Digest

CELEBRITY

Stephens, Altidore wed on New Year's Day

Tennis star Sloane Stephens and soccer player Jozy Altidore on Tuesday announced they have married.

Stephens and Altidore posted a wedding photo on their Instagram accounts. The wedding took place Saturday at the St. Regis Bal Harbour in Miami Beach, Florida, according to People Magazine.

The couple announced their engagement on Twitter in April 2019 with a photo showing her wearing a diamond ring. Her tweet said: "Forever yes" and his said: "Forever starts now."

Stephens, 28, won the 2017 US Open and was a finalist in the 2018 French Open, a semifinalist at the 2013 Australian Open and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 2013.

Altidore, 32, has been with Toronto FC of Major League Soccer since 2015 following stints with the New York Red Bulls (2006-08), Spain's Villarreal (2008-11) and Xerez (2009), England's Hull City (2009-10) and Sunderland (2013-15), Turkey's Bursaspor (2011) and the Netherlands' AZ Alkmaar (2011-13).

He has 42 goals in 115 appearances for the US but has not appeared for the national team since the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup final.

SOCCER

Donnarumma added to PSG's COVID list

Gianluigi Donnarumma

Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has tested positive for COVID-19, the club announced on Tuesday, the day after he played in a French Cup match.

Donnarumma will miss Sunday's Ligue 1 match at Lyon with Costa Rica's Keylor Navas likely to fill in.

The Italy international, 22, joins a growing list of PSG players who have been sidelined by positive tests.

Five players, including Lionel Messi and Danilo Pereira, were absent from the team that eased into the last 16 of the French Cup on Monday with a 4-0 win over fourth-division Vannes.

"It's a very strange virus. We are following the situation of each player. We know that there may be more infections," said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino on Monday.

"We are a team that respects the controls and the obligation to test ourselves. We hope that there will be no additional cases."

Eriksen insists 'heart no obstacle' to return

Christian Eriksen

Denmark's Christian Eriksen, who went into cardiac arrest at the European Championship and has since been fitted with a pacemaker, hopes to play in the World Cup in Qatar, he said in a Danish television interview aired Tuesday.

Eriksen terminated his contract with Inter Milan by mutual consent in December, as Italian league rules bar players with pacemakers.

"I want to play football. There's no reason not to do that," Eriksen said in an excerpt released Tuesday of a longer interview to be aired later this week on public broadcaster DR.

"They (the doctors) have said fine. They've said it's 'good'. So everything is stable, and it feels like I've got the green light to play football again."

"My goal is to play in the World Cup in Qatar" in November and December 2022, he said, adding: "It's up to the manager to assess my level. But my heart is not an obstacle."

The former Tottenham playmaker suffered a cardiac arrest in Denmark's opening game at Euro 2020 against Finland in Copenhagen on June 12 and had to be resuscitated on the pitch.

BASKETBALL

Mavs to honor Nowitzki before Warriors game

The Dallas Mavericks will share the spotlight with the visiting Golden State Warriors on Wednesday when Dirk Nowitzki's No 41 jersey is retired.

Nowitzki retired in 2019 as the Mavericks' all-time leader in most categories, including points and rebounds. His career points total (31,560) ranks sixth on the NBA all-time list.

Nowitzki played all 21 of his NBA seasons with the Mavericks. The 14-time All-Star is also linked to the Warriors through his relationship with Don Nelson, the legendary Golden State coach who orchestrated Dallas' draft-night acquisition of the German star from the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998.

"I marvel at Dirk, and I absolutely love the guy for so many reasons," current Warriors coach Steve Kerr said at the time of his retirement. "I love the way he plays. The way he carries himself; he doesn't take himself too seriously, and yet he's incredibly hardworking in his craft. What a great combination."

Nelson, who compiled 422 of his NBA-record 1,335 coaching wins with the Warriors and 339 with the Mavericks, is expected to be on hand for the ceremony. He was running the show in Golden State when Stephen Curry was drafted in 2009.

SKIING

Vlhova edges Shiffrin for slalom hat-trick

Slovak Petra Vlhova defeated American Mikaela Shiffrin, making her return from COVID-19, for a hat-trick of wins in the women's World Cup slalom in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Vlhova made the most of wearing the No 1 bib on a piste made difficult because of high temperatures, finishing 0.64 sec ahead of Shiffrin on the first run.

Shiffrin, who lies atop the overall World Cup standings, knows the Croatian slope well, having won the Snow Queen Trophy there four times previously.

And the 26-year-old, who announced last week that she had contracted coronavirus－spending a period of time in isolation that saw her miss two races in Lienz, Austria－put everything into the second run.

"To ski so well after so much time sat in a room without skiing is good," she said. "Some athletes find it hard to come back, I feel lucky I've been able to come back quickly."

"I had the best possible scenario for a positive case," she added of her coronavirus infection.

Agencies