Ghana Soccer Player Atsu's Well-being, Whereabouts Unknown

People inspect the damage as rescuers search for survivors in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye, February 8. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
People inspect the damage as rescuers search for survivors in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye, February 8. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Ghana Soccer Player Atsu's Well-being, Whereabouts Unknown

People inspect the damage as rescuers search for survivors in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye, February 8. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
People inspect the damage as rescuers search for survivors in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Türkiye, February 8. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Ghana international soccer player Christian Atsu is missing after the earthquake in Türkiye, his club and agent said Thursday, following earlier reports he was rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building and taken to a hospital.

Atsu's well-being and whereabouts were unknown. Aydin Toksoz, the deputy head of Hatayspor soccer club, told Türkiye 's state-run Anadolu Agency news service that club sporting director Taner Savut was also missing after the massive earthquake that struck southern Türkiye and Syria and has now killed more than 19,000 people, with that number expected to rise.

The 31-year-old Atsu, who previously played for English clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, signed for Hatayspor late last year. The club is based in the southern city of Antakya, near the epicenter of the earthquake that struck in the early hours of Monday and devastated the region. Atsu and Savut were believed to have been in buildings that collapsed, the club had said.

Nana Sechere, the agent for Atsu, said in messages to The Associated Press that he traveled to Türkiye to try to find Atsu but the player “is yet to be found.”

Hatayspor and the Ghana soccer association announced on Tuesday that Atsu was rescued from a ruined building on Monday night and taken to a medical facility for treatment.

Toksoz said Hatayspor was now "not able to confirm this information.”

"We have not been able to reach Atsu or Taner Savut,” Toksoz told the Anadolu Agency.

Ghana's ambassador to Türkiye said she was also searching for Atsu. Francisca Ahsitey-Odunton told Ghanaian radio she was given a list of 200 hospitals or medical facilities that Atsu could have been sent to if he was rescued and she had also been unable to confirm where the player was.



Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
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Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

There are few benefits to losing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam but when Iga Swiatek had her fingers prised off the French Open trophy, it had one unexpected benefit -- it lifted the pressure off her shoulders heading into Wimbledon.

Swiatek crushed Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday after years of trying and failing to make a major impact at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

She has made no secret of her preference for clay courts and her four French Open titles were clear evidence that Paris's red dirt was more to her liking than Wimbledon's lawns, Reuters reported.

Yet her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semi-finals in early June ended her chances of a fourth straight title in Paris and ensured few were tipping her for a career-best run at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm not going to have seasons where the pressure is not going to be kind of forced on me from the expectations from the outside anymore," she said after setting up a Saturday showdown against American Amanda Anisimova.

"Every year I guess it's kind of the same but I feel sometimes I can handle it better or ignore it. Sometimes a bit worse.

"I don't know. Like, honestly, I think it's easier if you haven't won Roland Garros and also if you had more time to practice.

"If I win Roland Garros and then I come here and everybody ask me already about... They put, like, super high expectations."

Five-times Grand Slam winner Swiatek was in a league of her own on a scorching Centre Court on Thursday, blitzing past Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic in the blink of an eye.

She has dropped only one set in her run to the final and suddenly looks at home on grass, a surface she has previously struggled to master.

"Every point is different and every match I need to adjust my game but for sure I feel like I improved my movement," she said, summing up what had changed for her on the surface. "I’m serving really well and I feel really confident, so I’m just going for it and it’s working so I will keep doing that."