Described as a 'champion in the making', teenage sensation Cori 'Coco' Gauff, who at 15 years and 122 days became the youngest player to qualify for the main Wimbledon draw since the Open era began in 1968, swept aside five-time winning legend of the game, Venus Williams 6-4 6-4 on Court One in front of a packed crowd.

Comes from sporting stock - she is coached by her father Corey, who played basketball at Georgia State University and her mother Candi was a gymnast before moving into track and field – the tournaments new sensation adds this new record to that of her becoming the youngest US Open girls singles finalist at the aged just 13.

She won the French Open equivalent last year, aged 14.

BBC's Today at Wimbledon two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin said: "People have been talking about Coco for years”.

"They have now started to recognise her internationally. Obviously she's a tremendous athlete, but to walk on court to face Venus, a player who she idolises, there were plenty of opportunities for her to get tight and nervous.

"She has been raised for greatness and this is just the beginning".

Three-time Wimbledon singles champion John McEnroe said: "Gauff's not only physically mature, but also mentally.

The 7-times Grand Slam winner adding: "I look at the way she plays. If she's not number one in world by 20 I will be absolutely shocked."

Atlanta, Georgia-born Gauff idolised Venus and Serena Williams sisters, so being drawn against the elder of the two in the first round, was a dream-come-true.

To beat the seven-times ‘Slam winner was beyond belief for her.

British Athletics has selected a team of 15 for the World Para Athletics Junior Championships which take place in Nottwil, Switzerland from 1-4 August 2019.

Among those set to represent the country are two medallists from the 2017 edition of these championships, Karim Chan and Ethan Kirby, with 11 athletes earning their first junior international cap for the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team.

Chan won the T20 long jump title – for athletes with an intellectual impairment - in Nottwil two years ago and earns his place in the 2019 squad following a season so far which has seen him extend his personal best by 13cm to 6.33m.

Kirby won silver back in 2017 in the T20 400m and will compete over the distance once more in Nottwil. He lowered his PB to 52.92 at the end of May, dipping under 53 seconds for the first time. He will be joined in the T20 400m by Prince Reid who has a best of 52.49s, set in Watford last month. The athletes come into the under 20 contest as two of the leading names in the season’s rankings.

In the women’s T20 400m, Faye Olszowka will make her British debut in the U20 age-group, heading into the event ranked second in the junior world standings after revising her lifetime best to 1:03.08 in May.

Matthew Cooper, ranked second in the world in the junior T34 rankings in 2019, will be one to watch out for when he goes in the combined U20 T33/34 100m in August. The Weir Archer Academy athlete will additionally contest the 200m and 400m in Switzerland, as will Zien Zhou who also contests all three distances.

Ben Callander – a T33 athlete who is ranked number one junior in the world in the classification – will join the pair in the T33/34 100m, 200m and 400m.

One athlete has been selected in the U17 category; Wales-based Molly Hopkins who will race in the T62 100m – for athletes with lower limb amputations competing with a prosthetic – in her first international competition.

Team Leader Sarah Benson commented: “We are delighted to select 15 athletes for the second World Para Athletics Junior Championships. This event serves as an important step for these athletes in the Paralympic performance pathway and will be a fantastic opportunity to experience the international competition environment.

“It will be a great learning experience for these exciting prospects and I’m sure it will help them in preparation for future potential Paralympic Games and senior world championships.”

In the bustling surroundings of Birmingham Airport, dancers from the Freefall Dance Company, one of Birmingham Royal Ballet’s most long-standing and impactful programmes, strutted their stuff as the year long partnership with Birmingham Airport was launched.

At All Bar One, in Birmingham Airport, Paul James, Chief Commercial Officer for the Birmingham Royal Ballet opened, “There were two things that struck me one which was making ballet more accessible for all and the other was changing lives for others. “This partnership is to promote and help those with learning difficulties and to support them in their love of ballet.”

The Airport is donating to Birmingham Royal Ballet to support Freefall, their second company that works with young adults with severe learning disabilities. The event included the premiere of a new film featuring the Freefall dancers, directed by Birmingham Royal Ballet Director David Bintley with Ross MacGibbon.

“We look forward to joining you for the remainder of the year while this runs on,” explained Birmingham Airport chief executive, Nick Barton, “and we’ll see the success and the talent of these young people who have got real challenges but show great merit and great talent to overcome them”.

Leading up to the live performance a couple of the parents of the Freefall dancers beamed “he comes home and tells me how much he loves it every time.” The performance started off with three dancers by the end there were thirteen young adults expressing their passion for dance. The performance was very enjoyable to watch and at the end one dancer was extremely proud of the show.

His happiness was infectious, and really made you realise how much these dancers loved putting on the show. Freefall Dance Company is comprised of 10 adults with severe learning disabilities (SLD) and has been creating and performing daring, ground-breaking and award-winning dance since 2002.

By combining the dancers’ exceptional talents and individual styles, Freefall has repeatedly challenged and amazed audiences locally, nationally and internationally proving their artistic potential.

Dance Track is BRB’s talent identification programme within Birmingham schools, aimed at training young dancers aged from six to eight. Every year Dance Track invites 80 children who demonstrate a talent for dance to join the programme.

The participants, who might not otherwise have an opportunity to participate in dance, are given free weekly ballet lessons taught by Birmingham Royal Ballet staff. Throughout the year, they are invited to Birmingham Royal Ballet to have a look behind the scenes, meet Company dancers and are offered tickets to see Birmingham Royal Ballet performances at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Through this new partnership, Birmingham Airport will provide funding to enable one new school in the North East area of Birmingham to join the Dance Track programme, giving more children in the city access to the world of dance.

Plans showcasing the emerging design for the redevelopment of Alexander Stadium have been published, as public consultation begins.

The venue at Walsall Road, Perry Barr, will be the focal point of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, hosting the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as the athletics programme.

New artist impressions of the stadium have been released revealing Birmingham City Council’s intentions to create a legacy asset the city and its residents can be truly proud of.

The redeveloped stadium will increase its permanent seating capacity from 12,700 to 18,000 allowing up to 40,000 during the Games through additional temporary seating.

Key features include:

• A new western stand replacing the Main, Knowles and Nelson stands
• New tiered seating to the north and south
• A new 400m 6-lane warm up track and re-laying of a new IAAF Category 1 track (400m 9-lane competition standard track)
• Improved public realm and parking provision, with additional landscaping and signage
• Installation of new stadium lighting and practice throwing field
• A new access road from A453 Aldridge Road (to be used for event/maintenance use only)

Demolition of the current west stand within the stadium is subject to a separate application which will be submitted to Birmingham City Council in summer 2019.

Members of the local community are encouraged to attend the consultation events taking place at Alexander Stadium this evening (22 June) 11am-4pm. There will be an opportunity to meet members of the project team, view the indicative plans and provide feedback before a planning application is submitted in the autumn.

Councillor Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “We’re now in an exciting phase of the design process where we would like to share our plans for the future with the community and hear their thoughts.

“The team has designed a redeveloped stadium which will meet the needs and aspirations of the community for generations to come. This is about creating a destination venue, shaping a legacy beyond the Commonwealth Games.

“We are making lots of information and detail available, so I encourage as many people as possible to come along, have a look at the designs and provide their feedback.”

Subject to gaining planning permission, the redeveloped stadium will be ready ahead of the Games which will take place between 27 July and 7 August 2022.

For anyone unable to attend the events, all consultation material is now live on the council’s Be Heard consultation website at: www.birminghambeheard.org.uk/place/alexander-stadium

Those unable to access the internet can pick up a consultation leaflet and paper questionnaire at the following libraries: Library of Birmingham, Birchfield Library and Tower Hill Library.

The deadline for providing feedback is 5pm on Friday 12 July 2019.

Commonwealth heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson will compete on both days at the Müller Anniversary Games, in the London Stadium on 20–21 July.

The multi-events star will line up in the 200m on day one, followed by the long jump on day two, exactly ten weeks before the start of the IAAF World Championships in Doha.

Johnson-Thompson has, so far this year, continued to produce the good form and confidence she found in 2018, a pivotal year in which she won the World Indoor pentathlon title, followed by her first major senior heptathlon medals; gold at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and silver at the European Championships in Berlin.

In March this year, the Liverpool athlete won her second European Indoor pentathlon title in Glasgow. She then produced an exceptional performance in Austria last month, to win the heptathlon at the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting, with a personal best and world-leading score of 6,813 points. This beat her previous best score of 6,759, set in Berlin on her way to winning the European silver medal last year.

Johnson-Thompson will be hoping for a quick time over 200m where she will line up against some of the fastest women in the world. She’ll also be looking for a big distance in the long jump, one of her strongest disciplines and an event in which she won a World Indoor silver medal in 2014.

Johnson Thompson said: “I’m really looking forward to competing on both days at the Müller Anniversary Games this year. I love this meet and the London Stadium is such an amazing venue, there’s no place like it in the world.

“With just ten weeks to go until the world championships, all the best athletes will be competing with an eye on being in the best shape for Doha. I’ll be doing the same, trying to put together what I’d be working on in training to produce good performances on both days.”

She continued: “I’m really settled now, in France, and the improvement in my performances have reflected that. My coach and training group are great and working with them has definitely given me more confidence.”

The Müller Anniversary Games has seen history made on numerous occasions in recent years, with some memorable performances from British names such as Sir Mo Farah, Laura Muir and Dina Asher-Smith, while para athletics stars Kare Adenegan and Sophie Hahn both broke world records at the 2018 edition of the event.  

Former basketball superstar, Shaquille O'Neal, says that he is very interested in buying out Reebok. Retired Shaq, who was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 1992, made more than $300 million from his NBA salary and various endorsement deals.

As a long-time serial entrepreneur, he has invested in several franchises and reportedly owns 155 Five Guys restaurants, 17 Auntie Anne’s, 9 Papa John's, 40 24-hour fitness gyms, and 150 car washes. According to CNBC, in America, he has also profited quite a bit from early investments in Google and Apple.

During a recent interview after candidly mentioning that he is a part of the investment group that just purchased Sports Illustrated, he also told CNBC that he would love to purchase Reebook.

The champion turned sports commentator signed his first shoe deal with Reebok in 1992, which was worth $15 million. He says though that Adidas, who currently owns Reebok, has “diluted [the brand] so much to where it’s almost gone.”

“If they don’t want it, let me have it,” Shaq said. “I want to bring them back to basketball and to fitness.”

He added that Reebok struggles to compete with brands like Adidas and Under Armour, and he thinks he knows how to fix the problem.

If Reebok is up for sale, it would be costly - definitely a multi-billion deal even though their exact value today is unknown. But O’Neal can easily afford it. According to Forbes, he himself is worth $400 million and his portfolio is worth up to $8 billion.