Amelie Mauresmo, an out lesbian and former top-ranked professional tennis player, has been named the newest director of the French Open.
According to ESPN.com, Mauresmo, who succeeds Guy Forget, is the first woman to hold the position.
Forget, whose contract was to expire at the end of the year, recently resigned, citing communication issues with new French tennis federation president Gilles Moretton.
Mauresmo, who was inspired to play tennis after watching Yannick Noah win the 1983 French Open, became the first player from France of any gender to reach number one in the modern era, on Sept. 13, 2004. She also won two majors, the Australian Open and Wimbledon, in 2006.
United States women's soccer team stars Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Kristie Mewis are among those who have been left unprotected by their teams and are available to be taken in the upcoming National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) expansion draft, ESPN.com noted.
The draft, scheduled for Dec. 16, will allow expansion teams Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC to select up to nine players each from existing teams in the NWSL. Teams were allowed to protect up to nine players on their rosters, leaving the rest of the players on their rosters available to be chosen.
Canadian all-time leading scorer Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns) is also unprotected.
Four NWSL teams earned full immunity in the expansion draft through a series of trades before the recent roster freeze: the Chicago Red Stars, the Kansas City Current, NJ/NY Gotham and the North Carolina Courage.
Dec. 11 was not a good day for Chicago teams.
First, the Miami Heat (16-11) crushed the short-handed Chicago Bulls (17-10) 118-92 in NBA action in Florida. Center Nikola Vucevic appeared recovered from his bout with COVID, but only scored 10 points. (Seven players were being quarantined because of the outbreak.) Zach LaVine led the team with 33 points, and Lonzo Ball added 15.
Then, in NHL action, the Chicago Blackhawks (10-15-2) lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs (19-8-2) 5-4 in Canada. Chicago erased a three-goal deficit, but lost thanks to an awkward bounce behind the goal that ended up in their own net in the last minutes of regulation. Jonathan Toews, Connor Murphy, Dominik Kubalik and Jake McCabe all scored in the loss, while Kevin Lankinen stopped 21 of the 26 shots he faced.