The U.S. men’s handball team won a world championship match for the first time in program history after 25 consecutive losses dating to 1964, beating Morocco in its opener in Jönköping, Sweden, on Friday.
The Americans, playing at worlds for the first time since 2001, edged the African bronze medalists 28-27.
The U.S. next gets two stronger teams, Croatia on Sunday and Egypt on Tuesday, but the win over Morocco puts it in good position to advance out of the four-team group in the 32-team field to the second stage of group matches.
The U.S. roster includes a U.S. Space Force officer (Drew Donlin), an American Ninja Warrior competitor (Gary Hines) and Ty Reed, a walk-on quarterback for Alabama’s 2012 national title team.
The U.S. has zero Olympic handball medals and an 8-39-1 record in Olympic men’s and women’s play. It hasn’t qualified a men’s or women’s handball team for the Games since it hosted in Atlanta in 1996. It lost to Greenland at the Pan American Championship in 2014 and 2016.
The U.S. is unlikely to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games. A bid goes to the winner of the Pan American Games next fall in Chile, where the field should include Argentina, which won multiple matches at every biennial world championship dating to 2007.
The U.S. hopes to ramp up for Los Angeles 2028, when it should receive automatic spots in the men’s and women’s tournaments as host nation.
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A long wait comes to an end — 🇺🇸 @USATH‘s first goal at the IHF Men’s World Championship in 22 years, after they last participated in the event in 2001 🙌 And ultimately their first win 💫#POLSWE2023 #sticktogether pic.twitter.com/U82avvrKss
— International Handball Federation (@ihf_info) January 13, 2023
Novak Djokovic, a record nine-time champion, and defending champion Rafael Nadal headline the 2023 Australian Open, where the men’s Grand Slam singles titles record is at stake.
Djokovic is PointsBet Sportsbook’s favorite despite being seeded fourth after missing last year’s Australian Open and U.S. Open because of his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Serb won his last 21 Australian Open matches since a fourth-round defeat in 2018. He is bidding to move one shy of the overall record 11 Australian Open singles titles held by Margaret Court and become the second man to win any major 10 times.
The other man to do it is of course Nadal, who owns 14 French Open crowns. Nadal also owns the men’s record 22 Grand Slam singles titles overall, just one ahead of Djokovic.
Last year, Nadal won the Australian Open on the heels of a chronic foot injury that had him questioning coming back to tennis at all. He also overcame foot problems to win the French Open, then reach the Wimbledon semifinals before withdrawing with an abdominal muscle tear.
Starting with his U.S. Open fourth-round defeat, Nadal went 1-6 in his seven matches leading into the Australian Open.
This is the first Australian Open since Roger Federer‘s retirement. Also missing: the injured world No. 1 and U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who at 19 became the youngest men’s Grand Slam champion since Nadal’s first title at the 2005 French Open.
Norwegian Casper Ruud, the runner-up at last year’s French Open and U.S. Open, and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, a three-time Australian Open semifinalist, are the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds between Nadal and Djokovic. Ruud is in Djokovic’s half. Tsitsipas is in Nadal’s half.
MORE: Australian Open Women’s Draw
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Iga Świątek of Poland is the top seed in the 2023 Australian Open women’s singles draw, looking to move closer to the career Grand Slam.
Świątek, a two-time French Open champion who won the most recent major, the U.S. Open in September, headlines the first major field without any woman with four or more Slam titles since the 2003 U.S. Open.
That’s due to Serena Williams‘ retirement after the U.S. Open, Naomi Osaka‘s pregnancy break and Venus Williams‘ withdrawal due to injury. Other multiple major winners are also absent: Simona Halep due to a provisional doping ban and Angelique Kerber due to pregnancy. Not to mention reigning champion Ash Barty‘s retirement last March.
So Świątek is not only the PointsBet Sportsbook favorite, but also the most decorated major champion in the field. Last year, she followed an upset defeat in the Australian Open semifinals to American Danielle Collins by soon rattling off 37 consecutive match wins while succeeding Barty as the world No. 1.
No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, who swept Świątek in the United Cup earlier in January, is the top hope to end the longest U.S. women’s singles major title drought this century and longest U.S. men’s and women’s singles major drought in the Open Era (since 1968). Pegula and Świątek could meet in the semifinals.
Coco Gauff, the runner-up to Swiatek at last year’s French Open, is seeded seventh and looking to reach her first Australian Open quarterfinal. Gauff faces 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu in the second round and could play Świątek in the quarterfinals.
While Świątek, Pegula and Gauff are in the top half of the draw, the bottom half is led by No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, No. 4 Caroline Garcia of France and No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
MORE: Australian Open Men’s Draw
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