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SPORTS

THURSDAY, MAY 26 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

WOMEN’S COLLEGE LACROSSE

A pair of fifth-year Terps have experienced drastic highs

and lows in careers that will end at the Final Four. D6

HIGH SCHOOLS

Playoffs heat up in Maryland with baseball and softball

state semifinals and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse finals. D7

HOCKEY

Capitals winger Tom Wilson will miss six to eight

months after undergoing surgery on a torn ACL. D8

the pain the community in

Uvalde, Tex., is going through.

Spoelstra, the Miami Heat’s

coach, said all this before taking

any questions, sitting down and

adjusting the microphone so

that everyone could hear him

clearly. He summed up his

thoughts — a stream of

sympathy and grief and a call to

action — by saying how much

he felt for the families.

He then was asked about

Tyler Herro’s playing status for

Game 5 of the Eastern

Conference finals.

“Sorry to turn it back to

basketball.. .” the reporter

began.

It takes a special kind of skill

SEE BUCKNER ON D3

miami — Before

Erik Spoelstra

had to fulfill the

media

responsibilities

required of him

as an NBA coach

Wednesday

night, he wanted

to express the compassion

expected of any human being.

The day after the nation’s latest

shame, in which 19 children and

two teachers were massacred

inside an elementary school,

Spoelstra shared the recent

memory of leaving FTX Arena

before a playoff game to pick up

his two boys from school. How

his wife had once taught junior

high. And how he can’t imagine

Candace

Buckner

BY LIZ CLARKE

paris — The French Open has
barely gotten underway, yet five
of the top 10 women’s seeds al-
ready have been ousted, includ-
ing defending champion Barbora
Krejcikova.
Reigning Australian Open
champion Ashleigh Barty wasn’t
in the field, having abruptly re-
tired in March at age 25. Reigning
U.S. Open champion Emma Rad-
ucanu is already out of it after she
lost her second-round match
Wednesday.
But in recently minted world
No. 1 Iga Swiatek, women’s tennis
may well have found the cham-
pion of staying power it has
lacked since Serena Williams
claimed her 23rd major in 2017.
Since February, the 20 year-old
Swiatek has been the game’s most
dominant player, as sure-footed
on hard courts as she is on her
beloved clay, claiming five consec-
utive titles in Doha, Indian Wells,
Miami, Stuttgart and Rome.
Swiatek (pronounced
S CHVON-tek) burst to promi-
nence by winning the 2020
French Open as an unseeded teen
without conceding a set, toppling
then No. 1 Simona Halep en route.
She is also an avid reader (cur-
rently consumed with Yuval Noah
Harari’s “21 Lessons for the
21st Century”); owner of a cat
named Grappa; a fan of AC/DC,
Pink Floyd and nearly all classic
rock; a dabbler on the ukulele, a
gift from the sports psychologist
who travels with her; and a curi-
ous young woman who believes
the richness of life lies beyond the
bounds of a tennis court.
But it’s what Swiatek has
SEE FRENCH OPEN ON D2

Swiatek

is taking

the game

by storm

Top-ranked woman

enters French Open

enjoying dominant run

Rockies at Nationals

Today, 7 p.m., MASN

As diversion, games go on

Mourning in America

means moving forward

Steve Kerr’s

potential for

outburst has

always been

there, under the

judicious manner

and the suavity.

He was almost

uncontrollably

tempestuous as child until he

was tamed by his parents’

scholarly patience — only to

have one of those parents

assassinated by an Islamist

militant’s gun. His career in

basketball has been a long

personal quest for emotional

self-rule, and his outward daily

mildness can lull you into

forgetting that, into losing sight

of the utter outrage

underpinning his life. Until

another gunman fires a

reminder.

Nevermind whether you

agree with him on gun reform.

What matters is that unlike a lot

of siloed athletes, the Golden

State Warriors head coach has

actually lived the grief of which

he speaks, not merely played out

false dramas on courts or in

demonstrations, and he has

struggled mightily for every

ounce of self-possession that he

has. When it wavers, as it did

Tuesday night after the mass

shooting in Uvalde, Tex., when

his voice cracks and his palm

hits the table, you remember

what’s under there, and it

SEE JENKINS ON D3

Agree with Kerr or not,

but respect his outrage

Sally

Jenkins

WILFREDO LEE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Miami hosted a somber yet sadly familiar ceremony as players on the Heat and Celtics along with fans paused for a moment of silence for those killed in Uvalde, Tex.

It was the Nats’ second shutout

victory of the season — the other

also a 1-0 result in that April 19

game against the Arizona Dia-

mondbacks — and the first time

the Dodgers, who lead the majors

in runs, have been held scoreless

in 2022.

“I’ve said it before: We get some

starting pitching, we get deep —

deep to me is somewhere in that

sixth inning or so — and we got

the lead, our bullpen can hold us

down,” Manager Dave Martinez

said. “Today was an example of

that with a really good team and a

really good lineup.”

The bullpen and Washington’s

singular run helped Erick Fedde

earn a win as he continued a

productive May with six innings

of four-hit ball.

SEE NATIONALS ON D5

BY ANDREW GOLDEN

Tanner Rainey ran out of the

bullpen in the ninth inning at

Nationals Park with his team

clinging to a one-run lead

Wednesday against the Los Ange-

les Dodgers.

It was an unfamiliar sight.

Rainey hadn’t had a save opportu-

nity at home since April 19 — also

the date of his last save.

The closer made things inter-

esting by allowing two runners to

reach base, but he salvaged a 1-0

victory for the Washington Na-

tionals against one of baseball’s

best offenses, finishing a game in

which the lone run came on César

Hernández’s single in the sixth to

score Victor Robles.

Nationals’ arms team up

to silence Dodgers’ bats

NATIONALS 1,

DODGERS 0

Big news, football
fans: A number of
NFL owners are
willing to
consider a “tough
suspension” of
Daniel Snyder,
owner of the
franchise
formerly known as the
Washington Football Team.
This “tough suspension”
would apparently be considered
only if the latest NFL
investigation of Snyder’s various
misdeeds — which includes an
allegation of the team cooking
its books — again finds him
guilty. Remember: He already
has been found guilty of creating
a “toxic” atmosphere by a
previous investigator, who
looked into accusations that
Snyder and his cronies had
created an “Animal House”
atmosphere in their offices.
So the NFL fined Snyder
$10 million — “Yawn, cash or
check” was probably his
response — and announced his
wife, Tanya Snyder, would
assume responsibilities for day-
to-day team operations and
represent the team at league
meetings. Big change there. In
the only on-the-record one-on-
one interview Tanya Snyder has
done since she took the job, she
responded to a bunch of softball
questions by somehow blaming
what happened to the team on
the media.
Now, though, the NFL is really
mad — especially at the notion
SEE FEINSTEIN ON D6

NFL cowers

rather than

takes stand

with Snyder

John
Feinstein

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

Erick Fedde threw six innings of four-hit ball as the Nationals earned their second shutout of the year.

French Open, second round
Today, 5 a.m., Tennis Channel;
7 a.m., MASN2

Western Conference finals Game 5: Dallas at Golden State | Today, 9 p.m., TNT

The Celtics beat the Heat, 93-80, in a rugged Game 5 to move one win away from the NBA Finals. D3