Gilding's glory: Goldfinger downs Premier League star to claim Players Championship title
Andrew Gilding claims his first PDC title by defeating Jonny Clayton!

Sorana CĂźrstea, 36, is enjoying her final tennis season, having announced her retirement for 2026. She recently won a WTA title in Romania and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 21 after notable victories, including defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
ROME â Tennis retirements are often painful. Whether it was Rafael Nadalâs agonizing final season in 2024, or Andy Murray barely being able to take the court for his last Wimbledon in the same year, there have been numerous reminders of how hard it is to pick the right moment to say goodbye. Mic-drops, like Pete Sampras winning the 2002 U.S. Open, are rare; Serena and Venus Williams both avoided the word as much as they could, with the latter coming back from a hiatus to play at 45 and the former causing intrigue about whether she will, too.
This year, Stan Wawrinka and GaĂ«l Monfils are in the middle of their farewell tours, and a third-round Australian Open run for Wawrinka aside, neither have made a major impact. Going out at the right time is almost impossible for a sportsperson, given the heft of a decision that has prompted the idea, referred to in Roger Federerâs âTwelve Final Daysâ documentary, that âathletes die twice.â
Sorana CĂźrstea is very much alive.
The 36-year-old from Romania is having the time of her life in her valedictory season. Since announcing that 2026 will bring down the curtain on a 20-year career, CĂźrstea has won a WTA Tour title in her home country at the Transylvania Open, beaten a world No. 1 for the first time, and this week climbed to a joint career-high ranking of No. 21, which she could surpass before the rankings update Monday.
In her final season, Sorana CĂźrstea won a WTA Tour title at the Transylvania Open and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 21.
Sorana CĂźrstea has announced that she will retire from tennis at the end of the 2026 season.
CĂźrstea recently defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and former French Open champion JeÄŒena Ostapenko, showcasing her competitive edge.
CĂźrstea's career-high ranking of No. 21 reflects her successful performance in her final season and her ability to compete against top players.
Andrew Gilding claims his first PDC title by defeating Jonny Clayton!
Discover the radical new rules coming to F1 in 2026 and their potential impact!
Check out the Los Angeles Rams' 2026 schedule with game dates, times, and predictions!
Ted Kravitz shares his journey in F1 and aims to connect with fans.
Dundee United's Will Ferry called up to Republic of Ireland squad for Grenada friendly.
Discover the Birkett Six-Hour Relay Race, a fun yet confusing motorsport event since 1951.
See every story in Sports â including breaking news and analysis.
After beating Aryna Sabalenka at the Italian Open to inflict the world No. 1âs earliest tournament exit in 15 months, CĂźrstea took out No. 13 seed Linda NoskovĂĄ, and then former French Open champion JeÄŒena Ostapenko, to set up a semifinal against Coco Gauff, the two-time Grand Slam champion. CĂźrstea will relish the role of potential giantkiller again â she has 26 career wins against top-10 opposition, dating back to 2008.
âIâm enjoying more and Iâm trying to do more stuff off-court, Iâm smiling a bit more,â she said of the mindset behind her performances, in an interview at the Foro Italico last week.
âI might be more relaxed in practices and everything I do around it, but Iâm still working very hard because Iâm very competitive. Even if this is my last year, I still want to improve a lot of things.â
âCompetitiveâ is probably an understatement. âSheâs a fighter,â Sabalenka said during an interview with the WTA Tour after losing to CĂźrstea Saturday.
âItâs sad to see her leaving because I feel like sheâs one of those players thatâs fighting no matter what.â
Over the past 20 years, CĂźrstea has picked up four WTA titles in singles and six in doubles, thanks in part to an excellent backhand and a solid game at the net. She has so far reached two major quarterfinals, at the French Open in 2009 and the U.S. Open in 2023, and she has been a consistent presence in the worldâs top 30. She has also developed a reputation as a player who refuses to give in.
âSince I was a kid, Iâve always had this fire in me,â she said.
âSometimes it does get a little bit too intense and I wish I would be a little more relaxed, the way I am off court. Sometimes I manage, sometimes I donât. But I think it comes again to the fact that Iâm very competitive and very ambitious and I always want to win no matter who I play and also Iâm very tough on myself.
âI always want to do the things that I worked on and I donât give myself much room for a mistake. So maybe sometimes this mentality helped me but maybe it wasnât great in some moments.â
At Januaryâs Australian Open, CĂźrstea complained about Naomi Osaka saying âcome onâ to herself between CĂźrsteaâs serves. After Osaka won their second-round match, CĂźrstea greeted her for the post-match handshake by telling Osaka that she didnât know what fair play was. Osaka made a joke of the incident in her on-court interview, later apologizing in her news conference for making what she said were âdisrespectfulâ comments.
âI donât like disrespecting people. Thatâs not what I do,â Osaka added.
âThat I didnât understand,â CĂźrstea said in Rome.
âIt wasnât too intense there. I just played my match. She stopped many, many times during the match and it was a cold exchange and then she carried on. ⊠So from my side, there was nothing, nothing much there. She made a big deal out of it.
âSo no, from that point of view, I look back and Iâve had a normal attitude and normal behavior. Sometimes Iâm talking when there is a really tight match and sometimes I get too intense on myself. Those are the moments, a little bit, where I wish I would be a little more laid-back.â
A representative for Osaka did not respond to a request for comment on CĂźrsteaâs recollection of the incident, which caused a brief stir at the time. It has proven to be a mere footnote in their seasons, which for CĂźrstea has led to her pushing even more of the worldâs best players to the brink.
She led Gauff by a set and a break before succumbing at the Madrid Open last month, and a couple of tournaments before, she took world No. 7 Mirra Andreeva to a third set in the quarterfinals of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open. She is 11th in the live standings for ranking points won in 2026, 3 places short of qualifying for the season-ending WTA Tour Finals.
âToday in important moments I tried to play aggressive, I tried to play on my terms,â she said in a news conference after beating Sabalenka, having lost the opening set 6-2. âAgainst the top girls, you can just not play safe. They are not going to give it to you. You have to earn it.
âWhat Iâm the happiest about is the way I played. I was really following the plan. Also, like I said, winning the match on my terms. This made me happy.â
Ostapenko said ahead of their match, in which CĂźrstea again stepped up when it mattered to win the second-set tiebreak 7-0, that the Romanian might have been liberated by knowing this is her final year on tour. âI think (that) gives her a bit of freedom, in a good way, because you donât have that pressure that you have to defend points and stuff like this,â Ostapenko told the WTA Tour.
âSheâs such a hard worker, too. She was injured a few times, and itâs really hard to come back from injuries.â
CĂźrstea, who has dealt with shoulder, leg, back, foot and wrist issues, tends to agree. âI think in a way it freed me up a little bit, all those expectations just maybe went through the window because I didnât have to prove anything anymore,â she said in a mixed zone Monday after beating NoskovĂĄ.
There is one downside to having such a good season. It leads to constant questions about whether she will reconsider.
âI felt like she could stay for longer,â Sabalenka said Saturday. âItâs her choice. We all respect that. I just wish her the best season to finish her career.â
CĂźrstea has been consistent. Retirement is the plan, but a U-turn is not impossible. âMy mind is quite set that at the end of the year, I want to retire,â she said Saturday. âWe will see how this year will go. A little door is there always open because you never know how things go in life.â
âI want a family and I want also to do other things and I feel like Iâm a girl that can do much more than tennis,â CĂźrstea said during the interview in Rome.
âThere are a lot of things that I wish to do after my career and I want to retire while Iâm still playing well, while I am still at the top of the game. I donât want to retire just because my ranking dropped and I donât get into tournaments.â
One of her final goals before retiring is to get into the worldâs top 20 for the first time. Beating Gauff Thursday would take her to No. 18, but she has few points to defend for the rest of clay-court season and then on the grass this summer. There is still time, for a player who said that the 2026 version of her would beat her younger self.
âI think also with ageing, you mature a lot, you have experience, you know how to handle moments a little bit better,â CĂźrstea said after beating NoskovĂĄ.
âOverall, you are a much better player. If you are healthy⊠also, in my case, I feel Iâm very, very good. Iâm way younger than what my passport says. I feel physically stronger and smarter on the court. Iâm a more complete player. I have more solutions, Iâm more consistent, I have better weapons.â
All this might persuade her to reconsider retiring. But should she resist the temptation, CĂźrstea would provide rare evidence that tennis stars can bow out on a high.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Tennis, Women's Tennis
2026 The Athletic Media Company