Former Crystal Palace manager and Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira is interested in the vacant United States men's head-coaching job, sources told ESPN.

Sources added that the United States Soccer Federation has already made contact with Vieira, but talks haven't progressed following the initial approach. Other managers are also in contention, but Vieira is keen on the challenge to take over the job last held on a full-time basis by Gregg Berhalter.

Having studied the recent results of the USMNT and the makeup of the current squad, the 1998 World Cup champion with France says that there is great potential there and would like the opportunity to take the team on the journey to the 2026 edition of the tournament on home soil.

Vieira, 46, left Palace in March amid a run of poor results and the team in danger of relegation after going winless in 12 straight games. He also coached New York City FC in MLS from 2016 to '18 and Ligue 1 club Nice from 2018 to '20 before taking the job at Palace.

Previous USMNT coach Anthony Hudson, who took over the team on an interim basis in January after Berhalter's contract expired following the World Cup, stepped down at the end of May and was replaced by B.J. Callaghan, also an interim coach.

Berhalter, 49, has been in limbo since the end of 2022 and in the wake of an investigation into allegations of domestic violence against him from 1992 involving his now-wife, Rosalind, when they were students at the University of North Carolina.

The investigation concluded that the Berhalters responded truthfully during the investigation, confirming that the incident took place, with the USSF stating that Berhalter was still a candidate to resume his post as U.S. manager.

A U.S. Soccer spokesperson told ESPN last month that "nothing has changed" with regard to Berhalter's candidacy. On Tuesday, ESPN reported that both Club America and Sparta Rotterdam were considering Berhalter for their coaching vacancies.

The USSF, which appointed Matt Crocker as sporting director in April, said it expects to name a permanent head coach in August. Callaghan will oversee the USMNT for the Nations League finals June 15-18 and the biennial Gold Cup after that.

The U.S. plays Mexico in the Nations League semifinals Thursday night in Las Vegas, with the winner playing Canada or Panama in the final.

Speaking ahead of the Mexico match, CBS broadcaster and former U.S. star Clint Dempsey took issue with the amount of time the USSF was taking in naming its next coach.

"I think that they need to hurry up and make that decision because we're running out of time," Dempsey said. "I think we took too long in terms of appointing our sporting director and we're taking a little bit too long in terms of appointing our manager, because time is of the essence."

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and will miss the rest of the season, it was announced Wednesday.

"It's tough," Pasquantino said. "But this is something where we can just go ahead and attack this now and be better come 2024."

Pasquantino, 25, aggravated the injury during Friday's game vs. the Baltimore Orioles. He missed three weeks during the 2022 season with the same issue.

He finishes this season with a .247 average, nine home runs and 26 RBIs in 61 games. Pasquantino is batting .272 in 133 games over parts of his first two seasons in the big leagues.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Atlanta Braves right-hander reliever Jesse Chavez was helped off the field after being drilled in the left shin by a comebacker during the sixth inning of a 10-7 victory in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said X-rays were negative, and Chavez was transported to a nearby hospital to undergo further evaluation and tests.

Chavez was hit directly in the shin by a one-hop shot up the middle by the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera. He writhed in pain on the mound and was eventually carried off the field by two trainers.

"You're always concerned when anybody gets hit like that," Snitker said. "That ball was smoked, too."

Chavez, 39, has a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings over 31 appearances this season.

A fourth woman has accused former MLB pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed in Arizona. Bauer has countersued the woman for fraud, saying she is attempting to harass and extort money from him in the wake of similar allegations made by three other women.

In an amended complaint filed Tuesday, the woman said she had an "unplanned pregnancy" after Bauer "violently sexually assaulted" her in December 2020. Bauer's attorneys, in court filings, described the situation as "a single sexual encounter" that "was consensual."

The woman, whom ESPN has chosen not to name, stated in her initial complaint that she had visited Bauer at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, several times before the assault. During those earlier visits, he held a "jagged steak knife to her throat" and choked her several times, according to her initial complaint filed in December 2022.

She also accused Bauer of forcibly removing her clothes, sexually assaulting her and slapping her on December 13, 2020, before he used her butterfly braids "as a rope to choke me unconscious with my hair." In the amended complaint, her attorneys stated that the assault resulted in an unplanned pregnancy.

The woman also said in the amended complaint that Bauer "instructed that she should not keep any records about what had occurred, including the pregnancy, and that they should keep it private between themselves." Her attorneys state in the court records that she "became suicidal and went to the hospital" in the weeks after the assault and that Bauer later "slammed" her onto a computer, breaking the screen, when she was about three months pregnant. She "decided not to terminate the pregnancy" but had a miscarriage in April 2021, according to her filing Tuesday.

Bauer "categorically denies" the woman's allegations, his co-agents Jon Feterrolf and Rachel Luba said in a statement.

The statement from Bauer's representatives also noted he has filed a criminal complaint for extortion against the woman. ESPN has not independently verified the criminal filing.

The woman's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Court records show Bauer's attorneys first denied her assault allegations in April and countersued for fraud, labeling the woman's lawsuit "harassment." They said Bauer has recordings of their conversations, which show the woman asked for "$1.6 million to terminate the pregnancy." Bauer provided the woman more than $8,700 to reimburse her for "medical expenses purportedly related to her pregnancy," according to his court filings, but the woman never provided "any medical records to substantiate her pregnancy or termination." Instead, Bauer's lawyers said in his countersuit that she had LASIK surgery, which the woman denied.

Bauer's countersuit stated the woman "fabricated her pregnancy to try to extort him for money," noting that she hired attorneys to send a demand letter for $3.6 million following allegations of sexual assault made by a woman in California.

The Los Angeles Dodgers cut ties with Bauer in January after the former Cy Young Award winner received an unprecedented suspension following allegations of sexual assault by the woman in California and at least two others. Bauer has denied their allegations.

The Dodgers' decision came two weeks after an independent arbitrator reduced Bauer's suspension from 324 games to 194, reinstating him immediately but docking his pay for another 50 games to begin the 2023 season.

An MLB source told ESPN that the league interviewed the Arizona woman but ultimately did not use her evidence in the arbitration hearing, relying instead on evidence presented by others, including the woman in California.

Once the highest-paid player in MLB, Bauer, 32, is currently pitching for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan.

The Arizona woman is suing Bauer for assault, battery and emotional distress, asking a judge to award her punitive damages "to punish Defendant for his conduct and to deter Defendant from engaging in such conduct in the future."

Bauer's countersuit accuses the woman of fraud relating to the $8,700 he gave her for medical expenses and asks for punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney has scheduled discovery to take place throughout the majority of this year, with both sides agreeing they will be ready for a jury trial by May 2024.

ESPN's William Weinbaum contributed to this report.

NEW YORK -- New York Mets pitcher Drew Smith was suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball on Wednesday, the fifth pitcher and second on his team penalized for using banned sticky stuff.

The penalty was announced by MLB senior vice president for on-field operations Michael Hill, one day after Smith entered in the seventh inning of a Subway Series game against the Yankees at Citi Field and was ejected without throwing a pitch.

"They said both of my hands were too sticky," Smith said following the Mets' 7-6 loss. "Really surprised, because I haven't done anything different all year. Sweat and rosin. I don't know what else to say. Nothing changed. It's just, I think the process is so arbitrary. It can change from one crew to the other, and I think that's the main issue."

Smith was stopped for a routine check as he reached the infield. Within moments, several umpires and teammates were huddled around the right-hander, and Mets manager Buck Showalter came out of the dugout to join the discussion.

Smith held out his pitching hand and pleaded his case, but he was ejected by first base umpire Bill Miller, the crew chief. New York will be a player short during the suspension.

"Drew Smith was ejected because he had sticky hands," Miller told a pool reporter. "I don't know what's on his hand, all I know it was sticky -- sticky to the touch. It stuck to my hands when I touched it. Not only his pitching hand, but his glove hand as well."

Miller said Smith's hand was the stickiest he has felt this season, and that the other three umpires agreed.

"I think if something's sticky, it's illegal," Miller said. "They cannot manipulate the rosin. They can't use foreign substance. I don't know what was on his hand. But his hand was sticky to the touch, where my hand stuck to his hand."

Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, who started Tuesday night, served a 10-game suspension after being ejected April 19 at Dodger Stadium. Scherzer claimed it was simply a mix of sweat and rosin, nothing illegal.

New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán was ejected from a May 16 game in Toronto for using a foreign substance on the mound and suspended 10 games by Major League Baseball the following day.

After MLB began cracking down on foreign substances in June 2021, Seattle's Hector Santiago and Arizona's Caleb Smith served suspensions for illegal sticky substances.

Former world number one Victoria Azarenka suffered a shock defeat by American teenager Ashlyn Krueger at the Libema Open in the Netherlands.

Victory at the grass-court tournament in s'Hertogenbosch marks unseeded Krueger's first win over a top-20 player and a maiden WTA quarter-final.

In the men's draw, Italian second seed Jannik Sinner beat Kazakh Alexander Bublik to reach the last eight.

World number nine Sinner, who is looking to bounce back on grass in the run-up to next month's Wimbledon after a disappointing second-round exit at the French Open, beat Bublik 6-4 6-2 in the opening round.

Sinner, a quarter-finalist at the All England Club last year, will face Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori, ranked 42 in the world, in the next round after he edged out Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 6-4.

Elsewhere in the women's draw, Russian top seed Veronika Kudermetova progressed to the quarter-finals with a comfortable 6-1 6-3 victory over Canadian qualifier Carol Zhao.

Britain's Heather Watson and George Loffhagen gained superb wins to reach the Nottingham Open quarter-finals.

Twenty-two-year-old Loffhagen, 414th in the rankings, caused a shock to defeat China's Shang Juncheng 6-4 5-7 6-3.

But Liam Broady and Arthur Fery lost in their men's singles last-16 ties, while top seed Maria Sakkari was beaten by Alize Cornet in the women's tournament.

A minute's silence was held on Centre Court at the start of Wednesday's play after three people were killed and another three injured in attacks in Nottingham earlier this week.

Two 19-year-old students and a man in his 50s were stabbed to death in the city centre on Tuesday morning.

Watson 'really happy' with form and progression

Watson and Maria have been doubles partners, reaching the quarter-finals of the women's doubles at Wimbledon in 2018.

Both players traded breaks of serve early in the first set before Watson got the crucial break in the seventh game.

It was a similar story in the second set with them both dropping a service game. Watson then missed three break points in the seventh game but got the decisive break two games later.

"I came through qualifying and each match I've got a bit better but there's more to come," Watson said.

"I'm really happy with the direction it is moving in so I'm really looking forward to the next match.

"Tatjana is my best friend on tour, we have played doubles together and spent a lot of time together. It's never easy to play a friend but at the same time it's really special sharing the court with her."

In the quarter-finals, Watson will play Swiss world number 99 Viktorija Golubic, to whom she lost 7-5 6-2 in the last 16 at Nottingham in 2022.

Top seed Sakkari of Greece was eliminated, losing 6-1 6-4 to France's Cornet.

"I feel very good on grass," said Cornet. "In 16 years I've never come here so my goal was to play as many weeks on grass as possible and win as many games as possible before Wimbledon."

British number one Katie Boulter and compatriots Jodie Burrage and Harriet Dart play their last-16 ties on Thursday.

Boulter, who replaced the injured Emma Raducanu as the top Briton earlier this week, needs to win against Ukrainian lucky loser Daria Snigur to have a chance of staying top of the rankings.

Joy for Loffhagen, but disappointment for Broady and Fery

In the men's event, Loffhagen gained his first victory at a Challenger event on Tuesday and backed that up with a victory over Shang, who is ranked 176th in the world.

But Broady lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to Japan's Sho Shimabukuro before Fery was beaten 6-4 6-2 by fifth seed Dominik Koepfer, who at 95th, is ranked 314 places above the Briton.

Fery had earned his maiden Challenger Tour main-draw victory on Tuesday when he rallied to beat former world number 21 Steve Johnson, and he is hoping that victory helps him get a wildcard into the qualifying tournament for next month's Wimbledon.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray won the Surbiton Trophy last week - his first title on British soil since 2016 - and plays France's Hugo Grenier on Thursday.

If Murray, looking to move up from 44th to get into the top 32 to be seeded for Wimbledon, wins he could face fellow Briton Ryan Peniston or Switzerland's Dominic Stricker in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile in the Libema Open in the Netherlands, Britain's Neal Skupski and Dutch team-mate Wesley Koolhof moved into the quarter-finals of the men's doubles.

The top-seeded pairing, who lost in the US Open final last year, overcame Dutch duo Matwe Middelkoop and Bart Stevens 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 10-7.

Nick Kyrgios says he "genuinely contemplated" suicide and spent time in a psychiatric hospital in London after losing at Wimbledon in 2019.

Kyrgios said he later got a sleeve tattoo on his right arm to cover up evidence of self-harm.

"I was drinking, abusing drugs, I hated the kind of person I was," he said in the documentary Break Point, which covers his run to the 2022 final.

"I lost at Wimbledon. I woke up and my dad was sitting on the bed, full-blown crying. That was the big wake-up call for me.

"I was like, OK, I can't keep doing this. I ended up in a psych ward in London to figure out my problems."

In February last year Kyrgios posted on Instagram about his mental health, saying he had had "suicidal thoughts" and "struggled to get out of bed" in 2019, pointing out self-harm marks on his arm in a photo from the Australian Open.

"I was genuinely contemplating if I wanted to commit suicide," he says in the documentary, due to be released on Netflix later this month.

"That pressure, having that 'all eyes on you' expectation, I couldn't deal with it. I hated the kind of person I was.

"I lost my relationship with my family, pushed all my close friends away.

"You could tell I was hurting. My whole arm was covered in scars. That's why I actually got my arm sleeve, to cover it all."

The post on Instagram said he was "proud to say I've completely turned myself around" and that he doesn't "take one moment for granted".

After reaching the final of Wimbledon last year, where he was beaten by 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, Kyrgios sustained a knee injury which resulted in him having surgery to repair a small tear in his left lateral meniscus in January.

He returned to the court for the first time on Tuesday at the Stuttgart Open in Germany, where he lost to China's Wu Yibing in the opening round.

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by any issues raised in this article, support and information is available at BBC Action Line. You can also contact the Samaritans on a free helpline at 116 123, or visit the website.

Saracens and Scotland wing Sean Maitland will be out for at least three months with a knee injury.

Maitland signed a new one-year contract with Saracens last month.

The start date of the 2023-24 Premiership campaign is yet to be announced, while the Rugby World Cup begins on Friday, 8 September.

Maitland has won 53 caps but did not feature in this year's Six Nations despite being named in Gregor Townsend's squad in January.

He played for Scotland at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.

The north London club say Maitland will be out for between 12 and 16 weeks.

Meanwhile, Alec Clarey will miss the start of next season while he recovers following an operation on a neck and shoulder problem, while fellow prop Ralph Adams-Hale "should return to action in the first part" of the campaign.

Harlequins have appointed Billy Millard as director of rugby, with Tabai Matson switching from head coach to become director of performance development.

"In 2022-23 we did not achieve our ambitions on the pitch," chief executive Laurie Dalrymple said.

"It is right that we review how to get the most out of this coaching group and we are determined to evolve and develop to ensure success."

Millard joined Quins in 2018 and served as director of rugby performance, and the 53-year-old Australian will now be directly responsible for the men's first-team squad, the coaching team and support staff.

The club have not had a director of rugby since John Kingston departed the role at the end of the 2017-18 season, when the posts of head coach and general manager of rugby (subsequently director of rugby performance) were created instead.

Former New Zealand and Fiji international Matson was appointed as head coach before the 2021-22 campaign, joining just after the Twickenham Stoop outfit had lifted the Premiership title.

Quins finished third in his first year in charge before losing to Saracens in the play-offs, and finished seven points shy of the top four last season.

The 50-year-old will now oversee "a range of initiatives across the performance programmes of both the men's and women's teams", including leading a strategic partnership with London Scottish.

Meanwhile, Danny Wilson has been appointed as coaching coordinator, with responsibility for the line-out and contact areas.

Attack coach Nick Evans and scrum and transition coach Adam Jones will remain in their roles, with former Ireland international Jerry Flannery now having sole charge as defence coach.

"We are committed to ensuring we deliver an identity of performance that continues to be reflective of this club's DNA," Dalrymple added.

"We recognise we have an exceptionally talented group of coaches who are determined to deliver our vision and both our short and long-term goals."