Serena has benign cyst removed

Serena Williams says she had a benign branchial cyst “the size of a small grapefruit” removed from her neck and “all is OK.” The retired tennis star, who turned 43 last month, posted Wednesday on social media that she found a lump on her neck in May, had an MRI exam, and was told she didn’t need to get it removed if she didn’t want to. So she didn’t then, “but it kept growing,” Williams said. After more tests, including a biopsy that was negative for cancer, Williams said, her doctors said she should have a procedure. In a separate social media post, she said she is “still recovering, but getting better. Health always comes first.” Williams announced her retirement — famously eschewing that term and saying instead she was “evolving” away from pro tennis — shortly before playing in the 2022 U.S. Open, her last tournament. She won 23 Grand Slam titles in singles, the most by a woman in the sport’s professional era, and another 14 in doubles with her older sister Venus. Serena Williams spent more than 300 weeks at No. 1 in the WTA rankings and collected four Olympic gold medals.

Silver: No regrets on historic op-ed

“Betting on professional sports is currently illegal in most of the United States outside of Nevada. I believe we need a different approach.” The upcoming 10th anniversary of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver typing those two sentences is significant because those words were part of a movement that changed the sports landscape and brought betting on games into the mainstream. Those two sentences were the start of a November 2014 op-ed that carried Silver’s byline in The New York Times. The op-ed represented a seismic shift from the NBA’s previous position on the matter. And the notion of sports betting isn’t part of a conversation anymore. It’s a phenomenon. “I’d say when it comes to sports betting, I certainly don’t regret writing that op-ed,” Silver said. Silver’s op-ed didn’t change the betting landscape on its own, but it’s clear that it helped get the ball rolling. Nearly four years after the op-ed, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that barred gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states and gave states the go-ahead to legalize betting on sports.

Tuchel new England soccer coach

Thomas Tuchel was hired as England coach on Wednesday and tasked with the challenge of ending the national team’s decades-long wait for a trophy. The German, who previously managed Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, has signed an 18-month contract that begins in January and runs through to the 2026 World Cup in the United States. “This is a really exciting day for the English game,” said English Football Association chief Mark Bullingham at Tuchel’s Wembley Stadium unveiling. “Our aim is always to win a major tournament and we believe Thomas gives us the best possible chance to do that at the next men’s World Cup.” By then it will be 60 years since England won its only major trophy — the World Cup in 1966. Fourteen different managers have failed to break that run, with Gareth Southgate coming closest by leading the nation to back-to-back European Championship finals before stepping down in July. Champions League- winner Tuchel, 51, becomes the national team’s third foreign coach. —Associated Press