Laslo Djere won his first ATP title at the Rio Open on Sunday and then captured the hearts of the Brazilian crowd with a victory speech dedicated to his parents, both of whom died from cancer.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, who won both of his previous meetings with Sinner this year, recovered from a slow start to wrap up victory in three hours, 21 minutes and improve his head-to-head record with the Italian to 6-4.
An ailing Rafael Nadal added his name to the list of upsets at the Shanghai Masters after the Spaniard suffered a 6-3, 7-6(6) loss to Feliciano Lopez in Wednesday's second round, as fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka and in-form Kei Nishikori also made early exits. Nadal's great rival Roger Federer survived a huge scare, saving five match-points before overcoming Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(7).
Roared on by 17,000 partisan fans Novak Djokovic fired Serbia ahead in the Davis Cup final on Friday but Tomas Berdych hit back for the Czech Republic to leave the tie delicately poised going into the weekend.
I physically feel very fit. I'm very motivated to keep on playing on a very high level, says Novak Djokovic.
Former Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj is baffled that India's best singles players are not able to win close matches on the ATP World Tour despite having a decent game to back them.
Laura Siegemund entered the record books with her defeat of fifth-seeded Xiyu Wang of China in four hours, nine minutes at the Thailand Open in Hua Hin on Wednesday.
Djokovic did not drop a set en route to the final in Rome
Carlos Alcaraz beat lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff in the Madrid Open final on Sunday to defend last year's title and win his fourth ATP Tour trophy of the year
American twins Bob and Mike Bryan added another accolade to their lengthy resume after taking the Shanghai Masters men's doubles title on Sunday to become the first pair to win all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.
World No 2 Rafael Nadal sailed into the quarter-finals of the China Open, his first tournament in 13 weeks, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk on Thursday.
Roger Federer is looking for a change of fortune. And in that direction, the former World No 1 split from his American coach Paul Annacone on Saturday.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion has not played a tournament since his Australian Open semi-final exit against Novak Djokovic last year, undergoing two knee surgeries since.
Spaniard David Ferrer's late push for a place in the ATP tour finals got off to a laboured start with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Valencia Open on Tuesday.
A hoped-for fight to the finish for the year-end number one ranking at next month's ATP World Tour Finals in London will likely be a coronation for Rafael Nadal, who is virtually guaranteed ending 2017 top of the pile.
'It's a new era and will be like adapting to a different routine. Moya has come with new ideas and new methods of working that have worked well and we are excited'
Roger Federer said he is "definitely" intending to return to top-level tennis in 2023, but added that he had not made any concrete plans beyond his scheduled appearances at the Laver Cup and his home tournament in Basel later this year.
Tabilo broke the top seed four times on Centre Court while not conceding a single break point.
Canada's world number three Milos Raonic has parted ways with coach Carlos Moya after the Spaniard guided the big-serving right-hander through his best season on the circuit. The 1998 French Open winner joined Raonic's coaching team in January and helped the 25-year-old reach his first grand slam final at Wimbledon and finish the campaign at a career-high ranking, rising 11 places since the end of 2015.
Britain's world number two Andy Murray pulled out of the US Open on Saturday, citing a hip injury.
Top seed Nadal extended his winning streak to 13 matches with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of American Jared Donaldson in the Qi Zhong Stadium before World No 2 Federer, to the delight of his sizeable Chinese fan club, got the better of Argentina's Diego Schwartzman 7-6(4), 6-4.
Rafael Nadal, after having suffered a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) loss in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors to teenager Borna Coric, has shut down his season to undergo appendix surgery.
'If someone told me (I would end the year as number one) at that time it was looking quite improbable'
Spain's third seed Roberto Bautista Agut made a smooth entry into the men's quarter-finals at the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament with a fluent 6-3, 6-2 win over German Peter Gojowczyk.
Novak Djokovic sauntered past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to reach the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Thursday but Andy Murray had to claw past big-serving American John Isner after losing a first-set tiebreaker.
Rediff.com recaptures these and other exciting sporting moments from the week gone by....
Andujar, ranked 75th in the world, made a strong start, while Federer struggled to settle into his serving rhythm early on.
He may have entered the semifinal as the underdog, but Jannik Sinner's stunning victory over overwhelming favourite Novak Djokovic left the Melbourne crowd shocked.
But for the first time, that golden trio will be having an anxious glance over their shoulders. The past week in London has revealed a new fearlessness in the generation of 20 somethings expected to fill the void when they call it a day.
On court Novak Djokovic is taking tennis to extraordinary new levels with his single-minded obsession with winning; off it the Serbian is more than happy to share power. The 29-year-old will begin his attempt to win a fourth Wimbledon title on Monday when he plays British wildcard James Ward on Centre Court -- 12 months after claiming a second successive title by beating Roger Federer.
Rafael Nadal continued his quest for a maiden Paris Masters title when he survived a second set blip to beat Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas
Top seed Juan Martin del Potro beat Canada's Milos Raonic in the battle of big-servers on Sunday to bag the Japan Open title and boost his chances of qualifying for the end-of-season ATP World Tour finals in London.
Kazahk Bublik powers past Zverev in straight sets to reach Halle final
Andy Murray took another step towards securing a berth at next month's World Tour finals when he fought off a typically dogged David Ferrer to win 6-4, 7-5 and move into the final of the Valencia Open on Saturday.
Wawrinka's last ATP title came in 2017 before the former world number three underwent knee surgery.
Audacious coups by Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have transformed the tennis landscape and they will begin 2017 eyeing the kind of domination that few would have thought possible at the start of a seismic year.
Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori will meet in the semi-finals at the Citi Open in Washington on Saturday, their first encounter since the final of last year's US Open.
The restart has divided opinion among the players, with some 200,000 new COVID-19 cases being reported globally every day and international travel restrictions still in place.
