Congratulating tennis stars Sania Mirza and Leander Paes, who won Grand Slams in the women's doubles and mixed doubles respectively at the US Open, former India cricket captain Rahul Dravid on Monday said that both are "huge inspiration" for aspiring sportspersons in the country.
Friday's showdown will be the 40th meeting between the duo with Rafael Nadal leading 24-15 and 10-3 in Grand Slams.
Players' efforts over the years to get Wimbledon's "all-white" clothing rule relaxed got a boost when Roger Federer said he thought the policy as it stood was "quite extreme".
The 33-year-old Swiss, ranked 261 in the world after two knee surgeries, served solidly throughout a one-sided contest on the slick centre court, easing past an opponent who struggled to cope with Wawrinka's power.
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will set aside their long-time rivalry when they play for Europe against the rest of the world in the inaugural Laver Cup tournament which starts on Friday.
Images from Day 3 of the 2020 French Open at Roland Garros, in Paris, on Tuesday.
World number one Novak Djokovic continued his dominance of Kei Nishikori with a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday.
Marin Cilic, thrashed by Roger Federer in straight sets in Sunday's Wimbledon final, said he had been suffering from a blister in his foot during the showpiece clash.
As another Grand Slam crown looks set to be snaffled by a man in his thirties this weekend, tennis fans lamenting a dearth of dynamic up-and-comers need not worry, says former world number one Mats Wilander.
This is not the first time that Murray has won our hearts with his stance against sexism.
It was his first tournament win since January and has left the world number four confident of mounting a challenge at Wimbledon, where he has been drawn against Slovakia's Martin Klizan in the first round.
Novak Djokovic will have coach Andre Agassi in his corner for as long as required at Wimbledon as the Serb tries to claim back one of his lost Grand Slam titles.
IMAGES from the matches played at the PNB Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Wednesday
Roger Federer put his global army of "Fed-Head" fans through the wringer for four nerve-shredding sets before he kept alive his pursuit of a record eighth Wimbledon title with a 6-7(4) 4-6 6-3 7-6(9) 6-3 win over Marin Cilic the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Novak Djokovic's shock third round exit had raised hopes that this could be the week when the Swiss finally ends his four-year hunt for an 18th grand slam title, as the Serb had been the only man to beat him at the majors over the past year.
Thursday's match was just Venus Williams's seventh of the year and first since January's Australian Open, where she fell to Simona Halep in the round of 32.
Roger Federer returned from a month-long layoff with a 6-4, 6-4 second round victory over Roberto Bautista Agut on Tuesday at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
Novak Djokovic opened defence of his US Open title with a laboured 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 win over Poland's Jerzy Janowicz on Monday that brought new concerns about the world number one's fitness.
It was a case of down but definitely not out as a Rafael Nadal kept picking himself off a slippery and dusty Centre Court surface to storm into the Wimbledon semi-finals with a pulsating 7-5, 6-7(7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 over Juan Martin del Potro.
Andy Murray looked every bit the world number one as he gave a Russian teenager Andrey Rublev a lesson in Grand Slam tennis to reach the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 win.
Images from Day 1 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Monday.
Images from Day 4 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Thursday.
World No 1s Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have been named top seeds for the first major of the season, Australian Open, which will commences on January 16.
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American No 1 John Isner wants injured players to be compensated with first round prize money at Grand Slam to lower the number of early withdrawals.
With the American men experiencing their longest US Open title drought in the Open era, Venus Williams led the American charge into round two on Monday with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia.
Australian Nick Kyrgios caused more on-court controversy in his defeat by unseeded German Mischa Zverev at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday with a listless performance that could land him in trouble with the ATP.
Madison Keys beat fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe for the second time in eight days with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory on Monday to reach the second round of the Cincinnati Open.
FIDE said in a statement that the game of chess has a "genuine global appeal" and that it has 189 national federations and 600 million people who practice chess globally.
Federer, who skipped the French Open this year to give his body time to recover from his incredible exploits in the first half of the season which he began by winning an 18th major at the Australian Open, said he hoped Murray would not live to regret battling through the pain barrier.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Top men's doubles player Jamie Murray has called for an end to the ATP Tour's scoring system in the format and says there is widespread support for it to be changed.
Rafael Nadal is one victory away from returning to the top of the world rankings after surviving a huge scare to beat Italian Fabio Fognini in the quarter-finals of the China Open on Friday.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic is the top seed in the men's draw which includes five-times US Open champion and 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer as seventh seed - his first time the Swiss has been placed outside the top three in a Grand Slam in over ten years.
With the physical demands of modern-day tennis taking its toll the tournament will start without four of the top 11 in the ATP rankings including defending champion Stan Wawrinka who ended his season early with a knee injury.
Roger Federer celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings with his second title of the season, swatting aside Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the ABN AMRO World Tournament in Rotterdam on Sunday.
India's Davis Cup legend Leander Paes made it clear that he opted to play World Team Tennis during India's last tie against New Zealand in order to give youngsters a chance to prepare for the bigger battles ahead of them.
The Australian fell to the floor in celebration after clinching the victory, before sticking a finger behind his ear and asking the raucous crowd to cheer louder.
Former world number one Serena Williams looked sharp in her return to the hardcourts after a week-long break, soundly defeating Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-2 on Monday to advance to the second round of the Cincinnati Masters.
Coming into the tournament 21st in the WTA rankings, the Czech won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes to add to her triumph in St Petersburg earlier this month.
2016 is at the halfway stage and the year has already seen some stunning sporting wins, underdogs emerging triumphant on the biggest stages of them all.
Belgium's Elise Mertens rallied from a set down to beat top seed Simona Halep 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 and clinch her first Premier-level title at the Qatar Open on Saturday.
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