RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Doctors for former President Jair Bolsonaro said Wednesday that they detected early-stage cancer in skin lesions removed from the 70-year-old politician following his conviction last week on attempted coup charges.
Bolsonaro, under house arrest in Brasilia until his sentence is finalized, has been to hospital twice since Thursday's court verdict. He went to the DF Star hospital Sunday to have eight lesions removed for testing, and again on Tuesday because of vomiting and low blood pressure before being released Wednesday.
Results showed early-stage skin cancer in two of the lesions, doctors said in a statement Wednesday, adding that Bolsonaro will need clinical monitoring and regular reevaluation.
“My father has already fought tougher battles and won. This one won’t be any different,” Bolsonaro’s eldest son Flávio said on a post on X. “You can be sure that this is the result of the relentless persecution ever since Jair Bolsonaro dared to challenge the system head-on and fight for Brazil."
A panel of Supreme Court justices on Thursday found the ex-leader guilty of attempting a coup to illegally hang onto power despite his 2022 electoral defeat to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. They sentenced him to 27 years and three months in prison.
The sentence doesn’t immediately send Bolsonaro to prison. The court panel has up to 60 days to publish the ruling after the decision. Once it does, Bolsonaro’s lawyers have five days to file motions for clarification.
Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing and said he is the victim of political persecution. U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed and called the trial a “witch hunt,” and in July he imposed tariffs of 50% on Brazilian goods, citing the case against Bolsonaro, among other issues.
The former president since early August has been under house arrest imposed by the justice overseeing the case, Alexandre de Moraes, who said Bolsonaro had violated precautionary measures imposed on him in context of the trial.
Bolsonaro already had been wearing an ankle monitor, a measure enforced after Federal Police said that he and his lawmaker son Eduardo had been working with U.S. authorities to obtain sanctions against Brazilian public officials due to alleged persecution.
In late August, de Moraes increased security measures further and ordered that police conduct inspections of all vehicles leaving Bolsonaro’s residence and monitor the exterior of the house.
Bolsonaro has been hospitalized multiple times since being stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election. In April, he underwent surgery for a bowel obstruction.
Lawyers for Bolsonaro are expected to put his ill health forward as an argument in a plea for house arrest, rather than obliging him to serve the sentence in a detention center.
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied by his wife Michelle Bolsonaro, departs a hospital where he received medical treatment as he returns home where he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova)
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied by his wife Michelle Bolsonaro, departs a hospital where he received medical treatment as he returns home where he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Madison Keys planned to walk into the player tunnel at Rod Laver Arena in a quiet moment when nobody was watching, and take a photo of her name listed with the other champions at the Australian Open.
After beating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in last year's final at Melbourne Park to win her first Grand Slam title, Keys pictured the moment she'd return to the stadium for the first time as defending champion.
“I’ve always kind of remembered walking through that tunnel and seeing all the names,” she said Friday, two days before the first major of the year starts. “It was a little bit of a pinch-me moment where I was like, ‘Wow, I’m going to be up there.’
“I have not seen my name in the tunnel yet. I hope I can go in there when there’s no one else so I can take a picture and send it to my mom."
Before facing the media in Melbourne, she couldn't help but notice other evidence at the venue of her breakthrough triumph.
“There’s a really cool photo of me holding the trophy," Keys said. “Getting to see those, it’s something you dream of in your career.”
The 30-year-old American said it was easy to look back almost 12 months and think everything worked to perfection, but "also you think about, ‘Wow, I almost lost.’
"I was match point down. So many three-set matches. There were some ugly matches. I think it kind of just makes everything a little bit better just because it wasn’t issue-free.”
Keys won a tune-up tournament in Adelaide in 2025 before ending Sabalenka's 20-match winning streak at the Australian Open. At 29, she was the tournament's oldest first-time women's champion. She also set a record as the player with the longest gap between their first two Grand Slam finals — her first was the 2017 U.S. Open.
The Australian Open victory launched her into a Top 5 ranking the following month. After the breakthrough, though, she was ousted in the French Open quarterfinals, the third round at Wimbledon and had a nervy first-round exit at the U.S. Open. At the season-ending WTA Finals, she lost two group-stage matches.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, admitted Friday that the loss here to Keys last year was tough.
“She played incredible and overplayed me. Took me a little time to recover,” she said. “We had matches after that. I worked on my mistake on those matches.
“Going to this AO, I’m not really focusing on that last year result but of course I would like to do just a little bit better than I did last year!”
Sabalenka, who beat Keys in the quarterfinals last week en route to the Brisbane International title, plays her first-round match Sunday night against Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, a wild-card entry from France.
Keys also lost in the quarterfinals in her title defense in Adelaide earlier this week. But she's taking it in her stride as she prepares for another career first: defending a major title.
“Even though I’ve been on tour for a long time, this is also still my first experience as that,” she said. “I’m really just trying to soak in all of the really cool fun parts."
Seeded ninth and on the other side of the draw from Sabalenka, Keys is scheduled to open against Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine.
“Yes, I’m sure going on court I’m going to be very nervous," she said, "but I don’t think I’ve ever walked on court first round of a Grand Slam and not been nervous.”
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus waves to the crowd after winning the women's final match against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3, at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
Madison Keyes of the United States reacts during press conference ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
