Robin, the son of Finn Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One world champion, has joined the Red Bull Young Driver Academy, the Austrian team announced on Wednesday.
The Red Bull team explained in a statement that the boy, who is only 11 years old, has been driving karts since his early years, and has previously achieved victories at the local and international levels.
The French director of the Austrian team, Laurent Mekes, said: “Robin has already shown exceptional abilities in karting. His speed, competitive flair and natural talent make him one of the most promising young drivers in his age group. At the same time, he impresses with his maturity, composure and complete focus on leadership.”
He added: “Our goal is to develop it step by step without imposing any unnecessary pressure on it. “His career in motorsport is a long one, and we will provide him with the time, support and resources he needs to realize his full potential.”
The Red Bull Young Driver Academy has previously graduated many prominent names, led by four-time world champions German Sebastian Vettel and Dutchman Max Verstappen. Frenchmen Pierre Gasly and Isaac Hajjar, who are currently racing in Formula One, also graduated from it.
Frenchman Gwen Lagrou will take over the management of the academy starting in 2027, after previously working with the Mercedes team. Among the discoverers of Italian talent was Kimi Antonelli, who is currently leading the Formula One World Championship and is only twenty years old.
Kimi Raikkonen said: “The Red Bull Junior Team has achieved amazing success over many years, so Robin joins this prestigious program with great humility and will do everything in his power to live up to the trust that Red Bull has placed in him.”
To this day, Kimi Raikkonen is still the last Ferrari driver to win the World Drivers' Championship title, in 2007. In that season, he benefited from the intense conflict between the British McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton, and the Spaniard, Fernando Alonso, and snatched the title by only one point from them in the last race of the season.
The Professional Tennis Players Association announced, on Wednesday, that the final tournament of the federation’s Rising Generation Tour will return this year to Italy after its stay in Saudi Arabia for three years, noting that Italy will also host the final tournament of the men’s tennis season.
The tournament, which includes the best players of the season under the age of 20, will be held in the southern coastal city of Reggio Calabria from December 9 to 13, and its prize money will reach two million dollars.
The first five editions of the tournament were held in Milan, before the tournament moved to Jeddah under an agreement that was scheduled to last until 2027. However, it was agreed with the Saudi Tennis Federation, last year, to terminate the agreement before its scheduled date, which prompted the Professional Tennis Players Association to open the door to hosting bids in November to determine the next host city.
Turin will host the final tournament of the ATP Tour season in November, before Bologna hosts the Davis Cup finals.
Angelo Binagi, President of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, said: “The final tournament of the ATP Rising Generation Tour represents the tournament of tomorrow: here the champions are born who will impose their dominance in the coming years, on the biggest global stages.”
He added: “Returning this event to our country, after the pioneering experience in Milan, and choosing Reggio Calabria as a new location, confirm a clear vision; “It is to make tennis a driving force for development throughout the country.”
Previous winners of the tournament include Italian Jannik Sinner, ranked number one in the world, in 2019, and Carlos Alcarras, winner of seven Grand Slam titles; He won the title in 2021, and American Lerner Tian won the title in 2025 in Jeddah.
Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina, ranked second in the world, ensured her top spot in the world rankings for the first time in her career by reaching the semi-finals of the US Open, the last of the four major tennis tournaments, after defeating Chinese qualifier Cheng Chenwen, on Wednesday, in the quarter-finals.
The Kazakh star overturned her loss in the first set 3-6 to win the second and third sets 6-1 and 6-4 respectively in a match that lasted two hours and 14 minutes, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and removed the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka from the top of the rankings, next week.
Thanks to this victory, Rybakina will take the lead from the Belarusian, who is currently ranked first in the world, and will also remove the Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, who could also have reached the top spot if they had won the title in New York and Rybakina had left the tournament early.
The player said after her victory: “It is just a number at the moment.” “It is an amazing achievement, but you know how quickly rankings change in the world of tennis.”
Before this match, the two-time Grand Slam champion was occupying the best position of her career, which was second place in the world, at the age of 27 years.
Rybakina was born in Moscow, but she holds Kazakh citizenship, and is still in the race to compete for her second Grand Slam title in 2026, after winning the Australian Open title after defeating Sabalenka in the final match.
After going through the first four rounds without losing a set, the player who leads by a large margin the list of players who served the most aces in the women’s competition this season found herself in a difficult position against Cheng.
The Chinese woman, champion of the Paris Olympics, entered the match with great confidence, and it seemed clear that she was determined to impose her rhythm.
Cheng initially relied on a strong and varied serve, combining force and change. Sometimes she directed the ball directly towards the middle of the service box, and at other times she resorted to a sharp cut serve to dislodge her opponent from her position.
As the exchanges began, her distinguished coverage of the court allowed her to deal early with Rybakina’s balls and control her opponent’s strength.
After a very long game, during which Cheng succeeded in saving five break points, she won the first set after taking advantage of the fourth set ball with a successful serve. But after a short talk with her coaches, Rybakina regained the initiative.
It was enough for Cheng's level to decline slightly at the same time for the holder of the final Masters Championship, WTA, to impose her strict style.
Her deep strikes forced the native of the city of Xi'an in central China to retreat far behind the court line, forcing her to constantly run to stay in the exchange.
After the second set was decided, Rybakina continued to press even though Zheng remained alert. In fact, the level of the Kazakh player gradually rose as the match progressed, amid the admiration of the fans, who applauded a number of her missile strikes on the sidelines.
Under pressure, the Chinese player committed a large number of mistakes, whether direct or resulting from pressure from her opponent. Rather, a double error on serve cost her her service game, which Rybakina immediately took advantage of and decided the match.
In the semi-finals, Rybakina will face the winner of the quarter-final match between Gauff, fourth in the world and winner of two major titles, and 19-year-old Russian Mira Andreeva, ranked fifth in the world and holder of the French Open title.
Rybakina had lost all six of her previous matches at the US Open when she lost the first set, but this time she succeeded in turning the result around, and is seeking to win her third title in the four major tournaments after being crowned at Wimbledon in 2022 and the Australian Open this year.
“It's hard to find the words,” she said. “It was a difficult match... I didn’t start well, and I was too negative.”
“It was an early match,” added Rybakina, who played all her previous matches in the tournament at night. I was complaining in my mind about the shadows... I'm glad I got rid of all those negative thoughts. "I just kept repeating the phrase: 'Keep fighting.'
Sabalenka and Pegula are scheduled to meet in the other semi-final, Thursday.
