Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are among a number of players who will feature in an exhibition match ahead of this month's Australian Open to raise funds for bushfire relief efforts, organisers announced on Wednesday. All funds raised from the two-and-a-half hour event on January 15 at Rod Laver Arena -- called AO Rally for Relief -- will be donated to the relief cause with tickets priced at A$54 ($37.09).
Roger Federer said he was happy with his preparation at home.
The victory over the 19-times Grand Slam champion was the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season for the 20-year-old German, who also beat Novak Djokovic in Rome.
While Djokovic has a firm grip on top spot, there will be a new number two on March 15 in Russian Daniil Medvedev, who will climb one place to his career-best ranking to replace Nadal, who has not played since the Australian Open due to a back injury.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will attempt to set a world record for attendance at a tennis match, with the help of some celebrity guests, when they play an exhibition game in Cape Town in February.
Second seed Daniil Medvedev will launch his bid to win his first major title against veteran Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
There is no one more unbeatable in men's tennis than Novak Djokovic when the Serb is at his best, former world number four American Todd Martin said. Reigning world number one Djokovic has already established himself as one of the best ever to play the game and the Serb's Grand Slam haul of 17 is just three behind the 20 that Roger Federer has amassed. The Swiss player will be 39 in August.
Twenty-times Grand Slam champion Federer has said that he is unlikely to play in the new-look tournament, spearheaded by Barcelona player Pique's investment group Kosmos.
The video has already garnered over 3.85 million views and shows Federer hitting between-the-legs "tweeners" and behind-the-back shots.
The 21-year-old has now recorded victories over all of tennis's so called 'Big Three' this year, having beaten Roger Federer at the Australian Open and Rafa Nadal in Madrid.
No clear favourite for Australian Open, says Djokovic
Djokovic has won the last three editions of Wimbledon in 2018, 2019 and last year
With each passing year questions are inevitably asked about whether Nadal's vice-like hold on the French Open will be loosened. Each time, the answer has been an emphatic NO.
The Indo-Canadian got a walkover in their quarter-final clash against France's Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Federer had his first hit on Thursday at the ATP 500 event at the German city of Halle, where he has won 10 titles.
was on a 21-match unbeaten run before the season came to a halt in early March, winning the ATP Cup with Serbia, an eighth Australian Open title and a fifth Dubai Tennis Championships crown.
Federer dismisses Nadal's suggestion to play ATP Finals on clay
Novak Djokovic has declined to disclose his vaccination status despite everyone at Melbourne Park needing to be inoculated against COVID-19.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic had made it near impossible for their peers to live, and thrive, amongst them. But the coming generation, which hasn't been as scarred by defeat at the hands of the Big 3, may make tennis unpredictable again.
Multiple media reports on Monday said the USTA would confirm the Grand Slam tournament would go ahead without fans despite New York City still recording hundreds of new COVID-19 cases every day.
All players who want a visa to compete in the Australian Open will need to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, the country's immigration minister said on Wednesday, putting Novak Djokovic's title defence and Grand Slam record bid in doubt.
Sweden's Elias Ymer replaced Berrettini in the men's draw, organisers said.
The 36-year-old Swiss will play Canada's Milos Raonic in Sunday's final.
Djokovic missed the Australian Open after being deported for not having been vaccinated against COVID-19 and will not be allowed to compete at the US Open
Bidding for a record-extending ninth Australian Open title, the world number one and double-defending champion remains the runaway favourite at his favourite Grand Slam where he once remarked that he felt touched by the "divine".
In an interview last month after a World Tennis Tour event at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, they said they had not yet decided whether they were finished competing. Playing almost exclusively with each other throughout their 25-year careers, the Bryans captured a professional era record 119 titles, including 16 Grand Slam wins, 39 ATP Masters 1000s and the ATP Finals title four times.
Novak Djokovic is chasing a record-extending eighth Australian Open title, while Dominic Thiem will bid to become the first man born in the 1990s to win a major title.
Rafael Nadal had just beaten rising Greek force Stefanos Tsitsipas in a classic scrap at the ATP Finals but had no idea whether it was good enough to keep him in the tournament.
Rafael Nadal had taken anti-inflammatories and undergone intensive physiotherapy to alleviate a lower back problem and still planned to compete in Buenos Aires next month, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
This year's ATP Finals boasts a fresh new
The 32-year-old, who was ousted in the fourth round at the All England Club last year, will play ATP NextGen Finals winner Chung Hyeon on Wednesday and Frenchman Lucas Pouille, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2016, on Friday.
Stanislas Wawrinka is one only one of three players to have defeated Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray at Grand Slams.
After an Olympic stumble Novak Djokovic will get a second bite at history in the Big Apple with a calendar year Grand Slam there for the taking at the US Open.
Andujar, ranked 75th in the world, made a strong start, while Federer struggled to settle into his serving rhythm early on.
Rafael Nadal will skip the Miami Open that begins later this month in a bid to recover from a back injury in time for the clay court swing
France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is presented with an award after playing his final match before retiring REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
Roger Federer's late bid to secure his customary place in the season-ending ATP World Tour finals began with a routine opening round win over Adrian Mannarino in his home town tournament in Basel on Monday.
'I am not too disappointed. I feel like he had to come up with the goods, and it did feel like to some extent it was on my racquet, I just came up against somebody who was, on the day, a bit better when it really mattered'
Images from Day 4 of the 2023 Australian Open, at Melbourne Park.
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