Gusty winds and half-empty stands gave no sense of the usual Parisian glamour as last year's French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur began with an easy win on Sunday and Lleyton Hewitt pulled out injured.
Under the new system, half the votes would belong to the players and coaches of the world's 211 national teams and half to the public, who will take part via an online ballot, and selected media representatives.
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
Barca captain Messi opened the scoring with a "Panenka" penalty chipped straight down the middle in the 17th minute after Luis Suarez was fouled in the area, putting the home side ahead in the tie after a goalless first leg in France.
Rafael Nadal put in some late-night overtime to drag hosts Spain into the Davis Cup semi-finals but Novak Djokovic's hopes were dashed in excruciating fashion as Serbia bowed out on Friday.
The top-seeded Serb, who had not dropped a set in four matches since the round of 16 at the Australian Open in January, looked out-of-sorts throughout the 98-minute contest.
Hetmyer smacked three sixes and eight fours in his entertaining knock, helping his side chase down a modest target of 128.
A self-confessed tennis buff, Sachin Tendulkar was among a host of sports stars, including former West Indian cricket captain Brian Lara, who packed the royal box on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
IMAGES from matches on Day 8 at the French Open
Roger Federer boasted he could finish a point at will as he reminded the tennis world of his destructive power with a 6-2, 6-1 rout of Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Monte Carlo Masters second round on Tuesday.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi gave the Indian fans something to cheer about by advancing to the semi-finals of the Chennai Open on Friday.
East Bengal on Saturday announced former Portugal assistant coach Manuel Gomes to be their chief coach for the upcoming 2010-11 season.
Cech's solid 'keeping and Liverpool's staunch defence ensured the match ended in a goalless stalemate
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy overcame two rain interruptions and a strong challenge from Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands Antilles 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 7-5 to enter the second round of the men's doubles match at the French Open in Paris on Thursday.
De Beers started a grading and inscription facility at Surat in Gujarat.
Thiem, the fourth seed, was leading 3-1 in the third set on Friday when the semi-final was interrupted by rain and then surprisingly abandoned for the day.
Switzerland on Thursday said it would share data of black money allegedly stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks in accordance with the tax treaty between the two countries.
Holders Serbia avoided any more scares to complete a 4-1 victory over India in the Davis Cup on Sunday and Germany joined them in the quarter-finals as Philipp Petzschner edged them to victory in a thriller in Croatia. The United States also booked a home quarter-final against favourites Spain as Andy Roddick gave them a 3-1 lead in Chile with victory over Paul Capdeville.
The twice Wimbledon champion, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2012, looked poised and focused, treating the sparse Court Philippe Chatrier crowd to a few exquisite drop shots and lightning-quick forehands.
Defending champion Robin Soderling came within a point of losing to Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber at the World Indoor tournament on Thursday before sealing a quarter-final spot with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 victory.
Modi will arrive in France on Thursday evening and straightaway head for talks with Macron, who will also host a working dinner for the visiting leader.
Germany's World Cup harmony was disrupted on Tuesday after skipper Philipp Lahm said he had no intention of willingly giving up the captain's armband when Michael Ballack returns to fitness.
World number one Rafael Nadal strongly denied that he was being coached on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Saturday and said he would take the accusation up with the tournament supervisor.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Sepp Blatter said he will not support any of the five candidates standing to succeed him as FIFA president, through all but one of them had spoken to him about their bids.
Sepp Blatter was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term on Friday after the only other candidate conceded defeat after a first round of voting in an election overshadowed by allegations of corruption in world soccer.Sepp Blatter was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term on Friday after the only other candidate conceded defeat after a first round of voting in an election overshadowed by allegations of corruption in world soccer. Blatter's victory came despite demands that he quit in the face of a major bribery scandal being investigated by U.S., Swiss and other law enforcement agencies that plunged the world soccer body into the worst crisis in its 111-year history. Neither Blatter nor Jordanian challenger Prince Ali bin Al Hussein got the necessary two thirds of the vote in the first round, with Blatter on 133 and Prince Ali on 73. Prince Ali later conceded. In a victory speech, Blatter declared: "Let's go FIFA, let's go FIFA," to a standing ovation. Speaking just before the vote, Blatter, who joined FIFA in 1975, said he felt that he had only been with the organisation for a short time and wanted to stay longer. "What is time anyway. I find that the time I have spent at FIFA is very short," he said. "The more one ages the more time flies by quickly. I am with you, and I would like to stay with you," he said to applause.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi cruised into the second round of the French Open men's doubles after a straight sets victory over Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in Paris on Wednesday.
Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded third for the men's doubles at the French Open. They open their campaign against Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands.
Svetlana Kuznetsova recovered from a terrible start to kick off her French Open title defence with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Romanian Sorana Cirstea on Sunday.
Michael Ballack will resume his duties as Germany captain when he returns to the national team after an injury layoff, winning a tug-of-war against Philipp Lahm who replaced him at the World Cup in South Africa.
Brazil comfortably reached the World Cup last 16 after Paulinho and Thiago Silva scored in each half to give them a 2-0 win over Serbia who were eliminated on Wednesday.
Levante claim that Barcelona's teenage defender Chumi Brandariz, who played in the first leg, was ineligible to take part in the match because he was suspended.
Liverpool are determined to end the trend of selling their best players during the close season in order to build a squad capable of consistently challenging for major honours, manager Juergen Klopp said.
French prosecutors say they are treating the hostage-taking as terror incident.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out in straight sets from the doubles quarter-final of the Wimbledon in London.
She's nailed the pregnancy style perfectly and is soon turning into a fashion icon of sorts with her vintage dress and figure-hugging gowns!
Brazil have shown all the signs they can rule the world yet again in Russia but they must make their excellent preparations count in their World Cup Group E opener against a resilient Switzerland side on Sunday in Rostov.
Doubles specialists Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau combined to fire France into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup Saturday with a battling four-set win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas in Toulon. The victory gave the nine-times winners an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie and set up a last-eight clash against champions Spain or Switzerland in July.
Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a projected third-round opponent for world number one Rafael Nadal, has withdrawn from Wimbledon because of a hamstring injury, tournament organisers said on Sunday.
Third seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi saved a match point en route to a hard-fought three-set win over Oliver Marach and Janko Tipsarevic to book a berth in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in Miami.
