While taking questions about his first round victory, the World No 2 spotted a journalist snoozing away in the corner of the room.
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.
Men's tennis steps into the unknown next week when the young guns expected to follow in the footsteps of the current golden generation contest the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
India's Davis Cup tie against Finland was on Friday postponed to 2021 as the International Tennis Federation pushed back all the matches, including the Finals, to next year owing to COVID-19 pandemic. India were scheduled to travel to Finland for the World Group I tie in September.
Four-times champion Roger Federer was delighted to welcome back to the ATP Tour his long-time rival Rafa Nadal, a man he could face in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
While tennis is a lucrative sport for those at the top -- the 2020 Australian Open singles champions each took home A$4.12 million ($2.52 million) -- those in the lower echelons often struggle to make ends meet.
Nadal has won the Australian and the French Open back-to-back and has the chance to become the first man to win all four majors in the same year
Australia's tennis badboy Nick Kyrgios was on Monday handed a suspended ban and fine by the ATP for his lurid verbal attack on Stan Wawrinka at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
World number nine Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia made a brilliant recovery from a set down and destroyed his opponent Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut's game in the next two to clinch his maiden Chennai Open ATP tournament title in four attempts in Chennai.
Lesser known Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, scored the biggest upset of the tournament when he ousted World Number six and top seeded Thomas Berdych (Czech) 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 in 139 minutes to make the semi-final of the Aircel ATP Chennai Open.
IMAGES from Day 3 of the 2022 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday.
'Is he serious? It's a selfish political move to gain popularity.'
All 112 matches of the 'NZ Premier League' will be played in Auckland without spectators but broadcast live on Sky Sport or the Youtube channel, Sky Sport Next, Tennis New Zealand said on Monday.
It was Novak Djokovic's first match this year after his Australian Open hopes were dashed when he was deported following an 11-day saga revolving around his decision not to have a COVID-19 vaccination.
Six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has distanced himself from reports that he called for a boycott of next year's tournament unless there was an increase in prize money.
World number one Novak Djokovic blasted past qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.
Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou has called on tennis governing bodies to come together and devise a way of helping lower level professionals struggling financially due to the coronavirus shutdown. The tennis season was halted in early March due to the pandemic, leaving players in the lower tiers who solely depend on tournament winnings without the opportunity to earn a living.
'I hope that as an association we make the best decision for our business, for our health, for the tournaments, for public.'
Rafael Nadal has pulled out of next week's ATP Tour Finals in London due to injury, so Novak Djokovic will end the year as world number one having returned to the top of the rankings on Monday.
American tennis player Taylor Fritz and his doubles partner, Tik Tok personality Addison Rae, won the virtual Stay At Home Slam on Sunday as real-life tennis remains on hold because of the coronavirus crisis. The likes of the Williams sisters, Japanese stars Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori and the recently retired Maria Sharapova competed as their favourite characters from the world of Nintendo to raise money for charity.
The absence of Japan's Kei Nishikori from this year's Australian Open has turned the spotlight on Chung Hyeon as Asia waits for its first men's Grand Slam singles champion.
On Sunday the Ukrainian Tennis Federation urged the sport's governing body the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to immediately expel Russia and Belarus from the organisation and ban Russia from team and individual tournaments. Also, athletes from Ukraine and other nations have called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend Russia and Belarus and ban their athletes from events immediately.
World number one Novak Djokovic continued his dominant form in Tokyo to storm past Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-1, 6-2 and into the semi-finals of the Japan Open.
Austrian Dominic Thiem became the first player to capture titles on three different surfaces this year when he finished off Philipp Kohlschreiber to win the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart on Monday.
Ruud, who did not take kindly to Kyrgios's tweet then about how he had celebrated the victory, said the hot-headed 24-year-old was "completely crazy" and had behaved like an "idiot" on the court.
That is Murray's 46th ATP title.
Palermo will mark the first professional tennis event across the WTA and men's ATP Tours since early March with action scheduled to get underway on the clay courts of the Sicilian capital from August 3.
Images from Day 4 of the 2023 Australian Open, at Melbourne Park.
India's best player Yuki Bhambri is back in the squad and that changes the dynamics for the three-day rubber.
Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all picked up third round wins at the Western and Southern Open on Thursday to set up a star-studded last eight in Cincinnati.
Nadal's participation in the season-ending Tour finals hung in the balance when the Spaniard pulled out of the Paris Masters
Serena Williams' behaviour in Saturday's US Open final divided the tennis world after she called the chair umpire a "liar" and a "thief" and said he treated her differently than male players during her loss to Naomi Osaka.
Raducanu falls in first match since US Open triumph.
Novak Djokovic says he has lost all trust in the anti-doping programme in tennis and fears he could become a victim of its 'negligence' after fellow Serb Victor Troicki failed to have his doping ban overturned on Tuesday.
Already a sporting icon, Osaka's fight for equality has focussed even more attention on her
Raducanu stormed into the third round of the Cincinnati Open
Andy Murray clinched the Vienna Open title on Sunday with a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory over David Ferrer, one of the Briton's main rivals in the battle to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals.
John Tomic, father and coach of Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic, will be barred from the Australian Open as he continues his suspension from the ATP tour for assaulting his son's former training partner.
Novak Djokovic's already brilliant season took on another dimension on Sunday when the world number one became the first man to win six Masters titles in a calendar year by dismissing Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4 in Paris.
