Alcaraz Says He Would Pick Paris Olympics Gold Over French Open Crown 

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz offers a press conference prior to his debut at the IEB+ Argentina Open tennis tournament, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12 February 2024. (EPA)
Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz offers a press conference prior to his debut at the IEB+ Argentina Open tennis tournament, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12 February 2024. (EPA)
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Alcaraz Says He Would Pick Paris Olympics Gold Over French Open Crown 

Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz offers a press conference prior to his debut at the IEB+ Argentina Open tennis tournament, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12 February 2024. (EPA)
Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz offers a press conference prior to his debut at the IEB+ Argentina Open tennis tournament, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12 February 2024. (EPA)

Carlos Alcaraz will have the chance to win the Olympic tennis title at Roland Garros this year as well as the French Open crown and while he will be gunning for both the Spaniard said if forced to choose, he would pick the Paris Games gold.

The Olympic tennis tournament will take place in July, a month after the year's second Grand Slam on the same claycourts in the French capital.

"For me, it's a dream to bring a medal to my country and winning gold is one of the greatest things that can happen to you in the world of sport," Alcaraz told reporters in Buenos Aires, where he will defend his title this week.

"This year, if you gave me a choice, I'd say that I will keep the Olympic gold, although I would like to win both. I'm not going to lie."

The 20-year-old won the US Open in 2022 and Wimbledon last year but failed to add to his Grand Slam collection last month after going out in the Australian Open quarter-finals to Alexander Zverev, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo.

While German Zverev leads their career meetings 5-3, Alcaraz said world number one Novak Djokovic and Melbourne Park champion Jannik Sinner were top of the tree.

"I think Djokovic and Sinner are the rivals to beat, there is no doubt, both for me and for everyone," world number two Alcaraz added.

"Zverev also has the winning head-to-head against me, he's a rival I have very much in my mind, but I do think that Djokovic and Sinner are at the top right now."



Liverpool Stays Ahead of Man City by Beating Chelsea 2-1 in Premier League

20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
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Liverpool Stays Ahead of Man City by Beating Chelsea 2-1 in Premier League

20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
20 October 2024, United Kingdom, Liverpool: Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea at the Anfield. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa

Liverpool is looking more and more like Manchester City’s main title rival after beating resurgent Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday to stay top of the Premier League table.
After City needed an injury-time header from John Stones to beat last-place Wolves 2-1 in the early kickoff, Liverpool answered with a composed performance at Anfield to hand Chelsea its first league loss since the opening round, The Associated Press reported.
Having seen third-place Arsenal lose at Bournemouth on Saturday to raise questions about the Gunners’ title hopes, Liverpool and City took full advantage to build a small gap atop the standings. Arne Slot’s team leads on 21 points from eight games, one ahead of City and four above Arsenal.
Curtis Jones orchestrated the win for Liverpool, earning a penalty for Mohamed Salah’s first-half opener and then scoring himself to restore the host’s lead in the 51st minute, shortly after Nicolas Jackson had equalized for Chelsea.
Liverpool was the last team other than City to win the title, in 2019-20, and pushed Pep Guardiola’s team to the very end several times under Jurgen Klopp before finishing just fifth two years ago and a distant third last season.
In Slot’s first season in charge, though, the Reds are looking like credible challengers again and have now won 10 of 11 games in all competitions.
And City is looking far from unbeatable, needing another last-gasp goal from Stones to avoid a third league draw in four games against a Wolves team that only has one point so far.
It also needed a VAR intervention for the goal to stand, as referee Chris Kavanagh was called to the sideline monitor to review whether Bernardo Silva was interfering with goalkeeper Jose Sa from an offside position.
“We are not used to winning games at the end,” said Guardiola, whose team has won four straight league titles by regularly overwhelming most opponents. “It is a good flavor for us.”
It also extended City’s unbeaten streak to a club-record 31 league games, beating a mark Guardiola’s team had set in 2018.
With prolific striker Erling Haaland held scoreless for a third straight league game, City’s defenders provided the goals instead after Jorgen Strand Larsen had given the hosts a surprising early lead in the seventh minute.
Josko Gvardiol curled in a superb right-foot shot from outside the area to equalize in the 33rd minute but Wolves then repelled wave after wave of City attacks before the late intervention from Stones, who also netted a last-gasp equalizer against Arsenal in the eighth minute of injury time last month.
“These moments don’t come often for us,” Stones said. “We’ve come up with a few over the years and today was one of them.”