doubles

Some 8% of adults surveyed said they use the technology to give them ideas for where to go on holiday, up from 4% a year earlier, a poll suggests

Double the number of people are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for holiday planning inspiration compared to last year, fresh research reveals.

Travel industry body Abta, which commissioned the study, branded the technology a “creative co-pilot” that holidaymakers can utilise to research, plan and book their getaways. Around 8% of participants in a survey of 2,001 UK adults carried out in July admitted they use AI to spark ideas for their holiday destinations.

This marks a rise from 4% twelve months ago. Abta’s director of communications Graeme Buck suggested there is “a potential for this acceleration” to persist, stating: “I wouldn’t be surprised if that 8% becomes 16% next year.”

The most recent findings showed that those aged 25-34 are most inclined to harness the technology for holiday brainstorming, with 18% of participants in this age bracket confirming they do so.

OPINION

Milo Boyd

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This was followed by 35 to 44 year olds (14%). Among those 65 and over, the proportion dropped to merely 1%.

AI travel applications encompass services including chatbots and resources for translation and itinerary creation.

More than two in five (43%) survey participants indicated they would feel somewhat confident using AI to organise a holiday, though this fell to 38% when it came to actually making reservations.

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2, addressed travel industry leaders at Abta’s annual convention in Calvia, Spain, stating that technology like AI will “continue to become a bigger part of what customers do before they book”.

He added: “We’re all going to have to work harder to justify the margin that we want to earn by demonstrating superior knowledge of the product and providing that anticipation and excitement.”

Neil Swanson, UK managing director of Tui, forecasted that AI will “completely transform” the travel industry, but many customers will still prefer to book their trips through human travel agents.

He said: “That is not going away anytime soon, in my view, because of that group of customers who value that. They use the technology a lot of those customers, but they still want to go in and look someone in the eye when they’re booking something. They value that trust element.”

Abta CEO Mark Tanzer said: “The challenge is to harness the potential which AI has to support our businesses, while continuing to celebrate and champion the value of the personal touch and expertise which comes with booking with a travel agent or tour operator.”

On any other day, Townsend, playing at her home major, would have been the crowd favourite.

On Sunday, the Louis Armstrong Stadium rode every high and low as she spurned eight match points before losing to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets to exit the women’s singles in the last 16.

But on the same stage in the doubles, she was playing against a partisan crowd.

Williams is, after all, a four-time champion at Flushing Meadows across the formats, winning back-to-back singles titles in 2000 and 2001 and earning two doubles titles alongside sister Serena in 1999 and 2009.

Across her career, she has fought back from wrist and back injuries as well as being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.

This was her first appearance in the last eight of a Grand Slam since reaching the semi-finals in the singles in New York in 2017 and her first doubles quarter-final since winning Wimbledon in 2016.

But despite the raucous reception as she walked on to court, the match was one-way traffic.

The top seeds were relentless, winning 12 of the first13 points to race into a 3-0 lead.

Their success was met with polite, if muted, applause and it was not until the fourth game, when Williams rolled back the years with a bruising forehand winner off Siniakova’s serve, that the crowd erupted into life.

Williams later held her second service game to 15 but Townsend and Siniakova, who only dropped six points on serve throughout the match, had one foot in the last four after 22 minutes.

The second set proved more competitive, with Williams and Fernandez both holding their serves, but with their opponents sending down 12 winners and just two unforced errors, they could not get a foothold in the match.

Townsend and Czech Siniakova, who have yet to drop a set, will face fourth seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens for a place in the final.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski – the sixth seeds – fought back from a set down to reach the third round of the men’s doubles with a 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over Monaco’s Hugo Nys and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

However, Briton Marcus Willis was knocked out as he and Karol Drzewiecki of Poland fell to 4-6 6-3 6-1 defeat by Czech pair Tomas Machac and Matej Vocel.

United States President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his commitment to sending the National Guard to Chicago, Illinois, as he continues to portray Democrat-run cities as overrun by crime.

Tuesday’s remarks were some of Trump’s most direct statements on the subject so far.

In an Oval Office appearance to announce the relocation of the US Space Command headquarters, Trump was asked about the possibility of a troop deployment to Chicago, the country’s third-largest city by population.

Though he initially launched into a screed decrying crime in the city, he quickly confirmed his plans.

“We’re going in. I didn’t say when, but we’re going in,” Trump said.

“ If the governor of Illinois would call me up. I would love to do it. Now, we’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it because I have an obligation to protect this country.”

But the threat of military force was not the only reason Tuesday’s news conference made headlines.

Here are four key takeaways from Trump’s Oval Office appearance.

Trump teases Chicago military deployment

Trump was defiant in his Tuesday afternoon appearance, which came shortly after a federal court in San Francisco ruled that his troop deployment to Los Angeles earlier this year was illegal.

Instead, he defended his decision to use soldiers for his crime crackdown, arguing it was necessary to deal with some suspects.

“Frankly, they were born to be criminals,” Trump said. “And they’re tough and mean, and they’ll cut your throat, and they won’t even think about it the next day. They won’t even remember that they did it. And we’re not going to have those people.”

He also pointed to his deployment of troops in Washington, DC, as a model for his crime initiatives throughout the country.

“ I’m very proud of Washington,” he said. “It serves as a template. And we’re going to do it elsewhere.”

Experts, however, point out that the federal government has greater powers to deploy troops in Washington, the country’s capital, than in other parts of the country.

But the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement, except in rare occasions with state cooperation.

Trump is expected to face another legal challenge under that law should he deploy troops to Chicago, as he has repeatedly threatened.

Tensions have been ratcheting upwards between city officials and the Trump administration since August.

On Sunday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that the Trump administration would increase the presence of federal agents to support immigration enforcement in the city.

Also over the weekend, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that Chicago police will not collaborate with any National Guard troops or federal agents.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that military “staging that has already begun started yesterday, and continues into today” in and around the Chicago area. Pritzker, a Democrat, has opposed such efforts and warned the city to brace for a situation like what Los Angeles experienced in June.

Still, Trump indicated that a troop deployment to Chicago would only be the start of a wide-reaching crackdown.

“ Chicago is a hellhole right now. Baltimore is a hellhole right now. Parts of Los Angeles are terrible if we didn’t put out the fires – I mean, the other fires, the bullet fires,” Trump said

Moving US Space Command

The focus of the Oval Office event, however, was to tout Trump’s decision to move the headquarters of the US Space Command from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama.

Space Command falls under the Department of Defense and is tasked with overseeing military operations beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

Critics pointed out that the move appeared designed to play to Trump’s Republican base, as Alabama is a right-wing stronghold compared with the more left-leaning Colorado.

Trump, however, said the move was in the strategic interest of the US. He also emphasised that it would create 30,000 jobs in the state and “billions and billions” of dollars of investment, despite concerns over logistical issues.

Supporters have noted that Huntsville is already home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and a major hub for defence contractors, earning it the nickname “Rocket City”.

Tuesday’s announcement reverses a 2023 decision by then-President Joe Biden to keep Space Command in Colorado, where it had been located since its founding 1985, until it was mothballed in 2002.

Trump re-established the command during his first term in 2019, with about 1,700 personnel currently working at its headquarters in Colorado Springs.

In his remarks from the Oval Office, though, Trump was blatant in his disdain for the state, which he lost in both the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.

He repeatedly told reporters that Colorado’s policy of providing mail-in ballots to all voters fuelled the decision to move the command.

“When a state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections,” Trump said. “So that played a big factor.”

Trump has falsely claimed that mail-in ballots lead to election malfeasance. In his remarks, he noted he had won Alabama by a wide margin in the 2024 race, joking about how that might have affected Space Command’s relocation.

“ I only won it by about 47 points,” he said to chuckles. “I don’t think that influenced my decision, though, right?”

In a statement, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said the move “undermines national security, wastes millions of taxpayer dollars, and disrupts the lives of military families”.

Speculation over health

Tuesday’s news conference was Trump’s first public appearance in days, an absence that stoked speculation over the 79-year-old president’s health.

When asked about the rumours, Trump, 79, batted them away.

“I didn’t do any [news conferences] for two days and they said, ‘There must be something wrong with him,’” Trump said.

“Biden wouldn’t do them for months, you wouldn’t see him, and nobody ever said there was ever anything wrong with him, and we know he wasn’t in the greatest of shape.”

Trump spent part of the recent Labor Day weekend playing at his Trump National Golf Course in Virginia, a fact he pointed to when confronted with questions about his health.

“I was very active over the weekend,” he added.

Media reports estimated it was Trump’s 66th visit to a golf course since he began his second term in January.

Trump is expected to be the oldest president in US history by the time he leaves office: Should he successfully complete his second term, he will be 82, edging out the current record holder, Biden, by several months.

But Biden’s seeming frailty in his final months in office has raised scrutiny about what health conditions Trump might face as he approaches a similar age.

An attack on a Venezuelan boat?

One of the surprises that emerged from Tuesday’s meandering news conference was the announcement that the US may have attacked a boat in the Caribbean Sea.

“We just – over the last few minutes – literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat,” Trump said. “A lot of drugs in that boat. And you’ll be seeing that, and you’ll be reading about that. It just happened moments ago.”

The president identified the vessel as departing from Venezuela, whose government Trump has repeatedly accused of directing drug-trafficking operations, though he has provided no proof for that assertion.

Shortly after the news conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on the social media platform X that the military had “conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organisation”.

He did not provide further details.

Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has returned to his policy of maximum pressure against the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, recently raising the reward for his arrest to $50m.

Trump has also claimed that immigration into the US was the result of a criminal “invasion” that Maduro masterminded.

A US intelligence report declassified in May, however, failed to find proof of any such cooperation between Maduro and gangs like Tren de Aragua.

Still, earlier this year, the Trump administration designated Latin American gangs like Tren de Aragua as “foreign terrorist organisations”. The move represented a break in convention in Washington, which has a separate designation for foreign criminal enterprises.

In August, it was reported that Trump secretly signed an order authorising military action against cartels and other criminal networks, spurring concern of US intervention abroad.

Maduro has long accused Trump of interfering in his domestic politics, and Tuesday’s announcement has further piqued tensions.

Venus Williams had made it to the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open women’s doubles competition five times. Each time, she was partnered with younger sister Serena Williams.

Venus Williams is back in the U.S. Open quarterfinals this year, for the first time since 2014, with new doubles partner Leylah Fernandez.

Williams’ retired sibling hasn’t made it to Flushing Meadows for any of this year’s action so far, but the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion made a plea for that to change following her and Fernandez’s 6-3, 6-4 victory over Zhang Shuai and Ekaterina Alexandrova on Monday.

“She’s so happy for Leylah and I, and she’s given us advice,” Williams said of her sister during an on-court interview. “We just need her in the box. So, my message is: Serena, you need to show up.”

Williams was responding to a question about a recent TikTok post by Serena in which the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is watching Williams and Fernandez on TV and rolling her eyes. Once she notices she is being filmed, however, Serena forces some humorously fake-looking smiles.

“When you see your sister @Venus Williams has a new doubles partner @leylahanniefernandez and you are really happy she’s winning with someone else…” the caption reads.

Venus Williams called the post “very funny.”

The Williams sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles (including the U.S. Open in 1999 and 2009) and three Olympic gold medals as doubles partners. While Serena hasn’t played since the 2022 U.S. Open, Venus returned to the court after a lengthy hiatus for July’s D.C. Open.

At that tournament, the 45-year-old Williams became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match with a first-round victory over 23-year-old Peyton Stearns. Williams also won a first-round doubles match with 23-year-old partner Hailey Baptiste.

At the U.S. Open, Williams lost her first-round singles match to 29-year-old Karolina Muchova in three sets. But she and Fernandez, a 22-year-old Canadian who played in the 2021 U.S. Open singles final, have been on a roll. They have yet to drop a set in three rounds of play.

Williams told reporters that Serena has actually been very supportive.

“She’s definitely coaching from afar, and she’s so excited,” Williams said. “She gets so nervous watching, and she’s got the kids watching. They’re all at home, just really on our side.”

Williams also addressed her earlier request for her sister to “show up” for Tuesday’s quarterfinal match against the top-seeded duo of Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova.

“If she came, it would be a dream for both of us,” Williams said. “We’d have her on the court coaching. And we’d force her to hit, even though she doesn’t hit often.”

She added with a laugh,”So it’s probably best she doesn’t come because we’d just like, probably bully her.”

Williams, a seven-time singles and 14-time women’s doubles Grand Slam champion, is playing her 25th US Open.

She won the first of her two women’s doubles titles in New York with younger sister Serena in 1999, three years before Fernandez was born.

Addressing Williams in her on-court interview, former US Open singles runner-up Fernandez said: “Seeing you play on court with the same big smile you had back then is so inspirational and motivates me to keep going. I love that you love tennis.”

It is the first time that Williams has reached the quarter-finals of a major since winning the Wimbledon title, also alongside Serena, in 2016.

Asked if she had a message for her younger sibling, Williams joked: “She’s so happy for Leylah and I, she’s given us advice and we just need her in the box, so my message is ‘Serena, you need to show up!'”

Their quarter-final opponents could be top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, whose third-round match had not begun when Williams and Fernandez left the court having signed autographs for many of their waiting supporters.

For Alexandrova, it was the second defeat of the day on Louis Armstrong Stadium, having earlier been knocked out of the singles by Iga Swiatek on the same court.

Earlier this season, former world number one Williams was officially considered an inactive player, having gone a whole year without competing.

Then, out of nowhere as the eyes of the tennis world were trained on Wimbledon, she announced she was ready to play again at the Washington Open.

Williams beat 35th-ranked Peyton Stearns on her comeback in Washington, whetting her appetite for more competitive action.

Despite an opening defeat in Cincinnati, Williams received a wildcard for the US Open singles, in which she is also a two-time champion.

After her 6-3 2-6 6-1 defeat by Muchova, she cast an emotional figure as she reflected on how she has battled back from serious health issues to push the world’s best players to their limit – against the odds.

In 2011, Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disease with symptoms including pain, numbness and fatigue.

Last month, she revealed how she had also been affected by the severity of painful fibroids – abnormal growths that develop in the uterus.

Fernandez, 22, is seeded 31st in the women’s singles in New York and beat compatriot Rebecca Marino 6-2 6-1 in the first round.

She reached the singles final in 2021, where she finished runner-up to Britain’s Emma Raducanu.

If the opening day had the air of an exhibition at certain times, the finals night immediately felt like business.

From the start it brought the feel of a traditional US Open showpiece event, with a patriotic rendition of the national anthem and a group of US Marine Corps standing with an unfurled Stars and Stripes flag providing pomp.

Many feel the overhaul has devalued the mixed doubles as a major title. Some are even putting asterisks next to the champions.

Given that, the stadium announcer outlining what winning the title would mean for each player’s Grand Slam résumé felt like an attempt to add legitimacy.

The opening semi-final was played at a ferocious intensity – not surprising given the will-to-win of the characters involved – while Ruud calling for a VAR-style check on a Pegula shot was another indication of how seriously it was being taken.

At 3-3 30-30, the umpire confirmed the American had not reached over the net – following fervent discussion between the opposing players – with Pegula and Draper using the momentum to win the opening set.

But Pegula’s clasp of her head after they blew an 8-4 lead in the first-to-10 match tie-break summed up their bitter disappointment at missing a shot for the trophy.

Unsurprisingly, Errani and Vavassori were also seriously pumped up.

The duo mirroring Hulk Hogan-style underarm bicep flexes after winning their semi-final was one of the defining images.

While the energy on court ramped up, the emphasis on providing entertainment for those watching in the stands remained.

A pair of DJs were perched behind courtside decks, tasked with whipping up the crowd through a New York-inspired playlist including Jay-Z, Cyndi Lauper and the Friends theme tune, while the familiar sight of Celeb Cam and Dance Cam added to the party atmosphere.

Fashion icon Anna Wintour, who recently stepped back from her role as Vogue editor-in-chief, added further star-dust in a near-full capacity crowd.

Thousands stayed late until the end and were rewarded with a fine finale to a transformative tournament which looks destined to stay in the coming years.

An excitable atmosphere continued as the fans – who paid between $25 (£18.50) and $145 (£107) for what British doubles player Jamie Murray described as a “glorified exhibition” – danced to tunes played by an on-court DJ and acted up when appearing on the big screen.

Both sets of players smiled and laughed throughout, further illustrating how the stars are using the event to tune up for their greater priority of the singles.

For some, it underlined the view of the doubles specialists sidelined that a Grand Slam tournament had lost value.

Pegula, who has been ranked world number one in the women’s doubles, and Draper were also a scratch pairing but had too much quality against a pair who are less experienced in tour-level doubles.

For Draper, it was third time lucky – having seen previous planned partners Zheng Qinwen and Paula Badosa withdraw through injury.

Pegula and Draper’s mutual will-to-win was more evident than some of the pairings, looking focused as they later beat Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev to reach the last four.

The Russian pair earlier knocked out 24-time major singles champion Novak Djokovic and his fellow Serb Olga Danilovic in the first round,

There was the loss of another star name before Tuesday’s play started, when men’s world number one Jannik Sinner withdrew through illness.

THIS year’s US Open mixed doubles winners are set to be awarded a mouth-watering sum.

The 2025 US Open kick starts with a new mixed doubles championship, with eight duos battling it out for the title.

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Organisers have controversially made the event stand-alone this year in an attempt to encourage top singles players to participate in the mixed doubles.

The competition is set to be played between August 19-20 with the US Open Singles tournament getting started on August 24.

Many of the big name singles players will be competing in the competition with seven teams gaining direct entry based on their combined singles rankings.

Emma Raducanu pairs up with Carlos Alcaraz as she faces fellow Brit Jack Draper and his teammate Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16.

Wimbledon winner and last year’s men’s US Open champion Jannik Sinner teams up with experienced doubles player Katerina Siniakova.

Reigning champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori return as they will try to defend their title.

Novak Djokovic is also in the competition and pairs up with Olga Danilovic.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner has only reached the second round of a doubles competition once – at Wimbledon in 2006 – but did make a run to the semi-finals of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

US Open Mixed Doubles 2025 prize money

This year’s prize money has increased significantly from last year with the winning team now being awarded $1million (£736,880).

This is a staggering improvement on the $200,000 (£147,364) given to 2024 champions Errani and Vavassori.

Intent has clearly being shown by organisers significantly increasing the prize pool, upping the stakes and hopefully increasing the suspense and excitement of the games throughout the competition.

Here is a full breakdown of the prize money for the mixed doubles competition:

• Winner: $1,000,000 (£736,880)
• Runner-up: $400,000 (£294,729)
• Semi-Finalist: $200,000 (£147,364)
• Quarter-Finalist: $100,000 (£73,682)
• Round of 16: $20,000 (£14,736)

THE US Open mixed doubles tournament is getting a revamp this year, with some of the best singles players in the world stepping on court.

Instead of doubles happening at the same time as singles – like at the other three Grand Slams – the 2025 mixed doubles tournament at Flushing Meadows will take place a week before the singles tournament.

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The change has caused some controversy, as 2025 Wimbledon mixed doubles champ Sem Verbeek branded it “a shame“.

Who’s playing in the 2025 US Open mixed doubles?

There are eight teams confirmed for the US Open mixed doubles.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz will team up with British No. 1 Emma Raducanu – who won the singles tournament in 2021.

Earlier this year, they sparked romance rumours after being spotted at each other’s matches at Wimbledon and Queen’s.

Other confirmed teams include World No 1 Jannik Sinner and Emma Navarro, Brit No 1 Jack Draper and Spain’s Paula Badosa, and all-American duo Tommy Paul and Jessica Pegula.

Two more teams will receive a wildcard in the coming weeks. Among the favourites to receive the final wildcards are Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios, plus British No 2 Katie Boulter and her fiance Alex de Minaur, who tweeted: “Katie and I would like to ask for a WC pretty pretty please”.

What is the draw for the US Open mixed doubles?

Top Half

• (1) Jessica Pegula & Jack Draper vs Emma Raducanu & Carlos Alcaraz
• Olga Danilovic & Novak Djokovic vs Mirra Andreeva & Daniil Medvedev
• (3) Iga Siwatek & Casper Ruud vs Madison Keys & Frances Tiafoe
• Naomi Osaka & Gael Monfils vs Caty McNally & Lorenzo Musetti

Bottom Half

• Katerina Siniakova & Jannik Sinner vs Belinda Bencic & Alexander Zverev
• Taylor Townsend & Ben Shelton vs (4) Amanda Anisimova & Holger Rune
• Venus Williams & Reilly Opelka vs Karolina Muchova & Andrey Rublev
• Sara Errani & Andrea Vavassori vs (2) Elena Rybakina & Taylor Fritz

When does the US Open mixed doubles tournament start?

The revamped US Open mixed doubles championship will take place over two days, on August 19 and 20.

The first and second rounds will start at 11am New York time (6am BST) on August 19, and the semi-final at 7pm (2pm BST) the following evening – with the final set to begin soon after.

The US Open as a whole will last three weeks, and will finish with the men’s singles final on September 7.

How much is the US Open mixed doubles prize money?

The 2025 mixed doubles champions will receive $1 million (about £740,000) in prize money.

This is five times as much as last year’s $200,000 (£148,600) prize money, won by Italy’s Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori – who have received a wildcard into this year’s tournament.

What is the controversy behind the 2025 US Open mixed doubles?

The new US Open mixed doubles format has sparked controversy for taking away opportunities from players who specialise in doubles.

Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands told BBC Sport that his “heart is bleeding” at not having the chance to play.

His doubles partner at Wimbledon, Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova – currently the world No 2 in doubles and an Olympic gold medallist – added: “I think it’s a marketing step, but they are taking [away the] chance of doubles players.”

Last year’s US Open mixed doubles champions, Errani and Vavassori, echoed their feelings.

“We see it as a profound injustice that disrespects an entire category of players,” the Italian duo said in a joint statement.

Where can I watch the US Open mixed doubles?

All the US Open action – singles and doubles – can be streamed in the UK and Ireland on Sky Sports.

British number ones Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will face each other in this week’s new-look US Open mixed doubles event in New York.

Raducanu, 22, is partnering five-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz, while Draper, 23, will play with American Jessica Pegula after their original partners, Tommy Paul and Paula Badosa, both withdrew.

Organisers were heavily criticised in February after announcing that the mixed doubles competition would be a standalone event on 19-20 August – before the singles tournament begins on 24 August.

The 16 pairs involved will compete for $1m (£749,077) at Flushing Meadows.

Raducanu, who won the US Open title in 2021, and Spaniard Alcaraz have been handed a wildcard entry for the two-day tournament.

Before the event, Alcaraz, 22, is taking on world number one Jannik Sinner for the fourth time this season, in the final of the Cincinnati Open in Ohio on Monday.

Italian Sinner, 24, who is also a wildcard entrant, has been re-paired with Czech Katerina Siniakova after his partner, American Emma Navarro, withdrew.

Draper and Pegula, meanwhile, have qualified directly and have been given the top seeding, because both players are inside the top five in the singles rankings.

The first two rounds will take place on Tuesday and the semi-finals and final will be played on Wednesday.

Just four games will be required to win a set in matches before the final, with no-advantage scoring (four points will be needed to win a game) and 10-point match tie-breaks instead of a third set throughout.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi says Venezuelan president one of the world’s ‘largest narco-traffickers’.

The United States has offered a $50m reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, doubling an earlier reward of $25m set by the Trump administration in January.

The US has accused the Venezuelan leader of being one of the world’s leading narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

In a video posted to social media on Thursday announcing the “historic” increase in reward money, US Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Maduro of collaborating with Venezuelan crime syndicates Tren de Aragua, Cartel of the Suns and the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.

“He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security. Therefore, we doubled his reward to $50 million,” Bondi said.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice, and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” she said, before giving the public a hotline phone number where they can report tips.

Bondi also said that the US Department of Justice had so far seized more than $700m in assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets, nine vehicles, and claimed that tonnes of seized cocaine had been traced directly to the president.

Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded on the Telegram platform to Bondi’s announcement, saying it was “the most ridiculous smokescreen ever seen” and designed to distract attention from the Jeffrey Epstein controversy in the US.

“It does not surprise us, coming from who it comes from. The same one who promised a non-existent ‘secret list’ of Epstein and who wallows in scandals of political favours,” the minister said.

“Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own miseries. The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation,” he said.

Maduro was indicted in a US federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies, on federal drug charges.

At the time, the US offered a $15m reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25m – the same amount the US offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

In June, a former director of the Venezuelan military intelligence pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in the US, a week before his trial was set to begin.

Hugo Carvajal, who served in the government of the late President Hugo Chavez from 2004 to 2011, admitted guilt in four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons charges.

US federal prosecutors had alleged the former major-general, along with other high-ranking Venezuelan government and military officials, led a drug cartel that attempted to “flood” the US with cocaine.

Carvajal had served as a diplomat representing Maduro’s government before breaking with him to support the country’s US-backed political opposition. He was extradited from Spain to the US in July 2023 following more than a decade-long campaign by the Justice Department.

Despite the US rewards, Maduro remains in power after his re-election as president in 2024 in a vote that was condemned as a sham by Washington, the European Union and several Latin American governments.

Last month, the Trump administration struck a deal to secure the release of 10 Americans jailed in Caracas in exchange for Venezuela seeing the return home of dozens of people deported by the US to El Salvador under the Trump administration’s new immigration crackdown.

Shortly after, the White House also reversed course and allowed US oil giant Chevron to resume drilling in Venezuela after it was previously blocked by US sanctions.

Venus and Serena Williams were a pretty decent doubles team over the years.

The sisters from Compton won 14 majors and three Olympic gold medals as a duo.

But it turns out that the older sister was being held back by her younger sibling — at least that’s what Venus Williams joked on Monday after winning her first match with new doubles partner Hailey Baptiste during the first round of the D.C. Open.

“I think, from the first point, I could see that we were going to be a good team,” Williams said during her on-court interview following the American duo’s 6-3, 6-1 victory against Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue. “We just should have started playing earlier, years ago, right? I think Serena was just in the way.”

After the capacity crowd of around 3,000 roared with laughter at the quip, Williams smiled and waved to the camera: “Sorry, Serena.”

Williams, 45, had every right to be giddy after a successful return to the court following a 16-month hiatus, during which she underwent a medical procedure to remove fibroids from her uterus last July.

“It’s just nice to be able to play,” Williams said during her postmatch news conference with Baptiste. “Where I am at this year is so much different than where I was at last year. It’s night and day, being able to be here and prepare for the tournament as opposed to preparing for surgery a year ago.”

She added: “Tennis is a game. It’s our life. It’s literally our obsession. … But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if your health is not there. So it definitely put it in perspective for me and maybe made it easier to make the decision to maybe come back out here and maybe play even freer.”

Williams’ comeback is just getting started. The seven-time major winner and one-time Olympic gold medalist is scheduled to face Peyton Stearns of the United States in the first round of the women’s singles tournament at 4:30 p.m. PDT Tuesday.

Later this week, Williams and Baptiste will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between Cristina Bucsa/Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Taylor Townsend/Shuai Zhang in the women’s doubles quarterfinals.

As for Serena Williams, the 23-time major singles champion hasn’t played since “evolving away from tennis” following the 2022 U.S. Open, where she and Venus lost in the first round in doubles and she advanced to the third round in singles before losing to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in her final match.

“I keep saying to my team: The only thing that would make this better is if she was here,” Venus Williams said of her sister while speaking to reporters Sunday. “Like, we always did everything together, so of course I miss her.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams has celebrated victory in the last 16 of the women’s doubles at the Washington Open after 16 months away from tennis.

The 45-year-old former world number one, who accepted a wildcard for the tournament, had not competed since the Miami Open in March 2024 – and last won at the Cincinnati Open in August 2023.

Williams and fellow American Hailey Baptiste beat Eugenie Bouchard and Clervie Ngounoue 6-3 6-1.

“It was inspiring to be out here,” Williams told Sky Sports. “I love this game and still hitting it big.”

She will face another American, Peyton Stearns, in the first round of the singles competition on Tuesday.

Williams, who was playing doubles for the first time in three years, joked she wished she could have partnered with 23-year-old Baptiste, the world number 50, instead of her sister Serena – the 23-time major champion.

She said: “I think from the first point I could see that we were going to be a good team. We just should have started playing earlier, years ago, right? I think Serena was just in the way.”

Venus, who does not have a ranking, won 14 major titles alongside Serena in the women’s doubles, as the Williams sisters dominated the sport for many years.

Wimbledon mixed doubles champion Sem Verbeek says his “heart is bleeding” over a change in format at the US Open that means he and partner Katerina Siniakova will be unable to play there together.

The duo beat Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3) in the final on Centre Court on Thursday.

The US Open will hold its mixed doubles competition as a standalone event before the start of the Slam from this year onwards in an attempt to attract top singles players to participate.

Several eye-catching partnerships have been announced for the new-look event, including British number one Emma Raducanu teaming up with two-time Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.

But it means the vast majority of doubles specialists will miss out on playing in the mixed competition in New York.

“It’s a shame they decided to do it,” Czech Siniakova, the world number one in women’s doubles, told BBC Sport.

“I think it’s a marketing step, but they are taking [away the] chance of doubles players.”

Dutchman Verbeek agreed, adding: “As two athletes that would love to play it, it’s a shame to obviously know that we can’t.

“I’m not going to actively root against it for it not to be a success. The positive I can think of is that there’s going to be more people that can see the top single stars earlier in the tournament when they are maybe a bit more accessible to the public.

“But as a doubles athlete, my heart is bleeding.”

Two-time defending wheelchair doubles champions Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid got their campaign off to a winning start at Wimbledon.

The British pair beat Takuya Miki of Japan and American Casey Ratzlaff 6-3 6-2 to progress to the semi-finals.

Six of their 22 major triumphs have come at the All England Club, while Hewett has 10 Grand Slam singles titles and Reid has two.

Both continue their singles campaigns on Thursday, with defending champion Hewett taking on China’s Ji Zhenxu and Reid facing Argentine fourth seed Gustavo Fernandez.

Another all-British pair – Ben Bartram and Dahnon Ward – were also in last-eight action on Wednesday but they lost 7-5 6-4 to Ji and Israel’s Sergei Lysov.

In the women’s wheelchair doubles, Briton Lucy Shuker and her Dutch partner Diede de Groot advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-4 victory over all-Netherlands pair Lizzy de Greef and Aniek van Koot.

Another British-Dutch pairing, Cornelia Oosthuizen and Jinte Bos, could not join them in the last four as they were beaten 6-4 5-7 6-4 by Chile’s Macarena Cabrillana and Japan’s Saki Takamuro.

Greg Slade reached the semi-finals of the men’s quad wheelchair singles, defeating Chilean Francisco Cayulef 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-4, but 2019 finalist Andy Lapthorne was beaten 6-2 1-6 6-2 by Turkey’s Ahmet Kaplan.

Both Slade and Lapthorne are back in action on Thursday in the men’s quad wheelchair doubles.

Lapthorne is partnering Cayulef against top seeds Guy Sasson and Niels Vink of Israel and the Netherlands respectively, while Slade and South African Donald Ramphadi face Kaplan and Dutchman Sam Schroder.

Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool became the first all-British pairing to win the men’s doubles title at Queen’s in the Open era with victory in a match tie-break over Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus.

Cash and Glasspool won 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 10-6 to earn their third ATP Tour title of the season and their fourth since beginning their partnership last year.

“It’s been a great year so far,” Cash said. “It’s really nice to start the grass season strong. Hopefully we can push on to a good run at Wimbledon.”

The Britons dominated the first set and were on course to wrap up victory with a break in the second before Croatia’s Mektic and New Zealand’s Venus fought back to take it to a tie-break, which they edged.

But in the match tie-break – played to 10 points and in lieu of a deciding third set – Cash and Glasspool got an early mini-break and then broke again before sealing victory on their first match point.

“I think we’ve been a really strong team this year and hopefully he [Julian] can continue making these tie-breaks a lot easier when he serves and the ball doesn’t come back,” said Glasspool, who was runner-up here in 2022 with Finland’s Harri Heliovaara.

The victory marks a successful couple of weeks on grass for the pair after they also reached the final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last weekend and they will continue their warm-up for Wimbledon by competing at Eastbourne next week.

Britons to have won the doubles title here include Andy Murray, Neal Skupski and Jamie Murray but the only other all-British team to contest the Queen’s men’s doubles final in the Open era (since tennis went professional in 1968) were 1978 runners-up David and John Lloyd.

There was more British doubles success on grass in Germany, where Olivia Nicholls and her Slovak partner Tereza Mihalikova won the Berlin Open women’s title.

They came from behind to beat Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini 4-6 6-2 10-6 to win their first title as a pair.