LONDON (AP) — There are plenty of tennis players who might be daunted by the prospect of making their Grand Slam debut against someone ranked No. 1 and in a big stadium — in this case, Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon's No. 1 Court.
Carson Branstine, though, is embracing the circumstances she'll find herself in Monday. Branstine, 24, is a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen — she was born in California and represents Canada, where her mother is from — and helped Texas A&M win the 2024 NCAA title. She is ranked just inside the top 200, but made it into the women's bracket at the All England Club by winning three matches in qualifying last week.
“It’s not like I’m a beginner. This is my job, too. We’re playing the same tournament, right? It's just exciting. It’s cool. And I love that for myself,” Branstine said. “You never know what can happen. And I like it. I wouldn’t want it any other way. This is the coolest thing.”
Besides, facing, and eliminating, the top seed is becoming routine lately for her: This is the third consecutive event this month where Branstine is going up against a foe seeded No. 1. She beat Liudmila Samsonova at a grass-court tournament in the Netherlands, then started off Wimbledon qualifying by defeating Loïs Boisson, who was coming off a surprising run to the French Open semifinals.
“Well, of course I go out with: Why not? Because there’s a lot of factors in tennis, more than just playing. You never know what can be happening on each side, behind closed doors. It’s Wimbledon. It’s (Sabalenka's) first round; you’ve seen a lot of players have tight matches in their first rounds against players that you’d never imagine that (it) would be close,” Branstine said. “That could easily happen on Monday. You never know. With my game, maybe God’s going to come down and say, ‘You’re going to have the best tennis of your life. You’re not going to miss a single ball right now.’”
Branstine credits her big serve and confidence to match with driving her recent success.
When Sabalenka — a three-time Grand Slam champion and the runner-up to Coco Gauff at Roland-Garros three weeks ago — was asked Saturday what she knows about Branstine, her playing style was not what came to mind.
“I know that she’s super pretty,” Sabalenka replied with a laugh. “The other day, I opened social media, and she was giving an interview. ... I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this girl is so beautiful.’ ... That's all I know so far.”
Sabalenka planned to discuss tactics with her team and watch some of Branstine's past matches to familiarize herself with what to expect on court.
“It’s not easy to face someone you've never seen before,” said Sabalenka, who missed Wimbledon a year ago because of an injured shoulder. “I know that I’ll be prepared for her game.”
This is the sort of stage Branstine thought about getting to when she was a kid attending the tournament in Indian Wells.
“You go and you see those big courts and you imagine, ‘What if that was me? That’s my dream. I want to do that one day.' And now it’s here,” she said. “So it’s a dream I get to check off my list, and no matter what happens, I’m going to have that for the rest of my life: I got to play the No. 1 player at Court 1 at Wimbledon. It’s pretty cool. So I just want to embrace it, really. I just want to take in the moment and play every single point. It’s still another match. ... And, you know, you never know what can happen.”
Carson Branstine, a tennis player who went to Texas A&M University and represents Canada, speaks to reporters at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Howard Fendrich)
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus plays a return to Coco Gauff of United States during a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
BERLIN (AP) — Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.
Von Däniken's representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland.
Von Däniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book "Chariots of the Gods," in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.
The book fueled a growing interest in unexplained phenomena at a time when thanks to conventional science man was about to take its first steps on the Moon.
"Chariots of the Gods" was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence.
Public broadcaster SRF reported that altogether almost 70 million copies of his books were sold in more than 30 languages, making him one of the most widely read Swiss authors.
While von Däniken managed to shrug off his many critics, the former hotel waiter had a troubled relationship with money throughout his life and frequently came close to financial ruin.
Born in 1935, the son of a clothing manufacturer in the northern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, von Däniken is said to have rebelled against his father's strict Catholicism and the priests who instructed him at boarding school by developing his own alternatives to the biblical account of the origins of life.
After leaving school in 1954, von Däniken worked as a waiter and barkeeper for several years, during which he was repeatedly accused of fraud and served a couple of short stints in prison.
In 1964, he was appointed manager of a hotel in the exclusive resort town of Davos and began writing his first book. Its publication and rapid commercial success were quickly followed by accusations of tax dodging and financial impropriety, for which he again spent time behind bars.
By the time he left prison, "Chariots of the Gods" was earning von Däniken a fortune and a second book "Gods from Outer Space" was ready for publication, allowing him to commit himself to his paranormal passion and travel the world in search of new mysteries to uncover.
Throughout the 1970s von Däniken undertook countless field trips to Egypt, India, and above all Latin America, whose ancient cultures held a particular fascination for the amateur archaeologist.
He lectured widely and set up societies devoted to promoting his theories, later pioneering the use of video and multimedia to reach out to ever-larger audiences hungry for a different account of history.
No amount of criticism dissuaded him and his fans from believing that Earth has been visited repeatedly by beings from Outer Space, and will be again in the future.
In 1991 von Däniken gained the damning accolade of being the first recipient of the "Ig Nobel" prize for literature — for raising the public awareness of science through questionable experiments or claims.
Even when confronted with fabricated evidence in a British television documentary — supposedly ancient pots were shown to be almost new — von Däniken insisted that, minor discrepancies aside, his theories were essentially sound.
In 1985 von Däniken wrote "Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft" — "New Memories of the Future" — ostensibly to address his many critics: "I have admitted (my mistakes), but not one of the foundations of my theories has yet been brought down."
Although his popularity was waning in the English-speaking world by the 1980s, von Däniken's books and films influenced a wave of semi-serious archaeological documentaries and numerous popular television shows, including "The X-Files," which featured two FBI agents tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.
His last major venture, a theme park based on his books, failed after just a few years due to lack of interest. The "Mystery Park" still stands, its man-made pyramids and otherworldly domes rotting as tourists prefer to explore the charms of the nearby town of Interlaken and the imposing Swiss Alps that surround it.
Erich von Däniken is survived by his wife of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, Cornelia and two grandchildren.
FILE - Erich von Daeniken, co-founder and co-owner of Mystery Park, poses in front of the Panorama Tower at Mystery Park in Interlaken, Wednesday, April 23, 2003. (Gaetan Ball)/Keystone via AP, File)
