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[ cheers ] good morning, everyone. that was wimbledon champion, carlos alcaraz. he's basically our best friend now this morning. and we kept him from breaking the trophy. >> i may want to keep trophy. >> his second grand slam title, first at wimbledon. we'll have more with our conversation with the new champion in a little bit. but let's start with extreme weather impacting millions of americans, deadly flooding swamping the northeast while a record-breaking heat wave grips the south and southwest. and new overnight, explosions rocking the bridge that connects russia to crimea. the russians say it was attacked by drones in the water. a source inside ukraine's

security service tell cnn that it was a joint operation by ukrainian intelligence and naval forces. and hollywood grinding to a halt. actors and writers are digging in for the long haul, as they demand fair pay from the studios and from the streaming services. coming up right here, leah delaria and emma miles, two of the stars of the hit netflix show "orange is the new black," they're speaking out claiming that they never received compensation that they deserved from that show. this hour of "cnn this morning" starts right now. well. good monday morning, everyone. and this morning, around 80 million americans across the nation are facing dangerous heat, as a brutal and record-breaking heat wave continues to scorch the south and southwest. in phoenix, it's been hotter than 110 degrees for 17 straight days. las vegas, it already tied its

daily record at 116 degrees. meanwhile, the northeast is cleaning up after severe and deadly flash flooding. you can see some of it right there. at least five people are dead and two children are missing in the suburbs of philadelphia after they were swept away by floodwaters. let's get started with that extreme heat. rafael romo is live in las vegas. raphael, how hot is it expected to get there today. >> reporter: it's been amazing, it was already 90 degrees here in las vegas an hour ago. about 93 right now. and we're expecting another scorcher today. just to give you an idea of how hot it's been, the thermometer hit 115 degrees yesterday, just 1 degree shy of the record of july 16th. and just 2 degrees away from the all-time record of 117 degrees. and this is dangerous not only for obvious reasons, but also because surface temperatures can be extremely hot and cause burns. the local office of the national weather service here in las vegas made some measurements and

found that concrete temperatures sunday reached almost 127 degrees. and listen to this, there was a reading on asphalt that got very close to 160 degrees. this is dangerous to humans, of course, but officials are also warning people with pets about burns they can suffer. if, for example, a dog is walking on a hard surface outside, as bad as it's been here, death national valley park in california reached 128 degrees sunday, only 6 degrees shy of the all-time record of 134 degrees. and there's a reason why it's known as the hottest place on earth. we also visited hoover dam, where a couple of tourists told us what they were doing to try to cope with the heat. >> feels like you're actually on fire after you're out here for a while. and i just slammed about two bottles of water at lunch. this is definitely like touching surfaces, i'm not used to burning myself on concrete. >> it's just harder to breathe without the moisture in the air.

it's just kind of hard to breathe. it makes things a little difficult. >> reporter: and phil, high temperatures at hoover dam were well over 110 degrees during the weekend and are expected to remain at the same level during this week. back to you. >> rafael romo, the numbers are so high, you almost can't get your head around them. great reporting, my friends. stay cool out there. >> it is scary out there. and that extreme weather and also flooding forcing major ground stops at airports across the northeast. airlines are trying to bounce back after more than 11,000 flight delays and cancellations. our friend, cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean is tracking the situation this morning. so pete, how bad is it? >> well, today is looking a lot better than it's looking from yesterday. we've got about 280 cancellations, about a thousd delays. we're about 15% of what we saw yesterday. 1,700 cancellations just yesterday. but get this. the number of delays, almost

10,000, 9794. those are the most flight delays we have seen all summer. 40% of all flights scheduled in the u.s. delayed. the average delay, flights arriving at our destination, about an average of an hour and ten minutes late. a lot of misery at airports across the countryesterday. the worst airports were in the new york area, unsurprising. newark, jfk, laguardia. there were ground stops there for most of the day. yesterday, at bostonogan, there was a ground stop instituted by the faa, saying that flights there can't get in, just because the weather was so poor, and the issues stretched all the way down to d.c. at reagan national airport. this is the blunt warning from united airlines ceo, scott kirby. remember, united has own meltdown the last week of june. he says with climate change, that means more extreme weather events, that leads to more cancellations and delays, and no airline is safe. listen. >> the regular operation events are, you know, going to be more

likely to occur as the climate warms. more heat in the atmosphere, thermodynamics 101, we're going to have more thunderstorms. >> faa is warning of more ground stops today, especially as the day goes on and the heat builds along with the thunderstorms in new york, but also in philadelphia, in boston, and in central and south florida. so a lot of people could be going through a lot more flight misery today. although at least right now, things are remaining relatively stable. but we'll see as the day stretches on. >> it can be so frustrating, especially this time of year as people go on family vacations and what not. >> this morning, big news, on two fronts. ukraine claiming responsibility for an attack on the vital bridge connecting russia to the annexed pennsylvania of crimea. the full extent of the damage, currently unknown. but ukraine says it will cause logistical issues for russian forces. meantime, russia is also announcing it's pulling out of the crucial black sea grain deal until its demands are met. cnn's alex marquardt is live in odessa, ukraine, for us, with

more. i want to start with the attack on the bridge to the crimean pennsylvania or between the crimean pennsylvania and rulssi. the importance of this bridge from a symbolic perspective and a tangible logistical perspective. what is it? >> hugely important on both fronts. this is a bridge that connects southern russia with the occupied russian -- or occupied crimea pennsylvania, which russia has held since 2014. and since that bridge was built five years ago, they've used it to carry all kinds of things across it. food, fuel, and of course, military supplies, since the war began. we do understand that this was a deadly attack by ukraine. at least two russians were killed. we understand them to be parents and their young child was injured in this attack. the extent of the destruction is becoming a bit clearer, based on videos and photos that we've seen on social media. it does appear that the roadway was significantly impacted. it looks like the traffic came

to a complete stop. the train tracks, meanwhile, which run parallel, do not appear to have been damaged. we've seen video coming from that train. we have heard that there have been some delays, but that the trains haven't stopped. but of course, this is hugely significant and very remarkable, phil, that ukraine is claiming responsibility. normally, they're very coy when they carry out brazen attacks like this. but kyiv saying firmly today that it was their security services, the sbu, and the navy that were jointly in an operation to bomb this bridge, which russia has called a terrorist operation. the russian side saying that it was carried out by two sea or surface drones. of course, now we're waiting to see what the russian reaction is. the last time there was an attack on this bridge back in october, which ukraine did not claim there was a huge russian attack on ukraine, very quickly after that, phil. >> all right. alex marquardt live for us in odessa, thank you. and a suspected serial killer captured in new york, but a top investigator tells cnn

that his case could be ongoing. there could be more victims that police arrested rex hearman on thursday in connection with the gilgo beach murders. vestigators say he killed at least three women and the top suspect in a fourth. all of their bodies found near each other more than ten years ago. here's what the suffolk county district attorney raymond tierney told us this morning. >> you're talking about something that is 13 years in the making. so, when you talk about the unbelievable amount of material that was there prior to me assuming office in january of '22, and you also have over 300 search warrants and judicial requests, so there is a tremendous amount of information, which obviously, you know, the defense is going to want to look at. >> let's bring in now cnn's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, john miller. john, so, what is so incredible

about this case, is just the sheer number of victims, three that he's been charged with, a fourth, but also several bodies, frankly, that are still being investigated. what do you think are the respects here, that we could have more charges related to either that fourth victim or others. >> so, i think there's a good likelihood there. you have three essential things. first, you start out with the crime scenes back in 2010. that is what unearthed these remains and the scant clues that they had to go by in terms of forensic evidence. but now you have two other interesting places to gather evidence. one, the suspect's home. why is that important? because in these serial killer cases, what we see in offender characteristics is that they keep things from victims. in these cases, victims had property missing. their phones were missing. clothing items were missing.

and it is not unusual for these offenders, these suspects to keep these things, so they can use them to relive the murders, no fantasize about it again. they've got a search that is still continuing, even as we sit here now, this many days after the arrest at the home. and then, of course, you have the suspect himself. now they're not getting dna from a discarded pizza crust, they're getting dna directly from him, hair directly from him, and other forensics that are going to be helpful. >> can you take us behind the scenes, the idea of this all coming together, finally. this had been a case that had gone cold. this has taken years and years to actually get to this point. what happened. what changed? >> so when rodney harrison became police commissioner of the suffolk county police in 2021, he did something very unusual. without knowing the outcome, he vowed that we were going to solve this case. he was coming from the nypd as chief of detectives. and he basically assembled a

task force -- the suffolk county police department had gone this alone in large measure, worried about other agencies, leaks about the investigation, people taking over the case. but he brought in the fbi's cast team. they do the telephone work. they're amazing. he brought in the suffolk county sheriff and they brought in rich zacarise, another nypd person who was familiar with putting together extraordinarily complex cases out of mountains of digital evidence. they brought in the experienced detectives from suffolk county homicide who knew the case the best, but also a state police investigator who was extraordinarily determined and was the individual who broke that clue that connected the green pickup truck to the suspect. so what he really did was he took his offset statement, which is, you know, teamwork makes the dreamwork, and he said, we're going to build out beyond this department, bring in the best and the brightest in technology

and science, and we're going to get this thing done. >> a remarkable breakthrough. john miller, thank you so much for your reporting. >> thanks. democratic lawmakers denounce comments made my a fellow congresswoman, pramila jayapal, after she called israel a, quote, racist state. how she's now walking what it back, next. and joe manchin speaking today at a town hall in new hampshire. it's hosted by a political group that is considering a unity ticket for the 2024 presidential race. is manchin planning a third party run. ai-powered security that protects all of google also defends thehese services for everyone who lives here. ♪ - custom ink helps us motivate our students with custom gear. we love how custom ink takes care of everything we need, so we can focus on the kids. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products help you feel connected. upload your logor start your design today at customink.com

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progressive collea congresswoman pramila jayapal after she called israel a racist state. at least seven lawmakers drafted a letter calling her comment unacceptable. saying, efforts to lelegitimatize it are not only dangerous and anti-semitic, but they also undermine america's national security. now, the congresswoman was speaking to a group of pro-palestinian protesters when she made those comments, and she has since walked them back. cnn's chief congressional correspondent, manu raju is here with us. so manu, the lawmakers who wrote this letter did accept her apology and her retraction. however, this is a deep wound in the democratic caucus that won't go away. >> and look, it has gotten more pronounced over the last several years. there are outspoken members on the left in the congressional progressive caucus who have sharp concerns with israel. who have voiced those concerns. those concerns, you should not be raised because of the political backlash that could ensue, by talking negatively about israel.

but you have seen a small block of these members becoming very outspoken, people like congresswoman ilhan omar, a muslim somali refugee, someone who has supported the boycott israel moments. same with rashida tlaib, supporting the boycott israel movement. that's no what pramila jayapal supports, but she has been sharply critical of the israeli government in and of itself, and these comments were significant for a lot of those members, given how prominent she is within the party, which is very rare to see the leadership of the democratic party come out yesterday and issue a statement rebuking those comments. hakeem jeffries and his two deputies coming out and saying that israel is not a racist state, and saying that the united states supports israel. what the democratic leaders don't want is to see the republicans again to try to drive a wedge between them and their support for israel, given the prominence of israel and the american political movement and the fact that republicans are eager to drive that wedge, as

they've done with ilhan omar, trying to -- stripping from her assignments on the hos foreign af affairs committee and trying to associate omar's remarks. they did not want to see that happen again with jayapal. jayapal was quick to issue that statement, saying that she does not believe that israel is a racist. the idea of israel as a racist state and saying her words have some impact here. this all comes ahead of wednesday's high-profile state visit from the israeli president who is going to be addressing a joint session of congress. it will be interesting to see how many members of that left flank decide not to go. a handful of them have decided to boycott and where will pramila jayapal be? she has not yet decided, but is unlikely to attend. we'll see if she changes after this controversy here. >> were you surprised how fast this all kind of evolved? >> yeah, i did, saturday, and all of a sudden sunday she was walking it back. typically lawmakers are disengaged for the most part over the weekend. but the democratic leadership

recognized that they've got to clear this up before monday. >> manu, stick around, first, senator joe manchin is set to attend a town hall in new hampshire, fueling speculation of a potential third party run. no labels is actively considering running a third party candidate in the 2024 presidential race and pushing for a unity ticket, featuring one democrat and one republican. manchin told manu last week about whatever the topic is, that the event is not about running for president, but wouldn't rule it out, either. for more on this, let's bring in cnn's senior data reporter, harry enten with this morning's number. harry, the number? >> yeah, so, you know, if you want to talk about how much -- why there's all of this talk about a third party potentially getting traction versus four years ago, take a look at this morning's number, all right? it's 21%. why this 21%? because voters who dislike both biden and trump, it's 21% of the electorate. compare that to 3% who felt that way on election day 2020.

this 21% is more than the percentage of voters who dislike both trump and clinton on the heels of the 2016 election, so this is a large chunk of voters, and that is fueling all of this talk about a third party bid. >> so, harry, who would win the voters who like neither biden nor trump, if they faced each other in a general election matchup? >> so, take a look. this sort of gives you an understanding of how those voters who don't like biden or trump will vote in 2024. it's close, but those voters are favoring joe biden by a 41% to 34% margin, and i think that is part of the reason why you're seeing all of these democrats perhaps be worried. because they know, this is a chunk of voters that joe biden needs to win. and if they like biden more than trump, and all of a sudden you introduce a third-party candidate, maybe things might end up a little bit differently. >> to that point, what if joe manchin or cornel west ends up on the ballot, as a third party candidate come november? >> yeah, so, here's the big

reveal, right, at the end of the segment. all right, biden versus trump in 2024. if there's no third party, look at this. biden by a point. the effect of a third party, potential third party candidate is small, but it is enough to flip it, and now if a third party candidate is included, look at that. trump by one point, so democrats are the ones who don't want a third party candidate, and this is the polling, this is the data that they're looking at, guys. >> manu, can you -- this was a great big reveal, harry. you backed it up with actual details. explain manchin to people, not broadly, that would take a while, but like on this issue specifically, you have a better read and talk to him more than maybe anybody i know. what's the genesis here of this town hall? >> and why does he keep flirting with this idea? >> it's not clear he's actually all that interested in running for president. he likes his name being out there. he likes being discussed. he wants to be in the center of this discussion. and he legitimately has concerns, the way the two parties are running things in

washington and the fact that it's really not much effort to try to come to the middle. that's been his whole political mantra. and if flirting with a presidential bid allows focals to pay attention to that, that's great, but the second he rules that out or the second he says, i'm not going to run for re-election in the very critical state of west virginia, if he doesn't run for re-election in the senate, that means he's almost certainly going to flip to the republicans. people will stop paying attention to him. people will stop trying to cut deals with him and trying to achieve his own political objectives. so there is a real reason for manchin to be doing this to get the attention he wants. will he eventually run for the president? i tend to doubt it, but he hasn't ruled it out. you have to at least consider that that remains a possibility and one that democrats frankly are very concerned about. >> and if he does run for re-election, it doesn't hurt him to be seen as sticking it to the current president who's a democrat. it doesn't poll that well over there in west virginia. absolutely, so harry, manu, thank you both very much. >> thanks, guys.

>> and 160,000 hollywood actors are on strike. and one of the biggest sticking points here is fair compensation and residual checks from the streaming giants. we'll talk to two of those actors who say that they were and still are being unfairly compensated for their work. leah dellaria and emma miles from "orange is the ns is the n they'll join us nextxt. [announcer] finance your next car with carvanana today. ♪ ♪ bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪ ♪ it's our turn now we'll make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deader than me. ♪

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arktd actors are now reinforcing the writers in hollywood. the struggle for fair pay being highlighted by the stars of one of the first hit shows from the streaming era. >> oh, my god, i'm about to be so rich! ♪ and you've got time ♪ what?! >> that was kimico glen who played brooks so so on "orange is the new black." she earned just $27 onhat residual check. you saw there. her frustratiobeg echoed by many of her co-stars.

lea delaria telling "the new yorker," i get $20. i would love to know how much money did tedder ede erserandos year, the ceo of netflix, according to the company's financial statements last year, he received $20 million in base salary, more than $50 million if you include the stock and optiond bonuses. emma myles, another "orange is the new black" alu "the new yorker," when you're a kid, you have this id, once i'm on something that peoe tually see, i'll be rich, and you look around after being in that hit show and be like, wow, i'm still in the same one-bedroom apartment. now emma myles and lea delaria join me now. emma, can you explain to the audience -- first of all, what are residual checks? what are they supposed to be? and what does that financially look like for you once you've been on a show like orange is

the new ew black. >> okay, well, in terms of how our business works, residuals typically are paid out for network cable movies and they're basically a share of the profits that come from the revenue, from being on a network. so there's a lot of advertisement, there's a lot of money that comes with that. so the residuals for network is -- they're a lot, a lot higher. like much higher. and we have certain bases in our contract that say that they have to be at a certain percentage, they have to be calculated that way. now, in terms of residuals for "orange," we were not based off of network and cable. we were off -- we were based off of this new thing called streaming. which basically didn't exist when we started the show. so the contract that we had

reflected like webisodes and web series and things that were on youtube and promotional videos. and the way that those residuals are calculated, we are actually not sure. because for the millions upon millions of dollars in revenue that these companies, these streaming companies, particularly, are raking in, there's not really much of a kickback for any of the people involved on the creative side. so for something like an episode of "law & order: svu" that you would have gotten like a good, like, several thousand dollars from it re-airing on television, there's -- you would get about -- i don't know, $20 for people to be able to watch "orange" -- all five seasons of orange in perpetuity. and that's a pretty big discrepancy. >> yeah, yeah. i mean, the number of people watching on streaming services is sort of like a black box.

the streamers don't necessarily want transparency about that. but lea, you said that there was this accidental moment of clarity from netflix ceo ted serandos, because he compared "orange is the new black," which was a game-breaking show in so many ways, to another hit show, "game of thrones." what did that tell you? >> we were all at a party when ted said that, that we were bigger than "game of thrones," and we were all -- you know, we were very tight-knit cast. we hung out a lot. and we were all kind of hanging out together, and he made that statement and it was a complete aha moment for everyone at that party. we all just looked at each other, and of course, give me the money! where's the money?! i'm still -- i'm still living in my bushwick apartment! where's the money?! >> i mean, it's a really good question. look, the stars, emma, of

"orange is the new black" were -- they really did become famous. and as you noted in your comments to the new yorker, when you're famous and people are stopping you on the street and you go home and pick up that check and it says 20 bucks, what does that feel like? >> i mean, it feels like crap. >> well, you know, yeah. yesterday, yesterday i'm in my building here, and i'm walking into the elevator to go do my laundry. so, you know, my hair's in curlers and i'm wearing a bathrobe and you know what i mean, and there's a couple of guys in the elevator that are fixing the elevator and they immediately -- and not in a first language, right -- they immediately start screaming -- they scream like teenage girls, two elevator repairmen, because they wanted to -- they wanted to get a picture with me. they wanted to get a picture with me. and i love to be -- i'm always

gracious to my fans, so is emma. without our fans, we'd be nothing. but it's kind of rough, when my last residual came check in june, it was for $20.27. and like, you know, every time i have to stop and get my picture taken, that's 20 times a day, you know. it seems like first-world problems, but that's how famous we are, and we're making $20.27. >> go ahead, emma. >> there's also like an attitude that comes with this idea that we like -- in terms of the fans that can be really aggressive. because lea's right, the fans are amazing for the most part, but there are those fans that are very aggressive. and they can be like, well, i pay your salary, like, i watch your show, so i'm entitled to whatever time i want to take from you or like, or a picture, and i'm just like, if you're responsible for my salary, we have some talking to do.

>> so emma, i want to start with you on this one. how do you see this strike ending. both sides are really dug in. the streamers are saying, and the studios are saying, we can't afford to pay more. how does this end, emma? >> i mean, they can afford to pay more. that's completely -- they're saying two different things. they're telling all of the actors and all of the writers and all of the creators that they don't have the money and meanwhile, they're telling all of their shareholders that they're making more money than they ever have been. so both things can't be true at the same time. how do i see this sending? i mean, i want it to end well. i think that we're not going to stop fighting until we get certain protections in place, so what happened to us on "orange" can't happen to any other cast, ever again. i mean, we should be fairly compensated. they are making billions of dollars off of work that is

being kind of shoved out into the universe and no one can support their livelihoods. i don't have health insurance. >> and of course, there are the issues related to artificial intelligence. these are deep, difficult problems. but i'm just glad that both of you are so famous that people stop you on the streets, still, and demand photographs. emma myles and lea delaria, thank you so much. >> i would rather have insurance! i would rather have insurance! >> i would rather have a bathtub! >> fair enough. thank you very much. an alabama woman who went missing is back home, but not before an intense manhunt was launched. the questions police cannot answer after receiving a call from the woman before she fell off the radar. that's coming up n next.

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after a frenzied 48-hour search for carlee russell, police say she has returned home. russell called 911 on thursday when she saw a child on the state of the interstate highway,

then she called a family member, who lost contact with her while the line was still open. police arrived to the scene and found her car and some belongings. they even offered a $25,000 reward for any information. let's bring in now cnn's ryan young. so ryan, what's the latest on this. have police gotten any closer to finding out what actually happened here? >> they're still trying to focus on the parts of this investigation, but let's focus on the great part here. carlee russell was found safe and sound when she showed up back at her parent's home. this was a mystery that had that entire part of the state wondering what happened to this young lady. you think about a frantic call to 911, saying a toddler was on the side of the road, and they did find some of her belongings in that car, and for hours there were search efforts, people were trying to find her. and on saturday, she showed up at her parent's home. they released a statement that in part says, look, my husband and i want to make this statement again, as we did last night. it's nothing more to add or take away from how we're feeling right now. god is faithful and he answered our prayers. we are so grateful to each of

you for all of the acts of kindness, generosity, and compassion you have shown. you understand the family is just so excited about the fact that she has returned home, but there are other questions. and the police department did say they're waiting for her to go to the hospital and get evaluated. at some point, they'll try to sit down and interview her and figure out exactly what happened. a lot of people have questions about not only where she was, but also what happened to that toddler. abby, just a lot of questions. but at this point, the great part of this news is that she was found safe. >> it is good news, and of course, that story really captivated a lot of people outside of alabama, even, this weekend, ryan. thank you. >> absolutely, thank you. well, he's one of the biggest athletes on the planet, maybe the biggest. now he's play soccer in america. lionel messi is officially a member of inter-miami. what kind of impact the league and the city of miami is already feeling from messi's star power. that's next. oh, that's nice... oh!! searchabable, verified reviews. that's better than the ham,

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it's official. you guys keep trying to hedge. arguably -- no, he is the greatest soccer player in history. i will die on this hill. lionel messi, the 36-year-old soccer player phenom, who led his native argentina to the 2022 world cup officially inked a deal over the weekend with the major league soccer club, inter-league miami. thousands of fans packing the stadium to welcome to superstar. but the big unveiling came with some technical issues and lots of rain. that put a damper on at least some of the excitement. joining us now is commissioner of major league soccer, don garber. i appreciate your time. i want to start with just kind of what we saw last night, the enthusiasm we've seen since this was first announced. what does it mean to have lionel messi in the mls? >> you know, the major league soccer has just been working for

25-plus years to make our league a league of choice for fans, for partners, for players. and when you can get the best player in the world to decide to move to the united states, move to miami, put on the inter-miami shirt and be unveiled to thousands of screaming fans last night, it was pretty awesome. in a monsoon rainstorm, and even with all of that, djs and lionel coming out, you know, celebrated by folks here who are going to come support him when they play those games. and what was really great about it is just his kids were running on the field and others players were there with their families. it was just a great celebration and an indicator of what great moments will come over the next couple of years. >> it was stunning when this came together, particularly given saudi's efforts on the other side of this to some degree, and barcelona's efforts, as well. but the thing that immediately pops in your head, why is this

moment different when david beckham came over or wayne rooney came over? there's a constant evolution inside the league about bringing in big-name talent on the backside of their careers. messi is obviously still elite, but why is this different than past years or past evolutions? >> it's really just the continuation of the momentum. it's a really great story that when david came into the league, he really shocked the world. he came at the prime of his career, he's 31 years old, comes to the l.a. galaxy. our league is still young and fledgling. and even at that time, david wanted to work hard to try to create over all these careers. you have henry, you have some of the best players that have ever played, but this is sort of a dimension that goes way beyond that. we were literally competing against saudi arabia that's become a real force in sports and the idea of him going back home to the team that he went to

when he was 16 years old and then, you know, the stars aligned and things all came together where, you know, we hear and lionel just decided, do you know what, it's go going to be the united states, it's going to be mls and i think this will continue this transformation process that will lead up to the world cup in 2026 that, you know, the united states is a soccer nation, major league soccer is driving a lot of that momentum, fans and global energy will now come look at what it is that we have here with this project and you have copa america coming here next year, the fifa world cup in '26 and world cup in '26. there will be tremendous energy around our sport. >> my favorite part of the last couple of weeks is the leo sightings on social media, including his every man at publix which you have to do when you are in florida. there is a boater who ran into him on a dock at one point.

what's that tell you about kind of his adjustment to life in the united states? >> you know, i'm happy for him and happy for his family. i mean, that story of him going to publix was really pretty funny, you know, he's there, people have no idea that this is the guy that's shopping, they turn around and said, i think that's lionel messi. he says to his wife can you give me the car keys and he walks out and hops into his car. i mean, anybody, i don't care how big a star you are, ought to be able to have some semblance of normalcy in your life. i think he's going to see some of that. i think one of the great moments for me last night was after all of the celebration i was talking to him and he was just standing there walking out and looking at his kids kicking the ball with sergio's children who are also the same age, the great barcelona former captain also was unveiled last night. this is fantastic to see that

this sport can provide players not only a great opportunity to perform at the highest level but also have some ability to have a semblance of normalcy in their life. i think you will see a lot of that and i think it will be a lot of fun. >> don garber, big night last night. thanks so much for your time. >> thank you. have a good day. and speaking of another great, he just won wimbledon and he's only 20 years old. something carlos alcaraz did not let novak djokovic forget. >> i started playing tennis watching you. i mean, since -- since i -- i was born, you know, you -- you already were winning tournaments. >> he's the newly crowned king of center court and we spoke to him this morning. we will show you part of that conversation next. arvana. what? all i i had to do was answer a couple questions and got a real offerer in seconds.

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i love this stat. in the 20 years carlos alcaraz has been alive there have only been four wimbledon men's champion, federer, nadal, murray and djokovic. the four most dominant players in men's tennis this century, ever to some degree. on sunday alcaraz broke that 20-plus year streak and etched his name into the history books. >> that was alcaraz winning the title in a five-set marathon

thriller taking down djokovic who was trying to win his fifth straight wimbledon championship. the entire match, again, lasted nearly five hours. >> and just last month alcaraz lost to djokovic in the french open and earlier this morning we asked him about that and we spoke to him about what he learned from that loss. >> yesterday was totally different, i prepared mentally totally different before the match. during the match i deal with the pressure so much better than i did in french open. it was just about mentally, you know, i know that physically i'm really well prepared to play this kind of matches, this kind of marathon, i'm really, really proud to be able to play at this level, against a legend and it's something that i learn a lot from. >> so, of course, before we ended our conversation we had to

ask to show us that trophy. it was sitting right next to him during the interview and it almost ended up on the floor. luckily it didn't and now we know that he has great reflexes in addition -- >> not just on the court. also very quick hands. also a great guy. >> yes. that as well. he is also our best friend as you can tell. next month he will return to new york to compete in the u.s. open where he won his first major title last year and to no one's surprise he and djokovic are two of the favorites in that tournament. >> we're going to make him come on set with us along with chrissy banks because we are using the set in new york to hang out. >> we will take over. >> we appreciate carlos and his time. appreciate abby. "cnn news central" starts right now. ♪ ukrainian forces target a cric