'When it's easy it's going to be no problem. When it gets tough that's when you know what's going to hold up and what's not'
Chinese tennis ace Li Na reportedly had her fans roaring with laughter with her wisecracks during her speech following her Australian Open victory on Saturday at Melbourne Park.
'She's always smiling. I mean, we try in our team to smile everywhere. We make so many funny stuff around the court. She likes it'
Murray has struggled to regain form since undergoing hip surgery last January, and was quickly dismantled by the six-time Australian Open champion at Margaret Court Arena before the players called time on their match after less than an hour.
Henri Kontinen and John Peers stunned the Bryan twins 7-5, 7-5 to win the Australian Open men's double title at MelbournePark on Saturday.
Play at the Australian Open was called to a halt on day four of the championships on Thursday with temperatures at Melbourne Park hitting 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) and still rising.
A subdued Serena Williams vowed never again to complain about Melbourne's changeable weather after her grumbles on an unseasonably chilly summer's day were followed by several days of scorching heat.
China's Li Na advanced to her second successive Australian Open final with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard on Thursday.
If players, pundits and bookmakers are to be believed, Serena Williams has already sewn up her sixth Australian Open title and the other 127 women in the draw may as well pick up their racquets and head home.
Silent assassin Agnieszka Radwanska ended Victoria Azarenka's bid for a hat-trick of titles at Melbourne Park on Wednesday and reached her maiden Australian Open semi-final with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 win.
Images from Day One of the Australian Open, in Melbourne, on Monday.
Armed with a new coach and bigger racket, Roger Federer hopes being in the unusual position of underdog will help him add to his record tally of 17 Grand Slam titles.
Andy Murray moved into the fourth round of the Australian Open in surreal circumstances on Saturday, completing a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Joao Sousa after his father-in-law had collapsed ill a few hundred metres away.
India had mixed fortunes at the Australian Open as Leander Paes got off to a winning start in mixed doubles but it was end of the road for the fourth-seeded pair of Sania Mirza and her doubles partner, Czech, Barbora Strycova in the women's doubles event.
The 31-year-old Spaniard has not played since he withdrew from the season-ending World Tour Finals in London in November with a knee injury. He had already withdrawn from an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi that starts later on Thursday.
'007, Why not? Maybe this is the year. Seven in 17. I'm not a numerologist but it sounds good'
The World No 2 announced her commitment to the social media entrepreneur shortly before the New Year and while it was "great", she was pushing it to the back of her mind, at least until after Melbourne Park.
Johanna Konta spurned the country of her birth to play tennis for Britain but the Sydney-born 24-year-old has enjoyed huge support from the MelbournePark crowds during her run to the Australian Open fourth round.
IMAGES from the Australian Open matches played on Monday
Images from all the action on Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday
Stan Wawrinka let his tennis do the talking as he brushed off the after-effects of a cold to breeze into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Lukas Rosol on Saturday.
Victoria Azarenka remained on course for a third straight Australian Open title with a thumping 6-1, 6-0 victory over Yvonne Meusburger in exactly an hour on Saturday.
Grigor Dimitrov reached his first grand slam quarter-final in over two years on Monday by defeating an injury-hampered Denis Istomin 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-1 to end the Uzbek wildcard's fairytale run at the Australian Open.
Roger Federer's struggles in 2013 are unlikely to hasten his exit from the game and the Swiss master could hit back and win next year's Australian Open, according to tennis great Rod Laver.
'She wants to come back in 2018 and defend her title and she's in training now'
Before the tournament, top seed Djokovic declared the three should be favourites to win the Slams, and Federer agreed when asked after his Evans match.
Osaka will bid for her second Grand Slam title in succession against twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova on Saturday, having claimed her maiden major in New York last year by upsetting Serena Williams in the final.
The volatile 17th seed had a quiet evening by his standards in his opening match on Monday, with just the one violation for unsportsmanlike behaviour when he asked spectator, in no uncertain terms, to be quiet while he was serving.
Coming off a fruitful year which yielded two grand slam titles, world number two Federer looked fit and sharp while other members of tennis's 'Big Four' are grappling with injury issues.
'I was top 10, I have more than $10 million. I'm not going to play for $50,000. It is not the reason'
Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro served notice of his strong form ahead of the Australian Open when he crushed defending champion Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the Sydney International on Saturday.
Six times a men's singles champion Down Under, the Serbian will be joined in making a return at MelbournePark by 2008 women's champion Maria Sharapova, who missed last year's tournament because of a doping ban.
Fernando Verdasco sent shockwaves through the Australian Open on Tuesday by defeating Rafael Nadal 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 to send the former world number one crashing out in the opening round.
With next week's Australian Open in mind, a weary Venus Williams has opted to skip the Hobart International while her American compatriot Sloane Stephens has pulled out of the Sydney International with a minor wrist injury.
Reigning champion and top seed Angelique Kerber was knocked out of the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday, losing 6-2, 6-3 to American Coco Vandeweghe on Rod Laver Arena.
'And now, linking LGBT to Nazis, communists, the devil? This is not OK. This is in fact sick and it is dangerous. Kids will suffer more because of this continuous bashing and stigmatising of our LGBT community'
Tennis Australia are to beef up their integrity unit to fight corruption in the sport after their showcase tournament was blighted earlier this year by allegations of global inaction to combat it.
Nadal's comments follow media reports this week that Novak Djokovic, the president of the Players' Council, had urged players to unionise at a pre-Australian Open meeting and revolt over the way the revenues from the four grand slams are distributed.
The 20-year-old, free of a shoulder injury that forced her out of qualifying for last week's Hobart tournament, won her first match at the Australian Open at her fourth attempt with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Germany's Annika Beck.
The Romanian broke Williams's serve in the first game but that was the only one she managed for the rest of the opening set as the American bulldozed her way through the set in 20 minutes, serving it out with an ace.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances