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Draper holds nerve to beat Alcaraz and set up Indian Wells final against Rune

  • British No 1 defeats defending champion 6-1, 0-6, 6-4
  • Draper to face Holger Rune after he beat Daniil Medvedev

Of the four previous times that Jack Draper and Carlos Alcaraz had stood across the net from each other, half of their meetings had ended with a distraught Draper aborting the match due to injury. While Draper attempted to keep up with the most successful player of the new generation, their rivalry underlined the biggest obstacle in Draper’s career: his own physical frailty.

Physically, mentally and in every other category, however, the British No 1 has dramatically improved over the past year as he has established himself as one of the very best players in the world. Amid a fortnight that has showcased the best tennis of his life, Draper held his nerve in a turbulent, chaotic tussle to close out a remarkable 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 win over Alcaraz and reach his first Masters 1000 final at Indian Wells.

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© Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

© Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA

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Denver man who shot and killed ex-lover, abducted her 2-year-old grandson learns his fate

A Denver man who shot and killed his ex-lover, strangled her son, and abducted her grandson has learned his fate and will spend the next 60 years behind bars, according to a release. Clemente Flores-Hernandez, 45, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree assault Tuesday for the Feb. 24 2023 murder of Karol Bedoya at...

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Ross Noble: ‘The weirdest place I have been recognised? During my vasectomy’

The British comedian on being shot into space by Jeff Bezos, his nightmarish run-in with a fan and the thing he loves most about Australia

Would you rather die at the bottom of the ocean or out in space?

I’ve actually just learned how to dive, so I’m a bit obsessed with being at the bottom of the ocean! But I don’t know that I want to die underwater. It’s very peaceful and serene down there. I think I’d like to be fired out to space in a massive cannon.

Ross Noble is touring his new live show, Cranium of Curiosities, around Australia until September, then the UK from October; check here for all dates. He is also a guest on Memory Bites with Matt Moran on SBS Food.

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© Photograph: Kitti Gould

© Photograph: Kitti Gould

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After my wife died, I joined a community choir. It gave me respite from my private grief | David Sornig

When Toni fell ill I stopped playing music entirely. Yet every so often I felt the urge to return

The first person who spoke to me on the first day of choir was a woman who’d sat beside me in the crowded alto section. She leaned my way and said a little bashfully, “I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how to sing.”

I wanted to make the same confession to her, but in that moment I figured it’d be better to project something more like reassurance. “We’ll be fine,” I said from a place of certainty that I wasn’t entirely certain about.

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© Photograph: WIN-Initiative/Neleman/Getty Images

© Photograph: WIN-Initiative/Neleman/Getty Images

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‘It’s like a men’s shed’: inside the Pokémon trading card communities rocked by a string of brazen thefts

The value of Pokémon cards is booming, but for people who gather weekly to trade and battle their Pikachus and Togepis, the cards mean much more than cash

On a sleepy Tuesday night, beneath an arts and crafts store in the heart of Sydney, there are battles raging. Long white tables stretch out under bright lights to the back of the room. Chairs on each side are occupied by hoodies, smart work shirts and pop culture tees as players – mostly men – arch forward in deep focus.

Tonight is a weekly event for trading card games, with two different games to do battle in: a tournament for a fantasy game, known as Flesh and Blood, takes up most of the space. But it’s the other card game I’ve come to watch, Pokémon.

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© Photograph: James Gourley/The Guardian

© Photograph: James Gourley/The Guardian

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Australian beach culture used to feel off limits to me. This summer I claimed the beach as my own

I was a non-swimmer, living miles away from Sydney’s glittering water belt. Taking up ocean racing felt like a badge of not only belonging to, but thriving in, this city of water

It’s 7:45 am on a Saturday and my alarm blares. I am up. My swim bag is already packed; I snap on my one-piece with crisscross back straps that leaves dark slashes of tan. Gulping water and toast, I pass a carrot to Tally – who wags her tail appreciatively but is deeply unimpressed her morning walk will be delayed – and head downstairs.

My ride is my neighbour R, a former life-saver hijabi. We are a well-oiled machine, carpooling for toll and petrol costs. In the quiet morning, Canterbury-Bankstown’s Palestinian flags on cars, manoush bakeries and bro-gyms give way to the skin-cancer clinics, juice bars and women in athleisure of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

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© Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

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The moment I knew: we were running late, but his optimism was contagious

As they sprinted towards their train, Megan Holbeck realised Guy’s sense of adventure was magic. Even if they missed it, they’d find a way to make their own fun

In 1992 I arrived for year 9 as a scholarship kid at a boarding school in the Victorian Alps. I was from Canberra and knew no one. Boring suburbia was replaced by a bush shed shared with 14 girls. We had to chop wood for warmth and hot showers, and spent weekends hiking and skiing. I got tougher, explored my limits (a half marathon and six-day hike by the end of the year) and made lifelong friends.

One of them was Guy. He was in my French class, our desks separated by half the alphabet. A regular in my diary list of “top five boys”, he was witty, genuine and playful. We played pranks and games – table rugby, footsies, hid and stole each other’s stuff – and sent ridiculous notes at supper. Whatever we did, there was laughter.

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© Photograph: Supplied

© Photograph: Supplied

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What Is Tren de Aragua?

A gang with roots in a Venezuelan prison, the criminal group was at the center of President Trump’s order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

© Christian Monterrosa for The New York Times

Firearms recovered from an operation against Tren de Aragua were on display during a news conference by the Queens district attorney in January.
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With 100 Pounds of Blue Pigment, an Artist Conjures Spirits of the Past

The ghost of George Washington Carver hangs over the studio of Amanda Williams, where hues are inspired by the Alabama soil Black farmers worked.

© Elias Williams for The New York Times

Amanda Williams at her show at Casey Kaplan gallery, “Run Together and Look Ugly After the First Rain.” The wall is painted with a blue pigment that chemists made for her, inspired by George Washington Carver’s patented Prussian Blue.
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