Loss to Naomi Osaka puts Serena Williams' future in question, plus more proof the Padres are going for it

Serena got emotional talking about her future and whether Wednesday was the last time we'd see her compete

By Pete Blackburn

Feb 18, 2021 at 9:17 am ET • 6 min read

Welcome back! It's Thursday, which means we're almost through another week together. Look at us!

Things were a bit slow on Tuesday, but yesterday made up for it. We got some big baseball news with the record-breaking contract extension given to Fernando Tatis Jr., plus the big match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. Of course, we had Champions League as well.

And let's not forget the biggest news to come out of yesterday: "Paddington 3" is officially in production. I'm not sure how much I've revealed my love for "Paddington 2" in this space, but I truly believe it's a masterpiece of cinema and is one of the most delightful movies that I've ever seen. I saw it in theaters SIX times, and not even ironically. It's that good. We don't really deserve a "Paddington 3," but I'm extremely happy we're getting it anyway.

Let's get on to business. And if you haven't seen "Paddington 2" yet, I implore you to watch it immediately.

📰 What you need to know

1. Padres lock up Fernando Tatis Jr. with massive long-term deal ⚾

It's been a rather eventful and fun offseason to be a San Diego Padres fan, huh? Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training yesterday, but the Padres had one more big splash up their sleeves: giving young franchise superstar Fernando Tatis a massive, record-breaking extension on Wednesday night.

Tatis Jr. signed a 14-year extension worth $340 million. The deal reportedly comes with a full no-trade clause for the entire duration of the contract
The deal is the longest contract in MLB history and the third-largest in total value (behind Mike Trout's $426.5 million deal and Mookie Betts' $365 million deal)
Tatis is just 22 and has played 143 games across two seasons with the Padres. He's hit .301/.374/.582 (154 OPS+) with 39 home runs and 27 stolen bases. He's the only player in the modern era to record at least 35 HR and 25 SB in their first 150 career games
He finished third in NL MVP voting last season

For those keeping track at home, the Padres have added Blake Snell, Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove to their pitching rotation (which is now one of the best in baseball) and locked up their young star pillar for over a decade. That's one hell of a winter for a team that already finished with the highest win percentage in franchise history last season. It also means that the Padres have now sunk a total of $784 million into three players (Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado and Tatis) over the past three years.

Is it somewhat of a gamble to lock up Tatis for that long when the sample size is still pretty small? Sure, but he was the former consensus top prospect in baseball for a reason and everything we've seen from him to this point has lived up to the hype. He's not only one of the most talented young players in the game, he's also one of the most exciting and marketable players in the sport as well. That's someone you want to make sure sticks around for a long time.

2. Naomi Osaka dominates Serena Williams to reach Australian Open final 🎾

Last night brought the highly anticipated showdown between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in the Australian Open semifinals. We were treated to some very good tennis from two of the best athletes in the sport but, unfortunately, it went by pretty quickly. Osaka beat Serena in two sets to advance to the Aussie final.

Osaka fell into a 0-2 hole in the first set, but shook off the very obvious nerves to win 6-3, 6-4 for her 20th consecutive victory
This will be Osaka's second Australian Open final and fourth career Grand Slam final. She is 3-0 in Grand Slam finals in her career

It's always awesome to watch these two go at it but, if we're being honest, I wish last night's match was just a little bit closer. I was rooting for a third set, but Osaka just refused to let it get there and she looked completely dominant as she closed it out. She's a beast and, at only 23, it feels like we're watching someone working on the start of something pretty incredible. And at this point, she's almost impossible not to like.

As for Williams, this was her 40th Grand Slam Semi-Final (33-7 record) and she remains in pursuit of her 24th Grand Slam singles title, which would tie Margaret Court's all-time record. But it's worth noting that after the match Serena got emotional talking about her future and whether Wednesday was the last time we'd see her compete. She abruptly left her press conference in tears, so you can read into that however much you'd like.

3. Champions League recap: Ronaldo disappoints in return to Portugal ⚽

We had ourselves another day of Champions League action yesterday as the Round of 16 rolls on. We were treated to two good matches, as Borussia Dortmund earned a 3-2 win at Sevilla while Cristiano Ronaldo had a disappointing return to his home country with Juventus' 2-1 loss to Porto.

Let's get some takeaways from Wednesday's slate, courtesy of our Roger Gonzalez:

Dortmund make a statement: Dortmund played quick and with good pace, giving Sevilla's heralded defense a bunch of trouble. Remember, this Sevilla team hadn't conceded a goal in seven straight matches and Dortmund put three on the scoreboard. Dortmund's two goals conceded aren't great, but they're in good position heading into Leg 2
Juventus is still in decent shape: So it didn't quite go their way, but Juve played about as blandly as possible and they still only lost 2-1. They've got some things to work on, but if they cut out the mistakes then there's reason to still be positive and give them a solid chance of getting to the quarterfinals

That concludes this week's Round of 16 action, but there's plenty more to come. Next Tuesday we'll get to see Bayern Munich take on Lazio while Atletico Madrid face off against Chelsea, so go ahead and mark your calendars for those matchups. Oh, and remember ... you'll be able to watch every match on CBS All Access.

4. A sleeper in the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes? 🏈

We still don't quite know exactly what the deal with Deshaun Watson is in Houston -- will the two sides be able to repair the strained relationship and move on together despite Watson's trade request, or is a separation inevitable?

Our Jason La Canfora is plugged in to these sorts of things and he still thinks that Watson will be dealt. Not only that, he also thinks there's a sleeper team in the mix for Watson's services: The Carolina Panthers.

JLC: "Carolina is beyond smitten with Watson and owner David Tepper is fairly consumed by the prospect of landing him and no matter what happens with this transcendent young quarterback (and I still believe he is dealt at some point), the Panthers are going to play some role in the process. They might not be able to secure him, ultimately, and others clearly possess higher draft capital, but when it comes to Watson, Tepper's aim is true and their desire is real."

Apparently Tepper is "over the idea of a 'game-manager' at the quarterback position" (aka Teddy Bridgewater, the guy they brought in to take over for Cam Newton last offseason.) They want to get bold and more explosive, and it seems they think Watson is the perfect guy for that. It's hard to argue the logic, but how far are they willing to go to make it happen? That might ultimately be what's standing between Watson and a Panthers uniform.