Images from Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Tuesday.
Up against Shruti Mundada in the pre-quarters, Saina had a look at the surface and immediately made it clear that she won't risk playing on it given that the All England Championships are around the corner.
China's two-time Olympic badminton champion Lin Dan, one of the sport's greatest singles players, announced his retirement on Saturday. The 37-year-old, who won the Olympics singles titles in Beijing in 2008 and the 2012 London Games, has won all the sport's major titles, including five world championships' gold medals.
'Well, I think every year, in the last few years, has been better than the previous one'
India's quality pace attack, comprising a world-class operator in Jasprit Bumrah, could prompt the hosts to prepare seamer-friendly pitches instead of the traditional sub-continental spinning tracks in their upcoming Test series against England, said opener Rory Burns.
It was a case of better late than never as Kevin Anderson reached his first Wimbledon final after a heart-stopping 7-6(6), 6-7(5), 6-7(9), 6-4, 26-24 victory over the sport's perennial marathon man John Isner on Friday.
National camp to resume on Monday.
Novak Djokovic does not consider himself among the favourites at next month's Wimbledon and shares the popular view that defending champion Roger Federer is likely to win a record ninth trophy at the All England Club.
In a nail-biting semi-final, fourth seed Sindhu went down fighting 21-19, 19-21, 18-21 to Yamaguchi after battling for an hour and 19 minutes on Saturday.
Wimbledon's prize money has trebled in the last decade.
Saina, who was looking good at the start of the season, was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis with mild pancreatitis which affected her performance at the All England Championship.
Shuttler N Sikki Reddy and physiotherapist Kiran C have tested positive for COVID-19 at the ongoing national camp, forcing the closure of the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad for sanitisation.
I don't want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond, Gopichand retorts to PV Sindhu's father's allegations of unsatisfactory training.
Wildcard Harriet Dart was probably surprised, therefore, when she looked up to see the Duchess of Cambridge sat in the front row of seats on Court 14 on Tuesday.
The 15-year-old's popularity has soared off the charts in a memorable week at the All England Club, with organisers also recognising her potential to grab attention and giving her a Centre Court match-up in the third round.
India needs people like Rahul Dravid and Pullela Gopichand, who have done an excellent job in producing young talent in their respective disciplines, for tennis to develop in the country, says eight-time Grand Slam doubles champion Leander Paes.
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu feels the experimental service law in badminton could have come at a better time.
Top Indian shuttlers, including world champion P V Sindhu, will be able to hit the courts from July 1 if the Telangana government allows the Badminton Association of India (BAI) to organise a national camp in Hyderabad. With COVID-19 cases surging in Hyderabad, the Telangana government, as a precautionary measure, extended the lockdown till June 30 but it meant the resumption of the sport got further delayed for the top players in the state.
Badminton's new service rule won't be used at CWG
Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth, along with several other Indian players, are in Switzerland
Be it cheering for Roger Federer or Garbine Muguruza at the Wimbledon final, the Hollywood brigade made their presence felt at both, the women's and men's final at Wimbledon over the weekend. We caught a few cine stars watching their tennis heroes in action at the All England Club...
'Wish a bomb would explode on this club. A bomb should explode here'.
Thirteen months ago, Comaneci was the first person Halep hugged when she clambered up into the stands on Court Philippe Chatrier after she won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open.
Just like in her campaign opener against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi on Wednesday, Sindhu squandered a game advantage to lose yet again in the year-ending BWF World Tour Final
15-year-old Cori Gauff, the youngest at this year's Wimbledon will play her opening round match against the oldest player at the Championships - Venus Williams. The duel is billed as 'clash of the generations'.
'London being Tier 2, pubs can serve drinks but only with a 'substantial meal',' sighs Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
India's badminton doubles specialist N Sikki Reddy on Saturday heaved a sigh of relief after returning negative for COVID-19 barely two days after testing positive for the contagious disease, saying she was "shocked" by the not-so-kind reactions her initial result attracted.
'Honestly, I think he can overtake them, but I wouldn't like to say that for sure. The race is on'
This year's Wimbledon Championships have so far survived the cull of the world's most prestigious sporting events due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it seems only a matter of time before they are postponed or cancelled. With London in its first week of lockdown, All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) officials are weighing up their limited options.
Andy Murray and Serena Williams entered the third round of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, defeating 14th seeds Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo 7-5, 6-3 on centre-court, on Tuesday.
Sindhu has fallen in the early stages at all tournaments except the French Open since winning her maiden World Championship title in August.
India's top players, including P V Sindhu, may not be going through the best of times, but national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand is still hopeful of a best-ever Olympics outing in Tokyo. Gopichand has produced two Olympic medallists -- Saina Nehwal (bronze in 2012) and Sindhu (silver in 2016).
Images from Day 4 of the Wimbledon tennis championships played in London, on Wednesday.
Wimbledon organisers will announce the cancellation of the grasscourt Grand Slam this week due to the coronavirus pandemic, German Tennis Federation (DTB) vice-president Dirk Hordorff told Sky Sports. All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) officials earlier said the June 29-July 12 event would not be played behind closed doors and postponement was not without significant risk and difficulty.
Rafael Nadal has cast doubt on his participation at Wimbledon, saying he needs to see how his body recovers after a long clay court campaign culminated in an 11th French Open title.
A quarterfinal loss at the All England Championship saw Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal slip three places down the rung to the sixth spot in the latest BWF world ranking on Thursday. Saina, who turned 26, went through injuries last year and missed out on a few tournaments this season, including the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and South Asian Games in January and February respectively. The Olympic bronze medallist, who had finished runners-up at the 2015 All England Championship, lost to Tai Tzu Ying in straight games in the quarterfinals. The Indian now has 73,222 points. Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P V Sindhu improved a place to reach the 11th spot.
World Athletics also said that as far as it was aware, there were no longer insurance policies available for the coronavirus.
Images from Day 1 of the Wimbledon Championships.
Novak Djokovic clawed his way to a two sets to one lead over great rival Rafael Nadal before their scintillating Wimbledon semi-final was paused on a knife-edge on Friday.
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.