Cristiano Ronaldo has lashed out over the transfer rumours regarding his future, accusing people of being "disrespectful" yet stopping short of committing his future to Serie A giants Juventus.

The former Real Madrid forward, who scored a record 451 goals during his nine years at the club from 2009 to 2018, was linked with a shock return to work under Carlo Ancelotti again this week. Ronaldo joined Juventus for €100 million in July 2018, and Spanish late-night TV show El Chiringuito claimed on Monday night that a sensational return to LaLiga was on the cards.

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Ancelotti distanced himself from reuniting with Ronaldo before the Portugal international addressed his future on Instagram.

He wrote: "Anyone who knows me is aware of how focused I am on my work. Less talk and more action, this has been my guiding motto since the start of my career. However, in view of everything that's been said and written recently, I have to set out my position.

"More than the disrespect for me as a man and as a player, the frivolous way that my future is covered in the media is disrespectful to all the clubs involved in these rumours, as well as to their players and staff. My story at Real Madrid has been written. It's been recorded. In words and numbers, in trophies and titles, in records and in headlines. It's in the Museum at the Bernabeu Stadium and it's also in the minds of every fan of the club.

"I remember that in those nine years I had a relationship of deep affection and respect for 'merengue aficion,' an affection and respect that I retain to this day, and that I will always cherish. I know that the true Real Madrid fans will continue to have me in their hearts, and I will have them in mine."

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As well as being linked with a move to Real Madrid, Ronaldo also has been mentioned as a possible target for Manchester City, who are continuing their battle to land Tottenham striker Harry Kane, as well as linking up with Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain.

While Ronaldo did not fully commit his future to Juventus, the 36-year-old said he needed to address the reports regarding his future and that anything else is "just talk."

"As well as this most recent episode in Spain, there have been frequent news and stories associating me with a number of clubs in many different Leagues, with nobody ever being concerned about trying to find out the actual truth," he added.

"I'm breaking my silence now to say that I can't allow people to keep playing around with my name. I remain focused on my career and in my work, committed and prepared for all the challenges that I have to face. Everything else? Everything else is just talk."

Ancelotti worked with Ronaldo for two seasons during his first stint as Real Madrid manager.

In that time, they won the club's long-awaited 10th European Cup -- beating rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra time in the 2014 Champions League final, with Ronaldo scoring a late penalty -- before Ancelotti was sacked in 2015.

The Italian manager was reappointed by Madrid in June on a three-year contract after the resignation of predecessor Zinedine Zidane.

Madrid, who have added only the free transfer signing of David Alaba to their squad this summer, began the 2021-22 LaLiga season with a 4-1 win away at Alaves, with Karim Benzema scoring twice.

With Anthony Rizzo due to come off the COVID-19 injured list sometime soon, New York Yankees first baseman Luke Voit said he still expects to play when the three-time All-Star returns.

"I was top-10 MVP last year and I've been a great player for this organization for the last three years," Voit said after Tuesday's doubleheader sweep of the Boston Red Sox. "I'm not going down. I want to play. Obviously, I know it will be tough with Rizzo, but I deserve to play just as much as he does. I led the league in home runs last year. I feel really good again."

Voit was on the injured list with knee inflammation -- his third IL stint of the season -- when the Yankees acquired Rizzo from the Cubs at the trade deadline. Rizzo has been out since Aug. 7, while Voit returned to the lineup on Aug. 8.

After struggling for most of the season after hitting 22 home runs in 56 games in 2020, Voit has hit .243/.317/.486 with 3 home runs and 9 RBIs in 10 games since his return, including a home run in the second game of the doubleheader.

Rizzo took batting practice between doubleheader games, his first since landing on the COVID list. He told reporters that the virus knocked him out for six or seven days.

"It sucked," he said. "Achy and tired. ... I'd just get up and try to move around and get tired and everything hurts."

Rizzo said he wants to see how he responds to Tuesday's workout, while manager Aaron Boone said Rizzo could return in the next few days.

One defensive option for Boone is to play Giancarlo Stanton in left field, with Joey Gallo in center, Rizzo at first base and Voit serving as the DH. Stanton has started eight games in the outfield since July 30, after not starting at all in the outfield before then.

Detroit Tigers television analyst Jack Morris said he "did not intend for any offensive thing" on Tuesday night after using an accent when describing what the Tigers should do when pitching to the Los Angeles Angels' Shohei Ohtani, who was coming up to bat.

With the game tied at 2 in the top of the sixth inning, outfielder Juan Lagares had struck out and Ohtani, who is from Japan, was up next.

Bally Sports Detroit play-by-play announcer Matt Shepard asked, "Now what do you do with Shohei Ohtani?"

Morris said with an accent: "Be very, very careful." Ohtani was then intentionally walked.

Before the start of the ninth inning, when Ohtani was set to bat, Morris addressed his remarks on the telecast.

"Well folks, Shohei Ohtani is coming to the plate and it's been brought to my attention, and I sincerely apologize if I offended anybody, especially anybody in the Asian community for what I said about pitching and being careful to Shohei Ohtani," Morris said. "I did not intend for any offensive thing and I apologize if I did. I certainly respect and have the utmost respect for this guy and don't blame a pitcher for walking him."

The 66-year-old Morris, a five-time All-Star pitcher who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018, is in his second regular stint on Tigers television broadcasts, having returned in 2019.

Look, you never want to overreact too much to one game in baseball -- or in this case, two games in one day -- but after watching the New York Yankees sweep the Boston Red Sox in a doubleheader on Tuesday and pass Boston by percentage points in the standings, the obvious conclusion remains: The Yankees are soaring, while the Red Sox are in deep trouble.

Ten takeaways from the doubleheader, which leaves the Yankees at 68-52 (.567 winning percentage) and the Red Sox at 69-53 (.566) -- and both teams in a tie with the Oakland Athletics (68-52) for the two wild cards.

1. It's always fun to see the hometown broadcasters react to games like this. The Red Sox announcers got progressively more depressed as the night wore on and the Red Sox kept leaving runners on base in the 2-0 loss in the nightcap, while the Yankees announcers were predictably giddy in victory.

Paul O'Neill: "Who could have ever believed in the middle of July when you're 10 games back that you would be passing the Boston Red Sox. What a great day for the Yankees here."

The Yankees and Red Sox are even in the standings after NYY was 10.5 GB of BOS on July 6

It's the 3rd-largest deficit either team has erased in the entire rivalry

1978: Yankees erased 14-gm deficit (year of Bucky Dent HR)

1949: Red Sox erased 12-gm deficit

h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/k8gkTct7lU

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 18, 2021

David Cone: "The worm has turned. The Yankees serving notice. They're back."

Hey, they're not wrong. On July 25, after losing the series final at Fenway Park, the Yankees were nine games back of the first-place Red Sox. Since July 26, the Yankees have gone 17-5, the best record in the majors, while the Red Sox have gone 8-14.

Making up nine games in just over three weeks is incredible. Books were written about the famous 1978 pennant race when the Yankees were 14 games back in the middle of July and rallied to win the division -- but it took them two months to make up that deficit, not 22 games. Yes, the Red Sox are still in a good position, but it's a disheartening mental blow to lose all that ground to the Yankees (let alone trail the first-place Tampa Bay Rays now by five games).

2. New York rookie starter Luis Gil was the story of the second game, tossing 4⅔ scoreless innings to become the first pitcher to begin his major league career with three straight scoreless starts. For years, we've heard about all these pitchers in the Yankees farm system with big arms, and now we finally have one contributing to the big league team. Gil, as the old-timers used to say, has electric stuff, with a fastball that major leaguers have had trouble squaring up, going just 3-for-22 so far, all singles.

In modern vernacular, that means a moving fastball up in the zone with a high spin rate. "His fastball plays up," Yankees first baseman Luke Voit said after the game. "It looks like it has a little extra life up in the zone. The thing I love about him is his swagger. He's got confidence. He doesn't ever slow down, which is great."

Really, the Yankees only turned to Gil out of desperation. Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery landed on the COVID-19 injured list and Domingo German on the regular injured list. The Yankees bypassed Deivi Garcia -- who started in the postseason in 2020 but has struggled at Scranton with a 7.08 ERA -- and went with Gil, who was only a little better with a 5.64 ERA in eight Triple-A starts. Control had been his biggest issue with 23 walks in 30⅓ innings, but he's been done a better job in the majors with seven over 15⅔ innings.

Anyway, as Voit said, Gil has provided a big -- and surprising -- lift. And if he continues to throw enough strikes, Gil is going be a force down the stretch.

3. The biggest out and play in the second game came in the top of the sixth inning when the Red Sox had runners at first and third with two outs. Brett Gardner had made a nice sliding play on Hunter Renfroe's base hit to left-center to keep the lead runner from scoring. Bobby Dalbec was up next and hit a soft liner back to pitcher Wandy Peralta, who knocked it down, scrambled after the ball as he bounced toward the third-base line, spun and made a perfect throw to Voit at first base.

"When it hit him, I'm like, 'Oh, crap,'" Voit said. "And then I was like, I don't know where this throw is going to go, and he made the throw of his life."

Or maybe the biggest out came in the fifth, when Peralta entered to face Rafael Devers with the bases loaded and two outs. He got Devers to ground out softly to second base to preserve the 2-0 lead. The point here: Wandy Peralta is getting big outs for the Yankees.

4. It will be interesting to see how Aaron Boone manages things when Anthony Rizzo returns from the COVID-19 IL. Rizzo has been out since Aug. 7, and he took batting practice between games, his first time doing that since he landed on the IL. Rizzo said he felt the effects of the coronavirus while in quarantine. "It sucked," he told reporters. "Achy and tired. I'd just get up and try to move around and get tired and everything hurts."

When he does return, Rizzo will see Voit back in the lineup. Voit returned from the injured list on Aug. 8, and he has hit .243/.317/.486 with three home runs and nine RBIs in 10 games.

Voit made his case for playing time after the game.

"I was top-10 MVP last year, and I've been a great player for this organization for the last three years," he said. "I'm not going down. I want to play. Obviously, I know it will be tough with Rizzo, but I deserve to play just as much as he does. I led the league in home runs last year. I feel really good again."

Boone has said he'll take it day by day, but one solution is to play Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield and use Voit as the designated hitter. Stanton played right field with Aaron Judge as the designated hitter, the eighth time he has started in the outfield since July 30, after not playing at all there before then. With Joey Gallo capable of handling center field, look for a lot of Stanton-Gallo-Judge alignments when Rizzo returns.

5. Speaking of Stanton, yes, Yankees fans are frustrated with the strikeouts and lack of home run production. He hit his 19th in the second game, a huge, 441-foot blast off Nathan Eovaldi, off an 0-2 curveball. It wasn't a terrible pitch, at the bottom of the zone, but Stanton went down and golfed it out. With a .263/.361/.458 line in 2021, Stanton has been more good than great, but he is certainly capable of being great for 40 games down the stretch. He is a big -- literally -- component if the Yankees are to hold down a wild-card spot and even chase down the Rays.

441 ft from Big G ? pic.twitter.com/B0z1dyMj2v

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 18, 2021

6. Not to skip over Tuesday's first game, but the Red Sox had their chances in that one, as well. Down 5-3 in the seventh, they loaded the bases against Jonathan Loaisiga on three singles with no outs. It looked like the Yankees' bullpen might be on its way to a late-game meltdown, but Boone left Loaisiga in the game. Pinch hitter Travis Shaw hit a hard liner -- 100 mph -- right to the left fielder, and Loaisiga then fanned Enrique Hernandez and Renfroe for the two-inning save. Chad Green closed out the second game. But Loaisiga has been the team's best reliever, and Boone is going to continue using him late in games, whether it's the eighth inning or ninth inning. And it wouldn't be surprising if the combination of Loaisiga and Green remains ahead of Aroldis Chapman on the closer chart when Chapman returns from the IL.

7. The Red Sox have made some intriguing defensive decisions with the return of Kyle Schwarber. Dalbec started the first game at first base, despite his continuing struggles at the plate. (And Shaw, just claimed off waivers, started the second.) Renfroe played center field in the first game, while Jarren Duran starting there in the second game. Alex Verdugo played left and J.D. Martinez in right both games, with Schwarber at DH. Meanwhile, Hernandez, who had played excellent defense in center field the first three months until Duran was called up, is now the second baseman.

Of course, the Red Sox have run this through all their computers and come up with this alignment to be what they feel is most optimal; but they've made themselves worse in right field and worse in center field (at least if Renfroe is playing there) without solving the offensive problem at first base. They clearly feel, at least for now, more comfortable with Martinez in the outfield than Schwarber at first base -- and there's a reason Martinez has mostly been a DH over the past several years.

8. The Red Sox's offense hasn't actually been that bad during this 8-14 stretch, hitting .276/.347/.445 while averaging 4.54 runs per game. Not great; not awful. They do need to get Verdugo going to add some depth to the lineup. He has just two home runs in his past 50 games.

9. Rookie Garrett Whitlock -- claimed from the Yankees in the offseason in the Rule 5 draft -- has been a bullpen weapon all season for the Red Sox, but he has now scuffled in two of his past three appearances. He had a blown save last week against the Rays and then got the loss in Tuesday's first game when he walked a couple of batters and both came around to score. It could be nothing, but let's see if he's hitting the wall a bit as he creeps up to the 60-inning mark.

10. So, yes, a good day for the Yankees -- but there is still a lot of baseball to play. As Boone said, "Bottom line: It's nice that we're in a position where we're in control of what we do, we're in control of our season, but we haven't done anything yet."

The other bottom line: Never, ever leave the Yankees for dead -- as ready as you might have been to bury them back on July 4.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this story.

LAS VEGAS -- Louis King slammed home a two-handed dunk with a little more than two minutes left in the third quarter of the NBA Summer League championship game, let out a monstrous roar and promptly flexed with authority.

Fittingly, it was King who dominated for Sacramento and finished with 21 points to help the Kings cruise to a 100-67 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night in front of a sparse, masked crowd that barely filled the bottom bowl, an uncommon scene for a title game that has packed the venue in recent years prior to the pandemic.

It was Sacramento's first Summer League title since 2014.

"Our transition, that's what started it, our defense and transition points, that's what it came down to," said King, who started his career in Detroit after going undrafted from Oregon in 2019. "I feel like everything we're doing now, that we're doing all summer, and what we've been doing is just going to translate into our regular-season team.

"We've got new guys, new faces and we just got to trust each other."

One of those new faces is defensive stopper Davion Mitchell, who was taken ninth overall in last month's draft and was out to prove the franchise didn't make a mistake in adding him to an already guard-heavy lineup that includes Tyrese Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox.

It's not as if the Kings needed a boost to an offense that ranked 11th in the league with 113.7 points per game last season. Instead, it was the guard's defensive tenacity the Kings are hoping will help a lethargic defense that allowed 117.4 points per game, third-worst in the league.

"We loved what we saw and that's why we drafted him," Kings coach Luke Walton said. "We continue to try to bring a certain player in and the front office has done a nice job, and you watch Davion play and you see him win a national championship, you get his background and how he competes and how he leads and how he works, and that's why we spent a top-10 pick on him."

While the Kings got additional contributions from Jahmi'us Ramsey (16), Matt Coleman III (14), and Ade Murkey (10), Mitchell chipped in with nine points but more importantly shut down Boston sharpshooter Payton Pritchard.

Carsen Edwards had 15 points and Aaron Nesmith 12 for Boston. Pritchard finished with just six points after being limited to 3-of-9 shooting from the floor.

"All my life I've played with a chip on my shoulder. I've kind of always been like the underdog, especially coming to Sacramento hearing that they're not a really good defensive team," Mitchell said. "That kind of just turned me on, like I really want to change the narrative, I want to be a defensive team because defense wins championships. So yeah, coming into Summer League I tried to show that and I think I did a really good job of that."

After the Celtics took a 14-4 lead behind the strong play of Nesmith, who opened the game with eight points, the Kings stormed back quickly with a 20-6 run to take a four-point lead after one behind 10 points from King.

The Kings, who had the edge in fast-break points (24-4), pulled away in the third quarter by outscoring Boston 26-13 to take a 70-49 lead into the final 10 minutes.

"I didn't know what to expect out of this game," coach Bobby Jackson said. "I knew it was going to be a really good game because looking at them on film they play fast, they shot a lot of 3s. In my meetings, I always told the guys they haven't run across a defense like us, and if we buy into defending and have each other's backs, the ball is going to fall. It was just an effort on the defensive side of the ball."

NEW YORK -- It took the New York Yankees just over six weeks to erase a 10½-game gap between them and the Boston Red Sox.

With roughly six more weeks left in the regular season, the longtime rivals are practically in a dead heat -- although it sure feels like the Yankees are getting a running start going into the home stretch.

Luis Gil posted his third straight scoreless start to begin his career, Luke Voit and Giancarlo Stanton homered, and New York defeated Boston 2-0 on Tuesday night to sweep a doubleheader and move percentage points ahead of the Red Sox for an AL wild-card spot.

In the opener, Jonathan Loaisiga stranded the bases loaded in Boston's final at-bat for a gutsy two-inning save after New York capitalized on a wild outing by Red Sox relievers for a 5-3 victory.

The Yankees have won five straight and 12 of 15 to narrowly overtake Boston for second in the AL East -- New York is 68-52 and the Red Sox 69-53, a difference of .001 percentage points. The Yankees were 10 1/2 games behind first-place Boston on July 5 but have gone 26-11 since. New York last lost on Thursday, in the Field of Dreams Game, to the Chicago White Sox in Iowa.

"It's going to be a tough road ahead still, but the group is a confident group, and I think they know what they're capable of," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

New York is in a playoff position for the first time since May 30.

"That's a different team than early in the season," Boston manager Alex Cora said. "They're more agile, more versatile, more athletic and one thing they've done throughout the season is they can pitch."

The Red Sox took advantage of the competition last week, seemingly snapping out of a 3-11 slump when they swept last-place Baltimore for three games at Fenway Park. Now, Boston is suddenly out of postseason position after leading the division for much of the season.

"It's not deflating," Cora said. "I mean, it's two games, we lost, whatever."

Gil allowed three hits and four walks and struck out four over 4⅔ innings. He has yet to allow a run in 15⅔ big league innings, the longest stretch to start a career by a Yankees pitcher since at least 1961, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The previous best was Joba Chamberlain at 15⅓ innings in 2007.

"That's a big game out there," Boone said. "Red Sox-Yankees in August, playing for a lot, and I thought he was unflappable."

Gil is the only major league pitcher since at least 1901 with no runs allowed and 15 or more strikeouts through his first three games, according to YES Network.

"A lot of adrenaline tonight," he said via translator.

The 23-year-old Gil -- pronounced like "heel" -- cruised into the fifth before allowing two singles and a walk. Wandy Peralta (4-2) relieved and retired Rafael Devers on an inning-ending fielder's choice, preserving the 2-0 lead.

Boston had runners at first and third in the sixth with two outs when pinch-hitter Bobby Dalbec ripped a comebacker that appeared to hit Peralta in the shoulder. Peralta scrambled for the ball near the third-base line and fired to first just in time to retire Dalbec.

Chad Green closed out the ninth for his fifth save and second in two days.

Voit poked a 98 mph fastball from Nathan Eovaldi (10-8) over the wall in right for a solo homer in the second. It was Voit's sixth homer of the season and second in three days.

The 2020 big league home run leader seemingly lost his job at first base when the Yankees acquired Anthony Rizzo from the Cubs on July 29, but he has taken advantage of steady playing time with Rizzo on the COVID-19 injured list. Rizzo is expected back in the next couple of days.

"I was top-10 MVP [voting] last year and I've been a great player for this organization for last three years," Voit said. "I'm not going down. I want to play. Obviously, I know it's going to be tougher with Rizzo, but I deserve to play just as much as he does."

Asked about divvying up their playing time, Boone said, "We're day by day, man."

Stanton led off the fourth with his 19th home run.

Eovaldi worked five innings and was charged with two runs, seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts.

But the Yankees were consistent with their efforts in close games all season. Even during their slow stretches, they were finding ways to win the tight contests. In fact, the Yankees have played a majors-most 68 games decided by two runs or fewer. And their .661 winning percentage (45-23) in those games is best in the big leagues.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

British number one Johanna Konta was beaten 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 by Karolina Muchova in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.

After the resumption, Czech Muchova, 24, claimed the second set in a close tie-break.

The world number 23 took the deciding set and will face former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in round two.

Konta has had a troubled season, with no back-to-back wins and long injury breaks before she won the Nottingham Open this summer, her first title since winning the Miami Open in 2017.

But her plans to use that momentum at Wimbledon were crushed after she was identified as a close contact when a member of her team tested positive for Covid-19.

She had to then withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics as she would have little time to prepare after recovering from the virus herself.

Konta looked to be returning to form at the Canadian Open but a knee injury cut short her campaign.

In the men's tournament in Cincinnati, British number two Cameron Norrie was 6-4 2-2 up against American John Isner before rain stopped play.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Xander Schauffele. After winning the gold medal at the Summer Games, he flew to Memphis the next week to play the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Last week was his first chance to enjoy the gold medal at home with his friends and family, but that didn’t last long.

“Pops has it. I can't get it off of him right now,” Schauffele laughed on Tuesday at The Northern Trust. “I had a couple of media things to do with the medal, and then I got a phone call shortly after that asking for the medal back. [Schauffele’s father Stefan] is taking good care of it as we speak.”

Stefan Schauffele had his Olympic hopes as a decathlete cut short when he lost the sight in his left eye after being struck by a drunk driver in 1986, and Xander’s grandfather, Richard, was the 1935 German track and field champion before being sidelined by a shoulder injury two weeks before the ’36 Olympics.

“This medal is for my country and my family, especially my dad!” Schauffele tweeted following his victory in Tokyo.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – From the 14^th fairway at Liberty National Golf Club, there’s a clear view across to Lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center. Under normal circumstances it might go unnoticed, but at this week’s Northern Trust, as the country approaches the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s impossible not to remember.

Brandt Snedeker was a sophomore at Vanderbilt when the attacks occurred and he remembers being sent home from class to watch the surreal events unfold. When he was asked to be a part of a presentation on Tuesday at the First Responders Pub & Restaurant adjacent Liberty National’s 14^th fairway, the nine-time PGA Tour winner didn’t hesitate.

“It’s a horrible part of our history. It’s something you’re never going to forget. I think it brought us closer together as a country and made people understand what first responders go through and see what sacrifices they make,” Snedeker said.

Officials with Servpro created the First Responders Pub and will proved 3,000 tickets per day to The Northern Trust to local first responders along with access to the pub.

“When this opportunity came to us we jumped right on it. The 20^th anniversary of 9/11, it’s perfect for us and for the first responders who allow us to do our jobs,” said Chad Lewis, an assistant vice president of marketing for Servpro. “It’s a way to give back to the men and women and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to do it.”