Yahoo Sports AM: A star is born down under

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🚨 Headlines

⚾️ Where will Sasaki land? The window for MLB teams to sign Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki officially opens today, and the 23-year-old flamethrower has reportedly narrowed the field to three finalists: the Dodgers (of course), Padres and Blue Jays.

🎾 Finding her form: Naomi Osaka upset No. 20 Karolína Muchová on Wednesday in Melbourne, reaching the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since 2022.

🥇 Replacement medals: The French mint, known as the Monnaie de Paris, will be replacing a number of medals they gave out to Olympians and Paralympians this summer due to complaints of deterioration and severe tarnishing.

🏈 Knuckles is back: Lions RB David Montgomery, originally believed to have suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 15, was a full participant in Tuesday’s walk-through practice. Head coach Dan Campbell expects him to contribute immediately.

🏀 Tuesday night hoops: Missouri stunned No. 5 Florida, 83-82, in Gainesville, and No. 21 Ole Miss upset No. 4 Alabama, 74-64, in Tuscaloosa to headline the evening. Elsewhere: No. 7 Marquette outlasted DePaul in OT, No. 19 Illinois embarrassed Indiana, and Arizona knocked off No. 25 Baylor.

🎾 A star is born down under

João Fonseca may not be a household name yet, but ask any tennis fan who watched him on Tuesday and they’ll tell you: it’s only a matter of time.

Historic debut: The 18-year-old Brazilian — who had to win three qualifiers just to make the Australian Open main draw — upset No. 9 Andrey Rublev, 7-6, 6-3, 7-6, becoming the second teenager in the last 50 years* to beat a top-10 opponent in their Grand Slam debut.

• The victory extended Fonseca’s winning streak to 14 matches, the last nine of which have come in straight sets.

• He’ll go for 15 straight tonight (~11pm ET, ESPN+) when he faces 55th-ranked Italian Lorenzo Sonego, whom he beat on the clay courts of Bucharest last spring.

Rapid rise: The 2023 U.S. Open junior champion originally committed to the University of Virginia before opting to turn pro last year amid a meteoric rise from No. 730 in the world to his current ranking of 112.

• Fonseca’s sterling rookie season included his first title on the Challenger Tour and two quarterfinal appearances in ATP senior-level events, all before turning 18.

• He ended 2024 by winning the ATP Next Gen Finals (the year-end tournament for the world’s top players under 21), joining Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as the only 18-year-olds to claim the title.

The next big thing? Fonseca’s calm demeanor and staggering forehand — clocked at 112 mph, the fastest so far in Melbourne — are why so many view him as a future face of the sport. To understand his ceiling you need only watch his first-set tiebreak against Rublev, when “he went supernova.”

Bottom line: Every superstar has an early-career moment that removes any doubt they’ll eventually ascend the mountaintop. Fonseca may have just had his. “Welcome to the top 100, we’ll see you in the top 10.”

*In 2002, Roger Federer was stunned in the first round at Wimbledon by an unknown 18-year-old Croatian qualifier named Mario Ančić.

🏈 Could Jerry and Deion coexist in Dallas?

Prime in Dallas? It would be gold for the media, but would it make sense for either side?

From Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel:

After virtually every Cowboys game, Jerry Jones, the team’s owner, general manager and center-of-attention, arrives in the hallway outside the team locker room and makes himself available for an assemblage of media. He stands amid cameras and recorders, and fields any and all inquiries … until, pretty much, the reporters are exhausted.

And if that isn’t enough transparency, every Tuesday he makes a weekly appearance on a local sports radio show to talk again, often creating a fresh media cycle. If you are going to coach the Cowboys, this is the reality you have to operate in. It’s not just the lack of a spotlight … it’s that your voice — publicly and within the confines of the team — is not the loudest.

Enter Deion Sanders: The Hall of Famer (including five years and one Super Bowl in Dallas) is both successful enough, and famous enough, to pique the interest of Jones, who spoke with the Colorado head coach on Monday after opting to part ways with Mike McCarthy.

“To hear from Jerry Jones is truly delightful, and it’s intriguing,” Sanders told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. There is no doubt hearing from Jones was delightful in this context. Would Sanders want to hear his team owner’s thoughts after games or midweek though?

Sanders is generally the biggest star in any room he walks into. Second-fiddle has never been his thing. As a college coach, he has built his programs on culture — a mindset that has proven successful. He has his hands in every aspect of the organization.

So could Jerry and Deion coexist? One argument is that Sanders is actually about the only coach who could do it. As much attention as Jones will command, Deion is a force unto himself and will be able to match or exceed that. He’s never going to be ignored.

Bottom line: From 1978-1991, CBS aired a massively successful prime-time soap opera based on the clash of big egos and big money — complete with an aerial shot of the Cowboys’ old stadium — based in Dallas. This would be the sequel.

📸 Photo of the week (with a side of art history)

Ladies and gentlemen, the best photo of the 2025 Australian Open has already been taken. I’m fairly confident Edgar Su’s perfectly-timed snapshot will not be topped.

Art, But Make It Sports: Su’s photo got the @ArtButMakeItSports treatment, and LJ Rader — the self-described “amateur appreciator of art” who runs the brilliant account — even matched the action shot of Naomi Osaka with a famous Japanese woodblock print called “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” in a nod to her heritage…

Did you know? “The Great Wave,” which dates back to 1831 and depicts three boats moving through a storm-tossed sea (with Mount Fuji visible in the background), has been described as “possibly the most reproduced image in the history of all art.”

🏀🏒🏈 Motor City sports are flying high

When this decade began, Detroit was the capital of bad sports. Oh, how the tables have turned.

All gas, no brakes: The Pistons, Red Wings and Lions have gone a combined 13-2 so far in 2025, leveling up from what had already been great starts to their respective seasons.

• 🏀 The Pistons (7-1 in 2025) are 21-19 this season, the first time in seven years they’ve been multiple games over .500. Cade Cunningham is becoming a household name, and Detroit currently holds the No. 8 seed as the franchise chases its first playoff berth since 2019.

• 🏒 The Red Wings (5-1) have won seven of their last eight to improve to 20-19-4. The power play is thriving, vintage Patrick Kane is back, and Detroit is surging up the standings as it looks to snap the NHL’s second-longest playoff drought (eight seasons).

• 🏈 The Lions (1-0) just completed their best regular season ever, winning a franchise-record 15 games and grabbing the No. 1 seed for the first time. They host a divisional round game this weekend and are currently favored (+280 at BetMGM) to win their first Super Bowl.

Plus… The Tigers snapped a nine-year playoff drought just a few months ago as fans got to watch AL Cy Young and Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal pitch every fifth day.

✍️ Extra points

💔 RIP, Heinz: Heinz Kluetmeier, the Sports Illustrated photographer whose “Miracle on Ice” photo was one of the definitive sports images of the 20th century, died Tuesday at age 82. “That’s the only cover we ever ran without cover language,” he once said. “It didn’t need any window dressing.”

⛳️ TGL, Night 2: Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club suffered a lopsided defeat in his debut for the indoor league he co-founded. Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee on the TV product: “ESPN doesn’t yet appear to have decided whether the tone should be serious or jovial, and so the coverage pinballs between the reverential and the silly.” (Dear ESPN: the answer is jovial and silly.)

⚾️ 25 days out: Spring Training is less than a month away! Pitchers and catchers will report to camp between Feb. 9 and Feb. 13, depending on the team. The Cubs and Dodgers, who open the regular season in Tokyo on March 18, will be among the first teams to report.

🏈 Homecoming: New Patriots boss Mike Vrabel will be the seventh NFL head coach to lead the franchise he once won a Super Bowl with as a player. The others: Jerod Mayo (Patriots), Bart Starr (Packers), Forrest Gregg (Packers), Art Shell (Raiders), Jeff Saturday (Colts) and Jason Garrett (Cowboys).

🏀 Harlan to Amazon? Kevin Harlan is nearing a deal to become the No. 2 NBA play-by-play announcer for Amazon, which begins coverage later this year, The Athletic reports. Harlan would form a 1-2 punch with Ian Eagle and work alongside NBA legends Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and (possibly) Dwyane Wade.

📺 Watchlist: MVP favorites collide

Three of the top five NHL MVP favorites go head-to-head tonight in St. Paul (8:30pm ET) where the Wild host the Oilers in the first game of a TNT doubleheader.

Race for the Hart Trophy: Edmonton’s dynamic duo of Leon Draisaitl (+350 at BetMGM) and Connor McDavid (+400) have the second- and fourth-best odds to win MVP, while Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov (+500) has the fifth-best. (Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (+340) is first and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (+350) is tied for second.)

More to watch:

• 🎾 Australian Open: Second round (7pm, ESPN+; 9pm, ESPN2)

• 🏀 NBA: Knicks at 76ers (7pm, ESPN); Warriors at Timberwolves (9:30pm, ESPN)

• 🏀 NCAAM: No. 9 Kansas at No. 2 Iowa State* (7pm, ESPN2); No. 23 Georgia at No. 6 Tennessee (8pm, SEC)

• 🏀 NCAAW: Penn State at No. 1 UCLA (9:30pm, Peacock) … This game has been moved to Long Beach State, 35 miles from UCLA’s campus, which is not far from the Palisades fire.

• ⚽️ Premier League: Arsenal vs. Tottenham (3pm, Peacock)

*On a roll: The Cyclones own the nation’s longest winning streak (12) and have won their last two home games against the Jayhawks. Kansas has, however, dominated the all-time series, 189-68.

🏈 NFL trivia

Three former Super Bowl MVPs are still alive in this year’s playoffs. Can you name them?

Hint: QB, WR, LB.

Answer at the bottom.

Trivia answer: Patrick Mahomes (SB LIV, SB LVII, SB LVIII), Cooper Kupp (SB LVI), Von Miller (SB 50)

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