The 22-time Grand Slam winner is to be ratified onto club’s board of directors.
Published On 4 Nov 20264 Nov 2026
Real Madrid are set to add a champion from another sporting arena to their boardroom as 22-time tennis Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal’s appointment as a director is to be put to members for ratification, the club says.
The board agreed to submit the appointment to the General Assembly of Delegated Members. Nadal is already an honorary member of the club.
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“It is a source of immense pride for Real Madrid and for all our supporters that a figure of his sporting and personal stature … is to join our Board of Directors,” Real said in a statement on Wednesday.
Tennis player Rafael Nadal and Real Madrid President Florentino Perez in the stands [Isabel Infantes/Reuters]
The club highlighted Nadal’s sporting achievements, including 92 singles titles, two Olympic gold medals, five Davis Cup triumphs with Spain and the world number one ranking.
The club said his qualities beyond those honours – including humility, respect for opponents and commitment to charity – mirrored the club’s own.
“All these values form part of Real Madrid’s identity, and Rafael Nadal has embodied and championed them throughout his sporting career,” said the statement announcing his appointment at a board meeting on Tuesday.
Nadal welcomed the invitation.
“I would like to thank President Florentino Perez and the Board for inviting me to join the Board of Directors of Real Madrid,” he wrote on social media.
“I have accepted this invitation with great enthusiasm, keen to learn and to contribute as much as I can.”
Nadal, who retired from tennis in November 2024, has long been touted as a potential successor to Perez, although he has played down the prospect.
Perez, 79, secured another four-year term in June after Real’s first contested presidential election in two decades.
More than a third of voting members backed challenger Enrique Riquelme, who opposed plans to bring outside investment into the member-owned club.
Note: Second round (Divisions 2-8) Nov. 6 at higher seeds; Quarterfinals (Divisions 2-8) Nov. 9 at higher seeds; Semifinals (all divisions) Nov. 11 at higher seeds; Finals (Divisions I-4) Nov. 13 at University of Redlands. Finals (Divisions 5-8) Nov. 13 at The Claremont Club.
However, Cameron Norrie fell short of his best victory of the season when world number five Daniil Medvedev saved match point to win their last-16 match.
A frustrating year has seen Norrie drop to 41st in the world rankings and exit each of the past three Grand Slam tournaments in the first round.
But the 31-year-old showed his key attributes – tenacity, athleticism and controlled aggression – to threaten a huge upset against Medvedev.
Third seed Medvedev, fresh from winning the Almaty title last week, was left angrily punching the surface when he fell a break down in the deciding set.
Norrie served for the match at 5-3 40-30, but Medvedev picked off his opponent’s serve-volley attempt and fought back to win 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1).
Second seed Alcaraz also progressed with a 6-1 7-6 (13-11) win over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic’s hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals were harmed by a second-round defeat at the Swiss Indoors event in Basel.
The 24-time major champion, 39, lost 7-6 (7-4) 5-7 6-7 (5-7) to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who produced some inspired tennis to beat the Serb for the first time in nine attempts.
CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS At Balboa Tennis Center Finals
OPEN DIVISION #1 Palisades 20, #2 Granada Hills 9.5
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE (Matches at 12:30 p.m. unless noted) Quarterfinals
DIVISION I #8 Eagle Rock at #1 GALA #5 SOCES at #4 Chatsworth #8 North Hollywood at #3 Venice #10 L.A. Marshall at #2 El Camino Real
DIVISION II #9 Fairfax at #1 Granada Hills Kennedy #12 New West at #4 South East #6 South Gate at #3 Wilmington Banning #7 Downtown Magnets at #2 LACES
Note: Division I-II semifinals Monday, Nov. 2 at 12:30 p.m. at higher seeds; Division I-II finals Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 11 .a.m. at higher seeds.
For the 15th time in the last 16 years, Palisades and Granada Hills met for the City Section Open Division girls’ tennis championship Wednesday afternoon.
For the second year in a row, Palisades came out on top, winning eight of nine doubles sets (each worth one and a half points) in the round-robin format on its way to a 20-9.5 victory at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.
It was the 31st City title for the top-seeded Dolphins (21-5), who clinched the championship when their No. 1 doubles team of Remy Trepanier and Penelope Mihal beat the Highlanders’ No. 3 duo of Nicole Khachatourians and Sammi Cho 6-1 to earn Palisades’ 15th point
“We lost our top seven players from last year but these girls worked hard and improved,” Palisades coach Robert Silvers said. “I’m really proud of them.”
Palisades and Granada Hills have combined to win the last 25 upper division crowns (14 by Palisades and 11 by Granada Hills) and since the debut of the Open Division in 2017, Palisades has won the four-team bracket seven times and Granada Hills three.
Mihal and Trepanier dropped only five games in three sets, the Dolphins’ No. 2 pair of Brienne Dominguez and Nina Arasteh swept 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 and the third tandem of McKenna Adham and Sonia Shirley sandwiched a pair of 6-4 wins around a 6-3 defeat to the Highlanders’ No.1 team of Iris Huang and Christina Surmabukian.
Granada Hills High’s No. 2 singles player Ayah Vilien hits a forehand return Wednesday at Balboa Sports Center.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
The schools split the 16 singles sets (each worth one point). The Dolphins’ No. 1 player Aila Monahan and No. 2 player Charlie Roberts each won three sets before being subbed out for the last round with a second straight title already secure.
Palisades ended Granada Hills’ three-peat bid with a 25-4.5 finals win last fall.
“We expect to play Pali in the finals every year and it’s always a good match,” Granada Hills coach Troy Aiken said.
The victory helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking.
Published On 25 Oct 202625 Oct 2026
Elena Rybakina blazed past unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-2 in the Ningbo Open final to retain her title and lift her first trophy as the world number one ahead of the WTA Finals next month.
The victory on Sunday also helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking, further burnishing a spectacular season in which she won the Australian Open title before adding the US Open crown to reach the summit.
Top seed Rybakina made the breakthrough with her trademark power in the fifth game and then unleashed a searing crosscourt backhand winner to go 4-2 up, before the 27-year-old wrapped up the opening set in only 38 minutes.
World number 30 Fernandez made a bright start to the next set but Rybakina absorbed the pressure and raised her level to force an error and break for 2-1, with the three-time Grand Slam champion breezing to victory from there.
Rybakina’s latest triumph is a timely lift after setbacks in Beijing and Wuhan, as she turns her attention to the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo this week before launching her title defence at the season finale in Indian Wells from November 8.
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto says it will be difficult for Saudi Arabia to host next year’s tournament as scheduled.
Published On 23 Oct 202623 Oct 2026
The ongoing security situation in Saudi Arabia makes it difficult for the country to host football’s 2027 Asian Cup as scheduled, Japan Football Association President Tsuneyasu Miyamoto has warned.
Several major sporting events in Saudi Arabia have been cancelled or postponed amid escalating attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, raising doubts over whether the continental tournament can take place as planned from January 7 to February 5 next year.
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“Based on what I’ve learned from the news, the situation is still unsafe, so at this point, I don’t think it would be easy to hold the [Asian] Cup there,” Miyamoto told reporters at the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) extraordinary congress in Tokyo.
“I just had a meeting with the Saudi side and they said that their top priority is the safety of the players, the fans, and everyone who would be attending the tournament.”
“They said they would work with the AFC to decide whether the tournament can go ahead, so they did mention that it would take some time (to make that decision).”
Asian football chief Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa said last week a postponement until 2028 remained a possibility if necessary, but the local organising committee (LOC) later said it was sticking to the original schedule.
“Preparations across all organisational and operational areas are progressing according to the approved schedule, including work on venues, facilities and supporting services,” the LOC had said in a statement last week.
“(The LOC) will continue to monitor developments relevant to the tournament and ensure the appropriate conditions are in place for its successful delivery.”
Earlier this month, golf’s Asian Tour postponed the Saudi International indefinitely and cycling’s Urban World Championships were cancelled following a deadly attack on Riyadh’s international airport, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300.
Other events have also been disrupted. The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament in Riyadh was moved from October to December, while FIFA postponed the FIFAe Finals 2026 video game competition in Jeddah until an unspecified date.
The Saudi government has invested heavily in sport through its Public Investment Fund (PIF) in recent years and the Asian Cup was pitched as an early rehearsal for hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2034.
When Joe Cascione walked into the athletic director’s office at Los Angeles Mission College with the idea of starting a women’s tennis team, he knew how it would sound. He had spent his entire life in baseball—27 years as a coach—and had never coached women or a racquet sport.
“I told him, ‘I have an idea. I’d love to start a women’s tennis team. I don’t have any background in tennis, but I think I can surround myself with people who know the technical side of the sport, and I love it so much that I think we can do well,’” recalled Cascione, a successful former baseball player at Pierce College and Cal Lutheran.
It was understandable that few understood the decision.
“Everyone thought I was going through a midlife crisis,” Cascione said with a laugh. “They’d say to me, ‘What are you doing? You’re having a breakdown.’”
College administrators also wondered if it wouldn’t be better to have a women’s soccer team, given the demographics of the San Fernando Valley. But Cascione presented them with a list of potential players who could attend Mission College.
“At first I was against it,” recalled Steve Ruys, director of athletics at Mission College. “I told him that women’s soccer was better for this area. But he was persistent.”
In the front row, from left to right, bottom, are the Mission College sophomores: Jaelyn Rivera, Priscilla Grinner, CiCi Díaz, Kirsten Bonzon, Amy Nghiem and Natalia Ponce. In the second row, from left to right, top, are the four new team members: Dsyray Chan, Daisylynne Castaneda, Julieta Sierra and Lena Onejeme.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Four years later, the gamble paid off in a big way. Last April, the Mission College Eagles won the first California Community College Athletic Assn. (CCCAA) state team championship in the school’s history, and they did so with a perfect 25-0 record.
Not only did they win the community college’s first championship, but they did so with local players and against powerhouse schools—some of which even fielded international players. Unlike other schools, Mission College does not have its own tennis courts and rents courts at a nearby park to practice and play its home matches.
In CCCAA tennis, colleges face off against each other in team matches. Each match consists of a set number of singles and doubles matches, and the winner is determined by the team’s cumulative score.
In the final of a four-day tournament in Ojai, Mission College faced Sierra College — the top seed from Northern California and also undefeated — and won a dramatic match. The Eagles dominated the doubles, but Sierra fought back in the singles and took a 4-3 lead.
Then, Genesis Nochez (West Ranch) tied the series at 4-4, and everything came down to Josilyn Rivera (Birmingham) in a head-to-head match against Autumn Holmes of Sierra. To add to the drama of the day, Rivera lost the first set, bounced back with a 6-1 victory in the second and clinched the championship in a tiebreak she won without giving up a single point, for a final score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0).
In addition, the duo of Jaelyn Rivera (Birmingham) and Priscilla Grinner (Granada Hills) were crowned state doubles champions after defeating a Chabot College pair.
Amy Nghiem takes a shot during Mission College practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“I had always thought about winning the Ojai tournament, but I never thought it would actually happen,” said Grinner, 19, a two-time CIF champion with Granada Hills.
“Winning that tournament meant everything to me and my family; it was like giving back to the community where I grew up, and that meant so much to me,” said Jaelyn, 20, Josilyn’s older sister.
Amy Nghiem was one of Mission College’s key players. The Granada Hills Charter alumna joined the Eagles alongside her teammates Grinner and América Fragoso, both from Granada Hills.
Cascione was also named Western State Conference coach of the year.
For the players, the sense of teamwork that the coach instilled was vital to building a competitive program.
“The coaches encourage us to be our best. Without our teammates, without that connection, without that camaraderie, and without all the time we spent together, it wouldn’t have been possible,” Grinner said of the championship.
Jaelyn Rivera serves during her team’s practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Cascione stepped down as head baseball coach at Mission College in 2019 after 19 years at the helm of the program. Then came the pandemic — and with it, a year and a half to reflect on what the next step in his athletic and professional life would be. The answer lay in the other sport he had loved since childhood, as he had always played tennis in his free time.
“If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably choose to play tennis instead of baseball,” confessed Cascione, who was twice named State West Conference coach of the year in baseball. “Baseball was my life, and I owe it everything. But there’s something about tennis. When I was seven, I’d watch it on TV and enjoy every minute of it.”
But convincing the first female players to join a new tennis program — in the midst of a pandemic and without its own courts — was no easy task. In the community college system, recruitment is crucial, and competing against schools such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, and Pierce—which have their own facilities—is always an uphill battle for Mission College.
“I couldn’t tell them, ‘We’re going to be a good team,’’ Cascione said. “I really didn’t know. ”
Nor was it easy to convince a tennis player to join a program led by a baseball coach. That’s where another of Cascione’s strengths came into play: his candor.
“The only thing I kept telling them was, ‘You’re going to work hard, and you’re going to have a coach who’s going to push you to your limits and who’s going to be there for you every time we’re on the court,’” Cascione said. “There has to be a belief that, even when things go wrong, you’ll hear your teammates cheering you on. And that’s not something you mention just once or twice; it’s something we talk about almost every day in this program.”
Seven young women accepted the challenge in the first year and nine in 2023. Faced with a lack of dedicated facilities, Cascione applied the same philosophy he used when his baseball team had to rent a field: adapt and overcome the obstacle.
In its first season, in 2022, the team surprised everyone by finishing second in its division in the State Western Conference. Since that first season, Cascione has worked to bring the team-oriented mindset he preached in baseball over to tennis.
“I think he’s very articulate,” said Grinner, who hopes to transfer to Cal Lutheran after this year to play alongside her teammate Jaelyn. “He’s able to explain things to you and encourage you even when you’re feeling really, really down, and I think that’s one of his best qualities.”
Said assistant coach Yulia Zhytelna, “First and foremost, he’s a baseball coach, and on the court he shows exactly who he is — in the way he talks, how he cheers, and how he addresses the girls. He doesn’t try to hide anything; that’s just who he is, and I’ve loved that about him.”
Recruiting the talented Nghiem was one of the championship team’s greatest successes. Cascione himself gave her a tour of the school.
“It’s not a very big school, but they’ll go above and beyond for you. They’ll stand by you,” said Nghiem, who also highlighted the team’s culture of camaraderie. “We all went to practice every day. Even if you were sick, you were there. You didn’t have to practice, but you were there. You always supported each other.”
Mission College, located in an area with a strong Latino presence in the northern San Fernando Valley, competed against programs with a long history, their own facilities and international players —such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Santa Monica — so the coaching staff was key to instilling a positive mindset in the players, without letting them get pigeonholed.
“Not many people see us as a community capable of achieving something this big,” said Jaelyn. “So being able to bring the title home to this community really shows the people around us—our peers, our community, and our ethnic group — that it’s possible to achieve something when you put in all your effort.”
Cascione, originally from New York, has lived in the San Fernando Valley since childhood and attended St. Genevieve High in Panorama City. He emphasizes that his coaching staff, which is also deeply rooted in the community, understands the realities of their players’ lives.
“Many of these young women face challenges in various ways. Many hold down two jobs; some come from broken homes and need our support,” said Cascione, who was mentored by Bob Lofrano at Pierce College and Rich Hill at Cal Lutheran.
His assistants, Porfirio Cervantes and Zhytelna — a former Cal State Northridge player who is now a professional — also maintain strong ties to the Valley community.
“I’ve seen the girls’ motivation, especially among the freshmen,” said Zhytelna, the female voice on the coaching staff and a mentor to the players. “I’ve seen in their eyes that they want to give their best.
“At the end of the day, tennis is just a game, and you have to enjoy it — because that’s how the best experiences come about, when you’re enjoying yourself.”
At a community college, where the players change every one or two years, continuity depends on the culture being passed down from one generation to the next.
“The most effective way is through the players themselves,” explained Cascione. “The sophomores pass it on to the newcomers. We talk almost every day about being a great person, a great sister, a great daughter and they have to believe that all of that contributes to making a great tennis player and a great team.”
For Cascione, the success of the tennis program at Mission College — a school with fewer than 10,000 students — boils down to one word: belief.
“The moment you let someone tell you that you can’t, you’re letting negativity in,” said the coach. “Here, we dream big. Sometimes we’ll fall short, but we’re always going to give it our all.”
The results are already beginning to show across the entire athletics department. Mission College recently launched its men’s tennis program — also featuring local players — using the same formula that led to the women’s team’s success.
Mission College is currently in the first phase of construction on its own facilities, which will include soccer and softball fields. Phase two will include tennis courts.
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