LSU star Reese back on the court

SHORTS

Shorts

(FILES) Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal gestures as he talks during a press conference to announce he will not compete in the French Open, at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, on the Spanish Balearic Island of Mallorca, on May 18, 2023. Spaniard Rafael Nadal, absent from the courts for almost a year with a hip injury, announced on December 1, 2023 that he would return to competition in Brisbane next month ahead of the Australian Open. (Photo by JAIME REINA / AFP) (Photo by JAIME REINA/AFP via Getty Images) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

LSU forward Angel Reese (10) is recognized for 1,000 career rebounds, before the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Virginia Tech on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, in Baton Rouge, La. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP)

CT_IC_1040498750_1040529238_017-1203_AFP-Getty_Toyota US Open - Day 2#32.JPG

GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 30: Katie Ledecky receives her medal for winning the Women’s 800 Meter Freestyle Final on day 2 of the Toyota US Open on November 30, 2023 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) ** OUTS - ELSENT, FPG, CM - OUTS * NM, PH, VA if sourced by CT, LA or MoD **

PREVIOUS IMAGE

Image

NEXT IMAGE

LSU star Reese back on the court

LSU forward Angel Reese was talking to reporters even before she sat down in front of a microphone to take questions. “How happy are y’a’ll to see me? I know you all are,” she said as she walked into a postgame interview room for the first time in about two weeks. Reese was as ready to play as she was ready to talk. She went straight back to the starting lineup upon her return from a four-game absence and scored 19 points to help No. 7 LSU defeat No. 9 Virginia Tech 82-64 on Thursday night. “It was a long two weeks to be away from the team,” Reese said. “Taking time to yourself is really important.” Reese, whose temporary departure from the team stemmed from unspecified “locker room issues” that coach Kim Mulkey has declined to divulge, rejoined her teammates at practice this week. But Reese made some general references to her mental health and not wanting her behavior to be detrimental to the team. “Mental health is the most important thing before anything and I’m going to make sure I’m OK before anything because I don’t want to cause harm or any cancer in the locker room,” she said.

Nadal announces return to playing

Rafael Nadal will return to playing at the Brisbane International in Australia in January, the 22-time Grand Slam champion said Friday. “After a year of not competing, it is time to come back,” Nadal said in a video posted on social media. “It will be in Brisbane in the first week of January. See you there.” The 37-year-old Spaniard has not played on tour since last January, when he hurt his hip flexor during a loss in the second round of the Australian Open. In May, a little more than a week before the start of the French Open, Nadal announced that he would miss the tournament he’s won a record 14 times and wasn’t exactly sure when he might return to play. Nadal had said then that he hoped to compete in 2024, which he expected to be his final season. “You never know how things will turn out,” Nadal said at a news conference at the time, “but my intention is that next year will be my last year.” He wound up having arthroscopic surgery in June in Barcelona. Dating to the end of 2022, the Spanish left-hander has lost seven of his past nine matches, including going 1-3 this season.

Ledecky suffers rare loss at home

For the first time in 11 years, Katie Ledecky has lost a 400-meter freestyle race in an American pool. Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh took the title at the U.S. Open championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday, beating Ledecky by nearly 3 seconds. McIntosh took the title in a meet record of 3 minutes, 59.42 seconds, while Ledecky touched next in 4:02.38. Ledecky’s last loss in the 400 free in her home country was at the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials, when she placed third at age 15. Last March, the 17-year-old McIntosh also snapped Ledecky’s nine-year U.S. win streak in the 200 free. The significance of McIntosh’s latest victory is difficult to gauge, since swimmers are at different stages of their training cycles as they ramp up preparations for next year’s Paris Olympics. McIntosh held the 400 free world record for three months before it was reclaimed by Australia’s Ariarne Titmus with a winning time of 3:55.38 at this summer’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Ledecky was runner-up at worlds, while McIntosh struggled to a fourth-place finish. —Associated Press