Not just because Serena Williams looks capable of landing a 24th Grand Slam title against all the odds having returned from maternity leave and Maria Sharapova is seeking redemption after a 15-month doping ban with a third French Open title.
A late end to last season that included a successful Davis Cup final and matches in India had no impact on Roger Federer's surprise third round loss to Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open on Friday, the second seed said.
De Minaur, 20, went the entire tournament without facing a break point, and the Australian fittingly clinched victory with a deft serve-and-volley backhand winner.
Nick Kyrgios clinched his maiden tour title on home soil in a big confidence boost ahead of the Australian Open, beating Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-2 in the Brisbane International final.
Novak Djokovic beat Norway's Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-3 to collect a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title on Sunday, earning the biggest paycheck ever in tennis - $4,740,300 - for completing the season-ending tournament unbeaten.
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.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
Canada beat USA to enter quarters, Argentina overpower Chile in opening tie
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Marin Cilic cited a knee injury at Wimbledon this year to hide the fact he had failed a dope test, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has revealed after handing the Croatian a nine-month suspension.
The Delhi Police on Friday registered two FIRs in connection with sexual harassment allegations levelled by women wrestlers against Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
It is the first break in the four-year cycle for the summer Olympics since the 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled because of World War Two.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
Djokovic, who has won nine titles at Melbourne Park, including the last three, confirmed on Tuesday that had received a vaccination exemption to allow him to bid for a record 21st major title at the Australian Open, which starts on January 17.
Plotting a path to the Australian Open has never been trickier or more uncertain. Even the best players are baffled about the best way to prepare for their annual trek Down Under.
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.
Klitschko and his brother Vitali, also a former world heavyweight champion and now the mayor of Kyiv, have both taken up arms against invading Russian forces.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova glittered under the Rod Laver Arena lights on Monday, restoring order at the Australian Open after eight women's seeds crashed out in the afternoon sun on a manic opening day. The evergreen Federer strolled into the second round with a classy 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun before fellow-second seed Sharapova ruined Croatian qualifier Petra Martic's 24th birthday with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
While Indian table tennis took giant strides in the year, a star too was born with Manika Batra pocketing as many as four medals including two historic gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Tennis World No. 1 Novak Djokovic spent Orthodox Christmas in Australian immigration detention on Friday as his lawyers fought a government decision to remove him from the country that could scupper his shot at a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam.
Russian former world number one Maria Sharapova was suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation on Wednesday following her positive test for banned drug meldonium at this year's Australian Open.
Images from Day 1 of the 2022 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Monday.
Frenchman Mouratoglou said Williams had been able to recharge during the break and that her appetite for titles had not waned.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
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.
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton apologised on Thursday to former US tennis star James Blake, who was arrested after being wrongly identified as a suspect in a fraud ring and said he is concerned over how much force is used.
Seven Olympic and six Paralympic disciplines were identified for support at a meeting of the Mission Olympic Cell.
Boxing and weightlifting federations were given 18 months time to set their house in order to be considered for the 2028 Games.
The money-spinning Indian Premier League has mulled a closed-door edition in a desperate bid to avoid cancellation as the deadly COVID-19 sent Indian sports into quarantine after a government directive for fans to be kept away from all action to prevent the pandemic from spreading.
IOA wants flexibility with calendars
The New Zealand Olympic Committee said its athletes had been preparing for a scenario where there were no fans present.
From 2022 a new event for under 14s will be staged at the All England Club during the second week of the Championships.
As Sachin Tendulkar completes his 50th birthday, an A-Z listing about the 'Little Master'.
Former tennis World No 1 Steffi Graf is in India and she wasted no time in making a quick stop over at the Taj Mahal in Agra.
There is no threat to the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), veteran Indian tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi said on Saturday, asserting that none of the team owners have pulled out and a multi-year deal was firmly in place with the country's biggest broadcaster for his ambitious event.
Serbian Djokovic, 31, needed elbow surgery in February to cure a problem that surfaced in 2017, but after some jarring defeats he returned to the kind of domination he achieved in 2015, winning Wimbledon and the US Open.
The administrators are busy thrashing out resumption plans but with the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, India's sportsperson are pleading for caution as discussion rages on whether competitions can resume by August. Top stars from various disciplines want the waiting period to continue, while others pointed out at the loss it would cause in terms of fitness and readiness.
Australia's Nick Kyrgios said he supported vaccination "but how we are handling Novak's situation is bad, really bad". The Australian Open begins on January 17, but the multi-millionaire Djokovic is constrained from training as he sits in a hotel where one Iranian detainee said he had found maggots and mould in the bread.
'Team India's participation in the Olympics couldn't have ended on a sweeter note'
