sea Eagles. The Raiders, currently third on the ladder, will look to make the most of their final season with the experienced playmaker whose contract at Manly is reportedly worth $2 million. 21-year-old Ethan Sanders is expected to step into the halfback role at the Raiders following Fogarty’s departure.

🏉 Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss will reportedly succeed Joe Schmidt as coach of the Wallabies. Rugby Australia is expected to make the announcement tomorrow morning. Kiss will be the fifth coach of the side within six years. It’s anticipated he will be the Wallabies guiding force through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup, which will be hosted by Australia.

Alex de Minaur’s campaign to win the Madrid Open was put on hold overnight as the tournament was delayed due to widespread blackouts across Spain and Portugal.

Major outages across Spain and Portugal on Monday (local time) left millions without power for several hours. The blackouts disrupted public transport, flights, card payments, the internet and phone lines, and traffic in both countries. Power is gradually being restored across the region, as authorities work to determine the cause of the outages.

The Madrid Open is an elite 1000-level ATP and WTA tournament. The best men’s and women’s players in the world are competing on clay in the lead-up to the French Open, which begins next month.

Of the nine Australians who started in the tournament this week, De Minaur is the last standing in either draw. The 26-year-old has advanced to the Round of 32, where he will play Canadian 29th seed Denis Shapovalov. De Minaur is seeking to make it to the pointy end of the Madrid Open for the first time in his career.

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It’s that time of year again: the NBA Playoffs have well and truly arrived. If you haven’t been watching, the remaining teams in contention are deep into the first round. The winner of the 2025 Championship will be declared in June, but how will we get there? Here’s what you need to know.

The first thing to know is that the NBA is split into two groups — the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.

Each conference has 15 teams, which are then split into three smaller groups of five, called ‘divisions’. The teams are mostly grouped based on their location to reduce travel time. During a regular season, each team plays 82 games. If you finish in the top six of the conference, you qualify for the playoffs. This is the next round of the competition.

The teams that placed between 7 and 10 (remember, out of 15) will then compete in something called the play-in tournament, a knockout round to see which teams will fill the remaining two spots in each of the conference playoffs.

In the NBA, each Conference has three stages of playoffs: the ‘first round playoffs’, the ‘conference semifinals’, and the ‘conference finals’. A Playoff is not just one game — it is a best-of-seven series.

First-round playoffs: The top eight teams in each conference are split into four groups of two. Each group plays a series of seven games against each other. The first team to win four games wins that playoff. This is the stage we are at right now.

Conference semifinals: Four winners from each conference will progress to this next round. The four teams will be separated into two groups of two. Rach group will then play against each other in a best-of-seven series.

Conference finals: Two teams from each conference will emerge from the semifinals. This means there are four teams left across both conferences. The two teams in each conference then face off (yes, in another best-of-seven series).

The next stage is the NBA Championships! The winners of both conference finals will play each other (you guessed it, in a best-of-seven series) for the final prize: the NBA Championship.

The number one seeds from the two conferences, the Oklahoma City Thunder (west) and Cleveland Cavaliers (east), have both already advanced to the semi-finals after sweeping their respective opponents 4-0. The Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Cavaliers dominated the Miami Heat.

Still playing in the Western Conference first round, the Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers are tied 2-2, the Minnesota Timberwolves lead LeBron James’ LA Lakers 3-1, and the Houston Rockets are trailing the Golden State Warriors 1-3.

In the Eastern Conference first round, the Indiana Pacers lead the Milwaukee Bucks 3-1, the New York Knicks lead the Detroit Pistons 3-1, and defending champions the Boston Celtics lead the Orlando Magic 3-1.